Pretty Vacant

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Pretty Vacant
Sex pistols
publication July 01, 1977
length 3:18
Genre (s) punk
Author (s) Cook / Jones / Matlock / Rotten
Publisher (s) Virgin Records
album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Pretty Vacant
  UK 6th 07/09/1977 (00 wks.)

Pretty Vacant is a song by the English punk rock band Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's third single on July 1, 1977, and later released on their only studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols , that same year.

History of the song

The song peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart and was the band's first appearance on the UK TV show Top of the Pops. The song attracted attention because singer John Lydon , consciously emphasizing the last syllable of the word vacant , which then sounded like the vulgar word cunt . According to bassist Glen Matlock , Pretty Vacant is the only Sex Pistols song written entirely by him except for a line from Lydon. The main riff is inspired by SOS from ABBA .

A live version of the track by Filthy Lucre Live was released as a single in 1996, and a 7-inch picture disc in 2012. The song was used at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

No Fun (B-side)

A little rehearsed cover by No Fun der Stooges . It comes from demo sessions with producer Dave Goodman and was edited by Chris Thomas .

production

Majestic Studios

05/15/76 first studio recording together with the songs Problems and No Feelings with producer Chris Speeding

Denmark Street Rehearsal Rooms and Riverside Studios

July 13th - 30th, 1976 recordings of the song with producer Dave Goodman, which were mixed at Decibel Studios

Manchester Square Studios

12/11/76 instrumental, producer Mike Thorne

Gooseberry Studios & Eden Studio

January 77 Producer Dave Goodman

Wessex Studios

February 77 Producer Chris Thomas

Video

The band filmed a video for Pretty Vacant (and one for God Save the Queen ) on July 11th and 12th, 1977 at ITN's studios on Wells Street, London . After throwing beer cans at the cameramen on the first day, they were thrown out. But the next day they came back to finish the recording.

classification

The NME magazine made it in 1977 for his single of the year. In March 2005, Q magazine placed the song at number 26 on its list of the 100 best guitar titles. NME named it the 132nd best song of all time from 2014.

literature

  • Glen Matlock: with Pete Silverton: I was a teenage Sex Pistol , Omnibus Press 1990, ISBN 071-1-92491-0 (English).
  • John Lydon: with Keith and Kent Zimmerman, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs , Hodder and Stoughton 1994, ISBN 978-0-340-61019-0 (English).
  • Clinton Heylin: Never Mind the Bollocks The Sex Pistols. Schirmer Books, 1998, ISBN 0-02-864726-2 , (English).
  • Jon Savage : England's Dreaming - Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock. Abridged edition. Edition Tiamat published by Klaus Bittermann Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89320-045-2 .
  • John Lydon: Anger Is an Energy - my life uncensored. Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-453-26977-4 .
  • Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, 1977: The Bollocks Diaries. Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London 2017, ISBN 978-1-78840-027-5 , (English).

Cover versions

Pretty Vacant was covered by Paul Jones in 1978 . Joan Jett released a cover version as a single, and Joey Ramone used the lead riff in his What a Wonderful World cover .

The song was used in the 1981 film American Pop. An Irish-language version of the song called Folamh go Deas (a literal translation) was also performed by the Irish band Na Magairlí in 1981. In 1996 Black Grape released a cover version of their single Fat Neck (very similar to the original) . The South African pop group Shikisha also released a cover version of the song in 1996.

The group The Ukrainians play a Ukrainian version of the song on their EP Anarchy In The UK and the album Respublika . French band Les Négresses Vertes and MC Lady Sovereign both covered Pretty Vacant and played live versions of the song. Lady Sovereign's version can be seen on the popular TV show The OC . and the cover version is on one of the six The OC soundtracks entitled Music from The OC : Mix 6 - Covering Our Tracks. Kathy Hampson's Free Elastic Band features a slow acoustic folk music version on their live shows.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official singles Chart results matching: pretty vacant. officialcharts, accessed on July 3, 2020 (English).
  2. ↑ Ingo Scheel: You have to have heard - anger as a drive - the hits of Mr. Rotten. ntv, June 2, 2015, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  3. Jump up ↑ John Lydon with Keith and Kent Zimmerman, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs , Hodder and Stoughton, 1994 ISBN 978-0-340-61019-0 , pp. 272f. (English)
  4. ↑ Jon Savage, England's Dreaming. Sex Pistols and Punk Rock . London, Faber and Faber, 1991 ISBN 0-571-16791-8 , p. 378. (English)
  5. ↑ Glen Matlock, Pete Silverton: I was a teenage sex pistol . Omnibus Press, London 1990, ISBN 0-7119-2491-0 , p. 90-91 (English).
  6. ↑ Shirley Halperin: Olympics 2012 Opening Ceremony: Music Hits, Misses Include Punk, Paul and Syria's Ill-Timed March to 'Where the Streets Have No Name'. Hollywood Reporter, July 12, 2012, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Dave Goodman - Producer (Sex Pistols) SPUNK! punkrocker, accessed July 5, 2020 .
  8. ↑ a b c d Phil Singleton: Studio Recording Sessions, The Complete Guide, Part One: 1976. In: philjens. philjens.plus.com, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  9. ^ Phil Singleton: Studio Recording Sessions, The Complete Guide, Part Two: 1977. In: philjens. philjens.plus.com, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  10. ↑ NME Albums 1977. rocklistmusic, accessed December 10, 2019 .
  11. ↑ NME 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time. rocklistmusic, accessed December 10, 2019 .