A few months after the United States' bicentennial, an explosion was heard across the pond that would be the start of a new revolution: namely the UK punk scene.

On this day in 1976, Johnny Rotten, Steve Jones, Glenn Matlock and Steve Cook released "Anarchy In The UK," which was the perfect punk anthem that still holds the power and glory today, nearly 50 years later.

Published by EMI, who would later get the audible stink eye from the quartet when they dropped them, the best-known single from their only LP, Never Mind The Bullocks, was an inspiration to almost everyone who heard it.

I am an Antichrist
I am an anarchist

That simple play with words clearly influenced another punk rock trailblazer, Kurt Cobain, whose paradoxical lyrics and exaggerations have the Rotten fingerprints all over it

Take your time, hurry up
The choice is yours, don't be late
Take a rest as a friend
As an old enemy
"Come as You Are," from Nevermind

Speaking of Nirvana's biggest album, is it just a coincidence that Never Mind The Bullocks was far more meaningful to Cobain than the Britsh band's peers?

“The Sex Pistols are a million times more important than The Clash," the Nirvana singer wrote in Journals. "How do I explain that? Hmm, Both were the original punk bands, but The Clash were always a bad imitation of The Rolling Stones, in love with America. But at least they took their girlfriends on tour with them [The Slits].

"The Pistols album has the best production of any rock record I've ever heard. Its totally in-your-face and compressed.

"All the hype the Sex Pistols had was totally deserved... they deserved everything that they got. Johnny Rotten was the one I identified with, he was the sensitive one.”

Their first documented performance of the song was in August of 1976 at Barbarella's in Birmingham, a venue that might not have been large, but it booked some legendary bands in the few years it was open: AC/DC, Queen, The Clash.

A month later, also in Birmingham, the Pistols did the song on TV for the first time on the So It Goes program.

The band performed it just 53 times in the 1970s, but made up for lost time when they reunited in 1996 for the Filthy Lucre Tour where they performed it 56 times that year alone.

Trivia buffs may like to know the song isn't the most performed of the Sex Pistols. It's not even #2.

The band has performed "Pretty Vacant" the most, at 172 times, with "Seventeen" at #2 with 167 times, and "Anarchy..." for the show at 165 performances.

Nearly 170 bands have covered it, the most being Megadeth at 533. Motley Crue's 454 is a close second.

You might have heard the remaining members of the Sex Pistols, minus Johnny Rotten, played a few shows this summer with a heavily tattooed 40 year-old singer named Frank Carter.

What's nice about Frank is he's not trying to do a Johnny impersonation or even a tribute. It feels like this is how he'd do it if he wrote it.

Mojo wrote Frank is "perfectly calibrated: a sufficient dash of Johnny’s sardonic whine for it to sound like the Pistols, enough of his own personality and snarl to deflect accusations of a karaoke act."

The overall reaction to The Pistols With Frank was very well received.

Go to the Sex Pistols website often to see if news breaks that they're taking this new lineup on the road sometime soon.