The English monarchy might be more revered than ever before. Meghan and Harry's wedding drew a massive audience. The Queen's coronavirus message to the people was watched by millions not living in the UK or even the Commonwealth. The Crown is (forgive the pun) one of the crown jewels of prestige television.
In a weird way, the Sex Pistols predicted that forty-three years ago. "God Save the Queen" was a message that England had to future, and was instead condemned to cling to its glorious and faded past. No one represents that more than Her Majesty. In a country that elects someone like Boris Johnson to be Prime Minister, who wouldn't want to praise a steadfast monarch and remember how things used to be?
When I first listened to the Sex Pistols in my teen years, this was the song I loved the most. Johnny Rotten's mad prophet sneer never sounded better, and the drum and guitar assault of Steve Jones and Paul Cook was never more pounding. As a Gen Xer living in a pretty turgid and listless 1990s, I certainly got a thrill out of such daring music so critical of a complacent society.
This song has become even more relevant in the past two months. When I look at how America has failed to formulate a proper response to the virus, how it is incapable of collective action, and of how it has such a complete and utter malicious fool at the top refusing to do anything about it, I realize that there is no future in America's dreaming, either.
Our response to this has mostly been just to give up, so that people can get haircuts and tattoos. If a bunch of people die, so what? That is a stance far more nihilist than the most shocking punk rock band.
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