The Sex Pistols’ infamous live TV F word rant was down to stolen Blue Nun wine, bassist Glen Matlock says.
He revealed guitarist Steve Jones downed a bottle of the cheap German plonk in the dressing room before going on Bill Grundy’s ITV Today in 1976.
The F word had only been said twice on TV before and the outcry sparked front-page headlines including the Mirror’s The Filthy and the Fury.
Matlock told the Rockonteurs podcast: “We got ushered into the Green Room and Steve Jones is in and out like Flynn, with something under his coat.
“Me, John[Lydon], Paul [Cook]and Malcolm [McLaren] go in there and find those little cans of Heineken... so we had them and then we’re on set.
"What Steve’s gone and done, he’s gone in first and found a bottle of Blue Nun. He’s gone in another room and drunk the whole thing himself. Then we’re on telly.
"Halfway through the Blue Nun kicks in and Steve starts swearing his head off.
“None of it was planned. Behind the camera Malcolm’s going ‘You’ve done it now’.
"Malcolm said ‘Let’s get out of here’ and just as well that he did because as we got in the car a Black Maria turned up and they all got out with their truncheons.
"They didn’t know it was us.”
Matlock, 64, joked: “That’s where it started going wrong. We probably wouldn’t have Brexit if it hadn’t been for Steve Jones and Blue Nun.”
The punk band had been booked to appear on the show at the last minute after Queen cancelled.
In the interview, Grundy had dared the punk band to say ‘something outrageous’ - to which Jones responded: “What a f****** rotter.”
