"Silly Thing" | ||||
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Single by Sex Pistols | ||||
from the album The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle | ||||
A-side | "Silly Thing" | |||
B-side | "Who Killed Bambi?" | |||
Released | 30 March 1979 | |||
Recorded | Regents Park Studios, London / Rockfield Studios, Wales | |||
Genre | Punk rock | |||
Label | Virgin | |||
Songwriter(s) | Paul Cook and Steve Jones | |||
Sex Pistols singles chronology | ||||
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"Silly Thing" is a song by the Sex Pistols that was released in 1979. It was the 3rd single released in promotion of the film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle . It was written by drummer Paul Cook and guitarist Steve Jones, and recorded after the band's original lead singer, Johnny Rotten, left the band. Typically, Jones also played bass in the studio, rather than suffer the ineptitude of the band's official bassist, Sid Vicious.
The original version of the song, on which Paul Cook sings lead vocals and Steve Jones plays bass guitar, was recorded with engineer Steve Lipson at Regents Park Studios in London [1] in April or May 1978. The recording of further guitar overdubs and the final mixing took place at Rockfield Studios in Wales with producer Dave Goodman in late May 1978. [2]
This original version of "Silly Thing" appeared on the movie soundtrack album of The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and was used for the single in New Zealand, France and Japan.
A different mix of this original version, with Cook singing the verses and Jones singing the chorus, was released in 1988 in Japan, along with an outtake from the same recording sessions, [2] the original version of the Jones/Cook composition "Here We Go Again". [3]
In the second week of March 1979, Jones and Cook went into Wessex Studios in London [4] with engineer Bill Price and recorded a new version of the song. On this version, bass guitar was played by Andy Allen of the Lightning Raiders, who later in the year formed The Professionals with Cook and Jones.
This version of "Silly Thing" was used for the single in the UK, Australia, West Germany and Portugal. It appeared on the 1992 Sex Pistols compilation Kiss This .
The song "Who Killed Bambi?" was written and sung by Edward Tudor-Pole, with Vivienne Westwood contributing to the lyrics.
The song was recorded with a 45 piece orchestra, arranged and conducted by Andrew Jackman, in a large studio in Wembley [5] in summer 1978. Tudor-Pole's vocals were added later at the same studio.
The subsequent movie sequence of Tudor-Pole performing the song was filmed in one day with actress Irene Handl at Rainbow Theatre [6] in London. [7]
The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they are regarded as one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians. Their fashion and hairstyles have been credited as a significant influence on punk image, and they are often associated with anarchism within music.
John Simon Ritchie, known professionally as Sid Vicious, was an English musician best known as the bassist for the English punk rock band Sex Pistols. Vicious replaced Glen Matlock, who had fallen out of favour with the other members of the group.
Stephen Philip Jones is an English rock guitarist, singer, actor and radio DJ, best known as a guitarist with the Sex Pistols. Following the split of the Sex Pistols, he formed the Professionals with former bandmate Paul Cook. He has also released two solo albums, and worked with the likes of Johnny Thunders, Iggy Pop, Bob Dylan and Thin Lizzy. In 1995, he formed the short lived supergroup Neurotic Outsiders with members of Guns N' Roses and Duran Duran. Jones was ranked #97 in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time," which was published in 2015.
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle is a 1980 British mockumentary film directed by Julien Temple and produced by Don Boyd and Jeremy Thomas. It centres on the British punk rock band Sex Pistols and, most prominently, their manager Malcolm McLaren.
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Sid Sings is the first released solo live album by English punk rock musician Sid Vicious. It was released posthumously on December 15, 1979 and peaked at number 30 on the British album charts.
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The Professionals are an English punk rock band active from 1979 to early 1982 and again from 2015. They were formed by ex-Sex Pistols members Steve Jones and Paul Cook after that band's demise.
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Who Killed Bambi? was to be the first film featuring the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, and was due to be released in 1978. Russ Meyer and then Jonathan Kaplan were due to direct from a script by Roger Ebert and Pistols' manager Malcolm McLaren.
The Sham Pistols were a short-lived punk rock supergroup composed of guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols with vocalist Jimmy Pursey and bass player Dave Tregunna of Sham 69. Although now referred to as The Sham Pistols no name had been decided upon at the time. There was the possibility that they may have been called The Sex Pistols.
Dave Goodman was a record producer and musician, perhaps best known as the live sound engineer for Sex Pistols, and the producer of three of their studio demo sessions.
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.
The Swindle Continues is the first album released by the Ex Pistols in 1988. It consists of half Sex Pistols and half Ex Pistols material, and is the only Ex Pistols release that doesn't disguise itself as material completely by the Sex Pistols.
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