| "God Save the Queen" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bySex Pistols | ||||
| from the albumNever Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | 27 May 1977 (1977-05-27) | |||
| Recorded |
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| Studio | Wessex, London | |||
| Genre | Punk rock[1] | |||
| Length | 3:20 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers | ||||
| Sex Pistols singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "God Save the Queen" onYouTube | ||||
"God Save the Queen" is a song by the Englishpunk rock band theSex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was later included on their only studio album,Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released duringQueen Elizabeth II'sSilver Jubilee in 1977.
The record's lyrics, as well as the cover, were controversial at the time; both theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and theIndependent Broadcasting Authority refused to play the song, including a total ban of its airing by the BBC.[2] The original title for the song was "No Future", with the lyrics themselves being a general expression of the band's view of themonarchy or any individual or establishment commanding general obligation.[3]
The song reached No. 1 on theNME charts in the United Kingdom, and made it to No. 2 on the officialUK Singles Chart as used by the BBC. This led to accusations by some that the charts had been "fixed" to prevent the song from reaching No. 1.[4]
The song's title is taken directly from theBritish national anthem. At the time, the song was highly controversial for its equation ofQueen Elizabeth with a "fascist regime" and for the lyric "there is no future in England's dreaming". According toGlen Matlock, who had co-written the song — although he was no longer a member of the band by the time it was released — the bass was inspired bythe Move's "Fire Brigade". GuitaristSteve Jones stated that when Matlock first played him the song, it did not sound like 'God Save the Queen': "It was like 'Love Me Do' or something".[5]
Although many believe it was created because of theSilver Jubilee, the band has denied it, withPaul Cook saying that "it wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone."[6]Johnny Rotten has explained the lyrics as follows: "You don't write 'God Save the Queen' because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're fed up with them being mistreated."[7] He intended to evoke sympathy for the Englishworking class and a general resentment towards the monarchy.
On 7 June 1977, the Jubilee holiday, the band attempted to play the song from a boat named theQueen Elizabeth on theRiver Thames, near thePalace of Westminster. After a scuffle involving attendeeJah Wobble and a camera man, 11 people, includingMalcolm McLaren, the man who organized the concert, and several other members of the band's entourage, were arrested when the boat docked.[8]
The single was released on 27 May 1977, and was regarded by many of the general public as an assault on Queen Elizabeth and the monarchy. During the media furore over the single, Lydon and producersBill Price andChris Thomas were subject to a razor attack outside a pub in Highbury, London.[9]
Agreeing with the apparent anti-Windsor message, American postmodern authorWilliam S. Burroughs sent a congratulatory letter to the Sex Pistols following the release of the song.[10]
Before the group signed to Virgin, a small number of copies of "God Save the Queen" had been pressed on theA&M label. These are now among the most valuable records ever pressed in the UK, with a resale value as of 2006 of between £500 and £13,000 a copy, depending on condition of the disc.[11] The B-side of the A&M single was "No Feeling", an early rough mix or performance of "No Feelings". (A later version was released on the Pistols' debut album.)Record Collector named the A&M single the most collectable record of all time.[citation needed] On July 5, 2024, a new record sale price of £24,320 (over $31,000) was set at specialist vinyl auction house Wessex Auction Rooms in the UK by auctioneer Martin Hughes.[12]
Upon its release, the song was banned from both the BBC and radio stations regulated by theIndependent Broadcasting Authority with Radio 2 controllerCharles McLelland saying the song was "in gross bad taste".[13] Additionally, the major retailersBoots,WHSmith, andWoolworths all declined to sell the record.[14] Nevertheless, it peaked at No. 2 (belowRod Stewart's "I Don't Want to Talk About It" released as adouble A-side budget single along with "The First Cut Is the Deepest") on the officialUK Singles Chart used by the BBC; it did so during the week of the Silver Jubilee's official observation.[4][15][16] On the singles chart displayed in branches of WH Smith, the single's position at No. 2 was represented by a blank line.[17]
However, various sources state that it was indeed the highest-selling single of the week,[18][19] and it has been suggested that the song was deliberately blocked from reaching the top spot on the "official"BMRB chart. According to a 1998 article inThe Independent, for one week compilers "decreed that shops which sold their own records could not have those records represented in the chart", and thus sales fromVirgin Megastores were not counted.[20] Virgin had few doubts that theirs was the higher-selling single; the company's sales total out of stock exceeded the officially cited sales for the Rod Stewart single.[21] TheNME magazine chart did in fact place the single at number-one during theSilver Jubilee of Elizabeth II.[14][22] In 2001, the BBC described the song as having "reached number one in the UK".[23]
"God Save the Queen" was included onNever Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, the band's only album, and several subsequent compilation albums.
