On December 1, 1976 Queen were forced to cancel a scheduled promotional appearance on ITV's popular tea-time show Tonight with Billy Grundy as an agonising toothache had compelled frontman Freddie Mercury to book an urgent dental appointment, his first in almost 15 years. Scrambling around to find a last-minute replacement for the programme, EMI music publicist Eric Hall proposed one of the label's new signings, the Sex Pistols, as an alternative booking. Famously, the encounter between the London punks and the seasoned Mancunian broadcaster did not end well.
Five weeks later, on January 6, 1977, EMI dropped the Pistols, the label issuing a statement that read: "EMI feels it is unable to promote this group's records in view of the adverse publicity generated over the past two months."
By the summer of 1977, however, the Pistols had begun work on their debut album, for their new label, Virgin at Wessex Sound Studios, in Islington, North London. By coincidence, Queen were also booked into the facility, working on their sixth record, News Of The World. The two bands were somewhat wary of one another, but soon enough sparked up cordial conversations about music, with Brian May recalling John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten being "always respectful". Roger Taylor was less impressed with bassist Sid Vicious, who he remembers as "a moron", and it was Vicious who caused the only spot of tension between the two bands.
