The Sex Pistols | Pretty Vacant (1977)
"Pretty Vacant" is a song by the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols. It was released on 2 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.
1977-07-02 19:00:00 - Music Video
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.
According to bassist Glen Matlock, the song's main riff was inspired by hearing "SOS" by ABBA.
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 British music magazine Uncut Glen 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.
NME magazine made it their Single of the Year in 1977.
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.
Billboard Magazine 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.
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."
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 featured in the in-game soundtrack for the 2007 skateboarding videogame Skate, as well as the 2008 rhythm game Guitar Hero: World Tour.