A great friggin' swindle? Sex Pistols, school kids and 1979

This article examines the popularity of the Sex Pistols’ song “Friggin’ in the Riggin’” and its parent album The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle. It argues that in 1979 the Sex Pistols attracted a new and younger audience, one that has been neglected in previous studies of the band, which tend instead to focus on the years 1976 and 1977 and the band’s original coterie of followers. This article locates the teenage appeal of “Friggin’ in the Riggin’” in its themes of swearing, sex and piracy. It also explores the media infrastructure that enabled young adolescents to access this music. Following on from this, the article charts the triumph of Johnny Rotten’s Sex Pistols’ narrative over that of Malcolm McLaren. The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle fell prey to notions of authenticity, coherence and the canonical tastes of young adults.

This is a preprint/original manuscript of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in Popular Music and Society, 2015, Taylor & Francis; Popular Music and Society is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2015.1034496