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There appeared to be no shortage of people to hitch a ride on the Sex
Pistols gravy train and in particular Sid and his death and the Cash Pussies single was no exception.
However it's not the worst by a long chalk. Unsurprisingly with Dave Goodman
as producer it seems to sound remarkably like a the Sex Pistols riff and
production on
99% Is Shit. Not bad
female vocals from Diana Rich and a little parodying of
Belsen Was A Gas
in the line 'London Town where the Jews all pray.' The B side is weaker with
a more kind of folk style vocal.
So
how did someone have the bright idea to release clips of an interview by Sid
Vicious over a backing track on an independent label that would be
guaranteed to sell absolutely zilch. |
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The
Cash Pussies were the brainchild of husband wife team Fred and Judy Vermorel.
Fred had encountered Malcolm McLaren, the Pistols manager, in 1965 at the Harrow
School of Art. In August 1977, Fred and Judy were commissioned to write
the first book on the Sex Pistols. The book, The Inside Story,
was completed in three months, and published by Star Books in January 1978.
It featured in the main the diaries of Sophie Richmond who worked for the
Sex Pistols and interviews with the Pistols and relatives.
In mid 1978 they begin writing a
script for a film called 'Millions Like Us' with Throbbing Gristle
to provide the music. They in turn contacted
Alex Fergusson, now out of ATV, to help out. Fred Vermorel would also write text which Alex
would edit into song verse.
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By late November, Throbbing
Gristle had left the project and Alex
started working on Vermorel`s new project The Cash Pussies.
Jan Parker. The stint with the
Cash Pussies
pretty much finished the band. We were offered parts as the band in a film that
was being made by Fred and Judy Vermorel called ‘ Millions Like Us’. We became
‘The Cash Pussies’ and started gigging.
In December they played a benefit gig for Nancy Spungeon
(recently deceased) downstairs at the Bedford Corner Hotel. The band,
described as a sort of Sex
Pistols meets Abba, featured Sarah Osborne and Jan Parker on vocals, Alex Fergusson
on guitar & the bassist &
drummer from Security Risk. In December The Cash Pussies headlined at Les Bains Douche's
opening night in Paris.
The line up doesn't last
long
Jan Parker. We played a
benefit for Sid Vicious in 1978.The set was made up of Alex Fergusson's
songs mixed with ours. Fred and Judy wanted us to totally follow their
artistic lead and when we bucked against the idea of a total takeover,
they sacked us.
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In April
1979, after Sid was dead and cremated, the single was released on Dave
Goodman's (himself no stranger to exploiting the Sex Pistols) 'The Label'
but featuring model Diana Rich not only singing on the B side but
inexplicably with her face in cheesy close up on the back cover. The
single was reviewed in Sounds and NME but did nothing. The A side had the
audio of Sid from one of the interviews the Vermorels used for the 'The
Inside Story.' The
band comprised Diana Rich, Alex Fergusson, Alan Gruner and Ray Weston.
Fred and Judy Vermorel
were described grandiosely as executive producers. The cover also had the
following cryptic declaration.
From the forthcoming
Millions Like Us Cash Pussies: "They wanted to destroy show biz...wring
the neck of entertainment..."
There was one further gig
in June 1979 then nothing. No film no more music no more Cash Pussies.
Click
to hear audio clip of '99% Is Shit' |
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