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Wasn't there something about some of the charts having a black line as number one when this came out? -- Jim Regan 19:08, 22 May 2004 (UTC)
I've removed this:
As I've said before, NME published their chart intact, and I have since seen an actual copy of Record Mirror from the week after, and can confirm that it was printed normally there as well. Some record stores may have blacked it out when they put it on display, but unless a specific example can be given this "fact" is misleading. Besides, who was publishing a Top 100 in 1977 anyway? Bonalaw 16:05, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I seem to recall something from the golden jubilee a couple years ago - wasn't the band actually invited to perform this? Did they? It's a nice ironic postscript to put in, if I do recall this right... Radagast 12:01, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)
It would be great to put in the covers for this and the subsequent singles (I put in the Anarchy cover).
Although many would believe it was created because of the Jubilee, the band denies it, Paul Cook saying "It wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone." Johnny Rotten has gone further in explaining the intent behind his lyrics, pointing out that they are actually meant to be sympathetic toward the Queen and critical of both the forces around her and, by extension, the hype surrounding the Jubilee.
The above claims have always sounded like revisionism on the part of the pistols to me, especially the sycophantic bit about the song being intended as 'sympathetic' to the queen. Yeah right. Lydon should be ashamed of himself for this mealy mouthed back-pedalling. I note he waited around 20 years before 'clarifying' his lyrical intent quercus robur 20:17, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
The song was not written for the Silver Jubilee, it was written about a year before that, and entitled "No Future". McClaren decided to rename it "God Save the Queen", and release it to coincide with the Silver Jubilee. So what the band says is true - it was the McClaren publicity machine that ended up linking it with the jubilee, not the band. StanPomeray ( talk) 15:44, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
In The Filth and the Fury they say that the song would've been #1 - but there simply was no #1 that week. The 1 spot was instead left blank. Any more info on this?-- Wasabe3543 16:54, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
If you ask me, "I Don't Want to Talk About It / The First Cut is the Deepest" was probably a budget single. 73.25.20.162 ( talk) 03:53, 8 April 2018 (UTC)
I was a 12 year old at the time, and can remember that all of the shops with a "record counter" such as Woolworths, W.H.Smiths, Boots and Rumbelows had their "Top 20" list on the counter with the No.1 simply a blank space, and the Rod Stewart's "First Cut is the Deepest" showing at No.2. This was in the Havant (Hampshire) area. There was also a TV program shown maybe 7 or 8 years ago, I can't remember which channel it was on, but there was a guy interviewed who apparently worked at the time for British Market Research Bureau who was the company that compiled the official UK singles charts at the time. He suggested that the company had been "instructed" by the BBC to switch the No.1 and No.2 entries so that God Save the Queen wouldn't be shown as No.1. Whether he was talking bollocks or not, who knows. Seems a bit pointless - if you're so offended that someone makes a single that is critical of the Queen (which it isn't actually, but that's another story), does it really make things much better to see it at No.2 instead of No.1? No.2 is still pretty good isnt it?!
Various sources state that it was indeed the highest-selling single of the week,[10][11] despite a ban by the BBC and some major retailers.[12] In order to prevent it from reaching the top of the "official" BMRB chart, for one week compilers "decreed that shops which sold their own records could not have those records represented in the chart", and thus sales from Virgin Megastores were not counted. That can't be true either - the first Virgin Megastore (which was in Oxford Street) didn't open until 1979, which is 2 years after God Save the Queen was released!
Discussion at Talk:God Save the Queen (Motörhead song). — Bubba hotep 21:20, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
i took this out...
Motörhead version
The heavy metal band Motörhead released a cover version of "God Save the Queen" as a single in 2000 to promote their album We Are Motörhead. The cover art gives further reference to the Sex Pistols by using the same cut-out words to form the title as the Sex Pistols' single cover.
A performance of the song recorded during the band's 25th anniversary concert at Brixton Academy on October 22, 2000, appears on their 25 & Alive Boneshaker DVD.
... because i think it unbalances the article terribly - the cover simply isn't relevant or important enough to warrant much article space - i'll follow the above link to the discussion now.... Petesmiles 07:07, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
It's quite clear that the Motorhead element is not wanted in this article so it has been moved back. You can consider this a moment of ignorance to improve the flow of encylclopedic information, if you like. – B.hotep u/ t• 21:29, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
Morgan Fisher covered the song chipmunk-style on his "Hybrid Kids" album, under the pseudonym of "Punky & Porgy" (Hybrid Kids is a fake compilation album, with each track attributed to a fictional band. It sounds like it was influenced by the Residents) 80.60.242.12 15:08, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
I note the page was moved yet again, without discussion, by an account that is now blocked indefinitely because CheckUser confirms that the operator has abusively used one or more accounts so much for stopping the backwards and forwards.-- 163.1.147.64 ( talk) 00:43, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
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Image:Gstq.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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Image:God Save The Queen.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot ( talk) 06:05, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
Can anyone please provide a primary source for the following quote? "You don't write a song like 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're sick of seeing them mistreated." Thanks. HPNYC—Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.120.251.239 ( talk) 04:05, 28 January 2008
"In 2008, on a Music Immersion program run by St. Joseph's College Gregory Terrace in Brisbane, Australia, a band of Year 10 students called Citizens Arrest covered the song."
