RateItAll: The Opinion Network

Come on! They had one record. One bad record.

Where would they be in hall? In the no talent , overrated, can't play their instrument section. Since when is being obnoxious criteria for the Hall of Fame. I need to know so I can puke on them if I go.

Future generations may have trouble understanding just how NEW the Pistols were. So much of pop music (culture) was shaped by the shock they delivered, it's tough to remember what it was like before. My discovery of the Pistols came a full nine years after the original Revolution of '77, but of course, that revolution still hadn't sunk in out in suburbia, so when I first listened to Never Mind the Bullocks, I was as unprepared as I would have been a decade earlier. The thing that was most amazing about the band was that they thoroughly rejected the pretensions of rock bands and the fawning culture that revolved around rock stars. But the music they produced in rejecting rock history was so bracing and wonderful that it, in an ironic way, made rock history and justified all the love and attention we dumb fans throw at folks like Rotten & company. As edt4 said, now that I'm older, I dont find myself wanting to listen to obscenity-laden songs about abortions ("Bodies"), and the nihlistic snickering of songs like "Belsen Was a Gas" just leaves a bad taste now. But there are times when I'm driving in the car and there's nothing as thrilling as "EMI" "Pretty Vacant" "No Feelings" "God Save the Queen" etc. Also, wildly under-rated is the crazy Great Rock and Roll Swingle soundtrack, with Sid's Eddie Cochrane covers, that insane version of "Rock Around the Clock", goofball disco versions of Pistol songs, "Lonely Boy," their pre-fame "Roadrunner" demo, a throat-tearing live version of "Anarchy," and the amazing title track.

I'm with Genghis here. When I was a teenager, I idolized the Sex Pistols, which made me something of a pariah among my Bruce Springsteen-Billy Joel loving peers. Obviously, the Pistols were heavily influenced by bands like the Ramones (3-chord musical style) and Stooges (incendiary, nihilistic anger), but they brought to the whole punk melange a uniquely English working-class slant. I was heartbroken when they broke up although, in retrospect, that was really the only path open to them if they were going to be consistent. Looking back 30 years later, I find some of their excesses that so impressed me as a teen embarrassing, some of the quotes attributed to Johnny Rotten or Sid Vicious that I found so profound as a teen banal and silly as a middle-aged man, and some of the music uninspired and uninteresting. And yet, the best of their songs still qualify as among the best rock songs anywhere, bar none. And their influence on the subsequent music scene worldwide has been profound. The bottom line, to me, is that if they don't belong in a Rock Hall of Fame, then who does?

Love 'em or leave 'em, the SP should be in. Think of all the Punk Rock and New Wave bands that followed them. (On the other hand, thinking of all those bands might make us yell, "Sex Pistols to the Wall!")

Are you kidding me? 92d on the list? Obviously the most influential band of those eligible.

If the sex pistols get in instead of Doug Sahm I am sure that the voters must know nothing of rock n roll or paying homage or tribute to leaders, founders, they must want britney spears or justin or something that makes no sense....the british need to go home and invade their own country

England along with Malcolm Mclaren stole Punk from the USA. The Pistols were totally manufactured by Mclaren and were an extension of what Mclaren did with the NY Dolls in the early 70's. This band is pure image and rebellion. They are not genuine and do not deserve Hall Of Fame honors.

widely known and probably the only punk band most people can name. but the Pistols dont have the longevity to be in the Rock and Roll HOF. i love their album but there are plenty of other punk bands that should be there instead

Talentless punk stars. Their music was terrible. They had an incredible attitude. Nothing more. Leave the punk inductees to The Clash and The Ramones; both of which had good music.

Not that they were great musicians,but they sure took the world by storm.Malcolm McLaren was the genius behind their artful media manipulation.They definately started a trend.