At the time, the song was highly controversial for its equation of Queen Elizabeth with a "fascist regime" and for the lyric "there is no future in England's dreaming".
According to Glen Matlock, who had co-written the song — although he was no longer a member of the band by the time it was released — the bass was inspired by the Move's "Fire Brigade".
"[6] Johnny Rotten has explained the lyrics as follows: "You don't write 'God Save the Queen' because you hate the English race.
On 7 June 1977, the Jubilee holiday, the band attempted to play the song from a boat named the Queen Elizabeth on the River Thames, near the Palace of Westminster.
During the media furore over the single, Lydon and producers Bill Price and Chris Thomas were subject to a razor attack outside a pub in Highbury, London.
[9] Agreeing with the apparent anti-Windsor message, American postmodern author William S. Burroughs sent a congratulatory letter to the Sex Pistols following the release of the song.
[10] Before the group signed to Virgin, a small number of copies of "God Save the Queen" had been pressed on the A&M label.
[17] However, various sources state that it was indeed the highest-selling single of the week,[18][19] and it has been suggested that the song was deliberately blocked from reaching the top spot on the "official" BMRB chart.
[21] The NME magazine chart did in fact place the single at number-one during the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
[29] In 2007, NME launched a campaign to get the song to number 1 in the British charts and encouraged readers to purchase or download the single on 8 October.
[34] Rights holder UMC re-released the record for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in 2022, with 1,977 vinyl copies having the same tracks as the original A&M version and the rest labelled as a Virgin release.
[40][41] Lydon stated in a June 2022 opinion piece published during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee that he had softened his views on royalty and did not harbor any resentment against the royal family.
[43] While Matlock stated in an interview with Good Morning Britain: "I've nothing personal against the queen, lots of people love and respect her, but I do think she's a bit of a sop to what's going on".
[44] With the death of Elizabeth II in September 2022 and the accession of King Charles III, Matlock began to perform a modified version of the song which reflects the royal succession.
A camera traverses the route the band took in the boat the Queen Elizabeth, between Tower Bridge and Westminster, as the song plays.
The single's picture sleeve, featuring a defaced image of Queen Elizabeth II, was designed by Jamie Reid and in 2001 was ranked No.
A performance of the song recorded during the band's twenty-fifth anniversary concert at Brixton Academy, on 22 October 2000, appears on their 25 & Alive Boneshaker DVD.
On the 18 March 1983 episode of SCTV in the Mel's Rock Pile segment, Mel Slirrup (Eugene Levy) has a tribute to punk rock featuring a number by the band the Queenhaters—Martin Short (lead singer), Andrea Martin (lead guitarist/back-up vocals), Eugene Levy (rhythm guitarist), Joe Flaherty (bass), and John Candy (drummer)—performing "I Hate the Bloody Queen", a sound-alike song that almost matches the original it is spoofing, with references to the Falklands War ("I'd like to drown the Queen/Off the coast of Argentine/Throw her off a battleship/With her Falkland war machine!")
This spoof of the Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen" even has its own cover version by Mudhoney on the tribute album Oh Canaduh!