Rolling Stone ranked "God Save the Queen" number 175 on its list of the500 Greatest Songs of All Time[24] and it is also one of theRock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.[25] It wasSounds magazine's Single of the Year in 1977.[26] In 1989, it was eighteenth in the list ofNME writers' all-time top 150 singles.[27]Q magazine in 2002 ranked it first on its list of "The 50 Most Exciting Tunes Ever..."[28] and third on its list of "100 Songs That Changed the World" in 2003.[29] In 2007,NME launched a campaign to get the song to number 1 in the British charts and encouraged readers to purchase or download the single on 8 October. However, it only made number 42. In 2010, theNew Statesman listed it as one of the "Top 20 Political Songs".[30]
In 2010, the song was ranked among the top 10 most controversial songs of all time in a poll conducted byPRS for Music.[31]
In 2002, the song was re-released to coincide with the Queen'sGolden Jubilee, whereupon the single charted in the top 20. In 2012, it was announced that the single would be re-released on 28 May 2012, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the original release and the Queen'sDiamond Jubilee.[32] Lydon has voiced his disapproval over the re-release and the campaign, saying in a statement: "I would like to very strongly distance myself from the recent stories and campaign to push 'God Save the Queen' for the number one spot... this campaign totally undermines what The Sex Pistols stood for."[33] The 2012 re-release peaked at no. 80 in the singles chart.[34] Rights holder UMC re-released the record for the Queen'sPlatinum Jubilee in 2022, with 1,977 vinyl copies having the same tracks as the original A&M version and the rest labelled as a Virgin release.[9] The record sold 5,712 vinyl copies and became the number one single on the Official Physical Singles Chart Top 100 of 10 June 2022 to 16 June 2022,[35] with a chart placing of number 57 in the main chart when the 279 downloads were added.[36]
In recent years, Lydon has moderated his views on the royal family. In 2001, he stated: "Is the Queen a moron? I probably think so. That woman has precious little to do with her so-called subjects, other than ignore the hell out of us.... We're just there to prop up her tiara."[37] The following year, he denied he was an anti-monarchist in an interview onRichard & Judy: "I was never pro them or anti them. I just think if we're going to have a monarchy it may as well work properly. I mean, we pay for it, after all".[38] Despite his previous 2001 comments about the Queen, Lydon stated onPiers Morgan Live in 2015: "I never said I didn't [love the Queen], I just don't like the institution".[39] In another interview withPiers Morgan onPiers Morgan Uncensored in 2022, the year ofPlatinum Jubilee, Lydon further expressed his respect for the Queen: "I'm [not] completely dead against The Royal Family as human beings. I'm actually really really proud of the Queen for surviving and doing so well. I applaud her for that. That is a fantastic achievement. I'm not a curmudgeon about that. I just think that if I'm paying my tax money to support this system, I should have a say so on how it's spent".[40][41] Lydon stated in a June 2022 opinion piece published during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee that he had softened his views on royalty and did not harbor any resentment against the royal family. He signed it off with "God save the Queen".[42] Guitarist Steve Jones and bassist Glen Matlock also expressed their views on the monarchy in 2022. Jones stated: "I’ve never had any connection to the monarchy, to be honest. It meant nothing to me, still doesn't. So to me ['God Save the Queen'] was just a laugh, it was a giggle".[43] While Matlock stated in an interview withGood Morning Britain: "I've nothing personal against the queen, lots of people love and respect her, but I do think she's a bit of a sop to what's going on".[44]
With thedeath of Elizabeth II in September 2022 and theaccession ofKing Charles III, Matlock began to perform a modified version of the song which reflects the royal succession.[45] Lydon paid tribute to the Queen onTwitter and subsequently objected to any commercial use of The Sex Pistols' tracks to capitalize on the Queen's death.[46]
