but speaking as a scholar of the period,

Hmmm. Showing my age yet again, but I lived through the period:). One night in '77 or '78 I was in Dingwall's at Camden Lock waiting to watch Suzi & The Banshees when a fight broke out. I heard later that it had been (some of) the Sex Pistols, but it was far enough away that I didn't see it myself.

As for thinking JR did the My Way cover, I honestly didn't think SV was ever straight enough, long enough to actually record the lyrics to a complete song, the base on the albums was mostly over dubbed by a session musican, so I just assumed is was JR. I (still) quite like a few of the things he did with Public Image Ltd. Strange, but strangely evocative, not that I have listened to any of it for many years.

BTW: Who are "Kevin Smith ... Jason Mewes"?

(And no, I'm not joking. I quite literally have no idea:)

Thanks for the bit of history and a short trip down memory lane. '76 (the best summer the UK ever had) through 79/80 my first trip to the States and Canada was just about the best period of my youth.