Time Capsule: Nov. 12, 1977

The Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols hit #1 on the U.K. album sales chart 31 years ago.

This was quite a feat, since the album was considered "obscene" and was met with overwhelming controversy before and when it was released. Firstly, there was some debate over the title because the word "bollocks" can be used to mean "testicles."

A Nottingham record store owner was sued for displaying the album in his store window after its release, since someone considered the word "bollocks" to be obscene. A British court later ruled that "bollocks" was not obscene, since it could actually also mean "nonsense."

The album's artwork and singles were also met with a great deal of outrage. The cover of Never Mind The Bollocks was designed to look like a ransom note, which pissed a lot of people off. Secondly, "Anarchy In The U.K." and "God Save The Queen" provoked a good deal of anger.

"Anarchy In The U.K." mentions several rebel armies or paramilitaries. Johnny Rotten namedrops the "MPLA, the UDA and the IRA."

The MPLA was a paramilitary/rebel organization trying to overthrow the Portuguese colonial government in Angola. (It has ruled the country since Angola attained independence in 1975.)

The UDA, or Ulster Defense Organization, is a paramilitary group that seeks to unify Northern Ireland with Ireland. It is outlawed in the U.K. as a terrorist group, and in the '70s, it launched a violent campaign against the British government in Northern Ireland.

Likewise with the IRA, or Irish Republican Army. Though this group has now disarmed, at the time it also sought the reunification of Northern Ireland with Ireland, and was attempting to remove the British government in Northern Ireland with violence. A ceasefire had broken down between the British government and the IRA a year before Never Mind The Bollocks was released, which meant the IRA had renewed its violent campaign when the album hit stores.

"God Save The Queen," meanwhile, was seen as an attack on the Queen, especially since the single's cover art featured Queen Elizabeth II with her face and mouth blocked out by the band name and title. It also didn't help that the single was released to stores around the same time as the Queen's Silver Jubilee, which prompted BBC to refuse to play it.

Not only did the album feature songs railing against the British monarchy and advocating (though tongue-in-cheek) anarchism, its songs also tackled abortion ("Bodies") and one particularly vitriolic track was a slap in the face to their former record company ("E.M.I." - the Sex Pistols were dropped by their original record company immediately after "Anarchy In The U.K." was released).

In any case, the album eventually hit the top of the British charts, and arguably altered not only music history but British society itself. Poking fun at the royals became something that is now considered normal.

Additionally, though the Sex Pistols were not the first punk rock band, and though they broke up just three months after this album was released, they left an indelible stamp on music and influenced arguably every punk rock band to come after.