God Save the Queen

The song started life under the title “No Future”, co-written by bassist Glen Matlock, who had left the band by the time it came out. Guitarist Steve Jones remembered that Matlock's first version sounded nothing like the finished record, more like an early Beatles tune. Renamed after the national anthem, it was released on 27 May 1977, right in the middle of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. The band insisted the timing was not planned, and John Lydon later said you write a song like that because you love the English and are fed up with them being mistreated. The reaction was immediate. The BBC banned it outright, stations under the Independent Broadcasting Authority refused to play it, and Boots, WHSmith and Woolworths declined to stock it. On the Jubilee holiday, 7 June, the band tried to play it from a boat on the Thames near Westminster, and eleven people, including manager Malcolm McLaren, were arrested when it docked. During the uproar Lydon and the record's producers were attacked with a razor outside a London pub. It still reached number two on the official chart in Jubilee week, behind Rod Stewart, while the NME chart put it at number one. Reports later suggested that sales from Virgin's own shops had been left out that week, which fed the lasting belief that the chart was rigged. Early copies pressed on the A&M label before the band moved to Virgin are now among the most valuable British records. Few songs have shown so clearly how much a three-minute single could unsettle the establishment.