# Anarchy in the U.K.

Part of a series on :
Anarchism :
Glossary
History
Outline :
Schools of thought
Black
Feminist
Green
Primitivist
Social ecology
Total liberation
Individualist
Egoist
Market
Philosophical
Mutualist
Queer
Religious
Christian
Jewish
Social
Collectivist
Parecon
Communist
Magonism
Without adjectives
Methodology
Counter-economics
Illegalism
Insurrectionary
Pacifist
Platformism
Relationship
Syndicalist
Synthesis :
Theory
Practice
Anarchy
Anarchist Black Cross
Anarchist criminology
Anationalism
Anti-authoritarianism
Anti-capitalism
Anti-militarism
Affinity group
Autonomous social center
Black bloc
Classless society
Class struggle
Consensus decision-making
Conscientious objector
Critique of work
Decentralization
Deep ecology
Direct action
Free love
Freethought
Horizontalidad
Individualism
Law
Mutual aid
Participatory politics
Permanent autonomous zone
Prefigurative politics
Proletarian internationalism
Propaganda of the deed
Refusal of work
Revolution
Rewilding
Sabotage
Security culture
Self-ownership
Social ecology
Sociocracy
Somatherapy
Spontaneous order
Squatting
Temporary autonomous zone
Union of egoists
Voluntary association
Workers' council :
People
Alston
Armand
Ba
Bakunin
Berkman
Bonanno
Bookchin
Bourdin
Chomsky
Cleyre
Day
Durruti
Ellul
Ervin
Faure
Fauset MacDonald
Ferrer
Feyerabend
Giovanni
Godwin
Goldman
González Prada
Graeber
Guillaume
He-Yin
Kanno
Kōtoku
Kropotkin
Landauer
Liu
Magón
Makhno
Maksimov
Malatesta
Mett
Michel
Most
Parsons
Pi i Margall
Pouget
Proudhon
Raichō
Reclus
Rocker
Santillán
Spooner
Stirner
Thoreau
Tolstoy
Tucker
Volin
Ward
Warren
Yarchuk
Zerzan :
Issues
Animal rights
Capitalism
Education
Love and sex
Nationalism
Religion
Violence :
History
French Revolution
Revolutions of 1848
Spanish Regional Federation of the IWA
Paris Commune
Hague Congress
Cantonal rebellion
Haymarket affair
International Conference of Rome
Trial of the Thirty
International Conference of Rome
Ferrer movement
Strandzha Commune
Congress of Amsterdam
Tragic Week
High Treason Incident
Manifesto of the Sixteen
German Revolution of 1918–1919
Bavarian Soviet Republic
1919 United States bombings
Biennio Rosso
Kronstadt rebellion
Makhnovshchina
Amakasu Incident
Alt Llobregat insurrection
Anarchist insurrection of January 1933
Anarchist insurrection of December 1933
Spanish Revolution of 1936
Barcelona May Days
Red inverted triangle
Labadie Collection
Provo
May 1968
Kate Sharpley Library
Carnival Against Capital
1999 Seattle WTO protests
Really Really Free Market
Occupy movement :
Culture
A las Barricadas
Anarchist bookfair
Anarcho-punk
Arts
DIY ethic
Escuela Moderna
Films
Freeganism
Infoshop
Independent Media Center
The Internationale
Jewish anarchism
Lifestylism
May Day
"No gods, no masters"
Popular education
"Property is theft!"
Radical cheerleading
Radical environmentalism
Self-managed social center
Symbolism :
Economics
Communization
Cooperative
Cost the limit of price
Decentralized planned economy
Free association
General strike
Gift economy
Give-away shop
Labour voucher
Market socialism
Mutual bank
Mutual credit
Social ownership
Wage slavery
Workers' self-management :
By region
Africa
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bolivia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Estonia
Finland
France
French Guiana
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Guatemala
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Korea
Latvia
Malaysia
Mexico
Monaco
Mongolia
Morocco
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Norway
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Russia
Serbia
Singapore
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Timor-Leste
Tunisia
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam :
Lists
Anarcho-punk bands
Books
Fictional characters
Films
Jewish anarchists
Musicians
Periodicals :
Related topics
Anti-corporatism
Anti-consumerism
Anti-fascism
Anti-globalization
Anti-statism
Anti-war movement
Autarchism
Autonomism
Communism
Definition of anarchism and libertarianism
Dual Power
Labour movement
Left communism
Left-libertarianism
Libertarianism
Libertarian socialism
Marxism
Relationship between Friedrich Nietzsche and Max Stirner
Situationist International
Socialism
Spontaneous order :
Anarchism portal
Politics portal :
vte :
"Anarchy in the U.K." is a song by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's debut single on 26 November 1976 and was later featured on their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. "Anarchy in the U.K." was number 56 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

## Releases

Originally issued in a plain black sleeve, the single was the only Sex Pistols recording released by EMI, and it reached number 38 on the UK Singles Chart before EMI dropped the group on 6 January 1977, a month after members of the band used profanity during a live television broadcast. (Although the EMI version was recorded on 17 October 1976, an earlier demo version was recorded between 10 and 12 October at Lansdowne/Wessex Studios, London. This version later surfaced on the Sex Pistols bootleg album Spunk).
In 2007, the surviving members (not including original Pistols bassist Glen Matlock) re-recorded "Anarchy in the U.K." for the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock because the multi-track master could not be found (it was rediscovered along with the rest of the Never Mind The Bollocks masters during a move in January 2012). The Guitar Hero version also appears in the film adaption of the A-Team. The song was also featured in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 as part of the soundtrack. The song also appears in the Constantine TV series during the episode "The Devil's Vinyl".
A limited edition 7" picture disc of the single was released on 21 April 2012 for that year's Record Store Day. In June 2022, a test pressing of the single that belonged to John Peel sold for more than £20,000 at auction.

