Sunday, December 07, 2014

Never Mind The Baubles

A year ago Umlaut was in London for Christmas and happened to channel surf onto this amazing documentary on the BBC.   It tells the little known story of a benefit show the Sex Pistols performed for the children of striking firefighters in Huddersfield, England on Christmas Day 1977.  It was also the final show the Pistols would play in England.  Watch it and be amazed and inspired:



From The Guardian's post about the program a year ago:

"As well as documenting what would be the last home stand of one of Britain's most influential groups, Never Mind the Baubles captures a different side of the band. Here are Britain's most notorious punk band putting on daft hats and being kind to children.

As Temple remembers, they arrived in Huddersfield at the height of a moral panic and tabloid frenzy. "To most people they were monsters in the news. But seeing them playing to seven- and eight-year-olds is beautiful. They were a radical band, but there was a lot more heart to that group than people know."  


By December 1977, the Pistols were banned from playing almost anywhere in the UK. "They were even banned from Holiday Inns," says the director. "Like Mary and Joseph."

Meanwhile, the firefighters had been on strike for nine weeks and were struggling to feed their children. A benefit gig was ideal for both sides.

"The cake was the size of a car bonnet and had 'Sex Pistols' written on it," policeman Jez Scott, who had been a 16-year-old punk at the gig, said in 2007. "I got a yellow skateboard with pink wheels – like the Never Mind the Bollocks album cover – by winning the pogoing competition. The gig itself was great, very exciting. I remember they played Bodies, but omitted the swear words because of the children."