Backspin: Steve Jones on 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll' Swindle

[@kaptinshazbat7535]

he talks great. confident, interesting, funny and totally honest. Really nice to listen to.

[@usefulvidiots7869]

I'd like to meet Jonesy.

[@JimmyChangE16]

Yeah other than Lydons Lyrics, Jones composed all the music and arrangements behind the Sex Pistols, true genius!

[@edmundkockenlocker4672]

More honest than Lydon. I've no respect for Lydon at all now. When you side with Trump, you are literally selling your soul to the devil. SMH 🙄😒😖

[@sirjellybeans1st19]

@@edmundkockenlocker4672 don't you mean Lydon?

[@edmundkockenlocker4672]

@@sirjellybeans1st19 Yeah, that is what I meant. I've only just noticed it. 🤦

[@MikeD-bu6hr]

Just watched an interview with Steve in 77 and the next one that played was this. What's most striking is how much more coherent and articulate he is here, no longer putting up a front trying to be cool. Top man!

[@vordman]

Even then he had the guts to call out that creepy TV host Bill Grundy when he started sniffing around a girl (Siouxsie ) young enough to be his daughter.

[@bluefj-wc3vz]

Jones is a guy that i could sit here and listen to his stories of the old days for hours.

[@paddycampbell576]

Steve always comes across as a nice, decent fella and his guitar sound on NMTBHTSP still gives me that backbone shiver...

[@user-qf6yt3id3w]

"... I wanna get it. And sell it on eBay." Never change Steve!

[@usefulvidiots7869]

LOL exactly. That grin.

[@jazzmasterjax83]

Haha that was the best part 😂

[@TheDaaazer]

And the little smirk afterwards. Ha ha ha!!!!

[@johnpolitis7929]

@@TheDaaazer Roberta Bayley Judy Vermorel KZbin Sid Vicious - The Vermorel Interview Sid Vicious - Roberta Bayley Telephone Conversation - January 20th 1978 Sid Vicious Telephone Conversation With Roberta Bayley. 20/02/78 The Gospel According To PISTOL - The Rise And Fall Of The Sex Pistols Beyond Fiction - Ziggy & Iggy In Velvet Goldmine The Real Velvet Goldmine

[@Eurotrash4367]

Steve Jones is one of my favorite guitar players. He isn't technical but his riffs are great. If not for him, the Pistols would have just been image and attitude.

[@chasbodaniels1744]

Oh yeah, absolutely right. Jonesy had the instinctive feel which few players have - even if they’re a lot better technically.

[@Monchi2006]

@@robertdownes793 where u get this info? Steves guitar is pretty characteristic

[@MultiStrickland]

Robert Downes thats correct, apart from the fact Jones played guitar and the bass parts on all of bollocks tracks except ‘bodies’ (guitar only) 🙄

[@garyjones7044]

@@MultiStrickland anarchy was Glenn

[@BuggSmasher]

John brought the voice and onstage antics with attitude. Steve played His guitar, and Um played his guitar! Cookie on drums, apparently new the lyrics when John forgot (listen to road runner . . .but probably just antics no doubt) Glen was the first lead , then there was Sid and His whole story. Loved the great rock and roll swindle movie, but how Malcolm thought he could fool everyone into thinking he was greater than the sum of his parts, we'll never know ! Thanks Steve, for your small bit ! You brought some absolute fun into my early teens !

[@Bob-ts2tu]

He just tells it like it was, no BS, spin or 'I am' like John Lydon. nice to hear him again

[@stevejames3775]

I recall Steve Jones saying that John was different to the rest of them because he was an "intellectual" A strange kind of intellectual but i understood what he meant by that. When you see interviews with John he is talking about the big stuff in life and he is of course confrontational. Steve just talks about how lucky he was to be in a band and wanting to get laid. That gives him a different kind of honesty. I think he & John are both honest genuine people but Steve's kind of honesty is refreshing cause it comes from a place we can all relate to.

[@tiki_trash]

I love the guy but sometimes I think John is autistic.

[@giorgikobalava7430]

I don' t find anything Lydon says "intellectual" deep or profound. I find him an annoying self-absorbed, pretentious and grumpy cunt who has bought into his own myth. They way he talks makes you want to punch his lights out.

[@pauld9561]

I like him more and more with each appearance.

