Badge — Jamie Reid archive, Reid, Jamie, London, Late 1970s
Record status
Individual type · partial
Period
Late 1970s
Badge — Jamie Reid archive, Reid, Jamie, London, Late 1970s is an object recorded by Victoria and Albert Museum, dated Late 1970s. The museum's brief description reads: Circular pin badge.
Red background with Jamie Reid design in white for the Sex Pistols' single 'Pretty Vacant', of two buses with destinations reading 'Nowhere' and 'Boredom'. Printed paper on metal backing covered with plastic. Jamie Reid archive. Museum description: Metal pin badge with printed paper and polyester film cover. Blue background featuring two white buses and typography in blue on a white background. The museum record gives material recorded as paper, plastic, metal; measurements Diameter 5.5 cm; place associated: London; maker recorded: Reid, Jamie.
These details come from the holding museum's own record; how far this object represents a wider collectible type has not yet been independently verified.
Evidence at a glance
- Linked sources
- 1
- Photograph views
- 1
- Catalogue references
- 0
Counts describe this entry’s documentation, not authenticity, rarity or completeness. Photographs may show one specimen; check each caption and licence.
Historical context
During the punk and post-punk period of 1976 to 1984, it was fundamental to wear your allegiances, political or musical, on your lapel in the form of the button badge. Better Badges, run by Joly McFie, was the small business leader in manufacture of punk buttons, of which this is an example. He started a stall in 1976 at a Ramones gig at the Roundhouse, London, and became a fixture of the scene with a mail order service too. Jamie Reid used McFie's process cameras to produce artwork for single sleeves for the Sex Pistols, which were subsequently turned into badges by McFie. This badge utilises the same poster design by Jamie Reid for the release of the Pretty Vacant single, July 1977. The bus artwork, featuring the destinations 'Nowhere' and 'Boredom', is typical of Sex Pistols desire to be seen as being, and representing, angry young men with no purpose. Jamie Reid's cut-and-paste aesthetic developed from his interest in radical politics. His artistic style developed while at art college in Croydon, where he was influenced by the ideas of the avant-garde political group, the Situationist International. The political slant to his art was aroused by the May 1968 Paris student riots, which inspired fraternal protests organised by Reid at the Croydon College of Art. These were directed with fellow student Malcolm McLaren, later to become the manager of the Sex Pistols.
Physical characteristics
- Material
- paper, plastic, metal
- Dimensions
- Diameter 5.5 cm
Technical characteristics
- Technique
- Printed paper and plastic film pressed on to metal pin back.
- Maker recorded
- Reid, Jamie
- Place recorded
- London
Design
- Inscriptions recorded
- pretty vaCant; Nowhere / Boredom
Identification
- Museum attribution
- Reid, Jamie
- Museum object name
- Badge
- Museum object number
- S.931-1990
- Museum system number
- O1152766
Catalogue references
No catalogue numbers recorded. Numbers are only published once transcribed from a verified edition of a standard catalogue — they are never inferred.
Research required
- Research required: confirm materials, dimensions, maker and wider type against the museum record and a specialist reference.