Sex Pistols' Glen Matlock picks the 5 best punk songs, ever

What does it take to make a revolution-sparking, rabble-rousing, total-anarchy-inducing punk record for the ages?

“The attitude, the delivery, the subject matter, the sound, and the trousers. You've got to wear the right trousers,” reveals godfather of punk and actual Sex Pistol, Glen Matlock.

As the bassist of the Sex Pistols, writer of the greatest punk anthems of all time and a trailblazer whose snarling basslines and razor-sharp riffs launched a cultural revolution, he should know.

Thankfully, the sound of punk is as strong today as it was when the Sex Pistols first unleashed 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols,' in 1977. Glen Matlock’s latest album, ‘Consequences Coming,’ is fresh on the shelves and he’s currently touring solo. Meanwhile, the reformed Pistols are gearing up for some of the year’s most anticipated shows, including a date at the Royal Albert Hall in March, where Matlock will reunite with original members Paul Cook and Steve Jones - this time fronted by Frank Turner.

In honour of the new shows and near-on 50 years of anti-establishment anarchy showing how timeless punk really is, we sat down with Matlock to discover the greatest punk records ever, according to the founding father of the scene.

Strap in, prepare to pogo… and don’t forget the right trousers. Here are four of the very best and biggest influences on the genre and the Pistol himself - and one that he definitely won’t list, but which we can’t help but include. Let’s just call that Anarchy in the Q&A...

1. “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen (1963)

GM: I think the most important punk song for me, ever, was ‘Louie Louie’ by The Kingsmen. People probably wouldn’t think it’s a punk song, but I think it is, because it’s just got that right spirit.

2. “You Really Got Me” by The Kinks (1964)

GM: I think, along with The Kingsmen, The Kinks invented rock music. Everything until then was rock and roll, up until The Kinks. It’s the attitude, and it’s a very direct message, You Really Got Me. There’s one bit in the single where everybody else would have made it a 12-bar song - but The Kinks did a key change, and nobody had done that up until then. It’s like a really important sea change moment in musical history. So as well as being England’s greatest living songwriter, in terms of Ray Davis’s lyrics, I think that’s a very advanced, important musical shift that he came up with.

3. “Blank Generation” by Richard Hell and the Voidoids (1977)

GM: A very important proper punk record was Richard Hell and the Voidoids, ‘Blank Generation’, which inspired me to write ‘Pretty Vacant’ in a roundabout kind of way - in the subject matter, because I misunderstood what Richard Hell was going on about.

In ‘Blank Generation,’ it transpires he meant that we’re kind of an open book, that we can do anything we like, which is kind of true. But also what was going on in mid-Seventies London is that there was a real air of despondency around: Everybody was on strike, there was rubbish piled up in the streets, there were IRA bombings, and it seemed like there was no future, which is what ‘God Save The Queen’ was originally called. There was an air of despondency, and ‘Pretty Vacant’ was my gut reaction, almost like a primal scream reaction to that - are we going to try and do something about it? So that song was important for that reason.

4. “Roadrunner” by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers (1976)

GM: This is another important song which influenced Sex Pistols. We did a cover of this six months before the record came out, because we were mates with a guy called Nick Kent, who was a staff writer for the NME at the time. He was mates with John Cowell, who produced Jonathan Richman and Modern Lovers. He gave us a cassette with half the album on it, and it had the song Roadrunner.

It sounded like nothing else that was going on at the time; it seemed very exciting and exotic. He’s singing about Massachusetts when it’s late at night, and going to a ‘Stop and Shop’. I thought, ‘What’s a Stop and Shop?’ Then, I was in Massachusetts recording a few years back, and I actually saw a Stop and Shop. And you know what it is? It’s a shop. You can stop outside and go shopping inside! And he’s in a car that’s called a Road Runner! When we heard it, it just sounded wacky. I think if we understood what it was about at the time, we wouldn’t have probably done it.

5.…and why I won’t choose anything off ‘Never Mind The Bollocks,’ by Sex Pistols (1977)

GM: I don’t think you can have your own songs in there, because I think that’s arrogant and big headed.

...But, Matlock does share with us the favourite track he wrote for the iconic album - and how he wrote it. Which we'll say makes it pick number 5 for this list...

GM: I suppose it's got to be ‘Anarchy In The UK’. I’d had an idea - I'm a big fan of certain TV shows where they have a big opening. When I was a kid, there used to be a variety program called ‘Sunday Night At The London Palladium,’ and they had opened with a’ Sunday Night At The London Palladium’ overture. It was a big, grandiose kind of thing. I thought, we should have some music that's kind of like that, that’s like an overture for - well, it wasn't even called punk then - but an overture that was, like "here comes the band".

I was messing around, messing around, and then John [Lydon] had these lyrics, 'Anarchy in the UK,’ and we used the chord sequence that I came up with, and it all came together. Then, off we jolly well went!

• Glen Matlock’s latest album, ‘Consequences Coming’ is out now. Glen Matlock is on tour now, with shows from 27th February to 1st March, while the Sex Pistols will play the Royal Albert Hall on 24th March with Teenage Cancer Trust. More info and tour dates at glenmatlock.co.uk

All Image Credits: Tina K