19 things you didn’t know about Atlanta’s past

The Sex Pistols made its American debut in a Piedmont Road shopping center

Sex Pistols Atlanta
Photograph by AP Photo/Joe Holloway Jr.

In January 1978, at what is now Lindbergh Plaza, 500 leather-clad, Mohawked fans lined up to see the sneering, spitting British punk band play their first U.S. concert at the Great Southeast Music Hall. After the show, bassist Sid Vicious made a stop at Piedmont Hospital after slitting his wrist with a letter opener at a fan’s apartment. The band broke up nine days later, but it made a lasting impression on a city then known mostly for Southern rock.