"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.