20 Years Ago Today, This Legendary Band Refused the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
For most artists, an invitation to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame would be a great honor. But that certainly was not the case for one legendary punk rock band that famously turned down its induction into the Hall of Fame 20 years ago today.
The Sex Pistols are undoubtedly one of the most influential punk rock bands of all time, but when they were finally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, they had no interest at all.
The Sex Pistols
While the Sex Pistols only lasted about two and a half years during their initial career, they became quite influential in the history of music, essentially initiating and pioneering the punk movement in the United Kingdom with both their music and their overall aesthetic. Their clothes and hairstyles became influential on punk fashion and overall subculture.
The band formed in London in 1975, built around vocalist John Lydon — better known as Johnny Rotten — alongside guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, and bassist Glen Matlock, who was later replaced by the notorious Sid Vicious. They were dropped by two major labels before their debut album even came out, banned from venues across the U.K., and became a genuine moral panic in the British press, all before most people had even heard a note of their music.
Their May 1977 single "God Save the Queen," which called the monarchy a "fascist regime," was timed deliberately to land during the national celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. The BBC banned it immediately, and nearly every independent radio station in Britain followed suit, making it the most censored record in the country's history.
Their lone studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, dropped in 1977 and remains one of the most important records ever made. The band collapsed shortly after as a result of internal tensions, Vicious's spiral into addiction, and a disastrous 1978 U.S. tour that ended with Lydon famously asking a San Francisco crowd, "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" before walking off stage.
'We're Not Coming'
Despite a rather short initial existence, the Sex Pistols are without a doubt one of the most influential bands of all time. As such, they were eventually inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in after being passed over five times previously. However, they were not interested in the honor.
On March 13, 2006, the Sex Pistols responded to the "honor" with a fittingly irreverant handwritten note published on their website where the band flatly refused to attend the induction ceremony.
The letter, riddled with spelling errors and grammatical inaccuracies, referred to the Hall of Fame as a "piss stain" and emphatically declared "we're not coming."
"Next to the Sex Pistols, rock and roll and that hall of fame is a piss stain. Your museum. Urine in wine. We're not coming. We're not your monkeys. If you voted for us, hope you noted your reasons. Your anonymous as judges but your still music industry people. We're not coming. Your not paying attention. Outside the [expletive]-stream is a real Sex Pistol," the letter, which is still published on their website, reads.
A few days before the ceremony, Lydon appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and explained why he and his bandmates refused the invitation and had no intention of having anything to do with the Hall of Fame.
"They never cared who we were," Lydon told Kimmel. "They never bothered to correct the incredible fatal, bad mistakes about our legend and legacy in their museum and up until now, they've rejected our nomination for three years running, and now they want a piece of us. Well, guess what? Kiss this!"
It's perhaps the most fitting way for the band to end up in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.