The song could be heard duringJourney Along the Thames, a two-minute film directed byDanny Boyle and played at the beginning of the2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, an event opened only by the Queen Elizabeth II, and held during herDiamond Jubilee. A camera traverses the route the band took in the boat theQueen Elizabeth, between Tower Bridge and Westminster, as the song plays.[47]
On 3 November 2016,Andrew Rosindell, aConservative MP, argued in anearly day motion for a return to the broadcasting of thenational anthem at the end ofBBC One transmissions each day (the practice had been dropped in 1997, due to BBC One adopting 24-hour broadcasting by simulcastingBBC News 24 overnight, renderingclosedown obsolete),[48] to commemorate theBrexit vote andBritain's subsequent withdrawing from theEuropean Union. At the evening of the same day,BBC Two'sNewsnight programme ended its nightly broadcast with host of that nightKirsty Wark saying that they were "incredibly happy to oblige" Rosindell's request, and then played a clip of the Sex Pistols' similarly named song, much to Rosindell's discontent.[49]
| Chart (1977–2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[50] | 38 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[51] | 3 |
| Spain (AFE)[52] | 14 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[53] | 2 |
| United Kingdom (OCC)[54] | 2 |
| United Kingdom (NME)[14] | 1 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[55] | Silver | 250,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
The single's picture sleeve, featuring a defaced image ofQueen Elizabeth II, was designed byJamie Reid and in 2001 was ranked No. 1 in a list of the 100 greatest record covers of all time byQ magazine.[56] A photograph of the image is held by theNational Portrait Gallery, London.[57]
| "God Save the Queen" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byMotörhead | ||||
| from the albumWe Are Motörhead | ||||
| B-side | "One More Fucking Time/God Save the Queen (Enhanced Video)" | |||
| Released | 2000 | |||
| Recorded | June–August 1999 | |||
| Studio | Karo Studios, Brackel, Germany | |||
| Length | 3:19 | |||
| Label | Steamhammer | |||
| Songwriter | John Lydon /Steve Jones /Glen Matlock /Paul Cook | |||
| Producers | Motörhead,Bob Kulick, Bruce Bouillet, Duane Barron | |||
| Motörhead singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| God Save the Queen onYouTube | ||||
A cover version by the Englishheavy metal bandMotörhead was released as a single in 2000 to promote their album,We Are Motörhead. It also appears on their covers albumUnder Cöver (2017).
The cover art gives further reference to the Sex Pistols by using the same cut-out words to form the title as the Sex Pistols' single cover.
A performance of the song recorded during the band's twenty-fifth anniversary concert atBrixton Academy, on 22 October 2000, appears on their25 & Alive Boneshaker DVD.
On the 18 March 1983 episode ofSCTV in theMel's Rock Pile segment, Mel Slirrup (Eugene Levy) has a tribute to punk rock featuring a number by the band the Queenhaters—Martin Short (lead singer),Andrea Martin (lead guitarist/back-up vocals),Eugene Levy (rhythm guitarist),Joe Flaherty (bass), andJohn Candy (drummer)—performing "I Hate the Bloody Queen", a sound-alike song that almost matches the original it is spoofing, with references to theFalklands War ("I'd like to drown the Queen/Off the coast of Argentine/Throw her off a battleship/With her Falkland war machine!") and the problems thatPrincess Diana was, and would be soon, having with her in-laws ("I feel sorry for you, Lady Di/Having a mother-in-law like that!"). This spoof of the Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen" even has its own cover version byMudhoney on the tribute albumOh Canaduh! 2.
Billy Idol performed this song with Generation Sex at Glastonbury 2023Generation Sex - God Save the Queen (Glastonbury 2023) onYouTube.
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