Who is the black boy in the sex pistols grundy interview?

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But nobody objects to calling Siouxie a girl? xpost

Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:25 (nineteen years ago) link

sorry to offend, but am genuinely curious as to her identity.
but please, also to continue discuss race/gender politics,
appropriations of symbols, fashions -- purpose to break
dominant paradigms or purely aesthetic?
i.e., what is significance of swastika girl/black boy dichotomy?
wherein swastika informs identity of girl (siouxie)
and boy (as gender transgression, not as antebellum master-slave
derrogative) informs black (unidentified) and dynamic of
swastika/black juxtoposition, forming semiotic pyramid?

grundymania, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:30 (nineteen years ago) link

"Boys, boys, all type of boys/Black, white, Puerto Rican, Chinese boys."

merritt ranew (merritt), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:32 (nineteen years ago) link

I thought this was going to be a thread by ron atkinson.

RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:33 (nineteen years ago) link

lil arthur carlson wasn't a girl! he was a fascist though. johnny had him pegged from the get go.

j blount (papa la bas), Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:37 (nineteen years ago) link

ourwulliewallpaper, thank you for reminding me that song existed.

modernaire, I wanna be, Wednesday, 13 April 2005 23:41 (nineteen years ago) link

a) it is patronizing b) everyone please shut the fuck up, I have to get ready to mee the other three black rock chicks in the world...ever. that is all

Morley Timmons (Donna Brown), Thursday, 14 April 2005 04:27 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.humanities-interactive.org/literature/bonfire/400/013d.jpg

"these puerto rican girls are just dyin' to meet you"

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 April 2005 04:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I think her name is Simone Thomas.

Love at the Pier (Arthur), Thursday, 14 April 2005 04:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Interesting how no-one's called out mr "god i hate british people".
The next poster even agreed w/ him.

Masked Gazza, Thursday, 14 April 2005 05:00 (nineteen years ago) link

I saw In the Heat of the Night last night.
Christ white americans suck.

Masked Gazza, Thursday, 14 April 2005 05:04 (nineteen years ago) link

are you momus?

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 April 2005 05:05 (nineteen years ago) link

on a good day.

Masked Gazza, Thursday, 14 April 2005 05:07 (nineteen years ago) link

you didn't have to use your ak?

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 April 2005 05:09 (nineteen years ago) link

It's funny that the conflict here is about the use of the word "boy", as opposed to the use of the word "black".

lil Bobby Hutton (Bobby Peru), Thursday, 14 April 2005 05:10 (nineteen years ago) link

bobby seale ain't little.

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 April 2005 05:12 (nineteen years ago) link

One of Australia's longest running indigenous rock bands, Coloured Stone, have a song called 'Black Boy'. Did they know they were offending our white American friends?

moley, Thursday, 14 April 2005 07:22 (nineteen years ago) link

Well, I thought she was a girl.

mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 14 April 2005 08:27 (nineteen years ago) link

It is also disingenuous to object to the use of the word "boy" when certain prominent female ILXors use it routinely on these boards.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 April 2005 08:29 (nineteen years ago) link

If the original poster had used the word "guy" rather than boy you can bet the US boys(save Alex) would have no problem with it cos its..y'know, US-centric.

Frogman Henry, Thursday, 14 April 2005 09:15 (nineteen years ago) link

Interesting how no-one's called out mr "god i hate british people".
The next poster even agreed w/ him.
-- Masked Gazza (m...), April 14th, 2005.

Indeed. I wonder if I could get away with my sig being god I hate black people. Let's try...

god I hate people who are so desperate to prove a point, Thursday, 14 April 2005 09:41 (nineteen years ago) link

Close enough

harveyw (harveyw), Thursday, 14 April 2005 09:42 (nineteen years ago) link

kinda looks like ninah cheery

ninah cheery? do you mean neneh cherry? she really doesn't look anything like her. but then i did obsess over neneh and would stare for days on end at the raw like sushi cover. :-)

nathalie doing a soft foot shuffle (stevie nixed), Thursday, 14 April 2005 09:47 (nineteen years ago) link

What's amazing about that picture is that Siouxsie then looks like Michael Parkinson now.

Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 14 April 2005 09:51 (nineteen years ago) link

if i squint my eyes she actually looks like spike. god, i do need to kick that buffy addiction....

nathalie doing a soft foot shuffle (stevie nixed), Thursday, 14 April 2005 09:54 (nineteen years ago) link

It's a gogeous photo, isn't it. Six cheeky faces, all in a row.

moley, Thursday, 14 April 2005 09:59 (nineteen years ago) link

One said fuck and over we go!

Masked Gazza, Thursday, 14 April 2005 10:02 (nineteen years ago) link

"I think her name is Simone Thomas."

That's definitely not Simone Thomas.

I still think her name's Debbie. Not to be confused with Debbie Juvenile, who was one of the Bromley Contingent with Suzy (sic) and Spunker (as Severin was known in those days).

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 14 April 2005 10:06 (nineteen years ago) link

"Interesting how no-one's called out mr "god i hate british people"."

Being British we're all routinely filled with so much self-loathing that you couldn't possibly hate us any more than we already hate ourselves, so it's just more water off a duck's back really.

If it helps 'though, sometimes I think I hate Septics even more than I hate my fellow Limeys.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 14 April 2005 10:37 (nineteen years ago) link

f the original poster had used the word "guy" rather than boy you can bet the US boys(save Alex) would have no problem with it cos its..y'know, US-centric.

Hey, DICK, I wasn't the one who had a problem with the word "boy."

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 14:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Did someone have a point, or are we just resorting to insults?

Christ Americans are such fuckjars, Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:06 (nineteen years ago) link

She is Bob Dylan's inner black woman.

m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:08 (nineteen years ago) link

sorry to offend, but am genuinely curious as to her identity.
but please, also to continue discuss race/gender politics,
appropriations of symbols, fashions -- purpose to break
dominant paradigms or purely aesthetic?
i.e., what is significance of swastika girl/black boy dichotomy?
wherein swastika informs identity of girl (siouxie)
and boy (as gender transgression, not as antebellum master-slave
derrogative) informs black (unidentified) and dynamic of
swastika/black juxtoposition, forming semiotic pyramid?
-- grundymania (crocodil...), April 14th, 2005.

See, Grundymania isn't racist, just annoying in that post-graduate kind of way.

David Allen (David Allen), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:08 (nineteen years ago) link

SORRY TO INTERRUPT THE PC WHINING, BUT I THOUGHT MAYBE I'D ANSWER THE QUESTION AT HAND

Often misquoted, this is an accurate transcription of the interview which went out live on 1 December 1976.

The original Sex Pistols line-up are seated - from left to right - Johnny Rotten, Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Glen Matlock. Bill Grundy sits on their left. Standing behind the Pistols are the punk hangers-on from the Bromley Contingent, Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Severin, Simon Barker and 'Simone'.

Grundy introduces the band to the cameras.

GRUNDY (To camera) They are punk rockers. The new craze, they tell me. Their heroes? Not the nice, clean Rolling Stones... you see they are as drunk as I am... they are clean by comparison. They're a group called The Sex Pistols, and I am surrounded by all of them...

JONES (Reading the autocue) In action!

GRUNDY Just let us see The Sex Pistols in action. Come on kids...

[Film of The Sex Pistols in action is shown; then back to Grundy.]

GRUNDY I am told that that group (hits his knee with sheaf of papers) have received forty thousand pounds from a record company. Doesn't that seem, er, to be slightly opposed to their anti-materialistic view of life?

MATLOCK No, the more the merrier.

GRUNDY Really?

MATLOCK Oh yeah.

GRUNDY Well tell me more then.

JONES We've fuckin' spent it, ain't we?

GRUNDY I don't know, have you?

MATLOCK Yeah, it's all gone.

GRUNDY Really?

JONES Down the boozer.

GRUNDY Really? Good Lord! Now I want to know one thing...

