Most people wrongly believe useless junkie loser Sid Vicious was the bassist for the legendary and notorious punk band Sex Pistols. He's been the poster boy for "punk" for almost a half-century when he was universally derided as a mess who couldn't play and then there's the whole he probably murdered his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, aspect.
But then who was the bassist for the Pistols? Moderately knowledgeable music fans know that would be Glen Matlock, the subject of the Sky adaptation of his autobiography I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol. In this relentlessly-paced doc, Matlock along with fellow Pistols, guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook - singer John Lydon (bka Johnny Rotten) has been famously feuding with the band for years and only appears in archived interviews - and contemporaries like Billy Idol; Blondie's Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, and Clem Burke; Cheetah Chrome and Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys, and more.
Blazing through his early life then co-founding of the Sex Pistols and his eventual ousting by manager-Svengali Malcolm McLaren (who falsely claimed he was sacked for liking The Beatles), the doc is quite efficient on delivering the facts without a lot of folderol, covering his rather active post-Pistols career.
Which is why it's very weird that when addressing the falling out between Lydon and the rest of the band (which is currently touring with a ringer singer) he speaks as if possibly they could reunite which completely overlooks the inconvenient fact that they DID reunite in 1996 for the Filthy Lucre Tour which I saw.
Compared to the slightly disappointing Billy Idol Should Be Dead, I Was A Teenage Sex Pistol efficiently covers its subject, resulting in proper knowledge and appreciation.
Score: 7/10. Catch it on cable/streaming.
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