Fact #117367

EYE WITNESS feature - interviews and research by Johnny Black


Derek Green (managing director, A + M Records) : I’m very unusual in the music business because I deliberately don’t keep an ear out for the current sounds. I’m interested in signing music because it’s good rather than just because it’s topical. When Malcolm McLaren approached me in January 1977, he was coming to probably the only record label boss in London who had never heard the Sex Pistols but, when he played me the music, I loved it. Never Mind The Bollocks is still one of my all time favourite albums. The other companies were hesitating because of the Pistols’ reputation, but I went after them harder than anything.

Alan McGhee (plugger, A + M) : We were just amazed that we’d signed this band. A + M was like a family label. We had the Carpenters and Supertramp, and then suddenly we had The Sex Pistols. But Derek had realised that we needed something like that to bring us up to date.

Kit Buckler (head of press, A + M) : A couple of weeks before the official signing, we had a meeting in Derek’s office. It was all very orderly and logical, which was Malcolm McLaren’s style. He was a remarkably well-organised guy. However, he does have a tendency to claim credit for things he didn’t do, like the Buckingham Palace idea. We were kicking ideas around in the meeting and, as the first A + M single was to be God Save The Queen, I suggested we should just go for the most outrageous option and do a signing photocall at Buck House.

Derek Green : The real signing had taken place at our publishing company offices, Rondor Music, two days before the stunt. I did it there because I wanted to keep the band away from A + M as long as possible. As much as I loved the music, I wanted to delay any clash between them and my staff as long as possible.the signing at Rondor was the first time I actually met the band. It came as quite a shock when the signing took place, that Glen Matlock wasn’t in the band. It had been Matlock’s name all the way through the negotiations and then, on the day, there was Sid Vicious, an unknown quantity.

I made it clear to Malcolm that I liked the Buckingham Palace idea, that I would go along to the signing, but I wouldn’t be in the photographs. It would have trivialised my position as MD. So I went on ahead of their limos and mingled with the crowd on the traffic island in front of Buckingham Palace. I remember standing there thinking it was very untypical of me. I was uncomfortable.

Brian Harrigan (journalist, Melody Maker) : McLaren had invited us all by telegram. They arrived late, in a Daimler, and circled the island twice, giving V-signs and pulling faces at us. Then they stopped and some heavies got out of another car behind them and set up a rickety old trestle table.

Kit Buckler : Sid had downed half a bottle of Bacardi in the car on the way, so he was totally blitzed when they arrived. Lydon, however, was lucid and charismatic.

Chalkie Davies (photographer, NME) : I had this technique where I would wait at the end of the row of photographers, then, just at the vital moment, I’d jump forward, squat down and get the picture. As I did this, a policeman from the front of the Buck House gates wandered over.

Brian Harrigan : He asked the classic, “Wot’s goin’ on ‘ere, then?” just as the band was getting ready to sign on the dotted line.

Chalkie Davies : There was no real aggro. In fact, if you look at the pictures, you’ll see that John Lydon is flashing the peace sign. I think that kind of defused the situation a bit.

Alan McGhee : We had anticipated that the police would move us along pretty smartly, so we knew the whole thing had to happen fast. The guys signed the papers and it was all over in maybe ten minutes. The police seemed more bemused by it than anything. They didn’t seem to know who the band was.

Chalkie Davies : About then a big blue police van rolled up with more coppers in it, and this lot seemed to understand what kind of stunt was being pulled, so we were outnumbered and we just legged it away as fast as we could.

Chris Thomas (producer) : I had been mixing God Save The Queen at Wessex Studio so I phoned Malcolm to find out where the band were, so that they could come and listen to it, and as it turned out they were outside Buckingham Palace, signing their new contract, but Malcolm decided to get them down here anyway.

Derek Green : After the signing, we piled into the cars and drove in to the Apex Room at the Regent Palace Hotel in Piccadilly, where we were to hold the official press conference.

Sid Vicious : We were all riding in the back of this big limousine pissed out of our heads. Me and John beat Cook up, giving him a black eye - it was a right laugh. Malcolm's over in one corner screaming "Help! Help!" and we were all beating the fuck out of each other.

Johnny Rotten : Again, the stories are wonderfully over-exaggerated. There was a huge fight in the car, and I really wanted to clobber Malcolm, but I couldn’t get to him. I think it was about the lack of activity, not doing enough gigs, not rehearsing and basically all feeling some kind of spite about each other.

