Pretty Vacant

This was the third single released by the Sex Pistols, one of the most controversial bands in Britain (or anywhere) and pioneers of the new, angry genre, which became known as punk rock. The song was released in the UK on July 1, 1977, and in the USA on October 27, the same year and on October 15, 2007, as a 30th Anniversary reissue. Running to 3 minutes, 15 seconds, "Pretty Vacant" was written by bass player Glen Matlock (replaced by Sid Vicious after the album was released) and lead singer John Lydon, but credited to the entire group, per convention. It was produced by Chris Thomas and Bill Price for Virgin in the UK and Warner Brothers in the US. The B-side was a cover of The Stooges' "No Fun."

"Pretty Vacant" saw the only appearance of the Sex Pistols on the BBC's famous Top Of The Pops program, although they would probably not have been invited if the Beeb had realized the title is to be interpreted as "pretty va-cunt." The Pistols had already seen their debut single, "God Save The Queen," banned by the BBC as well as by independent UK radio. Their debut album was also banned, and in December 1976, they caused a furor by swearing overtly on an independent television news program well before the watershed, egged on by interviewer Bill Grundy. Surprisingly, the riff for "Pretty Vacant" was inspired by a very unpunk song, the ABBA ballad "S.O.S." Although it isn't quite as powerful as "God Save The Queen," the band's third release is a worthy contribution to the genre and to music. It was named Single Of The Year by New Musical Express in 1977.

Glen Matlock drew inspiration from Richard Hell and the Voidoids' 1976 punk rock number "Blank Generation." Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren brought back it back from the United States and told Sex Pistols to write a song like "Blank Generation," but their own version. The phrase "blank generation" got Matlock thinking about the desperation and hopelessness many in London felt; he reworked it into "Pretty Vacant" and wrote the single about the concept with John Lydon. "I kind of misunderstood what his song was all about," Matlock admitted to Uncut magazine. "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." "Malcolm had been saying to us all the time, you must write a manifesto," Matlock added. "I'm proud of the fact that when people were coming up with a song about a girl or dancing or something, I wrote 'Pretty Vacant' - before John [Lydon) wrote 'Anarchy in the U.K..' It's not a competition but that's just the way it evolved."