Interviewer: Bill Grundy
Interview Subject: Sex Pistols
Program: English television talk show, BBC2
Broadcast Date:  1 December 1976

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Ah, the Sex Pistols.

There isn’t much that hasn’t been said about this infamous punk rock band, headed by the equally notorious John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten.  Tuning into BBC2 on the night of December 1st 1976^, the general public was introduced to punk rock in a baptism of fire.

From the very beginning host Bill Grundy makes it clear that he has not done his research.  ‘They are punk rockers,’ he says.   ‘The new craze, they tell me. Their heroes?  Not the nice, clean Rolling Stones.’

Two things are clear about this statement.  First, that he is out of touch with the kids, and secondly, he obviously knows nothing about Keith Richards’ extra-curricular activities!

The Pistols themselves certainly have no doubts about how square Grundy is and take advantage of this at every opportunity.  The final nail in the coffin for Grundy is when he makes a throwaway comment to entourage member Siouxsie Sioux (of The Banshees fame) about meeting her after the show.  This results in a spray of verbal abuse from the Sex Pistols, with Steve Jones coming up with the now infamous line: ‘What a f**king rotter!’

Throughout the interview Grundy attempts, quite successfully, to goad some fairly foul-mouthed responses from his interviewees; clearly intent on exposing them as hoodlums to the greater public.

On the other hand, the Sex Pistols were yet to release their sole studio album ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’.  This train-wreck of an interview was quite possibly the greatest PR stunt a rock band has ever managed to pull off.

Rock n’ roll swindle, anyone?

Matthew Knight is a first-year student studying the Bachelor of Journalism at La Trobe University.

See the rest of upstart‘s list of 50 great interviews for journalists here.