Post by Fuggle on Dec 2, 2007 1:14:49 GMT -5
Punk record is a load of legal trouble
By Nicholas de Jongh
Thursday November 10, 1977
Guardian Unlimited
The manager of a record shop in Nottingham who displayed in his window the new best-selling LP record by the Sex Pistols, which displays on its sleeve the title "Never mind the Bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols" has been charged with offences under the 1889 Indecent Advertisement Act.
Managers of record shops in Notting Hill and Marble Arch, London, have been charged with contravening the Indecent Advertisement section of the 1824 Vagrancy Act, for displaying the sleeve.
Another record shop, Small Wonder records in Walthamstow, East London, has had a visit from the police and has covered up the offending word.
Both the managers charged in London are at shops owned by Virgin Records, the company which produces the Sex Pistols' recordings. The two men, Mr David Martin and Mr Johnnie Fewings, refused to take down the record displays after being warned by police, according to a record company spokesman.
Mr Al Clarke, press officer for Virgin Records said: "The LP was released 11 days ago. It brought in £250,000 before it was even released, and went straight to number one in the charts." Melody Maker, the musical paper, had covered up the word "bollocks" in an advertisement, and two national newspapers had printed the word as a series of asterisks. Mr John Mortimer, QC, was to represent the company in all three cases. Mr Clarke said "We have agreed under protest to take down the display in Nottingham, but elsewhere we will keep up the displays."
The Independent Television Companies' Association (ITCA) and the Association of Independent Radio Contractors (AIRC), the trade associations which examine advertising for commercial television and radio have banned advertisements for the record. A spokesman said: "We considered the record itself was unsuitable for advertising on family media like television and radio."
The BBC said last night that it had banned none of the tracks on the record, but a spokesman for Capital Radio said that it had been advised by the Independent Broadcasting Authority not to play four of the tracks - Bodies, New York, Seventeen, and Submission. The IBA said later that the ultimate decision was for individual companies.
Capital also said that it had banned one track, Holidays in the Sun, because it felt that a comparison likening holiday camps to Belsen would cause offense. ITCA and AIRC said that they would have banned any reference to "bollocks" in a broadcast advertisement.
The word "bollocks" appears in the supplement to the complete Oxford English Dictionary, where its meaning is defined as testicles. The dictionary says that the first recorded use of the word was in 1744 in the School of Venus by D. Thomas, who wrote: "You can now without blushing call prick, stones, bollocks, c-t, arse (sic), and the like names."
However, a detailed Shakespearean knowledge may be needed to appreciate the full implications of the record's title. For in Henry V, Act Two, Scene Two, loud-mouthed, thuggish Pistol says:
"I do retort the solus in thy bowels. For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up, and flashing fire will follow."
By Nicholas de Jongh
Thursday November 10, 1977
Guardian Unlimited
The manager of a record shop in Nottingham who displayed in his window the new best-selling LP record by the Sex Pistols, which displays on its sleeve the title "Never mind the Bollocks, here's the Sex Pistols" has been charged with offences under the 1889 Indecent Advertisement Act.
Managers of record shops in Notting Hill and Marble Arch, London, have been charged with contravening the Indecent Advertisement section of the 1824 Vagrancy Act, for displaying the sleeve.
Another record shop, Small Wonder records in Walthamstow, East London, has had a visit from the police and has covered up the offending word.
Both the managers charged in London are at shops owned by Virgin Records, the company which produces the Sex Pistols' recordings. The two men, Mr David Martin and Mr Johnnie Fewings, refused to take down the record displays after being warned by police, according to a record company spokesman.
Mr Al Clarke, press officer for Virgin Records said: "The LP was released 11 days ago. It brought in £250,000 before it was even released, and went straight to number one in the charts." Melody Maker, the musical paper, had covered up the word "bollocks" in an advertisement, and two national newspapers had printed the word as a series of asterisks. Mr John Mortimer, QC, was to represent the company in all three cases. Mr Clarke said "We have agreed under protest to take down the display in Nottingham, but elsewhere we will keep up the displays."
The Independent Television Companies' Association (ITCA) and the Association of Independent Radio Contractors (AIRC), the trade associations which examine advertising for commercial television and radio have banned advertisements for the record. A spokesman said: "We considered the record itself was unsuitable for advertising on family media like television and radio."
The BBC said last night that it had banned none of the tracks on the record, but a spokesman for Capital Radio said that it had been advised by the Independent Broadcasting Authority not to play four of the tracks - Bodies, New York, Seventeen, and Submission. The IBA said later that the ultimate decision was for individual companies.
Capital also said that it had banned one track, Holidays in the Sun, because it felt that a comparison likening holiday camps to Belsen would cause offense. ITCA and AIRC said that they would have banned any reference to "bollocks" in a broadcast advertisement.
The word "bollocks" appears in the supplement to the complete Oxford English Dictionary, where its meaning is defined as testicles. The dictionary says that the first recorded use of the word was in 1744 in the School of Venus by D. Thomas, who wrote: "You can now without blushing call prick, stones, bollocks, c-t, arse (sic), and the like names."
However, a detailed Shakespearean knowledge may be needed to appreciate the full implications of the record's title. For in Henry V, Act Two, Scene Two, loud-mouthed, thuggish Pistol says:
"I do retort the solus in thy bowels. For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up, and flashing fire will follow."