MATLOCK What?

GRUNDY Are you serious or are you just making me, trying to make me laugh?

MATLOCK No, it's all gone. Gone.

GRUNDY Really?

MATLOCK Yeah.

GRUNDY No, but I mean about what you're doing.

MATLOCK Oh yeah.

GRUNDY You are serious?

MATLOCK Mmm.

GRUNDY Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and Brahms have all died...

ROTTEN They're all heroes of ours, ain't they?

GRUNDY Really... what? What were you saying, sir?

ROTTEN They're wonderful people.

GRUNDY Are they?

ROTTEN Oh yes! They really turn us on.

JONES But they're dead!

GRUNDY Well suppose they turn other people on?

ROTTEN (Under his breath) That's just their tough shit.

GRUNDY It's what?

ROTTEN Nothing. A rude word. Next question.

GRUNDY No, no, what was the rude word?

ROTTEN Shit.

GRUNDY Was it really? Good heavens, you frighten me to death.

ROTTEN Oh alright, Siegfried...

GRUNDY (Turning to those standing behind the band) What about you girls behind?

MATLOCK He's like yer dad, inni, this geezer?

GRUNDY Are you, er...

MATLOCK Or your granddad.

GRUNDY (To Sioux) Are you worried, or are you just enjoying yourself?

SIOUX Enjoying myself.

GRUNDY Are you?

SIOUX Yeah.

GRUNDY Ah, that's what I thought you were doing.

SIOUX I always wanted to meet you.

GRUNDY Did you really?

SIOUX Yeah.

GRUNDY We'll meet afterwards, shall we? (Sioux does a camp pout)

JONES You dirty sod. You dirty old man!

GRUNDY Well keep going, chief, keep going. Go on, you've got another five seconds. Say something outrageous.

JONES You dirty bastard!

GRUNDY Go on, again.

JONES You dirty fucker! (Laughter from the group)

GRUNDY What a clever boy!

JONES What a fucking rotter.

GRUNDY Well, that's it for tonight. The other rocker Eamonn, and I'm saying nothing else about him, will be back tomorrow. I'll be seeing you soon, I hope I'm not seeing you [the band] again. From me, though, goodnight.

The cheesy signature tune plays and the credits roll. Rotten looks at his watch, Jones starts dancing to the music, and Grundy mutters an off-mic 'Oh shit!' to himself.
The story made the front pages of the following morning's newspapers, amidst howls of outrage, including the now infamous Daily Mirror headline - 'THE FILTH AND THE FURY!'. The Pistols had cemented their place in television folklore.

AMERICANBRITISH69SELFSUCK (eman), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:18 (nineteen years ago) link

I did not know "boy" was offensive. How silly. Pops Staples (AKA the Uncle Remus of Soul) has a song called "Black Boy" but I have never paid much attention.

PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:25 (nineteen years ago) link

http://www.thebansheesandothercreatures.co.uk/prerecord6.jpg

Amon (eman), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:27 (nineteen years ago) link

Yeah, for real, it's the first google result for "Sex Pistols Grundy interview", guys.

roxymuzak (roxymuzak), Thursday, 14 April 2005 15:30 (nineteen years ago) link

calling someone Uncle Remus is probably more offensive than calling them boy.

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:26 (nineteen years ago) link

Stence OTM as usual.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:28 (nineteen years ago) link

calling someone chaka demus = calling them bwoy.

j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:32 (nineteen years ago) link

f the original poster had used the word "guy" rather than boy you can bet the US boys(save Alex) would have no problem with it cos its..y'know, US-centric.

Hey, DICK, I wasn't the one who had a problem with the word "boy."

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...), April 14th, 2005.

Alex you dumbass, I was excluding you from the other posters on this threads cos you DIDN'T get het up about the original question like some kneejerk crazy. But hey, thanx for calling me a DICK.

Masked Gazza, Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:37 (nineteen years ago) link

calling someone Uncle Remus is probably more offensive than calling them boy.

