How did the Sex Pistols rattle society? Miniseries ‘Pistol’ explains

When the Sex Pistols hit the music scene, many things changed.

Before the punk rockers stirred things up, “you felt you were young and then you were old and there was nothing in between,” says director Danny Boyle.

“Kids, like the Pistols, grew up knowing they were supposed to kowtow to this (class) system,” adds writer Craig Pearce. “They fitted into the system in a particular place…and their place was right down on the bottom.”

When Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood rebelled through fashion, they lit a flame that grew into a fire. It expanded to music and, there, The Pistols started raging.

“They were the fountainhead that changed it for so many people coming after them,” says Boyle. “They gave us a sense of timelessness. They said you can do whatever you want with your time – you can waste it, be vacant, be futile or not. It’s up to you.”

That era of ‘70s rebellion is captured in Boyle’s six-part series, “Pistol,” which tells how McLaren pulled together the group and started the counterculture.

Westwood, who emerged as a key designer of the punk movement, helped show that fashion was a way out for everyone. “It became something that you could (use to) fearlessly champion your life,” Boyle says.

Ironically, the folks in the movement were “supremely unqualified to do anything,” Boyle adds. “They weren’t really from art school, like the Beatles were, for instance. They really were from the street. It was the triumph of street culture.”

McLaren, who acted as the band’s manager, bonded with guitarist Steve Jones, largely because they shared a very similar childhood. “They both had broken families. They were both from kind of a broken world and were seeking some way to express their past,” says Toby Wallace, who plays Jones in the series. “At the heart of our story was this traumatic experience that he had gone through that birthed the type of anger he shares with Malcolm.”

To capture the chaotic times, Boyle uses plenty of canted camera angles, rough shooting techniques and ‘70s-era film flaws. The look reflects the times.

Often, Boyle says, he told the cinematographer to just follow the actors.

“It was very, very planned chaos, very, very careful chaos but chaos nonetheless,” Wallace says. “There was improvisation going on all the time.”

For someone like Thomas Brodie-Sangster, who plays McLaren, the film was an opportunity to capture the very angry emotions behind the music. “They’re unapologetic about the way they feel about the world and they express it with just pure energy,” Brodie-Sangster says. “That’s what’s striking about them.”

While Boyle witnessed the actual revolution, he was more of a Clash fan than a Sex Pistols aficionado. “I came from a very ordinary working-class background,” he says. “Whether you were aware of it or not, you were just going to be your dad, really. This revolution changed many, many people’s paths and it set people of that age free to express themselves. It reinforced Elvis’s teenage revolution.

“There was a real sense of, ‘Wow…this is really changing and you’re free.’”

Anson Boon, who plays John Lydon, says punkers revolutionized music, fashion and culture forever. “If you go into a pub, their font is on a beer pump. All the major fashion houses still put safety pins in their clothes. It’s everywhere.”

Surprisingly, the Sex Pistols lasted two and a half years. They embarked on several reunion tours and were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, even though they chose not to attend.

Based on Jones’ autobiography, “Pistol” has already been challenged in court by John Lydon, who didn’t want the band’s music used in the series. He lost the case but has continued to question the court’s decision.

Lydon – known as Johnny Rotten – “will attack this series,” says Boyle. “We love him for that, actually. That contrary nature is the source of a wonderful touch of genius, really.”

“Pistol” will begin airing May 31 on FX.