Happy Jubilee, Ma’am
DURINGQUEEN Elizabeth II’S Silver Jubilee in 1977, the Sex Pistols put the fear of God into the British establishment by releasing God Save the Queen, a song which took aim at the ‘‘fascist regime’’ of the British monarchy.
With the Queen celebrating her Diamond Jubilee this month, Virgin Records is marking the 35th anniversary of the now-classic single with a re-release.
Newzealand has a connection to the Sex Pistols in the form of the late, great music journalist Dylan Taite, who would stop at nothing to secure that interview. In one of the Pistols’ first official interviews, Taite interviewed the band outside the gates of Buckingham Palace.
Alongside Taite Sr was his son, John Taite, who now works for the Bbcworldwide innewyork. While only knee-high at the time, John has some vivid memories of the day.
‘‘[Sex Pistols frontman] Johnny Rotten, being the prick he is, thought it would be a great old laugh to steal the sweets out of the hands of the journalist’s son, who was loitering in the background.’’
Following in his father’s footsteps, John Taite was able to share the memory with Rotten nearly 20 years later when the Sex Pistols played Auckland on their Filthy Lucre tour.
‘‘I was doing a story for Rip It Up and I started off the interview by telling him, ‘By the way, you bastard, you probably don’t remember this, but you stolemysweets when I was 3 years old’.
‘‘He denied it in the beginning, but later on that evening, after a couple of drinks, he came over and apologised and he said, ‘I think I probably did steal your sweets – no hard feelings’.’’