Editing Pretty Vacant (section)

== Composition ==
According to bassist [[Glen Matlock]], the song's main riff was inspired by hearing [[SOS (ABBA song)|"SOS"]] by [[ABBA]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Matlock |first1=Glen |title=I was a teenage Sex Pistol |last2=Silverton |first2=Pete |date=1990 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=0-7119-2491-0 |location=London |page=90f |author-link=Glen Matlock}}</ref> A reversed variant of this riff can be heard in "[[I'm So Bored with the USA|I'm So Bored With The U.S.A.]]" by [[The Clash]], recorded one month later but released three months earlier than the Sex Pistols record. 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 (record producer)|Dave Goodman]]. In an interview for the June 2022 issue of [[Uncut (magazine)|''Uncut'']], Matlock said that ”Pretty Vacant, which is my song and my lyrics, I took inspiration from [[Richard Hell and the Voidoids|Richard Hell]]’s [[Blank Generation (song)|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 [[Birmingham pub bombings|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 (Sex Pistols song)|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.