‘Holidays in the Sun’: The Sex Pistols’ most underrated song
“A cheap holiday in other people’s misery,” Johnny Rotten growls at the start of ‘Holidays In The Sun’, the track that opens Sex Pistol’s one and only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. Thus begins one of the most influential records in music history, yet still, its powerful opening remarks remain painfully underrated in this discography.
When the world thinks of the Sex Pistols, they likely hear two anthems in their head. It could be the bold punk power of ‘Anarchy in the U.K.’ where the band launched into the music world with a debut intent on destroying the whole system. Or maybe it’s ‘God Save The Queen’, the alternative national anthem released during the monarch’s Silver Jubilee in 1977 as they pointed their fingers and fury directly at the “fascist regime” of the crown and her government.
Those two tracks alone established the band as one that history would remember. Even if the rest of their record was never heard, those two anthems are rightfully considered as the blueprint of punk. Musically, they’re loud and raging, built by a scrappy gaggle of musicians that rode the DIY ethos of the genre to the top as they proved that passion could outweigh skill. Lyrically, they’re prime examples of the merge of protest songs and singalong anthems that punk has pioneered to success, getting huge crowds chanting political messaging as a cornerstone to the form’s political roots.
But it’s when you look beyond those two big hitters, the group’s worth as a band, and not just a historical fad, is made clear. On ‘Holidays In The Sun’ especially, the music is still loud and the message is still powerful, but it’s done with heaps more nuance, which shows they were always more than just poster boys for an era.
Unlike their two big hits, the message of the track isn’t easily captured in one line like “fuck the queen” or “fuck the government”. It’s not as simple as that. Instead, the song is a layered attack that touches on the rich’s obsession with poverty tourism and taking trips to visit “other people’s misery” as Rotten spits, “I wanna go to the new Belsen / I wanna see some history / cause now I got a reasonable economy”, referencing an old concentration camp. It also considers the lies sold to people on both sides, contemplating the workers who have strived hard to earn money only to find that the world doesn’t immediately open up to them and then communists who believe in the ideals of a greater, shared good, only too be trapped by it.
As the song spirals around the setting of the Berlin Wall and the way it represents a split between two sides of society, Rotten routinely peers over the top as glances of paranoia, confusion and societal upheaval are thrown around. Told with a series of codified images and philosophical references, it’s proof that Rotten had more brains than he’s ever been given credit for as he managed to craft a catchy punk song with some serious contemplative weight.
One of the greatest moments comes along with a possible Nietzsche reference. “I’m looking over the wall and they’re looking at me,” Rotten sings as he considers all these corners of society looking towards one another in a mix of fear, intrigue and jealous. Harking back to the philosopher’s saying, “When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you,” it’s an incredible line that deserves more celebration in their legacy.
Musically, too, ‘Holidays In The Sun’ is one of the band’s tightest, catchiest tunes. The sound of marching footsteps leads listeners into one of Steve Jones’ finest guitar riffs in a slice of pure punk greatness. Feeling more considered and expertly crafted than their two most famous hits, the album opener feels like their best foot being put forward yet sadly still existing in the shadows of the anthems.
But right here, they’re bottling everything that makes the band so special; the hi-octane rock of the instrumental marries good old-fashioned rock and roll hooks with gritty chaos. The political nature of their lyrics mixes Rotten’s gobby attitude with genuine intellect. Even the level of silliness and spontaneity exists in their legacy as they riff their way through the outro, adlibbing little sections. It’s a song that deserves more attention, but really, their entire album does, as it somehow manages to be the most underrated iconic album in history.
