Have Biopics gone too far?

If anyone should like this (and I admit I did), it should be Johnny. It’s such an obvious apology and admission from Steve that Johnny was right, Johnny was what made the band special, Johnny was the moral compass in the midst of madness... I don’t think I’ve ever seen a character in a biopic shown so much respect and reverence.

In the early 2000s I worked at a record store in LA (Amoeba) that Steve Jones would come into at least once a week. So over the course of four years I talked to him a lot. When I saw the ad’s for Pistol I just assumed I would hate it with a fiery passion, the same way I had hated CBGB and Bohemian Rhapsody and practically every other biopic I’ve ever seen. So I was kind of stunned when I not only didn’t hate it, but I actually felt it was about as good as any ‘Biopic’ of a band or music scene was ever likely to get. And because of my acquaintance with Jones, I thought, “I don’t know about all of the characters being portrayed. But the guy playing Steve is nailing his personality perfectly”. I felt like I was back at Amoeba talking to him. And as others in this thread have already said, it felt as though it was Steve’s apology to Johnny. Lydon comes off as the only member of the band to really understand what was going on. And considering that this was based on Jones memoir, that’s a pretty honest thing for him to acknowledge.

Like all biopics this was 'loosely' based on someone's autobiography, in this case Steve Jones. It was never going to be 100% accurate and it was always going to have it's fair share of fiction. I have been a fan for over 40 years and found it entertaining and it also helped to keep the Pistols legend alive for a younger generation. The court case etc was well John just being John, no one would really expect anything less to be honest.

As a massive pistols fan I genuinely loved it, what do you expect from Hollywood? This was miles ahead of most biopics especially recent ones like bohemian rhapsody and The dirt.

I really love the way the show was filmed with that grainy hazy filter to give it that look from tv in the 70s looks so good

Just watching the series, hats off to the cast and Danny Boyle for an excellent effort in "trying" to recreate the Sex Pistols story. As a big fan in the 1970s i have watched this with a critical eye but have actually been enjoying it and chuckling at some scenes. So the biopic isn't accurate, well what historical re-enactment ever is, but it at least provides a flavour of how this great band came about. Well done Steve Jones with his book Lonely Boy and getting this mini series out there. Should have been a film though. cheers m dears!

I saw a interview with Chrissie Hynde and she stated she was going to marry Sid to stay in the country. He didn’t show up so she ask John. This whole thing with Steve is news to me. Go figure.

I got into punk rock in 1978 in junior high school in Orange County, California. I was never able to see the original Sex Pistols live with Sid, but I have seen PIL a couple times which has Johnny Lydon on vocals. The first time I saw them I thought it was just a scam to get money off his name. I have also seen The Professionals a few times, with Steve Jones and Paul Cook. I honestly like The Professionals better musically then I did PIL. But that just might be because they played more Sex Pistols songs along with their own. Sid Vicious had a great future, it is too bad that he OD'd and died. He did not kill Nancy! It was probably a drug dealer.

250 items in my collection, met glen,and John, love the band seen them six times live,not seen pistol yet mixed feelings about it.ive bought the mini album today great demos from matlock period he was a decent bass player.

The series looks and feels incredible, the set accuracy is excellent, the acting is good, the band playing is, maybe, too good. I doubt the Pistols ever sounded that good live. If you can disband any notion you know better than the people who were there and ride out the fictional liberties, it's a really good series. I grew up in Islington, same as Lydon, went to the same school (SWoY), and worked in Soho in the early 80's. Doesn't make me an expert on the Pistols but, it does give me a knowledge of the environment. So yeh, worth a watch for the nostalgia alone.

hahah this was funny, safe to say there was love and hate for this mini-series but liked it overall. loved Toby Wallace!!!!

Like all good myths, there is always an element of truth. It this case, there really was a band called The Sex Pistols, and they were in Britain in the late-70s.

it should be a law that only a film about a rock band should be made by fans of that rock band

I liked it. Whatever historical inconsistencies and how much fairytale it was... It had really good actors, i,liked Boon, Partridge and the guy playing Maclaren. It was entertaining for what it was... "Inspired by real events" as the show credits took it.

They didn’t stop him from seeing the script. He didn’t wish to see it.

Even if it was inaccurate like Johnny said this show got me into the Sex Pistols (I did look into them more after the fact so it’s where all my knowledge of the band comes from) made me like punk rock more than I already did. Also it was shot incredibly well and I think the casting was great.

