UPDATE June 4, 2022:

God Save The Queen is No. 1 AGAIN!!!

Released May 27, 1977

Great timing!

Sex Pistol Paul Cook:

“We didn’t think of the Jubilee. We didn’t know it was coming.

We didn’t bring it out specially… but it’s good it’s come out now

because the Jubilee is a load of bollocks.”

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The original single release of the Sex Pistols song in 1977 coincided with the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations. This caused a tremendous controversy in the UK. The Pistols were dropped by A&M records after only six days. 25,000 copies of the record were destroyed by the label. They few surviving copies are now among the most collectable records in rock music.

After the A&M debacle, the band was immediately signed to Virgin. A “God Save The Queen” single was then released with a picture sleeve. Despite being banned by the BBC, the track hit No.1 on the NME chart. It reached No.2 on the Official UK Singles Chart, amidst rumors that it had been deliberately kept from the top spot.

John Lydon told Piers Morgan in May 2022,

“I didn’t write it specifically for the Jubilee. That was my train of thought. It was several months before we did that boat party It’s very anti-royalist, but it’s not anti-human.

I’ve gotta tell the world this, you musn’t presume that I’m completely dead against the royal family as human beings, I’m not. I’m actually really, really proud of the queen for surviving and doing well I applaud her for that – that’s a fantastic achievement. I’m not a curmudgeon about that. I just think that if I’m paying my tax money to support this system, I should have a say-so in how it’s spent…

(He doesn’t want to see an end to the monarchy)…

I do love pageantry. I’m a football fan how could I not? I like watching royal weddings because I really did enjoy watching spitfires and B-52s and the like, flying over the palace. I get quite emotional with all that. I I love me country, I love my people…and everything about it. But there’s problems in it. I think I have the right to say so… I wrote ‘God Save the Queen’ (believe me, I wrote it – not the others. This is me expressing my fully competent point of view.”

US: Rare Sex Pistols God Save The Queen single sold for $22,000

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2019/01/us-rare-sex-pistols-record-sold-for-22-000.html

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Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen Revisited 2022

To celebrate the Queen’s 2022 Platinum Jubilee, director Julien Temple has released a new video for the classic single, “God Save The Queen”. The new clip combines footage from the performance video shot by Temple at London’s Marquee Club in May 1977, with footage of the band’s notorious Thames river boat party on the Silver Jubilee day in June that same year.

Watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-38GX2YQig

2022 ANNIVERSARY REISSUES TO MARK THE QUEEN’S PLATINUM JUBILEE

Already sold out!

To celebrate the anniversary of an iconic and era-defining release, two versions of the single are being re-released. In honor of the scrapped A&M release, 1,977 copies of that label’s version of the single will be available, while a further 4,000 copies of the Virgin single will also be put on sale. Both versions recreate the original artwork, with the A&M edition featuring its generic company sleeve and pressed on silver/platinum vinyl. The Virgin single has the absolutely iconic Sex Pistols artwork designed by Jamie Reid.

https://www.nme.com/news/music/sex-pistols-to-reissue-god-save-the-queen-to-mark-the-queens-platinum-jubilee-3217322