An Analysis of Punk Subculture In the Sex Pistols’ Song; God Save the Queen based on Cultural Studies

With the aim to add more understanding about analyzing a literary work using a specific literary criticism, I would like to present this paper, which is entitled An Analysis of Punk Subculture in Sex Pistols’ Song; God Save the Queen based on Cultural Studies to all of you. Speaking about cultural studies, it can be risky to use it as the tool to dissect this song. Why? It is because there will be a lot of things that can be found in only one literary work that is analyzed, while the chance to get the point is inevitable. Imagine cutting a meat with a lot of kinds of knives. It happened exactly the same when I analyzed this selected song from the most phenomenal punk rock band from UK.

Basically, cultural studies is an academic field concerned with the study of culture and how it shapes society and individuals, mostly. But it is hard to define culture actually. It is too broad, though it has been defined in various ways. For example, culture has been defined as a way of life. It focuses less on institutions and more to people living in certain area. It also concerns more on texts. We sum up then cultural studies investigates the activities of everyday life done by people living in certain area. Loosely speaking, this paper covers the identification of punk social critics from a lyric of song composed by Sex Pistols.

So, here is the analysis that I found. I don't want to put the lyric here, so I hope you can open another tab to check the lyric. I only provide you the analysis.

From the chosen lines of the lyric, they actually represent the social condition of Britain. This is why this study focuses on social setting of a literary work. Through analyzing the song’s social setting, the connection between a literary work and its social life can be found easily. Since social life contains a lot of problems contain such scope like habits, economy, politic, tradition, custom, ideology, faith and so on, the ability to inspect the elements of subculture in the selected song can be done fairly.

The lines represented the social condition at the time this song was made and released are then found, as follow:

Findings

1. God save the Queen, the fascist regime.

The highlighted words refer to an ideology, which is kind of right-wing government. A country with fascism ideology is putting the country more important than the people. This country is usually run by a dictator, who has the right of total control over the government and people. Imagine a group of people sticks together resulting in unbreakable kind of thing. Fascists think that if a lot of people follow the same leader, it will make the country remains strong.

This line was not made intentionally as insult. Insulting was not a new thing, and that is what makes this single banned all over Britain. This song was released during Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. Although Rotten did not claim this song as mockery, people as the real judges can see whether this line was true or not. If we connect it to the social condition, the word fascist was intended to evoke English working class under the regime of what they claimed as fascist. It was for a reason; there was no place for uneducated people in Britain but in factories. They ended up as working class (labors) employees. They had got no other option to earn a lot of money. Rotten also said that this song was made intentionally as a general resentment for the monarchy.

2. They made you a moron, potential H-bomb.

The word ‘they’ here refers to the government which suppressed the ability of working class. They only got chance to follow the rules made by the government which did not give any chance for the working class members to use their intelligence. Thus, it makes them pointed as potential H-bomb, because they were not worth anything. The H-bomb here means alienation for working class people. It underlines the rage, fierce and frustration of alienation towards them conducted by other upper classes.

3. God save the Queen, she ain’t no human being.

It is oxymoron. For mentioning ‘she ain’t no human being’ means satirically considered the Queen as a ‘human’ lacking some features of humanity. She became no human being because of the monarchy system at the time. She was fabricated into a human with ruthless heart. Her decision to hold a Jubilee in condition where the poorer got poorer is intolerable to the band.

4. There is no future in England’s dreaming.

It refers to the condition of Britain which formerly had its glory times. By the time the song was written, it represented the real condition when there were several sad things happened, like the power-cuts where they only had 9 hours a day to use the electricity, riots caused by some counter cultures, terrorism, the space hopper and the economic decline.

5. Don’t be told what you want, don’t be told what you need.

This line refers to a condition where the band wanted minorities to resist the power of capitalism by its propaganda to make the people believe that they want and need the same things, the things that drive people to do anything, money. It is pretty usual since during 70s, Britain was not in its glory times. Economic decline became the reason of all of the problems, especially with employees decrease all around Britain. Working class people became target, while the upper and middle classes were doing well. 

6. There’s no future, no future, no future for you.

This line represents nihilism, which is a belief that a society’s political and social institutions are just so bad that they should be destroyed instead of being worshipped. Punk subculture believed in nihilism. They became skeptical and all thanks to the social condition and organization which were so bad as to make it destructed was allowed and the right thing to do. This doctrine also became the reason of such subculture was becoming the cause of any riots at that time. The repetition of ‘no future’ just sounds too ironic as it becomes such fear for a lot of working class people will end up with no future under fascist regime.

7. God save the Queen, we mean it man.

This line just clearly describes so much hatred this band possessed towards the Queen, for God (really) saves her. But actually it sounds depressed formed in hope, for the Queen to get her sanity and fix everything.

8. We love our Queen, God saves.

This line sounds hyperbole. For everything that they had been through, there is no way for them to love their Queen, especially for her decision to keep holding Jubilee even when her people were so damn poor.

9. God save the Queen, ‘cause tourists are money.

This line shows how grand the Jubilee was for a lot of tourists from all over the world came to see the celebration. This band thought it was such fortunate to hold this celebration, because tourists are money. The Queen got a lot of profit, yet she didn't change anything to help the poorer.

10. And our figurehead is not what she seems.

It is ironic for the figurehead here means a head without real power. This figurehead is represented to the Queen. It also means the heads or existences of ‘our/working class people’. The Queen did not see it as a big thing.

11. Oh God save history, oh God save your mad parade.

This line is like a request for God to save history through waking up the government to save the mad parade conducted by the poorer. The use of history word here is meant for a future the world would never have such history of Britain in the lowest condition almost in every sector. This line is also intended to save the mad parade or Jubilee, for this contrast condition between the Jubilee itself and the social condition should not be recorded in the history (because of embarrassment). 

12. Oh Lord God have mercy, all crimes are paid.

All of the crimes at that time were paid. The crimes, which were intentionally made to ruin the poorer were arranged to be paid. The economic decline left people with any other options to choose.

13. When there’s no future, how can there be sin?

It is a fact. It speaks literally the truth. Just go die and stop making anymore sin. Just go die because there is no future. There is no hope. This line was satirically pointed to working class for the better choice was dying. Dying was better than making sins.

14. We’re the flowers in the dustbin. We’re the poison in your human machine.

This line shows Johnny Rotten’s despair and hopelessness of being young living as a new lost generation’s anger with unemployment and monarchy system. Working in largely low-paid, inflexible and stressful jobs the system turned these young graduates and young adults into flowers in the dustbin as Rotten so aptly described. Thus it makes them poisoned in the human machine of monarchy system. It is like having these useless and unemployed young generations only became such embarrassment for the country.

15. We’re the future, your future.

However, in the end of this song before it goes to repetition of verses, the word ‘we’ refers to these working class young adults who (eventually) would become the future of this country. They are the future, your future, anyway. So you had better treat them well.

These facts and findings are connected with the social condition in which the Silver Jubilee became the main mockery’s target of this song. Living in economic decline where there was no field job available, these young adults took some of their leisure time to share the burden with each other in the same condition doing what they love to do. We think the findings and facts are related with cultural studies where the social condition of a subculture becomes main concern in this analysis.