The Flowers of Romance (British band)

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The Flowers of Romance
OriginLondon, England
Genres Punk rock
Years active1976–1977
Past members Sid Vicious
Steve Walsh
Viv Albertine
Keith Levene
Palmolive
Sarah Hall
Jo Faull
Marco Pirroni
Kenny Morris

The Flowers of Romance was an early punk band, formed in mid-1976 by Jo Faull and Sarah Hall, girlfriends at the time of Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols. [1] The band did not release any recordings and, like London SS and Masters of the Backside, are more famed for the number of band members that later became well known, including: Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, Keith Levene (an early member of the Clash and later of Public Image Ltd), Palmolive and Viv Albertine of the Slits, and Kenny Morris (future member of Siouxsie and the Banshees). Morris replaced Palmolive on drums in the last months of the band's existence in late 1976. [2] The band ended in January 1977 when Vicious joined Sex Pistols and Morris rehearsed with Siouxsie. Despite never playing live, they were interviewed by SKUM fanzine in which Sid Vicious proclaimed "I'll just be the yob that I am now". [1] [3]

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The highly controversial song "Belsen Was a Gas", about the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, was written for this band by Vicious and Levene. [4] Commenting on Vicious writing the tune, guitarist Keith Levene has stated, "Sid always used to have some catchphrase he found funny. He used to go on and on, 'Hey Keith, you know Belsen was a gas' ... So I said, 'Belsen was a gas huh? Well, I'll show you Belsen was a gas; THIS is how it goes man.' and I banged out the riff to the tune, which later The Pistols covered. PIL also played it too. We were nihilists in a way, but we were never political in any conventional sense of that word. What we truly were was nihilists, destructive nihilists, but we weren't pessimistic ... We were interested in the ruins, the destruction, but then we were interested in what we could build out of the rubble. What light could come out of the darkness?" [5] It was performed live by the Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd, and Sid Vicious' solo act.

The band's name was suggested by Johnny Rotten, [6] [7] and subsequently became the title of an early Sex Pistols song, [8] as well as a 1981 Public Image Ltd album and its title track. [7] Viv Albertine wrote "So Tough" for the band, with the song eventually appearing on the Slits' debut album Cut . [9]

Personnel

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Brooks, Paul (1977). "The Flowers of Romance". Skum (1). Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Paytress, Mark (2003). Siouxsie & the Banshees: The Authorised Biography. Sanctuary. ISBN   1-86074-375-7.
  3. ↑ Cortina, Lene (14 April 2018). "The Flowers of Romance". PunkGirlDiaries.com. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  4. ↑ Gentile, John (9 May 2014). "Keith Levene (P.I.L., The Clash)". Punk News. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  5. ↑ Whitfield, Greg (2004). "Looking For Something – An Interview With PiL/Clash Guitarist Keith Levene". 3:AM Magazine .
  6. ↑ Lydon, John (2014). "Public Image Ltd. Chronology 1981". fodderstompf.com. Retrieved 15 October 2014. The original Flowers of Romance had about 40 fucking members, Keith was one of them and I gave them that name.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Goldman, Vivien (6 May 2018). "Public Image Ltd - The Flowers of Romance". Pitchfork Media . Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  8. ↑ Gallix, Andrew (27 July 2009). "The Flowers of Romance". AndrewGallix.com. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  9. 1 2 Wobble, Jah (20 January 2009). In Search of Sid. BBC Radio 4 (Radio). London. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Sommerlad, Joe (2 February 2019). "Sid Vicious is still punk's biggest mystery, 40 years after his death". The Independent . Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Frame, Pete (13 February 2010). "Who Is In The Flowers of Romance Rock Family Tree?". rockfamilytrees.co.uk. Retrieved 17 January 2021.


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