"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" is a song and single by
Ian DuryIan Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
. It was originally released on the
1977-Events:Bohemian Rhapsody is named 'The Best Single Of The Last 25 Years' by BPI.In this year, the St. Magnus Festival was founded in Orkney by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies....
Stiff RecordsStiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976 by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
single BUY 17 "Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll" with "Razzle In My Pocket" as the B-side. on August 26th. The song was released under the name 'Ian Dury'. Only two members of Ian Dury and the Blockheads appear on the record, the song's co-writer
Chas JankelChaz Jankel, also known as Chas Jankel , was a keyboard player and guitarist with Ian Dury and the Blockheads, acting as a co-writer with Dury on the band's best-known songs during the British funk/new wave band's commercial peak in the late 1970s.-Biography:Jankel was responsible for much of the...
and
saxophonistThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
Davey Payne.
The song was written by Ian Dury and Chas Jankel in Dury's flat in Oval Mansions, London (nicknamed "Catshit mansions" by Ian) that overlooked
The OvalThe Brit Insurance Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, London. In the past it was also sometimes called the 'Kennington Oval'...
cricket-ground.
"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" is a song and single by
Ian DuryIan Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
. It was originally released on the
1977-Events:Bohemian Rhapsody is named 'The Best Single Of The Last 25 Years' by BPI.In this year, the St. Magnus Festival was founded in Orkney by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies....
Stiff RecordsStiff Records is a record label created in London in 1976 by entrepreneurs Dave Robinson and Andrew Jakeman , and active until 1985. It was reactivated in 2007....
single BUY 17 "Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll" with "Razzle In My Pocket" as the B-side. on August 26th. The song was released under the name 'Ian Dury'. Only two members of Ian Dury and the Blockheads appear on the record, the song's co-writer
Chas JankelChaz Jankel, also known as Chas Jankel , was a keyboard player and guitarist with Ian Dury and the Blockheads, acting as a co-writer with Dury on the band's best-known songs during the British funk/new wave band's commercial peak in the late 1970s.-Biography:Jankel was responsible for much of the...
and
saxophonistThe saxophone is a conical-bored transposing musical instrument considered a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and are played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by Adolphe Sax in 1841...
Davey Payne.
History
The song was written by Ian Dury and Chas Jankel in Dury's flat in Oval Mansions, London (nicknamed "Catshit mansions" by Ian) that overlooked
The OvalThe Brit Insurance Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, London. In the past it was also sometimes called the 'Kennington Oval'...
cricket-ground. The way the pair worked was for Ian Dury to present Jankel with lyric sheets hand typed by the singer. According to Chas in
Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life of Ian Dury he would be repeatedly given the lyric for "Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll" but Jankel kept rejecting the song only for it to be at the top of the pile again the next time only to be rejected again. This went on until Dury sung the song's guitar riff to Chas and sang the song's title in time with it. Sometime later Jankel heard "
Change Of The CenturyChange of the Century is an album, recorded in 1959 and originally released in 1960, by jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman .-Track listing:#"Ramblin'" –6:39#"Free" –6:24#"The Face of the Bass" –6:59...
", a record by
Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
(that also included
Charlie HadenCharles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
and
Don CherryDon Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz trumpeter whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman, and who would go on to live and work with a wide variety of musicians in many parts of the world.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and...
) and heard the exact same bass riff being played by Haden.
Ian Dury once apologised to Coleman for lifting the riff but, as Coleman explained, he (or possibly Haden) had lifted it himself from an old English dance tune called Old Joe Clarke.
The single did not chart, selling only around 19,000 copies (a small amount for a single in 1977) but won critical acclaim. A factor of this poor sales could be Stiff Record's singles deletion policy designed to promote initial sales and as such, chart success. The original single was deleted after only two months.
Released as it was in the height of the popularity of
punk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, the song was misinterpreted (as it is often is to this day) as a song about excess as its title and chorus would suggest and was banned by the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation, usually referred to by its abbreviation as the "BBC", is the longest established and largest broadcaster in the world...
. However, Dury maintained that the song was not a punk anthem. He said he was trying to suggest that there was more to life than a 9-to-5 existence (such as in his track-by-track comments in the sleeve-notes of Repertoire Record's
Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Best Of Ian Dury & The Blockheads compilation). The verses themselves are somewhat riddle-like at times though always suggesting an alternative lifestyle:
- Here's a little bit of advice, you're quite welcome, it is free
- Don’t do nothing that is cut-price, you'll know what they'll make you be
- They will try their tricky device, trap you with the ordinary
- Get your teeth into a small slice, the cake of liberty
The phrase became part of the English language and was later used in many song lyrics.