Not noteworthy, surely? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.113.147 ( talk) 12:25, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
According to the article the song was controversial both for its equation of the Queen with a "fascist regime" and for its claim that England had "no future". But does the text say that England has no future? As I understand the text, it says that the queen has no future. -- Oddeivind ( talk) 20:47, 17 May 2012 (UTC)
They never equated the Queen with a facist regime. The lyrics say "your facist regime, they made you a moron" (i.e. the various governments of the UK have resulted in the Queen becoming pointless). Also, the lyrics do not say that England has no future, they say that "England's dreaming" has no future. The idea being that for most people in the UK, there is no point having dreams or ambitions because you'll never come to anything. http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/sexpistols/godsavethequeen.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.225.149.5 ( talk) 16:28, 13 January 2014 (UTC)
It seems to be a rather elephant-in-the-room ommission to write such a substantial article about this song yet fail to provide something as basic and relevant to the article as the lyrics to the song. 121.73.7.84 ( talk) 22:08, 5 September 2012 (UTC)
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This song's 'shock' references to the Queen sounded quaint and misplaced to this schoolboy already in 1977. It sounds positively Hovis advert today. Acorrector ( talk) 14:19, 12 February 2022 (UTC)
Then again, because the song was not aimed school boys, its' true message continues to unset all the reactionary and backward looking supporters of the Royals. For is not this the reason why the defenders of the established order (on Wikipedia Talk and elsewhere) continue to down-play the true meaning of the song in 2023? God Save the Queen - it ain't that Quaint! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.147.153.126 ( talk) 22:25, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
The result was: rejected by
Theleekycauldron (
talk) 02:17, 12 April 2023 (UTC)
Created by J Readd ( talk). Self-nominated at 12:49, 11 April 2023 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song); consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.
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Wasn't there something about some of the charts having a black line as number one when this came out? -- Jim Regan 19:08, 22 May 2004 (UTC)
I've removed this:
As I've said before, NME published their chart intact, and I have since seen an actual copy of Record Mirror from the week after, and can confirm that it was printed normally there as well. Some record stores may have blacked it out when they put it on display, but unless a specific example can be given this "fact" is misleading. Besides, who was publishing a Top 100 in 1977 anyway? Bonalaw 16:05, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)
I seem to recall something from the golden jubilee a couple years ago - wasn't the band actually invited to perform this? Did they? It's a nice ironic postscript to put in, if I do recall this right... Radagast 12:01, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)
It would be great to put in the covers for this and the subsequent singles (I put in the Anarchy cover).
Although many would believe it was created because of the Jubilee, the band denies it, Paul Cook saying "It wasn't written specifically for the Queen's Jubilee. We weren't aware of it at the time. It wasn't a contrived effort to go out and shock everyone." Johnny Rotten has gone further in explaining the intent behind his lyrics, pointing out that they are actually meant to be sympathetic toward the Queen and critical of both the forces around her and, by extension, the hype surrounding the Jubilee.
The above claims have always sounded like revisionism on the part of the pistols to me, especially the sycophantic bit about the song being intended as 'sympathetic' to the queen. Yeah right. Lydon should be ashamed of himself for this mealy mouthed back-pedalling. I note he waited around 20 years before 'clarifying' his lyrical intent quercus robur 20:17, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
The song was not written for the Silver Jubilee, it was written about a year before that, and entitled "No Future". McClaren decided to rename it "God Save the Queen", and release it to coincide with the Silver Jubilee. So what the band says is true - it was the McClaren publicity machine that ended up linking it with the jubilee, not the band. StanPomeray ( talk) 15:44, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
In The Filth and the Fury they say that the song would've been #1 - but there simply was no #1 that week. The 1 spot was instead left blank. Any more info on this?-- Wasabe3543 16:54, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
If you ask me, "I Don't Want to Talk About It / The First Cut is the Deepest" was probably a budget single. 73.25.20.162 ( talk) 03:53, 8 April 2018 (UTC)
I was a 12 year old at the time, and can remember that all of the shops with a "record counter" such as Woolworths, W.H.Smiths, Boots and Rumbelows had their "Top 20" list on the counter with the No.1 simply a blank space, and the Rod Stewart's "First Cut is the Deepest" showing at No.2. This was in the Havant (Hampshire) area. There was also a TV program shown maybe 7 or 8 years ago, I can't remember which channel it was on, but there was a guy interviewed who apparently worked at the time for British Market Research Bureau who was the company that compiled the official UK singles charts at the time. He suggested that the company had been "instructed" by the BBC to switch the No.1 and No.2 entries so that God Save the Queen wouldn't be shown as No.1. Whether he was talking bollocks or not, who knows. Seems a bit pointless - if you're so offended that someone makes a single that is critical of the Queen (which it isn't actually, but that's another story), does it really make things much better to see it at No.2 instead of No.1? No.2 is still pretty good isnt it?!
