Sex Pistols - Stepping Stone

[ELVIS]

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[FORD]

Believe it or not, it took almost three years to make that song (sort of). The basic track was recorded early in 1976 at one of the earliest Pistols recording sessions. These tapes were dug up some time in late 1978 - after Johnny Rotten had already left the band, and Steve Jones & Paul Cook overdubbed their guitar and drum parts, so the songs could be included on the "Great Rock n Roll Swindle" soundtrack.

They recorded a version of "Johnny B.Goode" in the same session that was fucking hilarious (or fucking ridiculous, as Johnny Rotten himself said)

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[ELVIS]

How can you not know the words to Johnny B. Goode ??

[Panamark]

Pistols Rock !

If you get the chance to see the Classic albums series
(pops up on VH1) checkout the Never mind the bollocks one..
Awesome... Johnny is a really interesting dude to listen to.

Even though it was a mish mash whacked together,
I quite liked the stuff off Swindle, The Ronnie Biggs song,
Silly Thing, Lonely Boy, and of course Rock and Roll Swindle....

Shame we never got Bollocks part 2 !

I was in a band at one point that covered stepping stone
in the sex pistols style. Ace fun hitting those big power chords
with the DS-1 distortion set to 11 when you are 15 years old...

[FORD]

Richard Branson of Virgin Records tried to make "Bollocks II" a reality. Jones & Cook had recorded an album as "The Professionals". Branson invited Lydon out to his mansion on some pretext of a friendly visit, then begged Johnny to sing on the album. John wasn't having any of it. Probably still a lot of raw feelings then, because Jones & Cook sided with Malcolm McLaren in the original Sex Pistols meltdown.

The Professionals album turned out pretty good even without Johnny though. Not quite the Sex Pistols, but the next best thing.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp0YmTaYxBc

(sorry, this stupid moron doesn't "allow" embedding. Probably to keep the RIAA trolls away from his videos.)

[Panamark]

FORD, do you know if John was offered lyrics and some form
of input on the material ? On the interviews from the Classic Album
show, clearly he was a huge part of the songwriting process.
Maybe he was pissed off at the whole Mc'Claren deal and the
late inclusion ? If he is pissed off, he doesnt hold back.. lol...
I will get mixed feelings listening to this, either way,
if its good or bad. Hey its not too late to grab the masters
and whack Johnny on there !!

[FORD]

If Johnny had agreed to do it at all, he probably would have insisted on his own lyrics, since he thought The Professionals sounded too much like a "Ramones ripoff" (or so he says in his biography "ROTTEN: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs.")

The majority of the songwriting on the official Sex Pistols catalog was lyrics by Johnny and music by original bass player Glen Matlock, though Steve Jones probably came up with some of the later tunes. I don't think anyone else wrote any lyrics though, at least until the Swindle-era stuff when Johnny was out of the band.