[@gunofapreacherman1340]

Ya gotta love Jonesy. Top bloke.

[@stanmonzon5788]

He told me he hates you.

[@terrymedlicott3580]

The Swindle appealed to the youth of the day and stuck with us ever since.

[@peopleskarmasquad1042]

I loved that album!

[@TheUnsignedbands]

You guys are beyond the Rock and Roll hall of fame and U2. You guys are punk. Always will be. All these so called pink bands are not even in the same league. You guys lived it that's why it ended. Legends.

[@BrianStokes-bk2jk]

I loved the sound n the image of the pistols, it was a great part of my youth and an important start to my musical life.

[@RossBayCult]

I liked Rock N Roll Swindle the album, more so than the film, but watching it today it feels like a piece of history. So in that sense I appreciate the film. Seeing Ronald Biggs in Brazil, Sid Vicious walking in Paris and even a young Malcolm McLaren give out his thoughts on how a young band needs to play with the media in a certain fashion, etc.. I liked all of that. The acting, well there was none, but quite a few scenes were enjoyable. Mainly the musical ones.

[@steely666]

It's just a soundtrack.

[@pastaboy9371]

I like the pfp mate

[@ericmackenzie123]

My favourite musician. For all he has been through he is pretty together. I would like to meet him.

[@spiritualcramp8000]

"my hall of fame statue is still in Cleveland, i want to get it and sell it on ebay" hahaha punk rock will never die.

[@dukecraig2402]

I lived in Ohio right up the road from the rock hall for 11 years and would never set foot in the place, just a tourist trap bunch of crap, considering that the Boomtown Rats got in so early and some of the most influential bands like Slade have never even been nominated speaks volumes right there, plus after all the money I've dumped into rock n roll over the years with not only the music that I had to pay for in the first place but every time I've had to buy it AGAIN because of "format changes" I'll be damned if I'll pay one cent to get into the place, if you show up with a receipt for just one album or CD they should just let you in, as fans WE made those rock stars into millionaires in the first place and then they have the nerve to build a shrine to themselves and then want to charge us over $30 just to get in there, as Mr Jones would say, BULLOCK'S!!!

[@Kaesewicht]

@@dukecraig2402 i don't like the RnR-HoF either and 30$ is also way too much but they also have to pay rent for the location i guess

[@dukecraig2402]

@@Kaesewicht Far as I'm concerned the multi billionaire rock industry can pass a hat around to pay the rent.

[@tracyjacoby2382]

He deserves the right to sell it!! Love him!!

[@spiritualcramp8000]

@@dukecraig2402 that's what he meant. pure disrespect. Johnny Rotten said that he confirmed theyr presence just to to boycott the stuff and let the rich pigs ''with their 1000 $ ponch and no show

[@martinperotti5954]

Steve is one of the best guitar players i ve ever heard.love the sex pistols!

[@marklechman2225]

I could listen to Steve talk all damned day. 👍

[@mht525]

One album , The Greatest album ever. 🤘✌️🏴🇦🇺

[@malcolmstirling808]

Amen

[@angus2016young]

I love Steve Jones!! He tells it how it is!! He's a no bullshit, down-to-Earth guy!!

[@ShaneCassidy]

angus2016young finally someone said it

[@oiyabastard7275]

angus2016young. Angus what are you thinkin? Mal is dead. Brians gone phil is.on meth cliff.said.fuck it. You havent.had any good record.since.flick of the.switch. now you think u.can still have acdc. With just.you. slade and new hires?? Go shit in.your hat

[@paulcostelloe5345]

And hung like a donkey so they say.

[@gordonaliasme1104]

'...The cabin boy was kipper, 'e was a farkin nipper, 'e stuffed 'is arse full of broken glass and circumcised the skipper ...' sings Jones on ' Friggin in the Rigging ' , proper foul mouthed sea shanty !

[@who0icu812]

Yeah a real Patsy

[@nic-ci_66-77]

Believe it or not Great r'n'r Swindle was a fantastic album and it has to be valued for what it is: one of the greatest film soundtrack ever

[@paddycampbell576]

... and it's all "covers" as well. Sex Pistols covering The Who etc. and obscure acts covering Sex Pistols tracks mainly... Still play it occasionally tbh

[@Lord_Hillcrest]

I thought it was great when i bought it all those years ago but really it was just Mclaren and his ego .