Various sources state that it was indeed the highest-selling single of the week,[10][11] despite a ban by the BBC and some major retailers.[12] In order to prevent it from reaching the top of the "official" BMRB chart, for one week compilers "decreed that shops which sold their own records could not have those records represented in the chart", and thus sales from Virgin Megastores were not counted. That can't be true either - the first Virgin Megastore (which was in Oxford Street) didn't open until 1979, which is 2 years after God Save the Queen was released!
Discussion at Talk:God Save the Queen (Motörhead song). — Bubba hotep 21:20, 3 March 2007 (UTC)
i took this out...
Motörhead version
The heavy metal band Motörhead released a cover version of "God Save the Queen" as a single in 2000 to promote their album We Are Motörhead. The cover art gives further reference to the Sex Pistols by using the same cut-out words to form the title as the Sex Pistols' single cover.
A performance of the song recorded during the band's 25th anniversary concert at Brixton Academy on October 22, 2000, appears on their 25 & Alive Boneshaker DVD.
... because i think it unbalances the article terribly - the cover simply isn't relevant or important enough to warrant much article space - i'll follow the above link to the discussion now.... Petesmiles 07:07, 1 May 2007 (UTC)
It's quite clear that the Motorhead element is not wanted in this article so it has been moved back. You can consider this a moment of ignorance to improve the flow of encylclopedic information, if you like. – B.hotep u/ t• 21:29, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
Morgan Fisher covered the song chipmunk-style on his "Hybrid Kids" album, under the pseudonym of "Punky & Porgy" (Hybrid Kids is a fake compilation album, with each track attributed to a fictional band. It sounds like it was influenced by the Residents) 80.60.242.12 15:08, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
I note the page was moved yet again, without discussion, by an account that is now blocked indefinitely because CheckUser confirms that the operator has abusively used one or more accounts so much for stopping the backwards and forwards.-- 163.1.147.64 ( talk) 00:43, 21 June 2011 (UTC)
Image:Andmgodsavethequeen.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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BetacommandBot 23:43, 29 October 2007 (UTC)
Image:Gstq.PNG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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Image:God Save The Queen.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.
BetacommandBot ( talk) 06:05, 29 November 2007 (UTC)
Can anyone please provide a primary source for the following quote? "You don't write a song like 'God Save The Queen' because you hate the English race. You write a song like that because you love them, and you're sick of seeing them mistreated." Thanks. HPNYC—Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.120.251.239 ( talk) 04:05, 28 January 2008
"In 2008, on a Music Immersion program run by St. Joseph's College Gregory Terrace in Brisbane, Australia, a band of Year 10 students called Citizens Arrest covered the song."
Not noteworthy, surely? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.97.113.147 ( talk) 12:25, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
According to the article the song was controversial both for its equation of the Queen with a "fascist regime" and for its claim that England had "no future". But does the text say that England has no future? As I understand the text, it says that the queen has no future. -- Oddeivind ( talk) 20:47, 17 May 2012 (UTC)
They never equated the Queen with a facist regime. The lyrics say "your facist regime, they made you a moron" (i.e. the various governments of the UK have resulted in the Queen becoming pointless). Also, the lyrics do not say that England has no future, they say that "England's dreaming" has no future. The idea being that for most people in the UK, there is no point having dreams or ambitions because you'll never come to anything. http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/sexpistols/godsavethequeen.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.225.149.5 ( talk) 16:28, 13 January 2014 (UTC)
It seems to be a rather elephant-in-the-room ommission to write such a substantial article about this song yet fail to provide something as basic and relevant to the article as the lyrics to the song. 121.73.7.84 ( talk) 22:08, 5 September 2012 (UTC)
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This song's 'shock' references to the Queen sounded quaint and misplaced to this schoolboy already in 1977. It sounds positively Hovis advert today. Acorrector ( talk) 14:19, 12 February 2022 (UTC)
Then again, because the song was not aimed school boys, its' true message continues to unset all the reactionary and backward looking supporters of the Royals. For is not this the reason why the defenders of the established order (on Wikipedia Talk and elsewhere) continue to down-play the true meaning of the song in 2023? God Save the Queen - it ain't that Quaint! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.147.153.126 ( talk) 22:25, 2 September 2023 (UTC)
The result was: rejected by
Theleekycauldron (
talk) 02:17, 12 April 2023 (UTC)
Created by J Readd ( talk). Self-nominated at 12:49, 11 April 2023 (UTC). Post-promotion hook changes for this nom will be logged at Template talk:Did you know nominations/God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song); consider watching this nomination, if it is successful, until the hook appears on the Main Page.