Skip to content
Spotlight

Anarchy In The A.C.

By: Marc Spitz, and Elizabeth Goodman“Thank you, Donald Dump, for letting us play yourcastle!” Johnny Rotten snarled as the Sex Pistols stormed theGrand Cayman ballroom of the Trump Marina in Atlantic City. Rottenmay not be the firebrand he was back in 1978, but as hunched oldladies pumped quarter after quarter into the nearby slots, the factthat the punk legend was stirring up some genuine anger under thegold plastic chandeliers almost made us forget that CreedenceClearwater Revisited had played this wedding-friendly venue theprevious night (and that someone held up a lighter during“God Save the Queen”). Have the Pistols become a sad,spent oldies act, or are they still relevant? We turned to thecrowd for answers.

Wes Costenbader, 16, Whitehall, Pennsylvania
Occupation: High school student
Why are you here? “I’ve been a fan for a while.” [Note: His parents drove him to the show for his 16th birthday present. They waited for him in the casino.]
Is punk dead? “Real punk is. All these people who make punk fashionable now, like Good Charlotte, destroyed it.”
What would Sid be doing if he were here tonight? “Shooting up and getting laid.”
Do you love the queen? “She’s just a figurehead.”

Davis, 21, Philadelphia
Just Davis? “Just Davis.”
Occupation: Porn DVD sales, bass player of Silent Enemy
Why are you here? “I got a free ticket.”
What have you been doing all day? “Drinking.”
What would Sid be doing if he were here? “I think he’d be pretty pissed-off.”
What’s a bollock? [Points to testicles]
Do you love the queen? “I shit on the queen.”