LONDON -- “Your future dream is a shopping scheme.”
Nearly 40 years after Johnny Rotten spat those angry lines out to an unsuspecting audience as punk's disenfranchised trailblazers unleashed "Anarchy In The UK" on the world, the artwork for the single is being featured on a credit card.
38 years after the Pistols signed to Virgin Records, another arm of Richard Branson's sprawling business empire has snapped up the imagery for the single, and also the artwork for their infamous album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols, to illustrate consumer credit.
Virgin Money's new cards have even shifted the customer details onto the back, so your name, number and expiry date won't intrude on the classic designs.
"The Sex Pistols are an iconic band and an important part of Virgin’s history," Branson said.
"Even after nearly 40 years, the Sex Pistols' power to provoke is undimmed, and we are still being asked to censor the word 'bollocks' in our advertising. Over the years many things have changed, but in this case some attitudes clearly do not."
Rotten's thoughts on the cards are unknown, but the LA-based singer - who famously shilled butter a few years back - is probably more concerned with the forthcoming PiL album and tour. The details of the deal are not known, but The Telegraph reports that the band came to a commercial arrangement with Virgin Money for an undisclosed sum of money.
"We don’t want Anarchy in banking – but we do want change," Virgin Money's Jayne-Anne Gadhia said with a straight face. "And we want to get rid of the bollocks in banking and to be simple, open, transparent and fair."
Most of the cards have a representative APR of around 18.9%.
Here's what Twitter thought of the cards.
Don't know what I want but I know how to get it and pay it off in monthly installments #sexpistols— Justin Horton (@ejhchess) June 9, 2015
"They're selling hippie wigs in Woolworths, man" pic.twitter.com/xZMpt3jfJb— RamAlbumClub (@RamAlbumClub) June 9, 2015
To be fair, bankers are some of the most legit anarchists out there. #sexpistols @VirginMoney— lesmondine (@lesmondine) June 9, 2015
I AM AN ACTUARIST! #sexpistols @VirginMoney— lesmondine (@lesmondine) June 9, 2015
It’s great to see Virgin Money acknowledging the Sex Pistols. Thank you @VirginMoney. http://t.co/EDTe7mvsDn— Sex Pistols Official (@pistolsofficial) June 9, 2015
The cards are available now.