Recording
Anarchy in the U.K.
Sex Pistols
- Released
- 1976
- Label
- EMI
- On one list
- Punk
- Updated
- 2026-08-30
Ranked No. 1 in Punk
A rolled R, a guitar sound like sheet metal, and a record its own label withdrew within weeks. Whatever was manufactured about the band, this is not a manufactured performance.
Analysis
5 sections, the first drop at 0:03, 1% of the way in.
- Tempo
- 136 BPM
- holds throughout
- Dynamic range
- 2 dB
- compressed hard — very little between the quiet and the loud
- Length
- 3:36
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintrobar -1
- 1:12Bsteadybar 40
- 1:34Asteadybar 53
- 2:02Cbuildbar 69
- 2:17Apeakbar 77
Drop at 0:03 (bar 1). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · sung · one of 3 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 1:12
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:22
- Energy
- 45
- Brightness
- 78
- Density
- 17
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling · sung · one of 3 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:28
- Energy
- 72
- Brightness
- 55
- Density
- 92
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:14
- Energy
- 59
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · sung · one of 3 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 1:19
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 27
- Density
- 30
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- steady
- holding a level — the groove, neither rising nor falling
- build
- energy and brightness climbing without a break
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.