The Sex Pistols in concert, courtesy Getty Images.
Talk about news that is a double-edge sword: at once cool and yet guaranteed to make you feel ancient. Pioneering punk rockers the Sex Pistols (or at least, what’s left of them) are set to re-issue their 1977 single ‘Pretty Vacant’ as a limited edition seven-inch picture disc in honour of the song’s 35th anniversary.
Sigh.
As the NME notes, the new single – being issued in the UK on July 2, exactly 35 years to the day that the song originally came out - will receive a limited pressing of 3,500 copies, so fans around the globe will need to watch eBay like hawks in order to score a copy.
An expanded edition of the band's legendary debut album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols, will follow in September.
'Pretty Vacant,' released as the band's third single following 'Anarchy in the UK' and 'God Save the Queen,' peaked at number 6 in its fourth week on the UK singles chart, the NME notes. Reissued versions of the single charted again in 1992 and 2007, while a live version of the song cracked the British top 20 in 1996.
Of course, singer John Lydon has been busy of late with a new Public Image Limited record and his burgeoning career as a film producer.
In a press release announcing the latest reissue and quoted by the NME, Lydon simply says: "This is the Pretty Vacant press release. Thank you."
As for ‘Pretty Vacant’ – and actually, the entire Never Mind the Bollocks record – it still sounds fresh and vital, even after three-plus decades. Ironic that a band once viewed as so disposable created some of the most lasting music ever recorded. Take that, prog rockers.