Chris Thomas : So, it’s ten to one, the kids are out in the playground having their lunch break at the school next door, and this limo rolls up and the four of them get out absolutely pissed, and with a bottle of gin each. They were drinking champagne at the reception for the signing, now they’ve each got a bottle of gin. So all the kids ran over, and I believe one of the school mistresses came out and said, ‘Come along now, children, come away from there.’ to which John, I think, went, ‘Fuck off, you…’ and that was it. Ten minutes later we were surrounded by police, because she’d phoned to complain.

Derek Greene : The press conference was even more uncomfortable than the stunt had been. I had to sit on the same stage with them. I can remember inching my chair back so I wouldn’t attract attention. Unfortunately, a foreign journalist spotted me and asked a question but, just as I was about to reply, Sid let off a huge fart, which was the best possible answer anyway.

The impression is always that the Pistols were totally anarchic but John Lydon was very much on the case. For example, he had been well primed by Malcolm Mclaren to make sure that all the tour dates were got across to the media, and he did that.

Brian Harrigan : When the official press conference was over, we were given a chance to grab a Pistol each for a quick chat. There was a huge queue for Johnny, so I went for the new boy, Sid. He looked like an alien. Skin like parchment, unbelievably thin, seemed to have no eyeballs. He had a bottle of Smirnoff in his hand but, when he spoke, the image shattered. I asked him what he’d say to critics of the Sex Pistols and he replied, “I wouldn’t say anything. I’d just biff them on the nose.” It was comical, almost P.G. Wodehouse.

Derek Green : The way they treated the press was breathtaking. I couldn’t decide whether it was good or bad, because it was just totally new behaviour, something I’d never seen before. Still, we seemed to have achieved what we’d set out to do, and I had acquired a deep respect for Mclaren and his ability to manipulate.

Kit Buckler : They came back to A + M afterwards. I remember watching Sid throwing up in the toilets.

Alan McGhee : They were just utterly obnoxious and disgusting. Johnny Rotten molested a secretary called Kim. One of them went to the ladies’ loo and smashed a window. He must have cut his arm because there was blood everywhere.

Bob Harris (presenter, Old Grey Whistle Test) : I was in the Speakeasy late that night with my friend George Nicholson. The Pistols had apparently caused mayhem at A + M, and were continuing the celebration when they ran into us. In their minds, I was the epitome of everything they hated.

Jah Wobble was with them and he asked me when The Pistols would be on Whistle Test. I said it wasn’t something I wanted to discuss, and he took a swing at me. All hell broke loose. Glasses were shattered, Sid slashed George on the head and wrist with a broken bottle.

Bob Harris : We had fifteen to twenty people coming towards us with bottles. It took about 30 people to get George and I out of the club. It was scary. There was George in the reception area covered in blood. (Source : Encore online magazine, February 2009)

Bob Harris : I was knocked to the floor and my back was cut. I found myself backed up against a wall with these guys coming towards me. I started trying to reason with them but, fortunately, about six guys stepped in between us, and we got out.

Bob Harris : By this time the word had got out at The Roxy club nearby. Soon after we left, there was kind of a riot on that little section of Margaret Street. It was cordoned off. It was ridiculous. (Source : Encore online magazine, February 2009)

Bob Harris : I took George to Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith. He needed fourteen stitches.

Kit Buckler : Derek Green was very affected by how it all went. He hated the more violent side of them. He actually went off to a hotel in Brighton for a couple of days, to be alone and do a bit of soul-searching. Apart from that, there had been an adverse reaction from some of the other A + M artists. Rick Wakeman, for one, sent a telegram making it clear he didn’t want to be on the same label as them.

Derek Green : Four days later, I rang up Jerry Moss, the co-owner of A + M, in LA, and told him I was resigning. I said I still felt that the band was right, the music was great, but I just couldn’t handle the personal side of it. Someone said I must have lost my nerve. Fair comment. I was qualified to market them, but the rest of it - I was out of my depth. Jerry was amazing. He said, “Derek, what you’re really doing is asking us to choose between you and them. We know you. We trust you. Drop them.”

Alan McGhee : Ultimately, I’d say that Derek’s tactic was aimed at changing the image of A + M, and those four days certainly achieved that. I doubt that we’d have signed The Police or Squeeze if the Sex Pistols thing hadn’t paved the way.