In the new Netflix limited series Zero Day, there is an often-used song called "Who Killed Bambi?" The tune is used to mentally affect the former president, played by Robert De Niro. The screen will show you that the tune is by the "Sex Pistols" and it is. And well, it isn't.
The assumption is that the creators of the series chose a Sex Pistols song because we are led to believe a group of antigovernment radicals are trying to bring down the United States. Therefore, having a punk band produce the signature song of the series makes sense. But why that song?
Maybe it is the title of the track itself. Who killed Bambi and Bambi could be a lot of things. The show uses the tune to be somewhat mysterious and the title is certainly strange. Maybe the series could not get the rights to an earlier Sex Pistols music, though. Or maybe they could and still chose that tune.
Zero Day should have chosen a different "Sex Pistols" song
The issue is that "Who Killed Bambi?" is only a Sex Pistols song in band-name only. The track is part of the second album that Malcolm McLaren put out for the band. It was full of tunes that the original lineup would have never put out. In fact, there was a lot of trickery to what was included.
Vocalist Johnny Rotten had left the band after the first record, and was not going to be involved in the second. Bassist Glen Matlock had left the band, too. The record was called The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle and that is exactly what it was. Calling the album a Sex Pistols record was a lie. Half the band was left, and even they were not trying to make something great.
Instead, McLaren collected a bunch of covers that Sid Vicious had sung, only two new songs. The rest of the record was filled out with parts of recorded songs by producer Dave Goodman, who had recorded the band rehearsing around the time the first album was being made, only the band did not know they were being recorded. Also, the album contained Sex Pistols songs that had been recorded by a disco band.
The whole thing was a money grab by McLaren. That included one of the new songs, "Who Killed Bambi?" If the track sounds weird to those who know songs from the band's first record, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, it should. Rotten isn't singing, but instead random fill-in Edward Tudor-Pole. It is rightfully a terrible tune.
Somehow, the choice of using "Who Killed Baby?" could make one wonder what other choices the creators of Zero Day could have made to make the series better. The show isn't bad, but it's inconsistent with some unneeded storylines. "No Feelings" would have been a much better choice, for instance, than "Who Killed Bambi?"