

Decades after its release, Never Mind the Bollocks remains one of the most thrilling punk albums of all time. Its layers of fiery guitars and pummeling drums beneath Johnny Rotten's sneering, staccato call to arms still sound fresh and vital. Bracing sermons on British youth's bleak future, like "God Save the Queen" and "Anarchy in the U.K.," felt genuinely shocking, even threatening, in 1977. The band's sly humor and love of their musical forebears are more obvious today, but these tracks rock just as hard as they ever did.