"Pretty Vacant" is a song by the English punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band that formed in London in 1975. They were responsible for initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspiring many later punk and alternative rock musicians...

. It was released on 1 July 1977 as the third single from their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols

Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The Sex Pistols is the only studio album by the highly influential and controversial English punk rock band The Sex Pistols...

. The song marked the band's only appearance on the British music show Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

. The song is infamous for vocalist John Lydon

John Lydon

John Joseph Lydon , also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s...

's phrasing of the word "vacant", emphasizing the last syllable making it sound like the vulgar word "cunt

Cunt

Cunt is a vulgarism, primarily referring to the female genitalia, specifically the vulva, and including the cleft of Venus. The earliest citation of this usage in the 1972 Oxford English Dictionary, c 1230, refers to the London street known as Gropecunt Lane...

". According to Glen Matlock

Glen Matlock

Glen Matlock is an English bass guitarist most famous for being in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. Drummer Paul Cook has said that Matlock came up with much of the music for the band's songs and most of the lyrics, while lead singer Johnny Rotten made some adjustments...

 the riff was inspired by "S.O.S.

SOS (ABBA song)

Agnetha Fältskog's version was the second single from her fifth Swedish solo-album Elva kvinnor i ett hus . It was the only song from this album not to have been composed by Fältskog herself....

" by ABBA

ABBA

ABBA was a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1970 which consisted of Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog...

 after hearing it on the radio. The B-side is a cover of The Stooges

The Stooges

The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...

' "No Fun" which they played on the spot without a proper rehearsal.

New Musical Express

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

 (NME) magazine made it their Single of the Year in 1977. In March 2005, Q

Q (magazine)

Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...

magazine placed the song at number 26 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

Covers and samples

Joey Ramone

Joey Ramone

Joey Ramone was an American vocalist and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist in the punk rock band the Ramones. Joey Ramone's image, voice and tenure as frontman of the Ramones made him a countercultural icon.-Early life:Joey Ramone was born Jeffry Hyman to parents Noel and Charlotte Hyman...

 used the lead riff in his cover of "What a Wonderful World

What a Wonderful World

"What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world . Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999...

".

South African pop group Shikisha released a cover version of the song in 1996.

The French band Les Négresses Vertes

Les Negresses Vertes

Les Négresses Vertes, formed in 1987, is a French music group that is best described as a fusion of world music and some aspects of alternative rock. Their tracks often feature acoustic guitar and accordion, as well as some tracks containing many other 'traditional' instruments such as piano and...

 as well as grime MC Lady Sovereign

Lady Sovereign

Louise Amanda Harman , better known by the stage name Lady Sovereign, is an English rapper & grime artist. She is noted for her professional success in performing styles of music generally dominated by males...

 have both covered "Pretty Vacant" and performed live versions of the song. Lady Sovereign's version is featured in the popular TV show, The O.C.

The O.C.

The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...

and the cover version is featured on one of the six The O.C. soundtracks called Music from The O.C.: Mix 6 – Covering Our Tracks

Music on The O.C.

The use of music on FOX drama The O.C. gained much acclaim. Show creator Josh Schwartz wanted music to be a "character on the show" and the experienced Alexandra Patsavas took the role of music supervisor. The show's orchestral music was composed by Christopher Tyng. The series is credited with...

.

Joan Jett released a cover version on single.

An Irish language version of the song, entitled "Folamh go Deas" (a literal translation), was performed by Irish band Na Magairlí in 1981.

In popular culture

This song is on the soundtrack to the 2010 The Runaways

The Runaways

The Runaways were an American all-girl rock band that recorded and performed in the second half of the 1970s. The band released four studio albums and one live set during its run. Among its best known songs: "Cherry Bomb", "Queens of Noise", "Neon Angels On the Road to Ruin", "California Paradise"...

 film of the same name

The Runaways (film)

The Runaways is a 2010 American biographical film about the 1970s all-girl rock band of the same name. The film was written and directed by Floria Sigismondi, who based the screenplay on the book Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway by the band's original lead vocalist Cherie Currie...

.

This song is on the soundtrack to the video game skate.

Skate (video game)

Skate is a skateboarding video game developed by EA Black Box for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was released in North America on September 17, 2007 for the Xbox 360 and September 24, 2007 for the PlayStation 3 and in Europe on September 28, 2007 for the Xbox 360 and October 5, 2007 for the...

The second reissue of this song entitled "Pretty Vacant (Guitar Hero Version)" was released on iTunes for download on 16 October 2007. This version of the song is included in Guitar Hero World Tour

Guitar Hero World Tour

Guitar Hero World Tour is a music video game developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision. It is the fourth main entry in the Guitar Hero series...

.

"Pretty Vacant" was used as the theme song to a short-lived 1994 television sketch comedy show called The Vacant Lot

The Vacant Lot

The Vacant Lot was a short-lived comedy sketch show which the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ran for only six episodes starting in December 1993...

.

The song was featured in the 1981 Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi

Ralph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...

 movie American Pop

American Pop

American Pop is a 1981 American animated musical drama film produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi. The film tells the story of four generations of a Russian Jewish immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music....

.

Chris Miles

Chris Miles

Christopher "Chris" Miles is a fictional character in the television series Skins portrayed by Joe Dempsie.-Characterization:Chris's character was initially portrayed as being very into pills and as being something of a hedonist, but at the same time had other layers to his personality. According...

, an important character of Skins

Skins (TV series)

Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...

, has a T-shirt that says "pretty vacant" in various episodes.