Despite having a career that lasted only two and a half years--producing one studio album--the English punk band Sex Pistols has gone down to be regarded as one of the more important groups in music history. Tentatively formed in 1975, the group was an easily identifiable figurehead of the anti-establishment scene that existed during the mid-to-late 1970s in the UK. With the rambunctious energy of lead singer John Lydon, better known by his pseudonym Johnny Rotten, and business savvy guidance of manager Malcolm McLaren, the quartet rose to the forefront of popular music in England, partly because of the crude, yet calculated physical aesthetic and flippant attitude of the group's members. After releasing its album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, in 1977, the group would go on an ill-fated tour of the United States. Shortly after the tour, Lydon would leave the group and bassist Sid Vicious would die of a heroin overdose--subsequently extinguishing the Sex Pistols' flame. The remaining members have joined forces again on a few occasions, though, starting in 1996, to play a number of reunion shows.
