1. How were the Sex Pistols represented in the media?
Introduction toTheory
Stuart Halls i
representation theory is very important in highlighting the way
individuals, groups even countries havebeen represented in the media. Stuart
Halls representation theory is when the producer of information encodes the
chosen messagefor the reader to then decode, this can be flawed sometimes
as the reader can misinterpretthe information the producer has encoded if it
is not clear, or they are of the wrong demographic, this can lead to
misinformation, wrong opinions and anger over certain subjects.
Representation theory is very important in media outlets, especially in things
like newspapers and tabloids. It's importantbecause media texts can shape
people's opinions and knowledgeon incredibly important topics. An example
of this could be the use of the media around the fear of Covid-19 and how the
news outlets have used representation theory to shape people's beliefs around
the subject.
“I used to say everything is representation theory, now I say nothing is
representation theory” (IsraelGelfand, 1956)
Introduction toTopic
In this essay I plan to discuss how the Sex Pistols wererepresented in past and
modern media outlets, mainly tabloid newspapers. I willtalk about the ways
they have been negatively represented and the way that has impacted them,
and the ways they havebeen positively represented, and the ways that has
also impacted their success and notoriety.
Itis important to understand how the media outlets used representation
theory to take the Sex Pistols actions out of context to demonize the band. Itis
also importantto understand how the band wanted to be viewed in the media,
in terms of shock valuefor promotion and popularity.
2. How were the band represented negatively?
Malcolm McLaren was a very important figurein the story of the Sex Pistols
notoriety as some would argue that it was him, not the band who made the
decisions that made them so infamous. As a marketing scheme to bring
publicity to his shop, Sex, he started the band so his storewould have a unique
selling point to it, so somewould say any press attention through the band,
whether it was negative or positive would help McLarens shop to thrive.
The Sex Pistols havereceived a lot of attention in the press from their
formation in the early 1970s to their split in 1979. Mostof this attention came
at the height of their fame in 1976-1977 when itwas their behaviour as much
as their music that broughtthem national notoriety. Tabloid newspapers were
eager to report on their antics. The 'Daily Mirror’s notorious headline‘The Filth
& The Fury’ came about after their interview on Thames Televisions Today
programme.
Last minute replacements for Queen who had dropped out of the programme.
The band were given drinks beforethe show, and after Jones and Rotten swore
during the interview hostBill Grundy goaded and encouraged them to carry on
swearing on live T.V.
You could arguethat referring to someone as a ‘fucking rotter’ amongstother
choice words on live T.V. was behaviour deserving of demonization from the
press. However, theshow had only been shown in the London area but by the
time it was picked up by the national tabloids the whole country knew about it.
Itcould have very well been a deliberate action by the band, as they were
created by Malcolm McLaren as an advertising strategy for his struggling
clothes shop.
There were two reactions fromthe public after this happened.
The first was that the band skyrocketed in popularity. Mostly among teens and
young adults fromworking class backgrounds, many of whom felt ignored and
disenfranchised by society and like they didn’thave a voice.
3. Secondly there was also a more negative reaction from older adults, especially
among the middle classes. This negative reaction led to their record label EMI
releasing them fromtheir contractdue to the sheer amount of negative press
the band were getting and how bad it made the label look.
'“punish the punks”, the Daily Mirror launched a moralcrusadeagainst both
the band and punk in general, publishing a “disturbing reporton the amazing
new cult”' Savage, J. (Oct 25, 1999). The Sex Pistols
These reactions can be linked directly to Stuart Halls Representation Theory as
the target audience decoded the messagethe way the producer intended.
Whereas the people who saw the band as something to look up to after the
negative press attention, decoded the text in a way the producer didn't intend,
as they werea different demographic to the one the producer intended to
target the information at.
The release of God SaveThe Queen in 1977 was problematic for the band as
their new record label Virgin has timed its release to coincide with the Queens
silver jubilee. Levels of patriotism in the country werevery high and The Sex
Pistols challenged the general public's beliefs. This was made worseby the
satirical way in which they did it as many people thought that it was mocking
England's national anthem, which was also called God SaveThe Queen.
The album covers also featured a picture of the Queen with her features
obscured by the song title and band name, which many people took offence to
because shewas seen to be the pride of their country and mocking the royalty
was like laughing at everything that they believed in. The song could have
avoided this controversy though as it was originally going to be called No
Future, but Johnny Rotten decided at the last minute he was going to change
the name to mock the democracy.
“The British national anthem is called "God Save The Queen." This mocks it in a
big way, which did not go over well with English royalty.”? (2020) SongFacts.
"No one has actually gone further than The Sex Pistols, I don't think, in that
cultural music arena. They still challenge people." Temple, J (2000) AV Club.
4. You could arguethe band never actually had the intention to release the song
at this time though. However, Virgin did deliberately push for the song to
coincide with the jubilee purely becausethey knew it would stir up a lot of
media attention for the band.
'The tabloid press ensured Sex Pistols were constantly in the public eye after
their sackings fromEMI and A&M, and the post-Jubilee ‘God Save The Queen’
furore'. Savage, J. (Oct 25, 1999). The SexPistols.
How were the band representedpositively?
The band has got a lot of positive representation though, mostly from music
magazines such as NME and Melody Maker. NME famously gaveSex Pistols a
memorable headline ‘Four Pages of Fun’ and a classic image of the band on
their August6th
issue. This issueof NME was especially good for the band and
their representation overall as the way it was worded made the band sound a
lot friendlier than they were, so then there was a possibility for the band to be
positively represented in the tabloids.
Record Mirror, Melody Maker, NME and Sounds Magazineall voted for God
SaveThe Queen for their single of the month and although these magazines
were not particularly mainstream at the time, but they were quite powerfulin
their scene it was a lot of positive attention in the media for the band. The
album outsold Rod Stewarts track at number one, but controversially stayed at
number two, which many people we're not happy about, as they thought they
were trying to silence the band.
“In the UK, this outsold the #1 song at the time, Rod Stewart's "I Don’tWant To
Talk About It," butit mysteriously and controversially stayed at #2.”? (2020)
SongFacts.
Unlike the UK tabloids, the rock weeklies supported The Sex Pistols, with the NME
saying, “Don’t look over your shoulder, but the Sex Pistols are coming,”' These sorts
of headlines were a breath of fresh air for the band and their management as they
shone a wholly positive light on their actions and music instead of the normal
negative reaction. The rock weeklies did this because they saw the rebellion and
non-conformity in the band as something the rock scene at the time, which was
5. mostly made up of genres like glam rock and hair metal, as a breath of fresh air in
the scene and something that took the genre of rock as a whole back to its roots.
Conclusion
I conclude that The Sex Pistols were unfairly represented by the media because
many of the things they did could have been unintentional due to the sheer
amount of provocationby the tabloids and news outlets.
If they hadn’t sworn on prime-time TV, and they ended up on the show
completely by accident, there could have been a very different story as there
would have been less press backlash towards them. They may not have become
as well known or gained their notoriety.
You could also argue that they would have caused controversy somewhere else as
they did with the release of God Save The Queen and that MalcomMcclaren was
always going to try and shock people to gain publicity.
I do however think that the Grundy interview and the following media reaction
was pivotal in shaping The Sex Pistols and they would have been received very
differently if the initial reactionnever happened.
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