Paul Cook | The Spectator columnists & writers

‘Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in,’ groans a weary Al Pacino in The Godfather III. This is what it feels like being in/out (I’m not sure which) of the Sex Pistols. Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle has filmed a six-part drama about the life and crimes of my childhood buddy and Pistols guitar hero Steve Jones, based on his autobiography Lonely Boy. So, here we go again with endless rounds of interviews, with such profound questions as, what was Sid/Malcolm really like? Why is Johnny so angry? Will you ever play again? No! First off, it’s New York for the drama’s US premiere, courtesy of Vanity Fair. Not very punk I know. But hey ho – and if you thought travelling on an early Sunday morning would ease your travel nightmare, forget it.

A punk’s notebook

One of the great things about touring with a band is that it gets me away from my little west London bubble and out and about around the towns and cities that I haven’t been to in quite some time. So off we go with my new boots and panties and my escape-from-the-band book, Larry McMurtry’s The Last Picture Show, loaned to me by your very own Michael Henderson. The revamped, reformed, post-Sex Pistols punk popsters The Professionals are on their way. First stop Exeter and the obligatory stop-off for the Spinal Tap Stonehenge band photo. It has to be done. The film still strikes a chord with every band, and we’ve all had our very own Spinal Tap moments. I remember us going to the wrong stage at a festival with The Pistols once, and hearing our intro tape begin to play, far away on another stage.

Punk turns 40

There have been many punk exhibitions over the years so I can’t help but chuckle at the ‘experts’ who are getting hot under the collar about the ‘sacrilege’ of housing punk memorabilia in museums. Hasn’t it always been the case that anything considered culturally significant ends up in a ‘cultural establishment’ of sorts? Joe Corré, son of Dame Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, is even threatening to burn his punk collection in protest. Really!! The experts I know, i.e. band members, don’t seem too bothered about it. In fact, many will be turning up to do Q&As at the British Library’s tasteful if limited Punk 1976–78 exhibition. As the title suggests, the exhibits on show centre on the initial explosion of punk rock into our homes and consciousness in 1976, and focus on the original agitators such as my band the Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Damned and Buzzcocks.

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