Classic FM refuse to play Sex Pistols Glen Matlock's punk arias album

Last month we revealed that Glen Matlock of Sex Pistols fame had transformed our favourite punk songs into arias with the help of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and English National Opera.

But the news that the worlds of punk rock and classical music had collided on the record, titled ‘The Anarchy Arias’, did not go down well with the establishment.

Classic FM has reportedly refused to play songs from the album, including Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, The Undertones’ Teenage Kicks and the Pistols’ Pretty Vacant.

Is the station pulling rank on their genre, forty years after the BBC banned God Save The Queen from the airwaves?

What’s more, the project is upsetting music industry bosses with its ‘derogatory’ artwork in true punk fashion.

The original Anarchy Arias artwork featured a gramophone and an aggressive pit bull terrier, intentionally parodying the historic His Masters Voice logo. The artwork was noticed by Warner, the legal owners of the century-old HMV logo, and they were not happy with the use of the original image of the gramophone and the Jack Russell dog named Nipper.

The Anarchy Arias – sponsored by Hobgoblin beer – is the first ever album of classic punk tunes done in a full-blown operatic style and came about after Sex Pistols writer and bass player Matlock was inspired by his work with a string quartet.

He explained: “About a year and a half ago I got involved with doing Pretty Vacant with a string quartet. I really enjoyed it. The guy behind the Arias heard it, and thought it might be good for all kinds of punk things. So that’s what they did, I then heard some tracks, and I really liked it, I thought some of the orchestrations were fantastic. It was really well done.”

Announced in March, the Glen Matlock inspired album will be released on 9 June 2017.

The full tracklisting:

1) Pretty Vacant (originally performed by Sex Pistols)

2) No More Heroes (originally performed by The Stranglers)

3) Should I Stay Or Should I Go (originally performed by The Clash)

4) Ça Plane Pour Moi (originally performed by Plastic Bertrand)

5) Teenage Kicks (originally performed by The Undertones)

6) The Sound Of The Suburbs (originally performed by The Members)

7) Ever Fallen In Love…(With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) (originally

performed by Buzzcocks)

8) God Save The Queen (originally performed by Sex Pistols)

9) London Calling (originally performed by The Clash)

10) Babylon’s Burning (originally performed by The Ruts)

11) Oh Bondage Up Yours! (originally performed by X Ray Spex)

12) Love Will Tear Us Apart (originally performed by Joy Division)

13) Neat Neat Neat (originally performed by The Damned)