[@tracyjacoby2382]

I could listen to him talk all day!! Typical American lady I am: " love that accent!" He's so honest, tells it like it is👍🥰

[@Eoraptor1]

The line from this movie I'll always remember, from Malcolm MacLaren: "A band that cannot play, is BETTER than a band that can". I'm certain a lot of A&R people took that to heart. JAMES

[@MegaChip69420]

Great video though - love listening to Steve Jones

[@robsawalker]

I LOVE GRRS. Lonely Boy is such a brilliant track, and when GRRS came out I was just turned nine, I'd read the Vermorels Pistol's book, I had NMTB and I couldn't see the film as I was too young. I bought the double album with the insert and loved it. I love that album! Black Arabs was medley is brilliant, the live John version of Belsen is superb, their version of watcha gonna do about it is brilliant, Wanna be me is brilliant, the Anarchy version on it is brilliant, Johnny be Goode/Roadrunner is brilliant, My Way, Silly Thing, what's not to like about it? And scandalising Miss Swift (my English teacher) when I brought it in to 'show and tell', and the class open the gatefold to that naked girl who's supposed to be Soo inside 😄

[@gregprice103]

Steve Jones has his own distinctive guitar style I play and Steve is in my view a brilliant guitarist and true legend in rock.

[@ianwhitehead691]

Love the great rock n roll swindle album & The film (so it in 1983 at a cinema in Hastings) Great days in Hastings too Hastings Punk N Skins 1983-86.

[@willandrews9741]

Yet I love that album so much. I love it a ton!! Lonely boy, my way, and the great rock and roll swindle! All so great! Also friggin in the riggin.

[@popatyourecords]

loved my swindle double album and all the singles from it i wanna be me is magic

[@constancebowles7253]

After listening to interviews with Glen Mattlock and Steve Jones I agree the Sex Pistols really should enter into the Hall of Fame just for the great influence they had in the whole music industry across the nation's when is teens needed their voice. God Save The Queen!

[@marcoliebsch668]

The album came out in 1979 ,not in 1980!! And I bought it in that time, when I was 15 years old and still have it !

[@Eleventhearlofmars]

1980 in America probably

[@ShaunBhoy-75]

Loved the swindle as a kid.. Still love it

[@EmmAPestilenciA]

I always wondered how people who stayed away from heroin while their friends around them slowly fall apart due to heroin use, start using it after the fact. I have a friend who watched our whole scene die off one by one over the years due to overdoses. He never did dope and thought everyone who did was really lame. After about 10 deaths of our friends over the years he starts doing heroin too. I'm not sure exactly when Steve Jones started dope but it sounds like it was after Sid died.

[@arnookibeast]

Could listen to Jonesey tell pistols stories all day, top bloke.

[@jasonladd6400]

I was a kid of about 11 when it came out and I remember it had a huge buzz because Sid's My Way was a massive number 1 in UK and every kid was in awe of them. There is some genius in it, Silly Thing, Lonely Boy, No One is Innocent and the title track and My Way. It documents an era of youth rebellion we haven't seen since.

[@DOMSKYTRANCE]

My way didn't get to Number 1 in the UK.

[@ClarenceFisher]

I love John's letter to the Hall of Fame - "Urine in wine...piss stain...we're not coming". Sounds like a lyric from a missing Sex Pistol song, too.

[@Johnny.1965]

Piss stain would have been the title of their second record

[@questionitall3053]

I love Jonseys' honesty!

[@AFaceintheCrowd01]

Terrific book. Lots of references to places and things that are all gone now. everything all over the world is the same today, as jones points out. I really enjoyed the book.

[@ST-xg3gy]

Name of the book?

[@TheChadTI]

Oddy, this was the big Sex Pistols album for all my school friends in the 80's. I didn't get into them till years later.

[@OsirisEyeOpticalSociety]

I randomly had coffee with this guy in LA with my friend Christiana Bauer very nice guy

[@mississippikid3453]

the man that made me want to play guitar when I was 12.

[@lilyofthevalley5586]

I love his interviews!

[@vistalite]

I was at the Rock Hall when they gave Glen his statue. Hopefully, it made it home in one piece. I think everyone but John would be happy to have the award. I doubt if Steve would sell it.

