[2] Its title is a pun on the poison gases used in many Nazi concentration camps, referencing a "gas" as slang for a fun time.
[3] The song's darkly humorous lyrics were intended to irritate the generation the group believed were responsible for many of the political and social problems in Britain at that time.
In an interview conducted for Q magazine in 1996 he stated "[the song] was a very nasty, silly little thing... that should've ended up on the cutting room floor.
In the original version done with Rotten, the main theme is a power chord riff that goes D, C, D, E♭ (plays with "Belsen was a gas, I heard the other day").
This version was recorded on January 10, 1978 at the Longhorn Ballroom, Dallas, Texas, a concert that was filmed and has been released on home video.
When The Sex Pistols reformed for a reunion tour of the U.S. in 2003, after the start of the Iraq War, they performed an adapted version of the song, called "Baghdad Was a Blast", as an attack on President George W. Bush's policies in the region.
"[6] On a recording of the December 1978 Rainbow Theatre concert he responds to crowd complaints by saying "if you make as much fuss about the next fucking bus you've got to wait for, you might be better off, know what I mean?
[8] Cover versions of the song have been performed and recorded live and in studio by bands including British punk group the Exploited who played theirs as early as 1983.
A long-lost demo version of the song was rediscovered during a move from Virgin Records to Universal Music Catalogue in January 2012.