“EMI” by The Sex Pistols

"E.M.I." is the Sex Pistols settling accounts, a sneering parting shot at the label that signed them and then dumped them, from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, their 1977 debut and only album. EMI had cut them loose on 6 January 1977, three months into the contract, after the furor over their turn on the Today programme, and the song mocks the company for chasing a punk cash-in and bolting once the band's antics soiled its name.

Paul Cook, Steve Jones, John Lydon and Glen Matlock share the credit. A first take was cut that January at Gooseberry Studios, Matlock's last session with the band, but the album version is a remake from Wessex Studios two months on, produced by Chris Thomas with Bill Price engineering. Johnny Rotten later said it came together mostly in the studio, riding a relentless groove.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.