"God Save the Queen" | ||||
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Single by Sex Pistols | ||||
from the album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols | ||||
B-side | "No Feeling" (A&M release)/"Did You No Wrong" (Virgin release) | |||
Released | 27 May 1977 | |||
Format | Vinyl | |||
Recorded | October 1976, March 1977, Wessex Sound Studios, London | |||
Genre | Punk rock | |||
Length | 3:20 | |||
Label | Virgin, A&M | |||
Songwriter(s) | Glen Matlock, John Lydon, Paul Thomas Cook, Stephen Philip Jones | |||
Producer(s) | Chris Thomas, Bill Price | |||
Sex Pistols singles chronology | ||||
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"God Save the Queen" | ||||
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Single by Motörhead | ||||
from the album We Are Motörhead | ||||
B-side | "One More Fucking Time/God Save the Queen (Enhanced Video)" | |||
Released | 2000 | |||
Format | CD single | |||
Recorded | June–August, 1999 at Karo Studios, Brackel, Germany | |||
Genre | Crossover thrash | |||
Length | 3:19 | |||
Label | Steamhammer | |||
Songwriter(s) | John Lydon / Steve Jones / Glen Matlock / Paul Cook | |||
Producer(s) | Motörhead, Bob Kulick, Bruce Bouillet, Duane Barron | |||
Motörhead singles chronology | ||||
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"God Save the Queen" is a song by the British punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was later included on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977. The record's lyrics, as well as the cover, were controversial at the time, and both the BBC and the Independent Broadcasting Authority refused to play the song. The song is an attack on the treatment of working-class people in England in the 1970s by the government.
The song reached #1 on the NME charts in the United Kingdom, and made it to #2 on the official UK Singles Chart as used by the BBC. This led to accusations by some that the charts had been "fixed" to prevent the song from reaching No. 1.
The single was released on 27 May 1977, and was regarded by many of the general public as an assault on Queen Elizabeth II and the monarchy. The title is taken directly from "God Save the Queen", the national anthem of the United Kingdom. At the time it was highly controversial, firstly for its equation of the Queen with a "fascist regime", and secondly for the lyric "there is no future in England's dreaming". According to Glen Matlock, who had co-written the song although he was no longer a member of the band by the time it was released, the bass was inspired by The Move's Fire Brigade.
Although many believe it was created because of the Silver Jubilee, the band denies it, Paul Cook saying that "It wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone."Johnny Rotten has explained the lyrics as follows: "You don't write 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're fed up with them being mistreated." He intended to evoke sympathy for the English working class, and a general resentment towards the monarchy.