Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious | |
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![]() Vicious at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco on 14 January 1978, the final Sex Pistols concert | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Simon John Ritchie[1][2] |
Also known as |
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Born | Lewisham, London, England | 10 May 1957
Died | 2 February 1979 New York City, US | (aged 21)
Genres | Punk rock |
Occupation(s) |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1976–1979 |
Labels | |
Formerly of | |
Partner(s) | Nancy Spungen (1977-1978) |
Website | sexpistolsofficial |
Simon John Ritchie[a] (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the punk subculture; one of his friends noted that he embodied "everything in punk that was dark, decadent and nihilistic."[2]
Early life
[edit]Simon John Ritchie was born in Lewisham to John and Anne Ritchie (nee McDonald; later named Anne Beverley; 1936–1996).[4][1] Anne had dropped out of school and joined the British Army, where she met Ritchie's father, a guardsman at Buckingham Palace and a semi-professional trombone player on the London jazz scene. Shortly after Ritchie's birth, he and his mother moved to Ibiza, where they expected to be joined by his father, who did not appear and provided no financial support—Anne reportedly sold marijuana to get by.[5] With the help of the British Embassy in Spain, Anne returned to England and, in 1965, married Christopher Beverley, who died six months later of kidney failure. Anne and Ritchie settled in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, where they lived from 1965 to 1971, and where Ritchie attended Sandown Court School (now The Skinners' Kent Academy).[6][7][8] In 1971, the pair moved to Stoke Newington in Hackney, East London, where Ritchie attended Clissold Park School (now Stoke Newington School). At this time, Ritchie began using the name 'John Beverley'.[citation needed]
By 1973, Anne's life was consumed by her addiction to heroin, to the point where, as Ritchie's friend John Wardle claimed in a 2009 interview, Anne was unaware that her son was attending Westminster Kingsway College, then known as Kingsway College of Further Education. It served as a community and vocational school for students with difficulties. While at Kingsway, which he was likely attending to complete his O levels, Ritchie indicated to a counsellor that he was contemplating suicide. Wardle, who had accompanied Ritchie, at the time made light of the statement, feeling unequipped to deal it. When Ritchie turned 16 that year, Anne kicked him out of her home. In a 1988 interview, Anne recalled: "I remember saying to him: 'It's either you or me, and it's not going to be me. I have got to try to preserve myself and you just fuck off.' He said: 'I've not got anywhere to go,' and I said: 'I don't care.' "[2]
In 1973, Ritchie met fellow Kingsway student John Lydon, who introduced him to his friends John Grey and John Wardle. All four, who became known locally as 'The Four Johns', quit school and began squatting in various dingey locations. Three of the four Johns would then take nicknames: Lydon nicknamed Ritchie "Sid Vicious" after Ritchie was bitten by Lydon's hamster Sid (named after Syd Barrett);[9] Lydon was dubbed "Johnny Rotten" by his bandmate, guitarist Steve Jones; and Ritchie nicknamed Wardle "Jah Wobble".[2]
Wardle recalled that at the time Ritchie was 'goofy, funny, very style-conscious - a Bowie boy'[citation needed]
The four young men started hanging around the King's Road in Chelsea, London which was a centre for music and fashion.[10] A favourite spot was Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's clothing store, Sex. There, Vicious met American expatriate Chrissie Hynde, before she formed her group the Pretenders. According to her 2015 autobiography Reckless: My Life as a Pretender. Hynde convinced Vicious - by paying him £2 - to join her in a sham marriage to enable her to get a work permit and remain in the country, after John Lydon had already declined. The plan was thwarted by the register office being closed the day the 'happy couple' turned up. [11] [12] According to Lydon, he and Vicious took up busking, with Lydon singing and occasionally playing the violin and Vicious playing a tambourine or an acoustic guitar. They would play Alice Cooper covers, and people gave them money to stop.
