Glen Matlock finally tells his side of the Sex Pistols story
Here’s a name that doesn’t always get top billing in the punk rock mythology: Glen Matlock. The man co-wrote ten of the twelve tracks on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols — arguably the most influential punk album ever made — and yet somehow his story has always been told around the edges. That’s about to change.
VMI Worldwide has announced that I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol, the autobiographical documentary based on Matlock’s own tell-all memoir, drops on all major digital platforms in the U.S. on May 26. Pre-orders kick off May 12 on Apple TV. Consider this essential viewing for anyone who’s ever safety-pinned a jacket or thrown a record across a room in righteous fury.
The Man Behind the Riffs
Matlock is a founding member of the Sex Pistols and the guy responsible for a huge chunk of their musical DNA — including songs like Anarchy in the U.K. and God Save the Queen. The film traces the band’s formation through their explosive, chaotic rise: the search for a singer, Steve Jones’ particularly colorful extracurriculars, the raw energy of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s shop SEX, and the bleak-but-electric backdrop of early ’70s Britain that made punk not just possible, but necessary.
In Matlock’s own words: “For anybody interested in the birth of British punk and its effect on the then wider music scene, I’d suggest it’s essential viewing — but then I would say that!”
A Who’s Who of Punk Royalty
The documentary brings together an impressive lineup of rock legends and scene veterans to round out the story. Joining Matlock, Steve Jones, and Paul Cook are Debbie Harry, Clem Burke, and Chris Stein of Blondie; Billy Idol; Wayne Kramer of MC5; Fat Mike of NOFX; Rat Scabies of The Damned; Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats; Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys; Kenney Jones of The Who and Small Faces; Tracii Guns of L.A. Guns; and a whole crew of producers, designers, and architects of the era. It’s basically a punk rock Avengers assembly.
The film is directed by Andre Relis (Randy Rhoads: Reflections of a Guitar Icon) and Nick Mead (Who Do I Think I Am?).
Oh, and There’s a World Tour
The documentary’s arrival is timed perfectly — the Sex Pistols (Jones, Cook, and Matlock, featuring Frank Carter on vocals) are heading out on a 50th Anniversary World Tour this year. After international summer dates, the North American leg launches September 11 in Dallas, TX at the historic Longhorn Ballroom and wraps October 18 at The Palladium in Hollywood, CA. Tickets are on sale now at the band’s website.
Fifty years of punk. One documentary. Zero apologies. Go watch it.
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