Much of the Sex Pistols received history is bogus. Written & re-written, mangled beyond recognition. The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, a work based, if not entirely in fiction, then surely only in semi-truth has become Malcolm McClaren's "official" version. The rascally Svengali manipulating a band of ragged guttersnipes to achieve his own (in)fame(y) & (mis)fortune. Oh PLEASE! Come on, that's straight out of some Dickens novel. It's a lovely story & one that Malcolm was trying to propagate before the band split in '78, but that's Malcolm for ya, "never let the truth get in the way of a good story my dears" he would no doubt say & we should love the old goat for it. Malcolm's as much a part of this story as the band itself.
The Sex Pistols were not a punk band. There, I've said it. The Pistols & the scene they spawned was up & running in London some time before the British press, with it's usual desire to label & pigeon-hole decided to use the term "punk". The term had been coined to describe a variety of American bands centred around CBGB's in New York, not forgeting The Stooges from Detroit & of course the Dead Boys were from Cleveland but the point is that the British press spotted some obvious similarities & HEY PRESTO!!! British punk was not so much born, as synthesised in the NME's handy test-tube. It's a convenient label, granted, & one that the British bands, although initially reluctant to adopt, admittedly made little attempt to abandon once it had stuck & had afforded them a degree of success.
Did the Sex Pistols kill punk rock? Johnny Lydon (nee. Rotten) would no doubt say "If I had anything to do with it, YES!, I effin 'ope so..." but for the rest of us Johnny-come-latelys for whome "punk" has become a life style & way of thinking that defines much of our existence, no, the Sex Pistols ARE punk rock. Without them punk rock would be a fondly remembered foot note in American rock history. The Ramones, The Heartbreakers et al had to come to Britain to get any real recognition. The world wide phenomenon we call punk today would not have happened without the Sex Pistols. Did Sid Vicious kill punk rock? That's a better question! Debate.