"Pretty Vacant" | ||||
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Single by Sex Pistols | ||||
from the album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols | ||||
B-side | "No Fun" | |||
Released | 1 July 1977 15 October 2007 (30th anniversary re-issue) | |||
Recorded | February 1977 | |||
Studio | Wessex, London [1] | |||
Genre | Punk rock | |||
Length | 3:18 | |||
Label | Virgin (UK) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Paul Cook, Steve Jones, John Lydon, Glen Matlock | |||
Producer(s) | Chris Thomas, Bill Price Dave Goodman (demos) | |||
Sex Pistols singles chronology | ||||
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"Pretty Vacant" is a song by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released on 1 July 1977 as the band's third single and was later featured on their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols , released during that same year. It is the first song written by the band.
According to bassist Glen Matlock, the song's main riff was inspired by hearing "SOS" by ABBA. [2] A reversed variant of this riff can be heard in "I'm So Bored With The U.S.A." by The Clash, recorded one month later but released three months earlier than the Sex Pistols record. The B-side of the single was a cover of the Stooges' "No Fun", which the band played on the spot without a proper rehearsal. It was taken from demo sessions recorded by producer Dave Goodman. In an interview for the June 2022 issue of Uncut, Matlock said that ”Pretty Vacant, which is my song and my lyrics, I took inspiration from Richard Hell’s Blank Generation. But I kind of misunderstood what his song was all about. You gotta put the songs in the context of what was going on for a bloke like me in mid-70s London, with the three-day week and the IRA bombings and power cuts, against the fact I was a young man who met some interesting people who was trying to form a rock’n’roll band. Pretty Vacant is a primal scream kind of thing: we don’t know what we’re gonna do, but we’re gonna do it anyway.”
The band made a video for "Pretty Vacant" (as well as one for "God Save the Queen") on 11 and 12 July 1977 at the studios of ITN in Wells Street, London. They were thrown out after throwing cans of lager at the cameramen on the 11th, but came back on the 12th to finish the recording.
The song reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart and marked the band's first appearance on the British chart music TV programme Top of the Pops . The song gained attention for vocalist John Lydon's phrasing of the word "vacant", emphasising the last syllable to sound like the vulgar word cunt . [3] [4]
Chart (1977) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report) [5] | 52 |
UK Singles (OCC) [6] | 6 |
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI) [7] | Silver | 250,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
NME magazine made it their Single of the Year in 1977. [8]
In March 2005, Q magazine placed the song 26th in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. NME named it the 132nd-greatest song of all time in 2014. [9] Billboard said that the lyrics are milder than some of the group's other songs, "the intense energy level never falters" but that the "bombastic guitar riffs" make the lyrics difficult to hear. [10]
Cash Box said of the single edit that "Rotten's vocals are rhythmic, double-edged and snarling but also cleaned up for airplay" and that it "is a straight forward rocker with upfront drumming, slashing guitar licks and a brash attitude." [11] Record World called it "great rock 'n' roll." [12]
A live version of the track from Filthy Lucre Live was released as a single in 1996, and a 7-inch picture disc was released in 2012.
Pretty Vacant was rerecorded for the in-game soundtrack for the 2007 skateboarding videogame Skate, [13] and was included in 2008 rhythm game Guitar Hero: World Tour.
"Pretty Vacant" was covered by Paul Jones in 1978. [14] Joan Jett released a cover version on single, and Joey Ramone used the lead riff in his cover of "What a Wonderful World".[ citation needed ] This opening riff has been used as a punk trope on several songs of the genre, for instance in Eskorbuto's "Eskizofrenia" (1984).
The song was used in the 1981 film American Pop . An Irish-language version of the song, entitled "Folamh go Deas" (a literal translation), was also performed by Irish band Na Magairlí in 1981. In 1996 Black Grape released a cover version (very similar to the original) on their single "Fat Neck". South African pop group Shikisha also released a cover version of the song in 1996. [15]
The group the Ukrainians perform a Ukrainian language version of the song on their EP Anarchy in the UK and album Respublika . The French band Les Négresses Vertes, as well as grime MC Lady Sovereign, have both covered "Pretty Vacant" and performed live versions of the song. Lady Sovereign's version is featured in the popular TV show, The O.C. and the cover version is featured on one of the six The O.C. soundtracks called Music from The O.C.: Mix 6 – Covering Our Tracks . Kathy Hampson's Free Elastic Band feature a slow acoustic folk-music style version in their live shows.[ citation needed ]
Producer Mike Thorne who was involved in the first recordings of the Sex Pistols [16] made his own version of "Pretty Vacant" on his album Sprawl in 2005, with vocals by Lene Lovich. [17]
The song is also the opening theme for the Canadian short-lived comedy sketch show The Vacant Lot.[ citation needed ]
The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became one of the most culturally influential acts in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspired many later punk, post-punk and alternative rock musicians, while their clothing and hairstyles were a significant influence on the early punk image.
Simon John Ritchie, better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the punk subculture; one of his friends noted that he embodied "everything in punk that was dark, decadent and nihilistic."