I'd like to see you test this theory out in public.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:40 (nineteen years ago) link

i love the brits trashing americans for not being as bigoted as them - way to shame us!

j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:41 (nineteen years ago) link

um walter do you know what "song of the south" is? do the words "b'rer rabbit" mean anything to you?

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:42 (nineteen years ago) link

"tar baby".

j blount (papa la bas), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link

I recall Frank Pembleton being extremely pissed off (um, well more so) when Roger Gaffney called him "boy". Yeah, that's my only frame of reference.

alex in montreal (alex in montreal), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:44 (nineteen years ago) link

many things are offensive, duh.

hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Alex you dumbass, I was excluding you from the other posters on this threads cos you DIDN'T get het up about the original question like some kneejerk crazy. But hey, thanx for calling me a DICK.

Sorry, I read that as that I would get upset if he'd used the word "guy". Not sure why that upset me. Too much coffee. Apologies to you.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:45 (nineteen years ago) link

Yes, I know what Song of the South is. Do you know the connotations of calling a black man "boy?" My point was that the idea that one racial epithet is somehow "better" than another is absurd.

walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:54 (nineteen years ago) link

i love the brits trashing americans for not being as bigoted as them - way to shame us!

Britain isn't as bigotted because it has less racially abusive terms for blacks? Thanks for that one James.

Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Thursday, 14 April 2005 16:57 (nineteen years ago) link

"Unfortunately, most of us here on ILx look more like Grundy than we do the Pistols."

True, but then in fairness, so do Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Glen Matlock - and even John Lydon's looking increasingly like Bill Grundy wearing a Sex Pistols wig lately.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 15 April 2005 13:05 (nineteen years ago) link

Is there any way we can bring rockism into this discussion?

Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 15 April 2005 13:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Fuck. God damn shit. Fuck.

David Allen (David Allen), Friday, 15 April 2005 13:24 (nineteen years ago) link

i'm more shocked by grundy's lecherous comments to siouxsie than anything else on the thread. guy seems like a total asshole.

He's visibly drunk! Go rent The Filth and the Fury if you haven't, and watch the JFK-Zapruder-film-like breakdown of this monumental event...

Pete Scholtes, Friday, 15 April 2005 14:44 (nineteen years ago) link

were tv presenters often drunk on air in the mid-seventies?

N_RQ, Friday, 15 April 2005 14:48 (nineteen years ago) link

So, when J.Lydon gets his ownchat show?

"Go on, say something outrageous..."

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 15 April 2005 14:51 (nineteen years ago) link

You dirty bastard!

You dirty fucker!

What a fuckin' rotter.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 15 April 2005 14:53 (nineteen years ago) link

Well that's all from me tonight. That other rocker, Glen Matlock, I'm saying nothing, nothing, a rude word about...

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 15 April 2005 14:55 (nineteen years ago) link

(btw, do you think B.Grundy thought S.Jones said "You fuckin rocker"?)

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 15 April 2005 14:56 (nineteen years ago) link

He's like your dad, this bloke

Masked Gazza, Friday, 15 April 2005 14:56 (nineteen years ago) link

(cripes, it's geezer isn't it)

Masked Gazza, Friday, 15 April 2005 14:58 (nineteen years ago) link

I'll be seeing you soon.

I hope I'm not seeing Mark Grout again.

From me though, goodnight.

Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Friday, 15 April 2005 14:59 (nineteen years ago) link

(dancing round the table)

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 15 April 2005 15:02 (nineteen years ago) link

hang on, we've swapped seats!

mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 15 April 2005 15:07 (nineteen years ago) link

wow, this thread blows, but the critical mass of posts to it drew me in. but this one jumped out at me:

As an American, I have never heard anyone use the word Paki

Don't forget Bush's use of the term:
"We are working hard to convince both the Indians and the Pakis there’s a way to deal with their problems without going to war," Mr Bush said.

