Glen Matlock Details Vivienne Westwood’s Contribution To The Sex Pistols

Vivienne Westwood wasn’t only a fashion designer — she was the woman who blended punk music with fashion and dressed up the Sex Pistols. As it appears, her contributions to the band weren’t limited to clothing, as she also unwittingly helped Glen Matlock be the bass player of the Pistols. Recently speaking to the Guardian, Matlock recalled those days.

“I walked into Let It Rock, looking for a pair of brothel creepers,” Matlock recalled. “I’d been in there a bit too long, and some guy said: ‘Can I help you?’ I said I was looking for work. I’d been fired from my part-time job in the trouser department at Whiteley’s. He told me to call Malcolm and Vivienne. That’s how I ted out in the shop. They probably thought I was just some straight kid, which I was.”

He continued, remembering what made him interested in Westwood and McLaren, “A month or two later, I asked Vivienne to ask Malcolm if he’d give me a reference for art college. She said: ‘Really? I don’t think you’d want to ask Malcolm because he’s been thrown out of every college in London.’ Straightaway, I was more interested in them, and they were more interested in me.”

Looking back at the time Sex Pistols was formed, Matlock said, “About then, Steve Jones and Paul Cook started coming in. It was my job to keep an eye on them. They were trying to get a band together, and I overheard them saying they needed a bass player. So that’s how it started.”

So, Glen Matlock went to Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s shop Let It Rock to buy himself a pair of shoes and find a new job, but he wasn’t aware that meeting the two would help him start a music career with the Sex Pistols. As Glen revealed, Vivienne was the woman who brought him together with his Pistols bandmates. It seems like he owes her a debt of gratitude.