35 years on from its original release, The Sex Pistols anthem ‘Holidays in the Sun’ – the only song Sid Vicious probably played on – has finally received a promo video. The video has been formed from previously unreleased footage, especially for use on the limited edition super deluxe box set ‘Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols‘ that’s set to be released on the September 24th through Universal Music UK.
The song was inspired by the Pistols trip to Berlin in 1977; where the band had decamped for a few days to help escape the hate generated from the media after their infamous sacking from A&M Records (after just 7 days).The Pistols visit to the city – and particularly the Berlin Wall which looked onto the still communist East Berlin – provided John ‘Rotten’ Lydon with his inspiration for the lyrics: “Berlin was a very different town then. It was like that scene in Apocalypse Now when they go up the river and they see the flares and the party going on, all the soldiers on acid… That’s what Berlin was like, with a chaotic war-zone wrapped around it. The Communists were looking in on this adventure playground. Quite mental.”
Unlike the Pistols other single’s from Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols (‘Anarchy in the UK’, ‘God Save The Queen’ and ‘Pretty Vacant’) no promo video for ‘Holidays in the Sun’ was ever filmed. Although one was planned featuring a recreation of TV holiday adverts of the time. 35 years later video director Julien Temple was with The Sex Pistols for the first time since 2007 to work on a brand new video edit of ‘Holidays in the Sun’.
Julien explained about the creation of the video: “The live performance was shot using one camera and shows the extraordinary captivating quality of the band at the time.” Temple recalls. “There was shock in the room, it was hypnotising, contagious, and unfolded right in front of you. It was filmed in Penzance in September 1977, the Pistols arrived unannounced and the audience couldn’t believe what they were getting“.
You can watch the video here:
You can watch the video here:
