Yeah no kidding punk rock returned rock'n'roll to the garage, slimey backstages, and smoke stained bars. To that, punk was hugely important.
But my beef is that the Sex Pistols really have nothing to do with that movement. They were a backstreet boys band that Malcolm McLaren created after his disastrous run as manager of the New York Dolls.
There is a long queue of bands that should make it into that hall of fame way before the Sex Pistols are even mentioned.
The Stooges, The New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Television, hell even the Dead Boys were more 'punk' than the Sex Pistols were. The Sex Pistols were image created by McLaren, image that he ripped off from the New York Dolls. The Sex Pistols weren't even into drugs before they came over to New York. Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Thunders and the rest introduced them to the 'real' punk culture. The only thing those stupid brit-punks can claim as their own creation was spitting all over the band at a concert. Great.
And sorry Frank, I wasn't making a broad based argument about rock'n'roll through the ages, just that even for the sub-genre of punk, the Sex Pistols are low on the list.
Here's a great book on the topic:
http://tinyurl.com/qp3bn