The fourth situationist spectacle as pop music, for me is the very, very best. The fifth situationist spectacle and the final nail in the coffin of a rosy future, “Never Mind The Bollocks”, was just around the corner and the creativity and genius in one of the highest points of 20th Century art and culture would be over.
To say the summer of 1977 had been a difficult time for these young bastards wouldbe one of the great understatements. Following on from the “God Save The Queen” episode, they had pretty much become prisoners in their own lives, while McLaren ruthlessly exploited their bad-boy potential to the British media. Punk had gone overground and into the provinces and the Sex Pistols were being used as a new set of bogey men, or pied pipers, to carry your children away to danger.
The media were still utterly outraged by Steve Jones’ unrepentant outburst on
the Today programme at the end of the previous year and had vowed to go after
and destroy this festering carbuncle that was eating away at the nation’s youth.
And so it goes….again, Tony.
Money in the bank, yer face splashed all over thetabloids and the sort of notoriety money can’t buy, is not everything. Sex Pistolswere ostensibly a pop group who wanted to make music, whilst their “svengali” manager had other ideas. By the time of the release of “Pretty Vacant” in August,they had effectively stopped being a band and morphed into a publicity machine
for their useless manager and his increasingly ludicrous pranks.
The band themselves were becoming more and more frustrated with their
inactivity, constantly at the beck and call of their manager’s inability to manage.
With a couple of moments thought and the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear now
that McLaren had no idea how to manage a pop group beyond the Situationist
outrage that he attached to the Pistols.
McLaren had suggested that the band get out of London to escape the prying eyes
of the media intrusion that he had himself orchestrated.
Firstly they were packed off to Jersey – just the place for a group of young punk rockers, who are beingvilified by both media and public who simply refused to understand. When it became obvious that the good people of the Channel Islands were not going to tolerate these degenerate louts either, they were packed off for a fortnight in rain swept Berlin, where the greyness never stopped.
“Holidays In The Sun” is a deranged monolith of loud, threatening audio, sent from above to make you both think and feel horribly uneasy. It is based on their unpleasant experiences as young,
vulnerable men at the hands of both the media and – worryingly – their manager.
It starts with jackboots marching, which in itself is a prelude to the nihilistic,
fucked up universe you are about to enter. No matter what he may say now, Steve Jones stole the guitar riff from The Jam’s “In The City” and filtered Paul Weller’s weedy, scratchy motif through a wall of noise, effects, feedback, the fucking lot, creating one of the great intros of all time. By the time the phased drums pick up yer in – the wonder of anger and noise all around you, immersed in this new, exciting world. Rotten spits those lyrics like fire, his unique delivery making sure
you take notice.
His frustration at McLlaren’s shortcomings were beginning to create a schism in the band, one that would never heal. In “Holidays” that anger is propelled like a rocket – the band that would come to define that specific
moment in British history was being priced out of the game by forces Rotten didn’t understand and he had nowhere to
turn. Following Glen Matlock’s sacking, Sid Vicious was recruited on bass at
Rotten’s insistence – unfortunately by the time of “Holidays” Vicious had been
anointed with his heroin addiction by Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan of the
Heartbreakers, who in less than six months had nearly turned the London punk scene into a potential graveyard.
And so on and so forth…
As singles go, the coupling of “Holidays In The Sun” and “Satellite” – one of the b-sides of all time- one of the greatest I can recall. It is a statement on so many levels – the power, the glory, the wisdom are yours forever and ever.
Just feel it.
It was released almost forty years ago exactly and it hasn’t aged a
moment – it is forever my sixteenth birthday, every time I hear it. On it’s release, it was issued in a Jamie Reid designed sleeve which depicted families on holiday. Sadly, the Belgian tourist board owned the rights to the images and objected in the strongest possible terms and the sleeve was withdrawn. More controversy, more infamy.
At the time, and for many years, the Situationist thing went over my head, but having read “The Society of the Spectacle” by Guy de Bord, I have a better understanding about what McLaren was trying to do back then. However, just because I understand it doesn’t make it alright. Three months to the day of the release of “Holidays In The Sun”, Sex Pistols withered and died onstage at the Winterland in San Francisco on 14th of January 1978. It was all over. They were all a little older than our Buddy. Ha-ha-ha! Ever had the feeling you’ve been cheated? X
Written July 2017.
Sex Pistols – Holidays In The Sun. Birgin VS 191. October 1977.
bernie@happening-things.com 