“Silly Thing / Who Killed Bambi?” Poster

Promotional poster for the double A-side single "Silly Thing / Who Killed Bambi?", taken from The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and released by Virgin Records in 1979. The title refers to the abandoned Russ Meyer / Roger Ebert film originally commissioned by Malcolm McLaren in 1977; little was completed before the production collapsed, but the title and Jamie Reid's design were absorbed into Swindle. Reid's layout deploys Disney's house cursive typography against the Pistols' subject matter — a direct extension of the visual strategy he developed across the band's earlier campaigns. Unlike the American Express parody, Quad film, "Dead Deer," and "Sid From Beyond The Grave" posters, this design was not included as a folded insert in any pressing of The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle; it was issued only as a standalone promotional sheet for the single, making it materially scarcer than the LP-insert variants most commonly encountered.

LITERATURE:

Illustrated in Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics, Fashion & Culture, 1976–86, exh. cat. (Orlando: Orlando Museum of Art / MW Books, 2024), p. 123

PROVENANCE:

Too Fast To Live Collection