You should never underestimate the power of the al'ighty 'ollar. Activision and Neversoft have just announced the Sex Pistols reformed for a studio session to re-record "Anarchy In The UK" for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. This was the first time in 30 years original members John Lydon, Steve Jones and Paul Cook performed together again.

The Sex Pistols were an obvious choice for Guitar Hero, having established themselves as the definitive punk band of the 1970s. Unable to locate the original multi-tracks for inclusion in the game, Activision invited the band back into the studio to re-record a couple of songs including "Anarchy in the UK". The band re-teamed with producer Chris Thomas, utilizing the original analogue sound desk (circa 1969) that was built for George Martin at Air Studios, London, England in order to maintain the classic sound.

Thirty years ago this spring, the song was first included on The Sex Pistols’ only studio album, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols" which will be re-issued on vinyl on October 29, 2007, in its exact original format, including poster and Submission 7". The single "Anarchy In The UK" will also be re-issued on vinyl on October 1, along with three other classic singles throughout October. Celebrating this milestone, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock will be sponsoring the historic Sex Pistols show at The Brixton Academy in London taking place on November 8, 2007.

John Lydon stated that "Re-recording them [the songs]--what a stress you put on us but we rose to the occasion I think…admirably!" Adding that, "a bit of anarchy in a video game is alright by me."

"It was great for Guitar Hero to, in a way, get us back in the studio. I wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out but it actually turned out great and I think everyone held their own," said Steve Jones. "I like it [Guitar Hero] because my friends’ kids like it. And I like what kids like."

Classy. Well, it's still pretty cool a game like this can organise bands like Gunners or the Sex Pistols to "rise to the occasion". Click here for the full press release.

Sounds awesome.

I got hooked on guitar hero 2 on xbox 360. I noticed heaps of the songs were covers because I imagine they have to re-record all the tracks for the game. Its always good to hear some originals. What platform is GH 3 coming out on?

i can already play 'anarchy in the uk' on a squash racket. nps.

f*** yeah!

This game is gonna be so much fun. Then the ultimate party game, Rock Band, will be next.

what about a left-handed squash racquet demon

i'm ambidextrous.

it seems, to me, to be an odd choice of music for a game where you pretend you can play a guitar... coz it's well known that the sex pistols were terrible musicians.. frequently out of tune & not giving a s***! that's uk punk in a nutshell :P

plastic manufacturers would love that

Yay!

I bought a 360 this arvo and Guitar Hero 2. Got the deal that has the console and that Forza 2 game with it. So far I've only played a bit of guitar hero to make sure it's all working but I'm already impressed with the visuals. Got it running thru my tv at 1080i. Gonna grab some games from work tonight and see how they look.

Make sure you grab Gears of War rev

I would have thought, if you were going for that sort of thing [influential UK band], you'd go for something like The Who - a bit of Pete Townshend would be perfect for GH

Rockband's already snaffled the rights for the Who I beleive - one of the announcements out of E3 was that one of The Who's albums was set to be the first bit of downloadable content for the game after it launches

Ahh.. here it is:

So what's the first full album that will be available for the game after its release? The Who's 1971 rock classic, Who's Next.

source @ ign