Glen Matlock is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only officially released studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, although he had left the band early in the recording process, credited as bassist and backing vocalist on only one song on the album, "Anarchy in the U.K.". However, on the bootleg album Spunk, Matlock played bass on all the songs, which included earlier studio recordings of 10 of the 12 songs that later appeared on the Bollocks album.
Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols is the only studio album by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols, released on 28 October 1977 through Virgin Records in the UK and on 11 November 1977 through Warner Bros. Records in the US. As a result of the Sex Pistols' volatile internal relationships, the band's lineup saw changes during the recording of the album. Original bass guitarist Glen Matlock left the band early in the recording process, and while he is credited as a co-writer on all but two of the tracks, he only played bass and sang backing vocals on one track, "Anarchy in the U.K." Recording sessions continued with a new bass player, Sid Vicious, who is credited on two of the songs written by the band after he joined. While Vicious's bass playing appeared on two tracks, his lack of skill on the instrument meant that many of the tracks were recorded with guitarist Steve Jones playing bass instead. Drummer Paul Cook, Jones and singer Johnny Rotten appear on every track. The various recording sessions were led alternately by Chris Thomas or Bill Price, and sometimes both together, but as the songs on the final albums often combined mixes from different sessions, or were poorly documented who was present in the recording booth at the time, each song is jointly credited to both producers.
News of the World is the sixth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 28 October 1977 by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States. News of the World was the band's second album to be recorded at Sarm and Wessex Sound Studios in London, and engineered by Mike Stone, and was co-produced by the band and Stone.
"Anarchy in the U.K." is a song by English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's debut single on 26 November 1976 and was later featured on their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. "Anarchy in the U.K." was number 56 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
"God Save the Queen" is a song by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released as the band's second single and was later included on their only studio album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song was released during Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977.
Flogging a Dead Horse is a compilation album of singles by Sex Pistols, released after their break-up, and includes the four songs issued as singles A-sides that were included on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, three of their B-sides, and the six A-sides taken from The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and one B-side, "My Way".
"Holidays in the Sun" is a song by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released on 14 October 1977 as the band's fourth single, as well as the advance single from their only album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. A #8 chart hit in the UK, the single proved to be the last with singer John Lydon for 30 years. Steve Jones and Paul Cook recorded one more single, "No One Is Innocent" with Ronnie Biggs, as the band imploded, and Sid Vicious recorded solo covers of "My Way" and "Somethin' Else" under the Pistols name. Rolling Stone ranked the song #43 of the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time.
Warwick Alan "Wally" Nightingale was an English guitarist. He co-founded the band that went on to become the Sex Pistols.
"Bodies" is a song by the Sex Pistols, from their 1977 album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The song tackles the subject of abortion with lyrics described as "some of the most uncompromising, gut-wrenching lyrics imaginable".
Spunk is a bootleg demo album by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was originally released in the United Kingdom during September or October 1977.
The Ex Pistols were an English punk rock band from London, England formed in 1979 by former Sex Pistols producer Dave Goodman. Goodman put the group together after his services were substituted for those of other producers on the Sex Pistols album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.
Sex Pistols is a box set anthology of the career of the punk band The Sex Pistols with singer Johnny Rotten. It was released on 3 June 2002. The set comprises three themed CDs and an 80-page booklet.
Filthy Lucre Live is a 1996 live album by the reformed Sex Pistols. The album was recorded live at London's Finsbury Park on 23 June 1996 during the band's Filthy Lucre tour. BBC Radio 1 broadcast the concert live, featuring the complete show, including the final encore of "No Fun". "No Fun" was not included on the standard edition of the album. However, it was included in as an exclusive bonus track on Filthy Lucre Live's release in Japan, making the EMI-released Japanese edition the only release to include the complete show in its entirety.
Kiss This is a "best of" compilation by the Sex Pistols released in 1992. It features all tracks from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols' and highlights from the soundtrack album The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, interspersed with singles and B-sides.
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is the soundtrack album of the film of the same name by the Sex Pistols.
John Joseph Lydon, also known by his former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. He was the lead vocalist of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, which was active from 1975 to 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s. He is also the lead vocalist of post-punk band Public Image Ltd (PiL), which he founded and fronted from 1978 until 1993, and again since 2009.
"Public Image" is the debut single by Public Image Ltd. It reached number nine on the UK Singles Chart. The lyrics were written when band co-founder John Lydon was a member of the Sex Pistols. The song addresses Lydon's feelings of being exploited in the Sex Pistols by Malcolm McLaren and the press. Along with being released as a single, it appeared on PiL's 1978 debut album Public Image: First Issue.
"Rip It Up" is a song by Scottish indie pop band Orange Juice, released in 1983 as the second single from their 1982 album of the same name. The song became the band's only UK top 40 success, reaching No. 8 on the chart. "Rip It Up" signalled a departure from the sound of the band's earlier singles, with Chic-influenced guitars and using a synthesiser to create a more disco-oriented sound.