A&M · 1977
The single that barely existed: A&M pressed it and destroyed it within days. One of rock's most valuable — and most faked — grails.
I came to it from years of baroque, beautifully played rock — prog and its architectures. This was a punch in the stomach: fast music, screamed, two chords and a throat. I heard in it the anger of my adolescence finally shouted out loud, and with it the pins, the jackets, all the love for London. That's not a collector's judgement, it's what I felt then — and it's still there every time it starts.
God Save the Queen doesn't need explaining as music: two and a half minutes of melodic fury, Johnny Rotten's voice spitting, Steve Jones's guitar a wall of sound, bass and drums allowing no breath. It's one of the great songs of its era, and its charge hasn't dimmed a gram. But this review is about something narrower and stranger: not the song, which everyone knows, but this object — the A&M single, the record that barely existed.
The B-side here is 'No Feeling' — one of the band's most nervous tracks — and it isn't the Virgin single's pairing, which carried a different B-side. That alone makes the A&M a distinct musical object, not merely a different label: a coupling of songs that, in this form, existed for a few days before vanishing into the pulping plant.
The story is famous and worth retelling, because it's the reason this is a grail. In March 1977 A&M signed the Sex Pistols with a provocation of a ceremony outside Buckingham Palace. Days later, appalled by the band and its antics, the label dropped them and sent almost the entire already-pressed run of the single to be destroyed. A handful of copies survived. The record later came out on Virgin (VS 181) on 27 May 1977 — and that's the version that stormed the charts in the Jubilee summer, with a different B-side and a different story. But A&M AMS 7284 is the ghost: the single pulped by its own label, which fate turned into one of the most coveted objects in rock.
There's a fine irony in all of it. A song that attacked the monarchy and the establishment became, thanks to the very censorship that hit it, a capital asset — the exact opposite of what it preached. To own it is to hold that paradox: revolt turned relic, scandal turned auction price. Few records say so clearly how culture devours and resells everything, even the things that set out to destroy it.
As music, then, it's punk at its peak: direct, urgent, perfect in its anger. As a document, it's the scene of 1977 frozen into an object. And as a grail it's a minefield — one for authentication specialists more than for ordinary collectors, because on this title the fakes have long outnumbered the originals (more on that below). A record to admire more than to chase lightly.
This page is part of The Grail Hunt's London map: for the city's context see the London page, and the dedicated chapter in the book The Grail Hunt: Europe.
The single A&M pressed and destroyed within days: the song is punk at its peak, the object one of rock's most valuable — and most faked — grails. Authenticate with extreme caution; here the pressing verdict rests on sources, not on ownership.
God Save the Queen on Vinyl — Which Pressing?
I don't own this copy. The pressing score and the guidance below rest on sources — Discogs and pressing documentation — not on an example I've handled. The original is the **A&M single, catalogue AMS 7284**, a 7" at 45 rpm (the withdrawn first-press release is logged on Discogs as r384928). The physical tell is in the dead wax: a **serrated (knurled) ring** and the number **"7284" etched twice in the side B run-out**. There's also a white-label test pressing, of which two or three copies are known: the highest and most unreachable tier. But the most important thing about this title isn't a sign, it's a warning: **the fakes outnumber the originals**, and that's the real trap. A&M pulped nearly the whole run, so authentic copies are vanishingly few, while the market is full of bootlegs carrying the **exact same catalogue, AMS 7284** — 7"s, 12"s, picture discs, assorted reproductions that Discogs lists as "Unofficial Release". The catalogue number alone proves nothing. A copy must be matched against the first-press release (r384928) — matrices, label, the serrated ring and the doubled "7284" on side B — and, ideally, authenticated by someone who knows it. This is not a record to buy on impulse. On price, the Discogs sales history of the first press (r384928) tells the story better than any estimate: a median around **£3,600**, a logged high near **£12,400**, last sold on **31 July 2024** — a sign that genuine trades are rare. And note the low, about **£11**: it isn't a bargain, it's a fake logged against the same release — proof of how badly bootlegs pollute this title. Authentic copies sit at the top, in the thousands; anything cheap here should be treated with enormous suspicion. Finally, there's a recent official reissue — A&M/UMC's 2022 repress, the same catalogue AMS 7284 on a numbered 7" — which is the sane way to own the record without stepping into the minefield of the originals.
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Why is this single so rare and valuable?
Because A&M signed the Sex Pistols in March 1977 and dropped them days later, pulping nearly the whole already-pressed run of the single. A handful of copies survived. The later Virgin release is a different record; A&M AMS 7284 is the withdrawn, destroyed one — which is exactly why it's a grail.
How do I avoid a fake?
With maximum caution: on this title the fakes outnumber the originals. The most-cited physical tell is the knurled (milled) working in the run-out, but that alone isn't enough. Matrices, label and dead wax must be matched against the documentation, and the copy should be authenticated by a specialist. Don't buy on impulse. (Our pressing verdict rests on sources, not on owning a copy.)
Is it the same version that was a chart hit?
No. The summer 1977 hit is the version released on Virgin, with a different B-side. This is A&M AMS 7284, the single withdrawn before it really reached the shops: same song on the A-side, but an entirely distinct object, and infinitely rarer.
What's an original worth?
The Discogs sales history of the first press (r384928) shows a median around £3,600 and a logged high near £12,400 (last sold 31 July 2024, confirming genuine trades are rare). The low of about £11 isn't a cheap original but a fake logged against the same release: on this title, anything inexpensive should be treated with suspicion.
