Michael Amott of Arch Enemy Discusses 'Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols' — The Record That Changed My Life
Michael Amott of Arch Enemy chooses (and discusses) the record that changed his life.
Sex Pistols
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977)
“I grew up with my parents’ record collection, and they listened largely to classical, along with some jazz, blues, Motown, Stevie Wonder and David Bowie.
"I had a good foundation. When I first found my own music, it was Kiss. They were massive in Scandinavia. I wasn’t playing guitar yet, but I loved their music and image—especially Destroyer and ‘Detroit Rock City,’ with the harmonized guitar.
"Later, when I was about 11 and had started playing music, my friend came over one day after school and said, ‘Mike, we’re gonna be punks now.’ And I was like, ‘Okay! What’s that?’ He showed me a magazine with a picture of the Sex Pistols and played me their first album, Never Mind the Bollocks, on cassette tape. I loved it! And we started a band that day.”
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
“I have a fingerprint of the way I play – a mix of Carlos Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gary Moore – but I’m constantly evolving”: Orianthi on why she loves old gear – and recording her new Band of Gypsys-inspired supergroup with Jimi Hendrix’s producer
“I was wrestling with whether I was going to keep doing music… and then I got the call from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss”: JD McPherson nearly abandoned his surf noir opus. But playing Zeppelin with Plant and Marc Ribot gave him a shot in the arm