Born on August 27: Glen Matlock, discreet bassist in the chaos of the Sex Pistols

He was born in London in 1956 and it is not wrong to say that punk entered his life by breaking and entering!

When he landed a Saturday student job at the "Let It Rock" boutique, the first iteration of the famous shop run by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Stwood, Glen Matlock was still studying rather quietly at the famous Saint Martin's School of Arts, which would serve as an incubator for the talents the likes of John Galliano and Alexander McQueen, among others. It was at this resolutely alternative venue on King's Road (later renamed "Sex" without further ado) that he met Steve Jones and Paul Cook, with whom he still plays today. They offered him a job playing bass for their band, which was in the making under McLaren's watchful eye. Matlock had no knowledge of music theory at the time, but this was only a minor detail as punk music was beginning to take off.

When John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, joined the band in late 1975, the Sex Pistols were officially born. Our bassist takes his role very seriously and is credited as co-writer of 10 of the 12 tracks on "Never Minds The Bollocks," including "Anarchy In The UK" and "God Save The Queen," the pin-pulled grenades on the quartet's one and only studio album, released in October 1977.

In the interesting podcast "Rockonteurs," Matlock shares his memories of this tumultuous era: "I think Malcolm (McLaen, their manager) never considered us to have the slightest bit of talent. He just thought we were a bunch of idiots he could manipulate as he saw fit. For my part, I just wanted to be in a band to play music. When the situation became untenable, I just walked out." At the end of 1978, he was replaced by the unmanageable Sid Vicious. With his usual flair for words and his propensity to twist the truth to suit his taste, McLaren later claimed that he was fired because "he loved the Beatles too much"!

Glen Matlock then began the second chapter of a roller-coaster career with some flashes of brilliance like "Ghost of Princess in Towers" with the short-lived Rich Kids. The band lasted only a few months, releasing a single album in 1978, but nonetheless included Midge Ure (future Ultravox), Mick Jones (future The Clash), and Rusty Egan (Visage's shadowy figure behind Steve Strange). No less! Glen Matlock then played alongside Iggy Pop (on the album "Soldier" in 1980) and The Damned (on "Not of This Earth" in 1995) before trying his luck again, sometimes with The International Swingers, and sometimes with The Philistines, whose latest album, "Consequences Coming," dates from 2023.

But it's still the Sex Pistols' legacy that sticks with him. He participated in the first three (short) reunions in 1996, 2002, and 2007 with John Lydon, ex-Rotten, and since 2024, again with Paul Cook and Steve Jones, but this time supported by Frank Carter, a (relatively) young singer who wasn't even born when the Sex Pistols belted out "No Future." Nearly half a century later, Glen Matlock is still going strong!

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo : © Etienne Tordoir)

Photo: Glen Matlock with The Sex Pistols on stage at the Lokerse Feesten festival (Belgium) on August 4, 2025