The single was released on May
27, 1977, and was taken by
much 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 British
national anthem. At the time
it was highly controversial,
firstly for its equation of
the Queen with a 'fascist
regime', an
more

The single was released on May
27, 1977, and was taken by
much 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 British
national anthem. At the time
it was highly controversial,
firstly for its equation of
the Queen with a 'fascist
regime', and secondly for the
apparent claim that England
had 'no future'.The Sex
Pistols originally wanted to
call the song 'No Future', but
their manager Malcolm McLaren,
aware that the Queen's Silver
Jubilee was approaching,
convinced them to change its
name to 'God Save the Queen'
and delay its release to
coincide with the Jubilee.
Although many believe it was
created because of the
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 a
song like 'God Save The Queen'
because you hate the English
race. You write a song like
that because you love them,
and you're sick of seeing them
mistreated.' His intentions
were apparently to evoke
sympathy for the British
working class, and a general
resentment for the monarchy.On
June 7, 1977 - the Jubilee
holiday itself - the band
attempted to play the song
from a boat on the river
Thames, outside The Palace of
Westminster. After a scuffle
involving attendee Jah Wobble
and a cameraman, the band and
some of its entourage were
arrested.The song peaked at
number 2 on the official UK
Singles Chart used by the BBC,
though there have been
persistent rumours - never
confirmed or denied - that it
was actually the
biggest-selling single in the
UK at the time, and was kept
off number 1 because it was
felt that it might cause
offence. It did hit number 1
on the unofficial NME singles
chart. It was banned by the
BBC and the Independent
Broadcasting Authority which
regulated Independent Local
Radio, effectively denying it
any media exposure. It was
also not stocked by some
shops.The phrase 'no future',
the song's closing refrain,
became emblematic of the punk
movement, although its use in
the song was ambiguous, the
lyrics claiming that 'there is
no future in England's
dreaming'.Before the group
signed to Virgin, a small
number of copies of 'God Save
the Queen' had been pressed on
the A&M label. These are now
among the most valuable
records ever pressed in the
UK, with a resale rate as of
2006 of around

Category Entertainment

Tags cook, paul, Punk, Steve, Jones, john, johnny, mclaren, glen, vicious, Rotten, Sid, Elizabeth, 1977, malcom, Lydon, Matlock, Jubilee