(nb. the first line of the article is great: "THE White House last night insisted that President George W Bush meant no disrespect to the Pakistani people by referring to them as 'Pakis'.")

john'n'chicago, Friday, 15 April 2005 15:37 (nineteen years ago) link

technically it's no worse than 'Brits' - words on their own are not offensive, it's the context that determines offence. pretty obvious distinction to be made between using a term as derogatory re ethnicity and just the blinkered ignorance for which Dubya is renowned.

$V£N! (blueski), Friday, 15 April 2005 15:45 (nineteen years ago) link

"Unfortunately, most of us here on ILx look more like Grundy than we do the Pistols."

True, but then in fairness,...

what? speak for yourselves, gramps!

He's visibly drunk! Go rent The Filth and the Fury if you haven't, and watch the JFK-Zapruder-film-like breakdown of this monumental event...

yeah he's admits as much in his intro ("... you see they are as drunk as I am..."). is there a site w/ a clip of this? it's might be the best thing the pistols ever did : )

Amon (eman), Friday, 15 April 2005 16:05 (nineteen years ago) link

here in britain it's shown on every channel 4 program

Masked Gazza, Friday, 15 April 2005 16:26 (nineteen years ago) link

is Boobah on channel 4?

Amon (eman), Friday, 15 April 2005 16:31 (nineteen years ago) link

do you mean eurotrash?

(no)

Masked Gazza, Friday, 15 April 2005 16:34 (nineteen years ago) link

Just because you're a black boy
Just because you're a white
It doesn't mean you've got to hate him
It doesn't mean you've got to fight

The Specials: Doesn't Make It Alright

So they were racist sods, than!!!!

zeus, Friday, 15 April 2005 17:04 (nineteen years ago) link

technically it's no worse than 'Brits' - words on their own are not offensive, it's the context that determines offence. pretty obvious distinction to be made between using a term as derogatory re ethnicity and just the blinkered ignorance for which Dubya is renowned.

Given this thread, I don't think that Dubya has the monopoly on blinkered ignorance.

The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 15 April 2005 17:10 (nineteen years ago) link

But it did set me to wondering why Booker T and the MGs would do such a RACIALLY OFFENSIVE tune as 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah'. Surely they must have known that they were playing with fire? ~


-- PJ Miller (pjmiller6...), April 15th, 2005.

recontextualization, ace.

hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 15 April 2005 17:20 (nineteen years ago) link

Anyway:

I've heard back from Steve Severin, who doesn't know what Simone is up to, but posted a question about her on his web forum (though with no luck so far):

http://ub3.homepagetools.com/sseverin/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=mouthtomouth&Post=218&Idle=10&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=0&Session=

I've posted essentially the same question here:

http://onlyloversleftalive.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=2567#2567

I've also heard from Don Letts (he hasn't heard from Simone lately) indirectly through James Spooner, and am waiting to hear from Ari Up, having contacted her management.

I think we're all probably talking about the right person. She seems to me to be worth tracking down, I think.

Complete side note: Doesn't M.I.A. kind of sound like Siouxsie?

Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 21 April 2005 19:35 (nineteen years ago) link

nine months pass...
Who WAS the black boy?

Serge Protecteur (nordicskilla), Monday, 30 January 2006 21:24 (eighteen years ago) link

God I hate british people.

OMG I SAID IT (Alex in SF), Monday, 30 January 2006 22:27 (eighteen years ago) link

Anyway, I notice from those old forums that she (Simone) is still around. Is Pete Scholtes still about - did he get any joy on his quest?

Yeah - MIA does sound a bit like Siouxsie...

Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Monday, 30 January 2006 22:55 (eighteen years ago) link

God I hate british people.

BIGOT

Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Monday, 30 January 2006 23:29 (eighteen years ago) link

three years pass...

Small ot.

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 December 2009 10:55 (fourteen years ago) link

http://www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk/pistols.htm

.. has it as 'Simone'

Mark G, Wednesday, 9 December 2009 11:00 (fourteen years ago) link

that's exactly what eman c&p'd four years ago.

Cosmic Ugg (S-), Wednesday, 9 December 2009 12:30 (fourteen years ago) link


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