God save the Queen — again.
The Sex Pistols have re-released their banned hit “God Save the Queen” ahead of Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebration.
A new music video was cut using footage from the performance video shot by Julien Temple at the marquee in May 1977 and clips of the Thames riverboat party on the Silver Jubilee day in June that same year.
It also features exclusive footage of some of the earliest, most important and influential female fans of the band including Vivienne, Jordan, Debbie and Tracey, Catwoman and Helen of Troy.
The song, with the same title as the British national anthem, was originally released in 1977 during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee.
The iconic punk song was banned by the BBC and other major commercial airwaves for its anti-royal lyrics but still managed to top the charts, reaching No, 2 on the UK singles chart — though some even speculated that the charts were altered to push the song out of No. 1.
The re-release of the song comes just in time for this year’s Platinum Jubilee, which will be observed with a four-day public holiday from June 2 until June 5, celebrating 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s place on the throne.
The Sex Pistols have also released the “Pistol Mint Commemorative Coin” to honor the queen’s celebration. The nickel-plated coin features artist Jamie Reid’s Union Jack flag design on the front and the Queen rocking a lip piercing on the back.
Queen Elizabeth II’s reign is the longest a monarch has ever ruled Great Britain.
Despite the harsh lyrics of “God Save the Queen” calling out the Firm, Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) recently reiterated that the song is not against the queen as a person, but the royal family as an institution.
“It’s anti-royalist, but it’s not anti-human,” he told Piers Morgan. “I’ve got to tell the world this: Everyone presumes that I’m against the royal family as human beings, I’m not.”
“I just think that if I’m paying my tax money to support this system I should have a say so in how it’s spent,” he explained. He told Morgan he actually loves the “pageantry” and thinks it’s a “shame” that “it’s possibly the end of the monarchy because Prince Charles is not going to be able to handle it.”
He even went so far as to congratulate the 96-year-old queen for surviving so long.
“I’m actually really, really proud of the Queen for surviving and doing so well. I applaud her for that and that’s a fantastic achievement. I’m not a curmudgeon about that,” Lydon said.
Along with the royal celebration this weekend, the song’s re-release also coincides with the May 31 premiere of the TV series “Pistol.” The Hulu FX miniseries is a biographical drama following the rise of the British pop-punk band’s revolution-changing music and culture in the 70s.