La serie contó sólo un 20% de lo que realmente pasó, el 80% fue pura ficción, pero está a bien porque esto no es un documental. sin dudas el capitulo 3, la historia de bodies, fue el mejor desarrollado, hasta me pareció excelente, hacía tiempo que no veía algo dramático tan bien hecho. John lydon no se puede quejar, el chico que lo interpretó lo hizo con mucho respeto, en las escenas de los recitales logro la esencia de rotten, y si bien físicamente no era muy parecido , la voz y la gestualidad lo hizo genial. El guión también lo dejo bien parado, ya que el único personaje creativo y con inteligencia emocional fue rotten. El actor que hizo a sid estuvo muy bien, nunca lo van a reconocer pero este sid fue mucho mejor actuado que el sid de Gary oldman. Lo único que puedo criticar es el final. Coincido con tu criterio ; hubiera sido genial que el final sea con rotten grabando el single debut de PIL y el nuevo riff que traía Levene. Era madurar y dejar atrás el punk, para dar pasó a otro nuevo fenómeno como lo fue el post punk.

I loved it especially the 3rd episode about the Bodies song.

Seen pistols at Hammersmith oden 2008,this was the very place where jones nicked the gear when the roadies were asleep,at the david bowie ziggy gigs.

As a 58 year old punk rock fan,thanks for voicing my feelings.Your Dad should be proud.

Their is some proof that Steve Jones didn’t even play on the first album. Circle of tone did a very convincing video on the subject

*It always amuses me how much of a classist joke Lydon comes across as. He's intelligent .. but human. He absolutely slagged Sid and Nancy as middle class fantasy, too* *Glen Matlock made the band MUSICAL and they also REALLY suffered when he was gone*

Brilliant review. Thanks mate😏

A really great critique....I found myself agreeing with so many points you raise, which surprised me, I mean, what does a yank know! but you really seem to understand the era and the whole concept of the Pistols. I was 15 in 1977 and the punk "movement" filled my soul at the time and still lingers in my psyche when I see clips of the time.

10:46 Agree, loved the look and set design.

I also find Sex Pistols documentaries work better than movies for them. As well as Filth and the Fury, Julien Temple made another Sex Pistols documentary for TV, Never Mind The Baubles about a Christmas benefit show The Sex Pistols gave in Huddersfield. The DVD of the Classic Albums episode on Never Mind The Bullocks is also great as is a bonus feature on the DVD of the reunion concert film They'll Always Be an England where The Sex Pistols give a guided tour of London.

I found it weird that they fabricated a love affair between Steve and Chrissy to make things "more interesting", but their scenes together were the most boring of the entire series, I even skipped a few

Just found your channel through this video and absolutely love it! Great video on the show it perfectly describes my feelings towards it. PS Please do a video on what we do is secret or any other punk biopics!!

I watched the filth and the fury many times now, love listening to it while I paint and feel like every time i come back to it I discover something new, such an amazing fun documentary. The pistols was fun to watch however I couldn’t help but cringe every time vivian westwood and the side character teenagers would go on about "revolution" it is so simplified for TV almost like with the amazing set and scenery of the series they still needed to tell us instead of showing us what the time was like, does it make sense 😅

How exactly is selling an NFT to generate funds for alzheimer's research like burning down a rain forest for drinking water?

It didn't need to exist. Love your stuff man! (I essentialy ended up doing 2 reviews for this show as it confused me so badly 😀)

100% bang on review 👍

The series is fantastic, a lot of the facts in there are correct and the acting is superb. Lydon doesn't like anything the Pistols release these days. But the series itself holds up.

I discovered this channel around a week ago,now I'm in love watching almost every video. Subbed! Hope you make a Scorpions ranking video (My Favourite Band) 💙🤘

Great job as always the pistols lasted 2-3 years made one album there story has been told many times. The pistols are still alive and I would go see them anywhere on planet and pay any amount that won’t ever happen but I still have hope

It's am industry, obviously every band is manufactured one way or another. Malcolm does deserve a lot of credit.

It really felt like the producers were like "Uhh it's English so who can we get to direct it? Who's English and edgy?? Who has done a movie about British music in the last decade?? Danny Boyle??? Fine bring him in!" No love and no guts. Plus we really don't need another Sex Pistols anything. Nothing says punk like obsessing over one band from 40 years ago that have shirts you can buy in department stores.

John wasn't signing off on PIL in this show ever. Lol

Sid and Nancy felt like a R-rated Punk version of Looney Tunes or Ren and Stimpy.

The meeting of Russ Meyer and Roger Ebert with Rotten and Vicious was a huge miss opportunity.

The guy playing Steve Jones looks like the guy from A-HA in a wig..

