Rhino High Fidelity Does The Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols"

Kevin Gray Cut Using Master Tapes

ARRIVING TODAY, RHINO HIGH FIDELITY’S LIMITED EDITION VINYL REISSUE OF THE BAND’S SEMINAL 1977 DEBUT, CUT FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES

NEW LINER NOTES BY PRODUCER CHRIS THOMAS

LIMITED EDITION OF 5,000 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED SETS

(August 29, 2025 - Los Angeles, CA) Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols, an album that rewired 20 years of rock in under 40 minutes, is available today from Rhino High Fidelity (Rhino Hi-Fi), the premium vinyl reissue series. Order HERE.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols (Rhino High Fidelity) was cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram black vinyl at Optimal in Germany. This release is limited to 5,000 individually numbered copies and available exclusively at Rhino.com and select Warner Music Group stores internationally.

Singer and main lyricist Johnny Rotten (John Lydon), guitarist Steve Jones, drummer Paul Cook, and bassist Glen Matlock—later replaced by Sid Vicious—recorded the Sex Pistols’ only studio album at Wessex Sound in London. Released in 1977, it debuted at #1 on the U.K. charts despite being banned by major retailers and causing widespread controversy. Bristling with broadsides like “Anarchy In The U.K.,” “God Save The Queen,” “Pretty Vacant,” and “Holidays In The Sun,” the album distilled rage and disillusionment into a single, unrelenting statement.

In the album’s new liner notes, producer Chris Thomas recalls how the band found their recording approach almost by accident during an early session. “We put down a track, just rhythm guitar and drums, pretty much first-take, no mistakes. It was impossible to know if it was any good, so, being a bit stumped, I asked Steve if he would like to have a go at putting the bass part on.”

Instead of playing a traditional bass line, he simply mirrored his guitar an octave lower—an unexpected move that snapped everything into focus. “It was an absolute ‘Eureka!’ moment,” Thomas recalls. “The combination was so powerful, so simple. We bashed three more songs down, adding the bass and double-tracking the guitar in just a couple of hours. We were seriously in first-take territory.”

Sadly, just months after the album came out, the band unraveled, breaking up in January 1978 during their U.S. tour. But the Sex Pistols’ legacy far outlasted their time together. Never Mind The Bollocks has sold over a million copies in the U.S. alone, was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame, and ranks high among the greatest albums of all time in lists by Rolling Stone, NME, and Time. Nearly five decades later, the record remains a defining force in punk and a cultural lightning rod.

Rhino High Fidelity continues to tap into Warner Music’s vast catalog, introducing reissues of seminal albums across genres—from rock and pop to jazz, soul, and beyond. Each title pairs uncompromising audio with archival-grade packaging, honoring the album’s original intent in both sound and design.

Comments

2025-08-29 11:47:35 AM

Rolando wrote:

Super excited about this one. "Bodies" is unrelenting with bold-faced energy. Love these classic punk albums getting the hifi treatment, though I know many disagree with me. Cheers!
2025-08-29 01:30:51 PM

Willie Luncheonette wrote:

Big up Rhino for giving this very well recorded album the audiophile treatment. There are TONS of great great punk albums that I wish were given audiophile releases. You can start with the Saints, Stiff Little Fingers, the Undertones, the Ruts, Germs, X, GBH, Discharge, Cockney Rejects, X-Ray Spex, Leatherface, the Avengers, Generation X (my all time favorite punk album) Dead Boys etc. etc. I'm leaving out hardcore, that's a different bag but very much worthy of the audiophile treatment (I know, I know....how many copies do you think they would sell of the Ruts? But anyway, I can't help gushing over these awesome punk bands)
2025-08-29 03:41:26 PM

Rashers wrote:

Ok - so I ordered this because one of my brothers sold my original copy in the 1990s. I have a 2016 reissue - but this looks like a great pressing and a collectable product. But what is the story with the cover? The cover is was and always has been bright yellow - this cover is the godawful American one (that was likely due to a printer's error). There are at least 500 versions of this album out there - and aside from the US and Canadian versions ALL of the others use the correct (i.e. UK original) artwork.
- 2025-08-30 08:31:50 PM
  
  Malachi Lui wrote:
  
  i've never been a sex pistols fan (i'm more of a PiL guy) but i've seen both color variants of this album cover about equally over my years of collecting and browsing. also, with rhino being an american reissue division of warner, it makes sense that they stick with the original american color scheme, even if it's 'wrong.' i'm pretty sure this is one of those records with a rights split between territories - warner for north america, universal for UK/EU
  - 2025-09-02 08:37:17 AM
    
    Rashers wrote:
    
    I take you point but if this is to be the definitive version of the album - perhaps the original British artwork would have been appropriate (like the Beatles reissues). I can't imagine that the rights issue has anything to do with the artwork. For the CD box set - the outside was yellow, and the orange green cover was on the inside.
2025-08-31 01:02:51 PM

Silk Dome Mid wrote:

Jamie Reid's bright yellow and pink design was inspired by anarchist/situationist stickers and publications that used those colors and similar graphics. The color switch for the USA was supposedly a printer's mistake, although that's hard for me to swallow. I actually like the clashing pink and green, it's a real attention grabber.
2025-09-03 12:04:50 PM

MrRom92 wrote:

I am not one of those who takes issue with this being a title in the Hi-Fi series. Much the opposite, I have been wanting a proper high quality reissue of this record for a long time. I just don’t think they’ve done enough. It’s another record being cut from inferior copy tapes. In the case of this and the Black Sabbath titles, they’ve misleadingly stated that the “original master tapes” are used but its on the customer to do the research and understand that they are only using the existing copies in the US vaults, that have been used to cut subpar issues of the record for decades. I would save my money and spend it on a vintage UK pressing if I really wanted to get closer to the sound of the true original master tape. As someone who cares about what they are buying I would have greater faith in the series going forward if they accurately stated their sources but they seem content to stretch the definition of what an original master tape is, to the point that it isn't what the educated consumer would expect that terminology to mean.
- 2025-09-03 09:13:06 PM
  
  Silk Dome Mid wrote:
  
  I agree 100%.