Re-releases
The song has become a staple on Punk Rock/New Wave and Ian Dury compilations but initially the song was not available in the abundance it is today. In keeping with Dury's own policy of not including his singles on his albums, the track was not included on his debut
New Boots and Panties!!, though a 12" version of the single was released in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
in November 1977, with both tracks from his next single "Sweet Gene Vincent / You're More Than Fair" replacing "Razzle In My Pocket" as the B-side, and again in December as a free give-a-way to guests at the
NMEThe New Musical Express is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom which has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it...
's Christmas party that year (of which only 1,000 were pressed). This time "Razzle In My Pocket" was replaced by "England's Glory" and "Two Stiff Steep Hills", two tracks recorded live by Ian Dury & The Kilburns, the final phase of Dury's pub-rock band Kilburn & The Highroads. Five hundred more copies of the NME's version of the single was re-pressed for a competition the magazine ran but following this it was not available until
Juke Box Dury, an Ian Dury singles collection released in 1981 by Stiff Records. Since then it has appeared on every Ian Dury compilation.
Versions
Stiff Records organised a joint tour for
Nick LoweNick Lowe is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
,
Ian DuryIan Robins Dury was an English rock and roll singer, lyricist, bandleader and actor who initially rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and New Wave era of rock music...
,
Wreckless EricWreckless Eric is a rock and roll/new wave singer-songwriter best known for his 1978 single " Whole Wide World" on Stiff Records. More than two decades after its release, the song was included in Mojo magazine’s list of the best punk rock singles of all time...
,
Larry WallisLarry Wallis is a guitarist, songwriter and producer. He is best known as a member of the Pink Fairies and an early member of Motörhead.-Early bands:...
and
Elvis CostelloElvis Costello is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and New Wave musical genres...
, five of their biggest acts at the time with the intentions of having the bands alternating as the headlining act. Ian Dury and the newly formed Blockheads soon became the stars of the tour (it was surmised that
Elvis CostelloElvis Costello is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s, and later became associated with the punk rock and New Wave musical genres...
would be the main attraction having had chart success) and the nightly encore became "Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll". A version can be heard on the
Stiffs Live Stiffs LP released after the tour called "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll & Chaos", credited to Ian Dury and Stiff Stars'. It features four drummers and four keyboard players, plus vocals by Wallis, Wreckless Eric, Edmunds, Lowe, and Dury, and by the end (at 5 minutes and 22 seconds) what sounds like every musician on the tour.
Another live version can be found on the Ian Dury & The Blockheads live album
Straight From The Desk, though much of it is not the song but Ian Dury introducing the band and their respective solos, with only the first half of the song and a repetition of the title at the song's climax included.
When Edsel Records re-released
New Boots and Panties!! as part of a series of Ian Dury re-issues recording in Alvic Studios, London was included on the bonus disc included with the album. It features two later Blockheads members Norman Watt-Roy and Charley Charles.
Samples
The song, was sampled in the 2007 single
'Sex & Drugs' by dance act Slyde. The video features footage of Dury singing the lyrics.
Allusions
VariationsA snowclone is a type of cliché and phrasal template originally defined as "a multi-use, customizable, instantly recognizable, time-worn, quoted or misquoted phrase or sentence that can be used in an entirely open array of different variants"....
of the phrase are often used in media:
- The book Sex, Drugs, Einstein & Elves by Cliff Pickover
- The book Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market
Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs, and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market is a book written by Eric Schlosser and published in 2003. The book is a look at the three pillars of the underground economy of the U.S., estimated by Schlosser to be ten percent of American GDP: marijuana, migrant labor, and...
by Eric SchlosserEric Schlosser is an American journalist and author known for investigative or muckraking journalism, such as in his books Fast Food Nation, Reefer Madness and Chew On This...
- The book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto is a collection of eighteen comedic essays on popular culture written by Chuck Klosterman, a writer for Esquire and Spin magazine.- Overview :...
by Chuck KlostermanCharles John "Chuck" Klosterman is an American journalist whose work often focuses on pop culture. He was raised on a farm near Wyndmere, North Dakota and graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1994...
- The article "Sex, Drugs, Prisons, and HIV" in The New England Journal of Medicine
Sources
- Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury by Richard Balls, first published 2000, Omnibus Press
- Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song by Jim Drury, first published 2003, Sanctuary Publishing.
- Reasons To Be Cheerful 2-Disc Compilation first released 1996, Repertoire Records