AHC: The Sex Pistols kill rock

Johnny Rotten has said that the goal of the Sex Pistols was to kill rock and roll for good. The legendary group spawned moral panic and led to the rise of punk rock. Somehow, can we get the Pistols to destroy a genre that, while in decline, has survived to this day?
 

Khanzeer

Banned
Johnny Rotten has said that the goal of the Sex Pistols was to kill rock and roll for good. The legendary group spawned moral panic and led to the rise of punk rock. Somehow, can we get the Pistols to destroy a genre that, while in decline, has survived to this day?
they need to release more albums and recordings

maybe a timeline in which Pistols survive until the end of 80s releasing atleast 3 more studio albums and similar number of EP
 
Since punk music is fundamentally a subgenre of rock, the only way to fulfill this challenge is if the Sex Pistols, and the punk movement as a whole, poisons the well and stops anyone from making music in a guitar-bass-drums formation. Don't think that's really possible.
 
Since punk music is fundamentally a subgenre of rock, the only way to fulfill this challenge is if the Sex Pistols, and the punk movement as a whole, poisons the well and stops anyone from making music in a guitar-bass-drums formation. Don't think that's really possible.
I mean there are still jazz bands around but they’re far from being considered popular music
 
Since punk music is fundamentally a subgenre of rock, the only way to fulfill this challenge is if the Sex Pistols, and the punk movement as a whole, poisons the well and stops anyone from making music in a guitar-bass-drums formation. Don't think that's really possible.

Yeah, as long as the Sex Pistols remain influential, we can assume people are buying their albums and stations are giving them airplay.

And Quincy Takes On Punk Rock notwithstanding, how much moral panic did punk rock really create? As I recall, the public response was more just "That's a lot of noisy crap made by people who dress stupid", rather than the "OMG they're leading our children to Satan and suicide!!" that later got associated with metal.

Could be wrong though. By the time I was aware of punk, it was the early 80s and the genre was already on its last legs. But even in my conservative Canadian hometown, I still recall people being more outraged about heavy metal than punk. Maybe because the latter was more subcultural in its appeal, never really got a wide following?
 
I mean there are still jazz bands around but they’re far from being considered popular music

depends on presentation. And not having 23 minutes of wandering musical masturbation on both A and B side of the Album. To me, Heroin and music artists don't mix well. Free Jazz killed Bebop
Most of the great Jazz albums are 60 years old
 
And replace everyone not named Johnny with those with actual musical skills.

Anger, screaming and flailing away on your instrument will only take you so far
Sid was the only one who seriously lacked musical skills. Maybe find a way to keep Glen Matlock around?
 
Keep Matlock? Easy. Get rid of Malcolm McLaren*. He was the cunt who was poisoning the well and manipulating everyone.

*car crash, fall down the stairs, choking on a pretzel.
 
One thing would be certain: Bill Grundy's career would last a bit longer, albeit affected by his alcoholism.

On the other hand, I would wonder if Thames Television would develop its own news department just like in OTL.
 
Keep Matlock? Easy. Get rid of Malcolm McLaren*. He was the cunt who was poisoning the well and manipulating everyone.

*car crash, fall down the stairs, choking on a pretzel.
That's not a bad idea. Killing McLaren off after he gets the group together, but before he completely turned them against each other. Who does the managing in that case? Would Vivienne take an interest, or would she focus on her fashions instead? I'm not familiar enough with the business end of the scene at the time to know who was out there, but different management could have easily saved them (and killed rock and roll in the process).
 
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