[@leonardpattison2816]

To this day " Never Mind the Bollocks " hasn't been bettered.

[@dukecraig2402]

Yea, it's just unbelievable, ONE album and they changed music forever. How do you even do that?

[@DanPantzig]

Ramones did it better.

[@lejlatiric7037]

Exactly, many singers have to make 5-6 albums to become popular or iconic, they just made one and changed the way of thinking of many people Also i know they weren't the inventors of punk but they are, for me.

[@nasskhan4543]

@@DanPantzig I like the Ramones but they were not a threat.

[@StevieZero]

@@DanPantzig 😂🤣

[@incubism]

Legend! still..

[@marcomancini1044]

I would love to see him talking of his guitars and whether he has a place when he stores them all , for example he played a gibson firebird in the usa tour who knows if he still owns it , STEVE please make a video of your guitars you played with plenty of gibson models

[@andrewp1075]

Love the movie, love the soundtrack.

[@herbert9241]

I used to always put that album on if I went round my mate's house after boozer. It actually took up permanent residence on his turntable and was only returned to its sleeve in the event of a broader, more mixed gathering. I had another mate who was a sort of post-punk punk and oddly enough, whenever he solicited my request, I would always insist on the oldest record in his collection, a childhood gift, a cod disco exploitation compilation, all cover versions by session musicians, for the opening track - 'Theme from Shaft' in da disco stylee. If he refused I would simply decline the honour. A more obnoxious fucker was never conceived but he had a certain honesty about him which committed him to fair play on things like that - he would relent and play my request. He had the same sense of fair play in his capacity as a dealer: wholesale prices, unadulterated good gear and no interest in the H market. A dealer who had no interest in making money but purely invested for the love of the game. Never a gangsta but an outlaw of some repute. Albeit a deliberately obnoxious fucker, it's worth saying twice lest I accidentally sanctify him in eulogy.

[@chogokin666]

Lonely boy and Friggen in the Rigging were great. Jones can sing.

[@gibby6904]

Steve was a Les Paul tone monster back in the day.......that great trebley slash y sound....

[@jtwilliams8895]

Belsen was a Gas- that’s a Pistols classic

[@Partoftheratpack]

Good story teller is Steve

[@leenwctv1]

Brilliant anyone know where Steve lives now? what a star

[@dowdallerno1]

Lee Carroll los Angeles i think.

[@WhisperVoyeur]

he does a great radio show in LA now....he's fantastic at it...the best! www.955klos.com/jonesys-jukebox/

[@aliaswhatever]

Sloppy or not the Swindle' a cracking album..their time was brief but what a fucking commotion they made Vive le Sex Pistols "It turns out you only get to do it once!?"

[@ravenkahne8484]

would be honored to have a pint with Steve. :)

[@unclefoiley819]

The Great Rock n Roll Swindle was a childhood album. My juvenile delinquency would have been boring without it.

[@vordman]

Isn't it great that Steve is still here with us sharing his stories. He could so easily have gone the same way as Sid. Which makes me wonder what sort of man Sid would have turned into. But I guess he was always on a path to destruction and destined never to grow old.

[@plev10]

Fuckin' love ya Steve! Just started playing and I got your chords down, mate!

[@68Warpigs]

The Sex Pistols were my first love in music, and Steve Jones helped cement that love by producing one of the single best and most recognizable riffs in rock history, pretty vacant. That riff alone is part of the fabric of everything I grew to love in music and will be in my brain until the day I die. It's like a roast dinner or a bill on the doormat, it's part of life, is anyone buying this?..

[@laurieprice535]

It was Glens riff though he created it but Jonesy like you say produced it

[@mister3566]

Glen pinched the riff from an Abba song

[@philipjones7372]

Glen Matlock's riff but Steve's touch sends it

[@DINKL8ERG]

With the way the band operated it was never gonna be a long term thing they made their message and bounced.

[@skingolem4456]

The best bands put out one or two albums, and break up. Volatile. End up despising each other, that chemistry, that's what drives it. The Sex Pistols, Guns and Roses,: by example. Any bands that go longer than that become an intimation of themselves. Thank you Steve Jones, always love your shit.

[@filipematias5127]

Guns'N'Roses is shit compared to the Sex Pistols!

