The Flowers of Romance (British band)

The Flowers of Romance were an early punk band, formed in mid-1976 by Jo Faull and Sarah Hall, who at the time were the girlfriends of Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols.[1] The band did not release 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][2]

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 written by Vicious and Levene.[3] It 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.[4]

The band's name had been suggested by Johnny Rotten,[5][6] and subsequently became the title of an early Sex Pistols song,[7] as well as a 1981 Public Image Ltd album and its title track.[6]