Garage_Doors
Originally the Swankers
The Sex Pistols' long-lost 1977 track Belsen Was A Gas is finally to be released after a tape of it was discovered.
The recording was thought to have been lost, with only a live version and a later recording featuring Ronnie Biggs known to exist.
But a studio version in demo form was recently unearthed when the punk pioneers' archive moved to a new label.
Although fans will welcome the track's release, the subject matter made it probably their most controversial song.
Its lyric was about the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, which contrary to the song's title, did not house any gas chambers.
Frontman John Lydon - who in his Pistols days was known as Johnny Rotten - later admitted the song was in poor taste.
In an interview, he said it was a "very nasty, silly little thing" which he claimed should have "ended up on the cutting room floor".
The newly-discovered version will feature in a deluxe reissue of the band's only studio album, Never Mind The B*******, Here's The Sex Pistols, which is to be released on September 24.
The demo of Belsen dates back to 1977, although the live recording and version featuring train robber Biggs appeared on the soundtrack to the movie The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.
It was found with master tapes of the album when the group's back catalogue transferred from Virgin Records to Universal earlier this year.
The remastered box set version of the album will also feature demos which have previously only appeared on bootlegs, as well as single B-sides.
Live recordings from 1977 will be included as well as a 100-page diary with some unseen images.
An accompanying DVD features concert footage from the Silver Jubilee year, as well as a film of the group's famous performance on a boat on the Thames and interviews.
The recording was thought to have been lost, with only a live version and a later recording featuring Ronnie Biggs known to exist.
But a studio version in demo form was recently unearthed when the punk pioneers' archive moved to a new label.
Although fans will welcome the track's release, the subject matter made it probably their most controversial song.
Its lyric was about the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, which contrary to the song's title, did not house any gas chambers.
Frontman John Lydon - who in his Pistols days was known as Johnny Rotten - later admitted the song was in poor taste.
In an interview, he said it was a "very nasty, silly little thing" which he claimed should have "ended up on the cutting room floor".
The newly-discovered version will feature in a deluxe reissue of the band's only studio album, Never Mind The B*******, Here's The Sex Pistols, which is to be released on September 24.
The demo of Belsen dates back to 1977, although the live recording and version featuring train robber Biggs appeared on the soundtrack to the movie The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.
It was found with master tapes of the album when the group's back catalogue transferred from Virgin Records to Universal earlier this year.
The remastered box set version of the album will also feature demos which have previously only appeared on bootlegs, as well as single B-sides.
Live recordings from 1977 will be included as well as a 100-page diary with some unseen images.
An accompanying DVD features concert footage from the Silver Jubilee year, as well as a film of the group's famous performance on a boat on the Thames and interviews.