There does seem to be a strange belief among many in the USA that the Sex Pistols were an industry plant, backed by EMI, to capitalise on punk's popularity. The fact that the story doesn't remotely stack up doesn't seem to deter them. I'm guessing it comes from US Hardcore 'elitists' for whom the US Hardcore scene is the only 'true punk', so naturally, hating the most well-known punk band ever is lesson No.2 is being a true punk (lesson one is obviously hating Green Day). I do find it interesting that there's always been such an interest in the history of punk, but not in other genres, particularly given the niche status its always had. Maybe that's the appeal.

The swindle is awesome

Good look into this. Give my appreciation from a punk rocker that played in a popular punk band

Is it impossible for an actor to portray John Lydon with any degree of accuracy? Andre Schofield phoned it in for Sid and Nancy and Anson Boon went way over the top with this.

When it first came out on Disne I couldn't stop watching it, I thoroughly enjoyed it I can't lie

I fully agree that the only redeemable part of TGRnRS in the end sequence. Most people I know hate that song but I lOVE it.

The reason they kept Lydon out of it is simple: he would have taken it over and made it about him. He would have moaned and complained and thrown his toys out of the pram until he got his own way. We've had Lydon's story (had meningitis - single-handedly invented punk - the other members of the Pistols were wankers) so it was refreshing to have another point of view from a different Pistol. It's not entirely accurate but it's close enough and very entertaining.

You're 100% off on the "downfall" being too ling. It needed MORE of that. Especially in plave fo the Chrissie Hynde plot lines

First time as tragedy, second time as farce.

the Girl who played Chrissie Hynde is better looking than the real one!

Joe Strummers song on the Sid and Nancy soundtrack was so good, come on now. Although I totally agree with your opinion on Poly Styrene being played by a white woman haha. Also the best documentary made of them is definitely Sex Pistols- NeverMind The Bollocks (classic albums.) parts of are on KZfaq and you should really look it up. It includes everything for the early days, great interviews and even the producer for their album showing soundboards and how they captured rottens vocals and all the instrumentals. Steve demonstrates some of their iconic riffs as well. It’s such a good documentary that I feel like most die hard fans don’t know about.

I personally love it, me and my grandma watch it together we both enjoyed it. I hope it comes out on DVD

i loved the music in the bg of this vid , 18 bits kinda thing

Anson did not look like a drug addict thank you

She did nearly marry Steve so she could stay in the US?? Nope she nearly married Sid so she could stay in the UK.

I enjoyed it 😊👍🏻 Yup, it wasn't 100% accurate and yes, some of the script was a bit pretentious, but I think they did a cracking job.

"What about the word 'punk'? It means worthless, nasty. Johnny Rotten are you happy with this word?" "No, the press gave us it, it's their problem not ours, we never called ourselves punk." John Lydon Nationwide interview 1976

Its for me..someone who just found out today these people existed

You got a Lot of 'facts' wrong but you also got enough right. Overall though, you got enough of the relevant points right that I enjoyed your video. Keep en coming, I like shouting at the tv 👍🏻

Seen them live six times on reunion tour.

The way you pronounce bollocks is really funny

Gotta have the fake love interest in any edgy biopic nowadays. My personal favorite was the blonde chick and euronymous in lords of chaos, they make it seem like playing the most celibate form of extreme metal turns dudes into a pussy magnet. Can't wait until Gwar gets a biopic

Great review! I have always found it intolerable to witness those blank expressions of such actors as they try to act out the soul of a culture, the punk culture, they have no comprehension of. They end up looking like morons or condescending brats when they sing and talk. I could never bring myself to watch this involuntary ridicule of my culture, but I think your expression of opinions is excellent, and I agree with your take on it. However, I'm not nearly as lenient as you are in judging the level of the performance.

Halfway through this video I kept thinking that it all looks familiar. Then I realized I'd seen this a while back. This isnt new. Maybe they just changed the name of it.

It was great, Chrissie Hynde: Who knew?

Rotten is right … apparently these actors are walking around London like they went through the hostility and adversity that the pistols did!! Hahahaha. Ever felt like you’ve been cheated!! 🙄

Whole punk started with Steve Jones at shepherd's bush toilets

fav series

It was John and then Sid she was going to marry....not Steve

I was proud mook with my own vhs copy of The Swindle back in 94'..me and my bud both felt-"yea he's a dick..but I'd let him manage my band"

Probably Mclaren was largely responsible for the Sex Pistols and Punk. He was a Mentor to Steve Jones and his shop gave a base from which the punk scene developed. His friend was Bernie Rhodes manager of the Clash. And though the Damned claim the 1st punk LP release, they were all influenced when they saw the Pistols play live.

12:21 He had a copy of the bands bio 😀

I thought the series was very good. There was nothing new just showed it from a different side. I also thought they made Rotten look good

I only knew about this mini series because of the excessive amount of ads I got for it on KZfaq. (The Damned is a far better late 70’s UK punk band btw)

in conclusion: CRAIGGG!!!!

