"In my book this isn't a punk record - it's a fantastic rock album. I mean, it's produced by Chris Thomas for goodness sake. Cookie (Paul Cook) is a fantastic drummer: I know him because he plays in Phil Collen's other band, The Manraze Then you have Steve Jones - fucking amazing guitarist. Matlock had gone by this point, I think he was on 'Anarchy…' and Sid was on 'Bodies' but apart from that Jones did all of the guitar and all of the bass parts as well. And he probably did more overdubs on that than we did on bloody Pyromania - it took nine months to record. It's a real album: it represents punk, but in many ways it doesn't. The Pistols record is as planned out as a Genesis album. And that's why it works: it's fucking brilliant. Nobody snarls like Rotten: his 'we mean it, man' on 'God Save the Queen', it puts the hairs on my arm up to this day."

"When I went on my first non parent holiday to Skegness with my mates, this was the soundtrack. We were in a nightclub and 'Go Buddy Go' came on and we were bouncing off the walls. I mean, the Stranglers sounded like the Doors; they were about as punk rock as Genesis, they jumped on the bandwagon. I saw pictures of them from six months before and they were wearing flares, for gods sake! But they were a great band, it didn't matter. They outlived punk. They were making outrageously different music - sometimes limitations create great music. 'Down In The Sewer' - it was great, the bass sound was insane. It did the same thing to my heart as Ian Drury 'New Boots and Panties'; it was just bloody brilliant. I loved it all. That Stranglers record is dark and exciting and weird. A lot of my choices here are a bit off kilter, actually. Indie movies as opposed to Hollywood blockbusters."

"I have an argument with people who say that the punk scene changed their lives. Nearly everyone I speak to says that the Clash were the most exciting and the most important group of the era. But without the Sex Pistols there wouldn't have been any Clash: end of story. And people claim that Chris Spedding played on the album [as uncredited session musician], but really it was Steve Jones, and he is one of the great rock & roll guitarists. And Lydon was streets ahead of everyone else. The Clash made great pop records and the Sex Pistols were a great punk group. And for me this is year zero, you can go back to the Stooges if you like but if you were a kid waiting for someone to kick against bands that I have listed like Genesis, then the Sex Pistols were it. They lit the touch paper. It's a cliché but it's true."

"I have no idea if this is anything near an accurate representation of the New York punk scene at the time, because I wasn’t there. But when I saw this as a teenager I certainly thought that it was, and that I was getting a glimpse of something really special. It also introduced me to Richard Hell, the Feelies, and ESG, and you can’t say that about many—or any—other films. —Will Young"