Song by Song: "Anarchy in the U.K." Quiz

Answer: 1976

"Anarchy in the U.K." was released on November 26, 1976 as a UK single on the EMI label. The single had "I Wanna Be Me" on the B-side. The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in 1975, broke-up in 1978, and reunited again in 1996 for a concert tour.

Answer: Give 'Em Enough Rope

The song was included on the Sex Pistols' only studio album, "Nevermind the Bullocks, Here's the Sex Pistols," which was released on October 28, 1977 in the U.K. and November 11, 1977 in the United States. "The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle" was a soundtrack album by the Sex Pistols released in 1979. "Flogging a Dead Horse," released in 1980, was a Sex Pistols compilation album. All three of these albums include the song. An early demo version of the song is also included on the Sex Pistols' bootleg album "Spunk."

"Give 'Em Enough Rope," however, is a 1978 album by punk rock band The Clash.

Answer: The MTA

"Is this the MPLA?
Or is this the UDA?
Or is this the IRA?"

In the conflict in Northern Ireland, the IRA, or Irish Republican Army, was on the anti-British side, while the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was on the pro-British side. MPLA stands for Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, the organization that took control of Angola in a civil war against Portugal in the 1970s.

MTA, however, is a common abbreviation for the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The Kingston Trio has a famous song about Charlie getting stuck on the MTA.

Answer: Guitar Hero III

Original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock was not a part of the recording. They had to re-record the song for the game because the multi-track master couldn't be located at the time, though it was rediscovered a few years later in 2012. The "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" recording was later included in the "Tony Hawk's Prok-Skater 4" video game and in the 2010 film adaptation of the television show "The A-Team."

Answer: an antichrist

Sex Pistols lead vocalist Johnny Rotten (John Lydon) confirmed he is not actually an anarchist in a 2012 interview with Rhiannon Edwards. "I never was," Lydon said. "Whoever told you that? Anarchy is mind games for the middle class." As for the line in the song claiming, "I am an anarchist," he said, "I also had a song that said Pretty Vacant. I'm not pretty and I'm not vacant."

Answer: a shopping scheme

"Anarchy for the U.K.
It's coming sometime and maybe
I give a wrong time, stop a traffic line
Your future dream is a shopping scheme

"Anarchy in the U.K." was written by the Sex Pistols and credited to band members John Lydon (known professionally as Johnny Rotten), Paul Cook, Steve Jones, and Glen Matlock. The song was produced by Chris Thomas, Bill Price, and Dave Goodman.

The song hit number 38 on the UK singles chart before EMI dropped the band on January 6, 1977, about a month after their use of profanity on a live television broadcast.

Answer: A British weekly musical newspaper

NME stands for "New Musical Express," a weekly music magazine founded in 1952 which is now a website. Its final print issue was published in 2018. When sung, this line sounds like "I use the enemy," and therefore has a double meaning. The acronym also fits in well with the jumble of acronyms used elsewhere in the song - IRA, UDA, MPLA.

Answer: a person who does menial drudge work

Use of the term can be traced to the British Royal Navy, where "dogsbody" was a colloquialism for a junior officer or midshipman. In American usage, "workhorse" would be a more common term to communicate a similar concept.

"Anarchy in the UK" was ranked number 56 on Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time." It is also listed among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll."

Answer: Megadeath

The song was released as a single from the album in 1988. Megadeath altered the lyrics of the song somewhat and changed the country to the USA without changing the title of the song itself. The Megadeath version hit number 45 on the UK singles chart and number 13 in New Zealand.

Answer: The Flintstones

The Flintstones was the first animated cartoon series to appear on prime-time television and aired on ABC in the U.S. from 1960 to 1966. The cartoon family lived in the town of Bedrock. "Anarchy in Bedrock" was included on the soundtrack of the 1994 film adaptation of the Flintstones. The song begins:

"Anarchy in Bedrock... twitch, twitch
Right now, hahaha...
I am an antichrist
I am an anarchist,
Don't know what I want
But know how to get it.
Want to destroy Mr. Slate..."