The Flowers of Romance (band)

The Flowers of Romance were an early punk band, formed in mid-1976 by Jo Faull and Sarah Hall. The band never played live or released any recordings, and, like London SS and Masters of the Backside, are more famed for the number of band members that later became well known, including: Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols, Keith Levene (an early member of The Clash and later of Public Image Ltd) and Palmolive and Viv Albertine, who went on to play in The Slits. Despite never playing live, they were interviewed by a fanzine named SKUM, in which Sid Vicious proclaimed "I'll just be the yob that I am now".^[1]

The highly controversial song "Belsen Was a Gas", about one of the Nazi concentration camps in Nazi Germany, Bergen-Belsen, which was liberated by British troops in 1945, originates from this band, and was later performed live by the Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd, as well as Sid Vicious' solo act. Also, Viv Albertine wrote "So Tough" for this band, with the song eventually appearing on The Slits' debut album Cut.^[2]

The band's name subsequently became the title of an early Sex Pistols song, as well as a 1981 Public Image Ltd album and its title track.

The original Flowers of Romance had about 40 fucking members, Keith was one of them and I gave them that name

— Johnny Rotten, March 1981^[3]

Personnel

• Sid Vicious – Vocals and saxophone
• Keith Levene – Guitar
• Viv Albertine – Guitar
• Jo Faull – Guitar
• Marco Pirroni – Guitar (very briefly)^[2]
• Sarah Hall – Bass
• Palmolive – Drums

References

External links

• Whitfield, Greg (2012). "Keith Levene Interview (Part 1)". punk77.co.uk. Retrieved 15 October 2014. 
• "The Flowers Of Romance". punk77.co.uk. 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2014.