Queen’s relationship with punk runs deeper than many would imagine. Freddie Mercury and co inadvertently gave the British public their first real taste of the nascent punk scene when they cancelled an appearance on TV news show Today on December 1, 1976. Scrambling around for a last minute replacement, the show’s producers parachuted in a new group named the Sex Pistols, who arrived in the Thames Television studios with their entourage. The subsequent profanity-laced interview caused tabloid uproar and cost presenter Bill Grundy his job.
Not that the Sex Pistols seemed especially grateful for the leg-up. Several months later, while Queen were recording their News Of The World album, the two bands found themselves in the same studio. It was there that a famous, and possibly apocryphal, exchange took place between Freddie Mercury and Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. “Are you still bringing ballet to the masses?” sneered Sid. “We’re trying our best, dear,” replied Freddie, who may or may not have referred to Vicious as “Simon Ferocious” (“I’ve heard [the story] a million times, each time slightly different, Queen drummer Roger Taylor told Classic Rock in 2021).
