"No Future? The Sex Pistols and the Silver Jubilee"

Catherine Ellis, Department of History, Toronto Metropolitan University

With their scandalous top-10 hit “God Save the Queen,” the Sex Pistols entered legend in British popular music. In 1977, the song was important not only for its role in establishing punk as a new musical paradigm, but also as a statement in the year of Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee. Most contemporary critics understood the punk ethos to be antithetical to the spirit of the Jubilee year and the Sex Pistols were ostracized for their presumption of involvement in the festivities. More recent scholarship has provided important insights into the “authenticity” and cultural impact of punk music as an expression of young people’s anger; dissected the 1970s as a “lost” decade of crisis and decline for Britain; and reflected on the continued significance of the monarchy. I will build on this work by highlighting areas of convergence between popular music, youth culture, and Jubilee fervour in late 1970s Britain. I also propose to use Peter Bailey’s concept of working-class “knowingness” to dissect popular reactions to young people in the context of the Jubilee celebrations. Located against the background of Britain in the late 1970s, the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen” defies simple readings, as does the Silver Jubilee itself. This paper will use the Sex Pistols’ song to explore the co-existence of nostalgia and intergenerational strife in postwar British national identity.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 41. Challenges of Childhood in the Late Twentieth Century