The six-part “Pistol” is based on the memoir “Lonely Boy: Tales from a Sex Pistol” by the band’s guitarist, Steve Jones. 

“Pistol” charts the growth of Sex Pistols as an antidote to the conservative ideals of 1970s Britain. Boyle films the whole of it with a lot of grain and unpredictable editing, as if this were the kind of biopic he would have been made if he could time-warp back to 1977 when they made their one album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. 

Based on Steve’s story, “Pistol” makes no qualms that the band was most of all a managerial concoction, assembled by someone who dresses sharply but wants to disrupt the system and burn it all down, or so Malcolm says in the press. 

If this series makes something evident, it is that the Sex Pistol boys all fought a lot, and their mentality (“We’re not into music—we’re into chaos,” they’re quoted by NME saying) made it into their songs and performances. 

All episodes of “Pistol” premiered on FX on Hulu on May 31st.