Side 1
Holidays in the Sun
Bodies
No Feelings
Liar
God Save the Queen
Problems

Side 2
Seventeen
Anarchy in the UK
Submission
Pretty Vacant
New York
EMI

The Sex Pistols one and only true studio album. The legendary ‘Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols’. Pre-release orders were so high it immediately charted at Number 1 in the Album chart. “Sex Pistols Number 1”.

Now considered one of the greatest albums of all time, the importance and power of ‘Never Mind the Bollocks’ can not be disputed. There was nothing like it before (or since). Grounded in Steve Jones’ relentless full-on rhythm guitar and Paul Cook’s no-nonsense drumming ‘NMTB’ had a genuine wall of sound. In John Rotten Lydon they also had a frontman, lyricist, and vocalist like no other. The albums’ subject matter covered everything from Monarchy to Abortion to Record Companies. Nothing was sacred.

Sid Vicious, who replaced original bassist Glen Matlock in February 1977, does not play on the album. Although rumour has it he appears somewhere in the mix on ‘Bodies’. With the exception of ‘Anarchy in the UK’ – which features Matlock – bass duties were supplied by Steve Jones.

The album’s working title was ‘God Save The Sex Pistols’ but changed to the far superior ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols’. A catchphrase coined through Steve Jones. On the album’s release, more controversy surrounded the band when police took exception to its title being displayed in a shop window. The Sex Pistols were charged with the Indecent Advertising Act of 1889! “Bollocks” is a slang name for testicles; however, the Pistols’ lawyer proved that it was actually derived from a nickname for clergymen. The band were found “reluctantly” not guilty. Bollocks was legal!

Due to (mis)management shenanigans against the record company ‘NMTB’ got its first release in France, via Barclay Records, shortly before it was due to be released in the UK by Virgin. To help counteract the French import it was decided to bring forward the UK release by one week to October 28th 1977. The band also insisted that a 12th track was added to the album, ‘Submission’. (Very apt. As it was written as a backhanded piss-take of the management). An estimated 50,000 copies of ‘NMTB’ had already been pressed without ‘Submission’ so it was decided to insert the track as a free 7″ single (along with a fold-out ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ collage poster).

Since its original LP release ‘NMTB’ has been reissued countless times in a variety of formats and editions, including a picture disc in 1978. Some sleeve misprints include ‘Belsen Was A Gas’ however the track does not appear on the album. However, a “lost” demo of the track – recorded at the band’s Denmark Street rehearsal room in September 1977 –  surfaced in 2012 on the NMTB super-deluxe box set.

The US and Canadian version of ‘NMTB’, originally released by Warner Brothers, November 11th 1977, was issued with salmon pink/green artwork different to the UK release and included a wraparound inner sleeve. It also had a slightly altered running order with ‘God Save The Queen’ and ‘Problems’ swapped. The salmon pink/green artwork first appeared on the original French Barclay Records release.

The LP was re-issued in its original form as part of the limited edition 2007 UK vinyl re-issue series by Virgin Records. The original US version was also re-issued on vinyl by Rhino on October 21st 2008.

2012 saw the album remastered and re-issued by Universal Music Catalogue UK on CD, deluxe 2 CD, super-deluxe 4 disc box set and double vinyl LP. A smaller version of the 2012 super-deluxe box set, with the same tracklisting, was released in 2017 for the 40th anniversary of ‘NMTB‘.