Blank Generation (song)

"Blank Generation" is the title track of Richard Hell and the Voidoids' debut album Blank Generation. A rewrite of Rod McKuen's 1959 record "The Beat Generation,"Richard Hell wrote the new lyrics during his time with the band Television, and performed it live with another band, The Heartbreakers.[1]  The Sex Pistols' song "Pretty Vacant" was directly inspired by "Blank Generation".[2]

The song was first released on the Another World EP in 1976.[3]

An earlier live recording by The Heartbreakers, recorded at the CBGB, on July 7 1975 can be found on the What Goes Around... album (1991).[4]  Demo recordings of the song also have survived.

A live March 1974 recording at CBGB with Television can be found on Spurts: The Richard Hell Story.