Holidays in the Sun
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- The "Holidays in the Sun" punk festivals are now known as "Wasted Festivals".
| "Holidays in the Sun" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Sex Pistols | ||
| from the album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols | ||
| Released | October 1977: Worldwide | |
| Format | Vinyl single: Worldwide | |
| Recorded | London, England | |
| Genre | Punk | |
| Length | 3:20 | |
| Label | Virgin Records | |
| Writer(s) | Sex Pistols | |
| Producer(s) | Chris Thomas Bill Price |
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| Chart positions | ||
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| Sex Pistols singles chronology | ||
| "Pretty Vacant" (1977) |
"Holidays in the Sun" (1977) |
"No One Is Innocent" (1978) |
"Holidays in the Sun" was the fourth single by punk band the Sex Pistols. Released on October 15, 1977, it was the last single to be released during the actual lifespan of the group.
The song was inspired by a trip to the Channel Island of Jersey, "We tried our Holiday In The Sun in the isle of Jersey and that didn't work. They threw us out.", followed by a couple of weeks spent in Berlin. Although they described the city as "raining and depressing", they were relieved to get away from London. Says John Lydon, "Being in London at the time made us feel like we were trapped in a prison camp environment. There was hatred and constant threat of violence. The best thing we could do was to go set up in a prison camp somewhere else. Berlin and its decadence was a good idea. The song came about from that. I loved Berlin. I loved the wall and the insanity of the place. The communists looked in on the circus atmosphere of West Berlin, which never went to sleep, and that would be their impression of the West."
"Holidays In the Sun" is later featured as the opening track on Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. The single's B-side is "Satellite", a song about their early performances in "satellite towns", which the band liked because it was the only times they could play away from their manager, Malcolm McLaren, and his group of associates.
The song's main hook, a simple descending figure, bears a remarkable resemblance to the bassline of The Jam's "In the City" (The chords however differ despite the similar bassline), which was released a few months previously in April 1977. Whether or not this is a coincidence is open to debate, but the two groups did play at least one show together (at Queensway Hall in Dunstable on October 21st 1976), at which point The Jam had already been in the studio to record demos of "In the City". [1]. Bruce Foxton, bass player for The Jam and later the Stiff Little Fingers alleged in a 1994 book that the riff had indeed been stolen from this song.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Foxton, Bruce, "'The Jam': Our Story", Sanctuary Publishing Ltd, 1994. ISBN 1-89814-110-X
| Sex Pistols |
|---|
| Johnny Rotten | Steve Jones | Glen Matlock | Paul Cook | Sid Vicious |
| Discography |
| Studio albums: Never Mind the Bollocks, 1977 |
| Singles: Anarchy in the UK, 1976 | God Save the Queen, 1977 | Pretty Vacant, 1977 | Holidays in the Sun, 1977 | No One Is Innocent, 1978 |
| Live and compilation releases: Some Product: Carri on Sex Pistols, 1979 | The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, 1980 | Flogging a Dead Horse, 1980 |
| Related articles |
| Public Image Ltd. | Malcolm McLaren | Jamie Reid | Ronnie Biggs | Edward Tudor-Pole | The Professionals | The Filth and the Fury | Punk rock |
