This story transports CBBC characters from the 2000s/2010s into the 1970s.
The Sex Pistols tour London's 'St.' towns: St. Hopes, St. Hearts, and St. Croaks in the middle of 1976, and various students from those towns' high schools set out to form their own punk rock bands.
June 23, 1976, St. Hopes High School.
Blane Whittaker and Stewart Critchley walk down the corridor. The two had been mates since they were six years old, and loved music. Stewart, apart from being a Star Trek nerd, was heavily into T. Rex and David Bowie. Blane was into more of the harder-edged stuff, he liked MC5 and The Stooges. Blane's love interest, Daisy Millar, was a top 40 goer. Elton John, ABBA, Eagles, you name it, Daisy's transistor radio was just another body part to her.
However, Blane and Stewart had a sizable amount of like-minded people they could relate with: Oscar Cole, a curly haired, shy guy that liked the Velvet Underground, Avril Franklin, a David Bowie fanatic, Timothy Hinklebottom, who was a metalhead who rocked out to Sabbath and a recent fan of Judas Priest who had put out Sad Wings Of Destiny a few months prior, and Donovan Butler, a fidgety boy that listened to Crosby, Stills and Nash.
The two boys walk past Daisy. Blane liked Daisy, but didn't like her music tastes. Daisy was with her two friends. "Hi, glam dork!" she said flippantly to Stewart. "Shut up..." Stewart mumbled. Blane jumped in. "Come on Daisy, you don't know nothing more than the four songs they play on the radio.". The boys walk off.
St. Hopes was giving the kids something different; their deputy headmaster, Mr. Stark, was a rebellious man. He was voted the "Most irresponsible headmaster" in a British school board committee vote in 1975. However, he had gained knowledge of a recent band that had been making the rounds in London for a good while: The Sex Pistols.
The Sex Pistols were radically different to ANYTHING that had come before. They had short, cropped, spiked hair, ripped clothing, chaotic attitudes and spat in the face of the establishment. Their manager, Malcolm McLaren, devised an idea when the band were hanging out in the St. Hopes area.
"Hey, why don't we play this high school down there?", McLaren said, pointing to St. Hopes High. Pistols frontman, orange-haired, brutally honest motherfucker, Johnny Rotten, snarled. "A fuckin' high school? They're probably all Rolling Stones fans." he mumbled.
"No you don't understand Johnny. I've read in the papers that this school is anti-establishment! It's perfect!"
"You seriously believe the press?", Johnny mumbled back.
"Anti-establishment, Johnny."
"...Fine, alright, sir..." Johnny sarcastically said.
"I'll be back, boys." Malcolm said in an action movie voice and took off.
Johnny, fidgeting with some scrunched up chocolate bar wrapper went on another one of his trademark rants.
"Fuckin, it better not be one of those stupid secondary schools, wearin' fancy blazers and being told what to do. They need to be brought out of that crap and into reality. I don't believe a fucking word Malcolm believes in the papers. Sensationalist garbage, a farce."
"Oy, shut up John, you're talkin' fuckin' shit! You do this like every single time Malcolm gets us a gig!" Steve Jones, the guitarist, yells out.
"Oh, fuck off, would you wanker?" Johnny whines.
Malcolm walked down to St. Hopes High and approached Stark who was slurping a beer while wandering in the school's courtyard. "'Scuse me sir, I got a band called the Sex Pistols that want to play here.". Stark looked up. "Wait, really? I've seen them on telly mate. It's nice to see a band just rock out instead of noodling on a bunch of keyboards with a fuckin' cape, bring 'em in here, I'm all for it!". Without another word, Malcolm and Stark shook hands.
Blane and Stewart were sitting with a few of the other boys in the corridors, Oscar, Donovan, and Avril was right next to Oscar, giving him the doe-eyes intensely. "Oscar..." she said dreamily. "I'm not ready for a relationship Avril, just drop it!" he exclaimed. She put her head down and cried. Oscar looked over to Blane who wasn't quite happy. "What happened?" Oscar asked. "It's fuckin' Daisy. She's so pretty, but she's one of those top 40 bitches, I'm conflicted."
"I can see why." Oscar told Blane. "Top 40 music is the fucking worst." he answers.
Stark announces over the school's PA system: "Attention students, after lunch we got a rock band playing live in the gymnasium."
Everyone gasps. Blane glances at Daisy and mumbles, "Probably 10 fucking cc or some shit." and leaves.
The lunch bell rings later, and the school assembles in the gymnasium.
"Whatever shit band they have coming here I'm gonna fuckin' throw something at." Blane mumbled to Stewart. Everyone assembled. The stage was barren, with a drum kit and two small amps. All of a sudden, an odd looking, orange spiky haired guy comes on stage, ripped long sleeve shirt with the words "DESTROY" on them. He looked absolutely insane. It was Johnny Rotten. He was followed by Steve, bassist Glen Matlock and drummer Paul Cook.
Blane looked on, shocked. They looked like nothing else before. He starts to get interested. Johnny takes the mic. "Hello! Hello! How ya doin!" he shouts sarcastically. They launch into Did You No Wrong. By the encore, No Fun, the crowd had been stirred up. Timothy Hinklebottom started a fight with Julian Hamley within the audience and the crowd bursted into a brawl. Oscar was decked five times, Blane was flung in the air, Avril was driven into a wall, Stewart was crowdsurfed, and Donovan almost got blinded by a glass bottle being flung at him. The Pistols finished their set and Johnny Rotten dived into the crowd and started beating up Timothy and Julian himself.
Avril, completely shaken up, bleeding head, shaggy hair, messy clothes, emerges from the crowd with Oscar, Blane, Stewart and Donovan, and they run out of the gymnasium. She lets herself go, flopping onto the hard linoleum floor in the corridors, and breaths heavily. "What...was...that?". Blane grins. "The future.". "What do you mean?" Avril asks. "There has been nobody like those guys before, it's so different. It's so fucking refreshing!". A badly beaten Oscar stutters his words. "How is getting your fucking head smashed in refreshing?".
"It is refreshing! It's about time there was some fuckin' energy in this shithole of a country! We haven't had that since like the late 60s!". Everyone else is dumbfounded. Avril loses consciousness for a few hours, Oscar wastes the entire school's paper towel supply from bleeding so much, and Blane was happy. Punk rock was in.
Stark walked up to Malcolm McLaren following the gig, and the two shook hands. "Pleasure mate, cheers." they exchanged. The deputy headmistress, Mrs. King, arrived in the school at last minute. She sees the passed out, on-the-brink-of-coma Avril, groaning and staggering like a zombie to the nearest drinking fountain. She lets the water just spray all over her. Mrs. King is flabbergasted. Everyone was mimicking Johnny Rotten, his spasmodic movements and snotty voice.
Mrs. King immediately walked up to Stark. "Mister Stark! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE LET HAPPEN IN THESE SCHOOL GROUNDS?!"
Stark turns around. "It's punk rock, bitch."