SEX PISTOLS God Save The Queen Original '77 10" Acetate
  £   14,600
  $   17,426

 


£ 14600 Sold For
Apr 15, 2011 Sold Date
Apr 5, 2011 Start Date
£   500 Start price
37   Number Of Bids
  Great Britain Country Of Seller
eBay Auctioned at
 
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Description

 

HERE WE HAVE ONE OF THE RAREST AND MOST IMPORTANT RECORDS EVER OFFERED FOR SALE

 

This is for a 100% genuine acetate of the Sex Pistols God Save The Queen. This is not a copy, South African or a dodgy A&M but the real deal. A UK 7" cut onto 10" one sided Townhouse acetate, possibly the only surviving one in existance

History

   Recorded at Wessex Studios, London, March 1977

John Rotten's alternative National Anthem. The Sex Pistols second 7" single, and their first for Virgin Records was released on May 27th 1977 although this disc was cut in the March. Sid Vicious had replaced Glen Matlock on bass prior to recording but does not play on the track.

Despite popular belief,the release of 'God Save The Queen' was not pre-planned to coincide with the Queen's Silver Jubilee celebrations in June. Originally titled 'No Future' the track was written in 1976 and would actually have been released in March 1977 had A&M Records not sacked the Pistols after only 10 days. 

There are not many songs that went onto divide a nation and force a change in popular culture. No one had ever dared question the Monarchy so publicly; and it wasn't without its repercussions. Members of the band were attacked in the streets; and Government Members of Parliament even called for the Pistols to be hung at London's Traitors' Gate!  it was highly controversial, firstly for its equation of the Queen with a "facist regime", and secondly for its claim that England had "no future". The phrase "no future", the song's closing refrain, became emblematic of the punk rock movement. The lyric provided the title of Jon Savage's award-winning 1991 history of the Sex Pistols and punk rock, England's Dreaming

Even though it was banned from radio and TV - and the Pistols were branded public enemy #1 - 'God Save The Queen stormed to the top of the charts. It technically out-sold the Number 1 record of the week (The First Cut is the Deepest by Rod Stewart) but peaked at Number 2 on the official UK Singles Chart as used by the BBC. This led to accusations by some that the charts had been "fixed" to prevent the song from reaching number one. In March 2001, the BBC wrote that the single "reached number one in the UK in 1977 despite being banned by the BBC. The record's lyrics were controversial at the time, and both the BBC and the Independant Broadcasting Authority refused to play the song. This record has not only had a profound effect on modern music but also on English Culture. This track defined a generation and it's historical importance as a pop artifact is immence.

Condition

The record has been stored in a temperature controlled, smoke and pet free enviroment and has only been played once in 22 years for me to put onto cd and to check the condition. It literally took my breath away to play this and i am delighted to say it played through absolutely fine with no jumps or skips. Acetates should only be played to a minimum so i will include the recording of the acetate in the sale as well. Visually, the vinyl is only graded as VG as it has a couple of squigely scratches and a tiny show of the metal from the acetate base but its hard to to be too critical of a record thats 34 years old and been in the studio for the band to listen to back to with the engineer. Maybe a professional clean would bring the disc up better. The label is remarkabe, only showing normal ageing you would expect after all these years. I have played the acetate version alongside the NMTB version and it seems a little faster, clocking in at 3.16 but i would be hard pushed to claim any significant differences. 

 

Providence

I have had it for over 22 years and i purchased it from Phillips of London Auction House. It comes in it's original 10" studio sleeve and plastic cover with the lot number from the auction. I even have the original catalogue! Im happy to provide a letter of authenticity as well if required. Our website rockandpopcollectables.co.uk should be up and running shortly where some of the most desirable vinyl and memorabilia from the biggest acts around can be viewed

 

This is a once in a lifetime oppertunity to aquire an historic piece of Pop Culture and one that will rise considerably over years to come. Check the popsike.com website for high-end Pistols prices including the last genuine UK God Save The Queen acetate which sold for nearly £11,000 5 years ago and that was in poor condition. Recent Christies and Bonhams Pop memorabilia auctions have shown a steep rise in Pistols collectables prices so this should also be seen as a blue chip investment

I've listed the postage as £4 but this was just to fill the section in. The winning bidder will be responsible for all insurance,shipping and postage costs

Payment to be made within 7 days of close of auction: PayPal, cheques, postal orders, bankers draft accepted.

So there we have it, i have listed as a 10 day auction to allow as many people as possible to raise their finance....remortgage your house, sell the wife's jewelry etc!


Please e-mail me with any questions. Good luck and happy bidding!


On 14-Apr-11 at 08:29:26 BST, seller added the following information:

History (continued)

I would like to add that i'm not exactly sure when this was cut at Townhouse so maybe someone from those early Townhouse days could help on that one. I know that acetates of God Save The Queen were also cut at Pye Studios (sold via Christies Auction House 1994 for £2200) and at LTS (sold via ebay 2006 £10,766). I also know of a 7" Townhouse acetate and that several other Sex Pistols tracks were cut at Townhouse as well. These can be researched in the excellent Pistols collecting bible 'Gavin Walsh - Sex Pistols A Collectors Guide...'




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