0 The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols Film

Review by Jerry Howard

** Jerry is a guerilla filmmaker and he and his crew Taco Cart Productions are currently hard at work on a new project entitled "Mysophobia". Look for a proper introduction for Seattle Rock Guy's newest contributor very soon but for now read this and check out his film blog here. Cheers! - SRG

I love punk rock. There is something about it that just speaks to me. Give me some Dead Kennedys, some Spits, a little dose of the Bad Brains, and the intensity of Fugazi anytime, anywhere. However, one thing I cannot stand are gutter punks who claim to be rebelling against an oppressive society by being obnoxious and slamming smack. What are you rebelling against? How are you trying to make change? Can you read?

I must admit, I have never been much of a Sex Pistols fan. I dig the tunes "Vacant" and, of course, "Anarchy in the UK" but they never did much for me. They just seemed like a bunch of lucky pricks who couldn't muster the brain power to control their lives. It's one thing to rebel, but these tools were as arrogant as they come. To be quite frank, they seemed like assholes.

Case in point. Back in the day, I worked on a music video for the super group: the Neurotic Outsiders.

Who are the Neurotic Outsiders? This band consisted of Matt Sorum on drums (The Cult, G N R, and Velvet Revolver), Duff McKagen (G N R, the Fartz, Velvet Revolver), John Taylor (Duran Duran, Power Station), and Steve Jones (The Sex Pistols). They sucked ass that's why you have never heard of them.

To be fair, not all the guys were dick heads. Matt Sorum was a cool dude. He ate with the crew and shot the shit with us. He seemed down the Earth and genuine. Duff seemed ok too, but I had a weird interaction that went a little something like this:

(NOTE: My job on the set was general peon who performed a variety of tasks from picking up equipment, getting fools beverages, working the video monitor, etc., you get the picture)

Duff McKagen points at me and asks me to come over to him.

I go over to him and he politely asks me to go buy him some cigarettes. No worries. I ask, "What kind?"

Oblivious, to what I just asked, he replies, "Um, yeah, yeah, that would be great. Cool, man."

What the hell? Did he hear me? I repeat the question.

"Um, yeah, yeah, that would be great, man." Duff has no idea what the hell is going on. I look to see if he is drinking? Homie's slammin' O'Douls and seems out of it.

Weird.

At this point, I decide to get specific and start naming off several brands of cigarettes.

"Yeah, yeah, man, cool. That would be great. Thanks."

Now, I conclude, that Duff's brain has been obliterated by his time in Guns N Roses. Dude's spent.

Finally, I suggest Malboro Lights.

"Cool, man, um, yeah, thanks guy."

I return with a box of Marlboro Lights and hand it over to Duff who hands it over to his girlfriend. She's not happy. She doesn't like Marlboro Lights. I overhear Duff tell her that he told me to get a different brand.

Duff, you're a lyin', semantically challenged prick.

Steve Jones seemed like a dick too. He just glared at me during this interaction. What an asshole.

John Taylor was the epitome of a jerk off. You should have seen the way this guy treated people. Unbelievable.

Ok, back to the film review - remember that?

The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols film is a tragic story. It's difficult to watch morons make mistake after mistake. Having said that, it is cool to listen to the surviving members reflect upon the experience. Obviously, the guys learned a great deal. Steve Jones touched upon his regrets. When Johnny Rotten goes into depth about Sid Vicious, we are reminded that these were kids with no business background and, to be quite honest and fair, limited life experience. Rotten seems to have difficulty reminiscing about his late friend. Their time in the Sex Pistols came with an enormous price tag and left scars.

Overall, The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols film, despite the fact that Steve Jones is an asshole, is a brilliant documentary. It was one of the more thoughtful documentaries I have seen about a band whose importance to music cannot be argued. Love them or hate them, the Sex Pistols endured many hard ships including censorship at the hands of a conservative government, greedy/exploitative industry types, and drug addiction. Their story is unique and important.

I highly recommend The Filth and the Fury: A Sex Pistols film for any fan of music.

But Steve Jones is still an asshole.

Check out the video Jerk that I worked on. If you stop it at the right moment during the food fight, you can see me on the video monitor. I was very young. Oh, the kid with the baseball mitt and ball, that scene took us forever due to the fact that he couldn't throw. He kept chucking the ball over the fence. He tacked on another hour to our day. Little bastard!

Solid film!