[@newwavepop]

there is some good material on the Swindle album, and honestly the title track is a favorite of mine, great riff.

[@jonalynpementel9179]

I love you too sir,...As friend,....❤❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏🙏🤝🤝🤝🤝👍👍👍👍

[@buzby303]

More ! 👍🏼

[@johneckhart8198]

I like the swindle over bollocks. I would love to ask Jonesy What he thinks or how he thinks the pistols would of turned out if they kept Matlock in the line up and if Sid was nothing more than a "poster child" and a "half ass" musician at best?!?!

[@jorgecabrera4961]

Great guitar player,with unique style,pure raw and nasty,good rock and roll.👌👍

[@mickymac6571]

The pistols were never meant to last and it's right that they didn't so they would never end up stale and boring.

[@kadenkarnes1031]

Imagine what Sid would look like at this age? Would he look like Steve Jones who looks amazing for his age? Such an awesome guy who is an underrated guitar player

[@hgreen8666]

Morten Harkett of A Ha, as he is now.

[@artswindle2685]

Thank you Steve! the Swindle rules!

[@pmimagery1295]

All I can say is 'Thanks Stevie'!

[@steely666]

Sex Pistols are more famous for 1 album than most bands with several. People have heard of them, even if they don't like punk.

[@eltoro969]

props to the editor

[@mickymac6571]

Jonesy got it right, they weren't meant to last but they left a fantastic legacy.🎸💉

[@rejmons1]

The English man stay the English man! Even the ex-rebellion who tried to destroy the British Monarchy, in the old age looks exactly like an english, victorian gentleman. And that's why I love English people!

[@jimmur2464]

Lol!! “Sell my statue on ebay” classic Steve Jones!😂

[@tylerwesley6176]

Love Jonesy

[@TheStein474]

I think steve as sold about 27 guiters on ebay each one was a original one 😀

[@leethompson9473]

so who got sid on the smack steve jones or nancy

[@1kurto]

The professionals where very underrated

[@edgein3299]

Underrated guitarist

[@johnforeman634]

Well Steve, it may have gone to shit, and who knows, the Pistols may have gotten bigger and lasted longer if things went differently but that single album you guys left us is one of the greatest ever made.

[@Scottocaster6668]

I'm in Cleveland, born and raised. I see the statue, I'll grab it for you Steve! Cleveland is only 25 miles or so from me.

[@JoshuaCraigStrain]

The most important thing to remember from the vid is that - Fred IS A WEIRDO !!

[@niknayme3754]

Road Runner always makes me laugh and Friggin In The Riggin, you'd be hard pushed to get less PC than that tune

[@DAP-mi7ck]

Great guy

[@TheDaaazer]

Is this the world's coolest rock star? Jonesy is the man!

[@donnablackman3954]

Sex pistols said how it was and went 👌♥️

[@Mr75044]

I like the single rock n roll swindle. One of me favs No one is innocent. Class Silly thing ace NWHM Dimond Head said Watched the pistols on top of the pops.. And started a band.. Didn't need a million chords. We can do it to. And they influenced Metallica...... Who needs the hall of fame. With that CV... RESPECT STEVE.

[@wattse1]

He reminds me of Sgt. Bilko.

[@Eleventhearlofmars]

Eugene Watts only cos of the square glasses he’s wearing lol

[@saucespicy5683]

oh gosh bloody egos..humans aren't we..

[@martygould5114]

Lydon misspelled "You're" twice in that letter.

[@DavidKing-jx3sg]

Have a listen to the version of anarchy on the swindle album, make the hair stand up on your arms Fkn incredible

[@danielscissorhands]

Great interview. In John's letter to the Hall of Fame he kept writing "your" instead of "you're". I've met him a few times, I thought he was literate. :D

[@neshiah4747]

Steve Jones, awesome Les Paul guitar sound ever 🙂🇬🇧

[@philipholmes5884]

Check him out playing a Fender/Strat ! Type in "The Nothings & Steve Jones"...rare footage from 1983 !

[@redherronrecords]

This dude is the shit. Love ya, Steve!

[@PrankZabba]

4:24 - yep

[@tonyjohn1395]

What happened to the Japanese bird in the swindle ❓

[@commander1982]

Love the original guitar hero Steve Jones

[@peterdaigle4772]

I swindle own Swindle on video cassette