'Punk and the Pistols' at Regent Street Cinema

Regent Street Cinema put on a screening of an Arena documentary from 1995, 'Punk and the Pistols', and I was there. I didn't see the documentary back in 1995 so it was a bit odd to watch something that was already over 20 years old that was looking back at something that happened 20 years before the film was made - over 40 years ago in total.

Views on punk change over time, including the people who were directly involved, and they express their views differently. What we saw were views stuck in time in the early '90s as some of the main protagonists looked back to the '70s. Interviews with Vivien Westwood, Malcolm McLaren and Jordan, from Siouxsie Sioux and Captain Sensible and, of course, from Glen Matlock, Paul Cook and John Lydon (but not from Steve Jones). Interestingly, the documentary was made before the Pistols' first reunion gigs. There were some great clips of Poly Styrene and the Damned and even a brief look at the Clash and The Jam. There were other names interviewed including Richard Hell who claimed to have invented punk and said the New York Dolls invented throwing up in airports (personally, I suspect it was the beer and spirits that caused throwing up in airports). It was great fun and it was nice to look back at my youth.

The Q&A afterwards was a different matter entirely. We had Paul Tickell, the director of the documentary, and Jon Savage, punk chronicler. It was interesting to hear Paul talk about the background to some of the film, the logistical problems, delays in broadcasting until they'd secured an interview with John Lydon and his own memories of the time. Jon Savage tried to be a bit more intellectual and wide ranging and a little bit smug, saying that he thought punk was over by 1977 when it actually just broke out of London to the wider country.  

The Q&A was a car crash as these things usually are and the chair did nothing to try to manage or direct the session. It ended up with the usual thing of people making statements of their own views rather than questions and discussion, asking questions about topics that have already been covered and, because it's about punk, arguing with each other. O the fun we had.

The positive thing about the Q&A session (awful as it was) was that people still cared. That is a good thing. At one point Jon Savage commented that all the original punks were now in their 60s and a lot of the audience were as well (quite clearly in many cases). Time moves on but I wonder whether people are living in the past or whether they're living their own truths? I hope it's the latter.

Never Mind The Baubles: Xmas '77 With The Sex Pistols

Did you see 'Never Mind The Baubles' on Boxing Day on BBC2? It's a one hour documentary about the Sex Pistols' last UK gig on Christmas Day in 1977 in aid of striking firemen in Huddersfield. An afternoon gig for the children of the town and the evening was for the adults filmed by Julien Temple. You'd never guess from this film that the band imploded a matter of weeks later in San Francisco.

It's as much a film about Christmas's past and the '70s as it is about the Pistols. The mainly black and white footage looking back onto what I always recall as a black and white world, the politics and the strikes and the furore around four lads in their early 20s who were now the scourge of the country. I recall the television news articles at the time showing churches and local politicians demanding that the Pistols weren't allowed to play in their town. This is, of course, well documented in Julien Temple's film, 'The Filth and The Fury'. It seems astonishing these days that a bunch of scruffy lads with guitars could be public enemy Number 1 but that's what happened.

So what on earth were they doing on Christmas Day hosting a party and playing a gig for a bunch of Yorkshire kids?

From the more recent interviews with John, Steve and Paul about the gig, it seems they were just grateful that someone, somewhere was letting them play. It's great to see the kids jumping round in Pistols shirts and John cutting the Christmas cake and handing it round to the kids. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. And then getting on stage and playing those classic songs and, as Steve says at one point in astonishment, not swearing during 'Bodies' (there are a lot of 'fucks' in that song). And John commenting that he'd had a word with Sid to tone down his rock star attitude.

From the sound of it they played blistering set, a rock band at the top of their game pulling out all the stops. Who could have guessed it would all fall part so soon afterwards.

I wonder what young people thought of the film as it transported us all into that far off country called the 1970s? It wasn't that long ago and everything seemed to be so different then. Or was it? Strikes, poverty, people living on the breadline? Some things don't change, sadly. To some people that film is probably history but to me it's my past.

It's a thoughtful and a delightful film that should be repeated every Christmas. Well done Julien and well done to BBC2 for showing it at Christmas. And thank you to the Sex Pistols of course!