It seems to me that the only reason anybody would listen to a
future proclamation by the Sex Pistols is that they were able to grasp a
hold of and represent predominate attitudes of the day. At that time
there was economic decline and no hope for a worthwhile life for anyone
not in the ruling class. The seventies were also a time when a public
understanding of how one's own future is directed by historical trends
simply beyond most people's control.
If you were young, from the working class, and had a worthless
education your future was nought. The Sex Pistols (really McClaren)
identified this situation and made a movement out of these feelings. The
youth saw nothing good ahead for themselves, their future was shit. One
act of defiance possible and accesible was simply to claim there was no
future.
Youth willingly grabs hold of such defiant and yet vaccuous
proclamations without engaging it in any philosophical evalutation. To
me it was all a glorification of a nihilistic defiance, brought on by
McClarens's art school education ( involving no doubt discussions of
existentialist attitudes or beliefs).
In all, it amounted to wealth for a few record producers and did
nothing to help those who grabbed onto such statements in the first place.
We can see the same attitude in the residue that is grunge today,
although I hope it is starting to fade.