As the frontman for the Pistols, Lydon/Rotten was quickly transformed from an anonymous punk working construction jobs and living in a squat into a subject of nation-wide attention and controversy. After a series a gigs at colleges and clubs (and a one-off show in Paris), the band took part in the first "International Punk Festival", staged at the 100 Club on Oxford Street. Sharing the bill with other early punk acts such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Damned and The Clash, the Sex Pistols created enough of a stir to rouse the unsavory attentions of EMI executives, and were signed to the label shortly afterwards. Their debut release Anarchy in the U.K. followed in November of 1976, but the first significant public stir would be the result of the band's irreverent and profane appearance on Bill Grundy's Today program -- an incident that created enough of a media frenzy to push the single into the top 40. Despite this promising start, the constant turmoil and destruction that plagued the Pistols' subsequent tour prompted EMI to drop the band (and the single) after little more than three months.