I don't know what it is but it looks like this was shot on film it has the look of a 80s 90s movie it has that lighting from that era

I'm still waiting for that NOFX biopic, but this got my attention just enough. I was entertained by this show. Not a Pistols fan to start with. I do enjoy biopics that tell a coherent story. I still haven't seen the movie about Zlatan Ibrahimovics rise as a football player, but I did watch Blonde on Netflix which was a straight up disaster and a complete cluster fuck of moving images that made an otherwise interesting story unbearable to follow. Anyway, I did enjoy this. As a non Pistols fan.

The Great Rock and Roll Swindle was the punkest so it was the best.

how about a sitcom next

You need to reqd Steve's book and then watch it. I did it like that accidentally and had a better experience, it's more atmospheric. I liked it, it was alright, considering that we don't get much for punk in a sense of a show. A movie here and there, nothing new. So it was fun for me.

11:15 They wanted a love story and made one up. It's fan fiction. And of course they shoe horned Brass in Pocket in there.

The best band in the world EVER!!!!!!! That’s why it’s tattooed on my inner forearm…….WE LIKE NOISE!!!

The writing in music movies/shows usually come off like made for TV movies

I swear @10:30 that's the end by the doors in the background lol

I wish they hadn't used any real footage. Is it a drama or a documentary ?

John is great hes a grumpy old man now

This is great. Thank you. Chrissy Hynds was to marry Sid...not Steve. Jus sayin.

What do you mean selling an nft for charity is like burning down the rain forest? Wtf? 😂

It's silly. The writing is definitely the worst bit about it by a long way. But it was really really fun. Like genuinely a good time while being atleast somewhat accurate so like I'm glad it exists and glad I watched it. Didn't expect John to be the kindest portrayal considering how he slammed it

I have to assume the main reason Lydon didn't get a say is that he's proven himself to be somewhat of a revisionist with a very big ego. It's a shame because I think he's done some great things, but he seems to have lost touch with reality. I probably wouldn't rush to have him involved with my projects either.

The actors don’t radiate rock'n'roll at all, and definitely not punk rock (they appear as harmless choirboys in masquerade). The dialogue is so goofy and naive. Where are the context, the ongoing punk scene. No-one who was there when it happened will recognize the atmosphere or the era at all. This is nothing but a big LOL pecoral.

Some Pistol s fan hate it ,but it's a drama not a documentary.

You're obviously smart but if I could give one piece of advice from one know it all to another: Research. Always remember to do your research. And ask your dad if you're not sure about some of the facts. If you had read, or better yet, listened to "Lonely Boy", you would know that Steve Jones is being completely honest, especially about the sex origin stuff in the first episode. Here's a lil bit of Hollywood knowledge: They didn't tell Rotten bout "Pistol" until it was done because Mr Jones- the smart and sober one-was sick of John fucking up the money. Two examples are: Mr Lydon got mad at The Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame because they wouldn't give him a free table at the awards ceremony so he got "pissed" and wrote a nasty open letter on the band's website bashing-n-slaggin' the hallowed institution and refusing to go. He spoke for the rest of the band without asking them first. From what I heard, that costs the Sex Pistols millions of "Filthy Lucre." More recently, when "The Crown" offered to do a sync license of "God Save The Queen" for the "25th Jubilee Episode", Rotten said no because people were throwing bricks at her carriage and John said "we never threw bricks at her!" Oh well, $80,000 quid down the drain. For those of you that think the Damned were influenced by The Pistols and that they invented the look and attitude on stage: Watch "Gimme Danger", the brilliant Jim Jarmusch documentary about The Stooges, any footage of The New York Dolls and or Johnny Thunders/The Heartbreakers, and of course The Ramones. Finally, I totally agree with Rotten writing "I Hate" on his Pink Floyd T-Shirt. I was so inspired that I did the same thing to my Journey Jersey in 7th Grade. That real corporate rock bs that preceded all of Punk Rock, Danny Boyle and company nailed in "Pistol!" Funny that after recently re-falling in love with Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd and realizing that he was the first rock/pop star ever to say, " fuck it, this is bullshit, I won't be your Corporate Plant," that Rotten's "Punk Rock, fuck the Pop Star Machine Attitude" was and is just a cheap imitation of the Madcap (minus the acid but plenty boozed up.) And that good people was the dawn of Punk Rock. Along with a bit of those other corporate, or shall we say? Andy Warhol's Factory Made Favorite Plants, VU. Google it if you don't believe me.

ps check out a biopic 24 hour party people by micheal winterbottom

Love this movie.

CRAIIIIIG!!!!!

17:57 that’s exactly what they were lol

22:25 Marco!