## Lyrics

In the documentary The Filth and the Fury, John Lydon described the composition of the song's opening lyrics, explaining that the best rhyme he could devise for the first line, "I am an Antichrist", was the second line, "I am an anarchist". (Lydon confirmed that he is not an anarchist in a 2012 interview.)
Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren considered the song "a call to arms to the kids who believe that rock and roll was taken away from them. It's a statement of self rule, of ultimate independence."

### Abbreviations

The abbreviations used in the lyrics are a selection of civil war references from 1970s headlines, a suggestion of what could happen in the United Kingdom. The IRA and the UDA were the largest paramilitary armies in the conflict in Northern Ireland: the heavily armed IRA (Irish Republican Army) were on the Republican (anti-British, pro-unification) side, and the thousands-strong UDA (Ulster Defence Association) were on the Loyalist (pro-British, anti-unification) side. The MPLA (Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, or the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola) were the political party that took control of Angola, formerly one of Portugal's African colonies, in a 1975–1976 civil war, and still run the country today. When Rotten sings "I use the enemy", it's a deliberate homonym for "I use the NME", or New Musical Express, the British weekly music newspaper.

## Track listing

* "Anarchy in the UK" – 3:31
* "I Wanna Be Me" – 3:12

## Personnel

* Johnny Rotten – lead vocals
* Steve Jones – guitar, backing vocals
* Glen Matlock – bass, backing vocals
* Paul Cook – drums

## Charts

| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
| UK Singles (OCC) | 38 |
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
| Australia (ARIA Charts) | 92 |
| UK Singles (OCC) | 33 |

## Certifications

| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
| United Kingdom (BPI) | Silver | 200,000$^‡$ |
| $^‡$ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |||

## Cover versions
### "L'Anarchie Pour Le UK"

An alternative recording of the song in $^3$ $_4$ time, accompanied by violin and accordion, apparently both translated into French and sung by a mysterious figure called Louis Brennon (also named as Jerzimy in some sources), appeared on the Sex Pistols' 1979 album The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.

### Megadeth

"Anarchy in the U.K." was covered by American thrash metal band Megadeth for their third album So Far, So Good... So What!, released in 1988.
Megadeth's version has altered lyrics. Dave Mustaine explained that he could not understand Johnny Rotten's singing, so he made up the parts he could not understand (in a notable example, the line "another council tenancy" is changed to "and other cunt-like tendencies"). In addition, the country is changed to "USA", though the title is kept unchanged. The song's music video is a montage of live footage of the band, cartoon political figures, various scenes of violence, and of a man being forced to watch (much like Alex's therapy in A Clockwork Orange). Steve Jones played the second solo.
Mustaine now refuses to play the song live due to lyrics referring to the Anti-Christ, and he believes he's "better for it".

#### Track listing versions
##### United States 7"

* "Anarchy in the U.K."
* "Liar"

##### United Kingdom 12"

* "Anarchy in the U.K."
* "Liar"
* "502"

##### Germany 12"

* "Anarchy in the U.K."
* "Good Mourning/Black Friday" (live)
* "Devil's Island" (live)

#### Charts

| Chart (1988) | Peak position |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) | 13 |
| UK Singles (OCC) | 45 |

### Green Jellÿ

Green Jellÿ's version of "Anarchy in the U.K." is a parody cover of the original with added Flintstones references. The song originally appeared as "Anarchy in Bedrock" on Green Jellÿ's (then Green Jellö's) Triple Live Möther Gööse at Budokan album. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera took offence to this version and to Green Jellÿ mocking The Flintstones but later relented, as this version was featured on the soundtrack to the Flintstones film that was released in 1994.

#### Critical reception

Pete Stanton from Smash Hits gave the Green Jellÿ version five out of five, writing, "They've followed the insanity of Three Little Pigs with more madness, littering a great song with "Yabadabadoo"s and an eardrum bursting "Wiiillmmaaaa" at the end. Get into Green Jelly quick before a doctor slips them into strait-jackets, shoves them into a room and locks the door."

#### Track listing

* "Anarchy in the U.K." – 3:29
* "Green Jellÿ Theme Song" – 2:15
* "Three Little Pigs (Blowin Down the House Mix)" – 6:34

#### Personnel

* Danny Carey – Drums
* Bill Tutton, Rootin' Bloomquist – bass
* Marc Levinthal, Steven Shenar, Bernie Peaks – guitar
* Bill Manspeaker, Joe Cannizzaro, Gary Helsinger, Greg Raynard, and Maynard James Keenan – vocals
* Kim O'Donnell and Caroline Jester – backup vocals, floor tom drums

### Mötley Crüe

American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe covered the song on their 1991 compilation album Decade of Decadence, substituting US analogies and organizations in the lyrics for UK ones. It was also their last song with lead singer Vince Neil until 1997's Generation Swine.