THE SEX PISTOLS have turned down an invitation to play the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, The Guardian reports.

Apparently, the band were asked to play as part of 'A Symphony of British Music', which is aiming to represent every era of British music since the Second World War.

Naturally, THE PISTOLS were sought to represent 'the punk era', a shorthand frequently used by British music scribes to describe the period between 1976 and 1978, the brief time frame in which punk music was considered most prominent in the public imagination.

A spokesman for THE SEX PISTOLS declined to comment further.