Flogging a Dead Horse

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Flogging a Dead Horse
Studio album by The Sex Pistols
Released	1980
Recorded	???
Genre	Punk rock
Length	48:02
Label	Virgin Records
Producer(s)	???
Professional reviews
Allmusic.com
The Sex Pistols chronology
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1979)	Flogging a Dead Horse (1980)

Flogging a Dead Horse is a compilation album of singles by the Sex Pistols, released after their break-up, and includes the four songs that were issued as singles A-sides from Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols with three of their B-sides, as well as the six A-sides that were issued off the Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and one B-side, My Way.

By the time the record was released, the group was finished as a musical unit; The Sex Pistols consisted only of manager Malcolm McLaren and designer Jamie Reid. Their relationship with Virgin records was difficult, and Reid's tacky sleeve design was intended to warn people against another cash-in; it was largely interpreted as a hip joke, and seems to have hurt sales very little.

Reid's first sleeve design consisted of the title hastily scrawled across his designs for the Never Mind the Bollocks (front cover) and Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle albums (back cover). It was printed, and copies exist, but was rejected by Virgin and never made it to record stores. For its replacement, Reid used a photo of a model from the cheapest agency he could find, along with dull letraset lettering, making the record look like a cheap easy listening album.

[edit] Track listing

1. "Anarchy in the U.K." (Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten) – 3:33
2. "I Wanna Be Me" (Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten) – 3:06
3. "God Save the Queen" (Cook/Jones//Matlock/Rotten) – 3:21
4. "Did You No Wrong" (Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten/Nightingale) – 3:14
5. "Pretty Vacant" (Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten) – 3:18
6. "No Fun" (The Stooges) – 6:26
7. "Holidays in the Sun" (Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten) – 3:21
8. "No One Is Innocent" (Cook/Jones/Matlock/Rotten) – 3:03
9. "My Way" (Anka/Francois/Revaux) – 4:05
10. "Something Else" (Cochran/Sheeley) – 2:12
11. "Silly Thing" (Cook/Jones) – 2:53
12. "C'mon Everybody" (Capehart/Cochran) – 1:57
13. "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" (Boyce/Hart) – 3:09
14. "Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle" (Cook/Jones/Temple) – 4:24

Tracks 1 through 7 plus 13 are sung by Johnny "Rotten" Lydon, 8 features train robber Ronnie Biggs, 9, 10 and 12 are sung by Sid Vicious and are his complete studio recordings, 11 is sung by drummer Paul Cook (although the version that was released as a single in the UK was sung by Steve Jones), and 14 is sung by several hopefuls auditioning to be the Sex Pistols' new lead singer - the winner was Tenpole Tudor. The album sleeve features no individual credits.

[edit] Miscellanea

The album inspired the name of a NOFX song on So Long and Thanks for All the Shoes called "Flossing a Dead Horse".

Sex Pistols
John Lydon | Steve Jones | Glen Matlock | Paul Cook | Sid Vicious
Discography
Studio albums: Never Mind the Bollocks, 1977
Live and compilation releases: Some Product: Carri on Sex Pistols, 1979 | The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, 1980 | Flogging a Dead Horse, 1980
Related articles
Public Image Ltd. | Malcolm McLaren | Jamie Reid | Ronnie Biggs | Edward Tudor-Pole | The Professionals | The Filth and the Fury | Punk rock