In 1975, Lydon, Steve Jones, Glen Matlock and Paul Cook, with McLaren as their manager, formed the Sex Pistols, the band Vicious would eventually join. Vicious was photographed watching the band attack their audience at the Nashville Rooms in Kensington in 1976.[2]
The Flowers of Romance and Siouxsie and the Banshees (1976)
[edit]In 1976, Vicious co-founded, as vocalist and saxophone player,[13] the Flowers of Romance along with The Clash co-founder guitarist Keith Levene, Viv Albertine and Palmolive who would both go on to become the guitarist and the first drummer of The Slits respectively), and Kenny Morris (future drummer of Siouxsie and the Banshees) who would replace Palmolive later that year. During this time, he learned to play bass by listening to the first Ramones album Ramones, fixating on the up-tempo bump-and-grind pattern of the song "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement",[14] a pattern he would apply to most of his playing from then on.[2]
In June 1976, Vicious went to a Sex Pistols concert at the 100 Club. Nick Kent, who had played guitar with the Sex Pistols early on and had left music to become an NME music critic and champion of punk rock (and who was Hynde's boyfriend), was also there, and was apparently blocking Vicious's view. Vicious, high on speed, lashed Kent's head with a rusted motorcycle chain which, according to Hynde, he carried with him.[15] The incident was reported in the papers but no charges were laid.[16][17]
Although the songs they wrote would later be performed by other bands, The Flowers of Romance did not perform live, or record any music. But Vicious came to the attention of members of The Damned. He was considered, along with Dave Vanian, for the position of lead singer, but Vicious failed to show up for the audition.[18]
On 20 September 1976, Vicious appeared with Siouxsie and the Banshees, playing drums only at their first gig at the 100 Club Punk Special in London's Oxford Street,[19] a two-day festival co-founded by McLaren. The following day, Vicious went to The Damned's performance. Drunk and high on amphetamines, he hurled his glass at the stage, attempting to strike Vanian. He missed, the glass shattered against a pillar and blinded a woman in one eye.[20] Vicious was arrested and imprisoned at Ashford Remand Centre. Westwood and Albertine visited Vicious in prison, with Albertine bringing the book Helter Skelter as a gift.[19][21]
Sex Pistols (1977–1978)
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/47/SexPistolsNorway1977.jpg/220px-SexPistolsNorway1977.jpg)
In February 1977, Sex Pistols' manager McLaren announced that Glen Matlock had been "thrown out of the band" because "he liked the Beatles", and that he had been replaced by Vicious. In his autobiography I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol,[22] Matlock says he quit because he was "sick of all the bullshit".[23] In the 2000 documentary The Filth and the Fury, the band members agreed that there was tension between Matlock and Rotten, but Matlock says that those tensions were aggravated by McLaren, who wanted to generate chaos in the band as a creative mechanism, and as a way of building the band's image. He wanted Matlock to leave, and to replace him with Vicious, saying "if Johnny Rotten is the voice of punk, then Vicious is the attitude".[24]
Vicious had become the Sex Pistols' uber-fan, never missing a concert. He was encouraged to be drunk and disorderly, with Wobble saying, "Sid was offered up as a sacrificial lamb by the people around the Pistols. None of them would have gone over the top. He was their kamikaze pilot, and they were all too happy to strap him in and send him off."[2]
In March 1977, the Sex Pistols were signed to A&M Records. In celebration, they trashed the company's offices, and then held a private party at the Speakeasy, a club and restaurant frequented by established members of the London music scene. The Sex Pistols members confronted the BBC DJ Bob Harris, who was the presenter of the Old Grey Whistle Test, a television show which featured non-chart music. Blocking Harris behind the bar, broken bottles in hand, they demanded to know when they would be on the show. A bar fight ensued. Vicious jammed a broken bottle into the face of BBC recording engineer George Nicholson. Harris was rescued by the Procol Harum road crew, who grouped around him and escorted him out of the club, where they found that police had had to cordon off the entire block. None of the Sex Pistols were arrested but, the next day, A&M dropped them and Capital Radio banned all Sex Pistols music from its stations.[25]
Vicious played his first gig with the Sex Pistols on 3 April 1977, at The Screen on the Green;[26] his debut was filmed by Don Letts and appears in Punk Rock Movie. But he could not play well and had no bass experience, so guitarist Steve Jones played bass on the band's debut album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols.[27] Vicious was allowed to play bass on one track, "Bodies", but his contribution was later overdubbed by Jones. He also missed most of the band's rehearsals and recording sessions because he was in hospital with hepatitis, likely caused by intravenous drug use.[28] By this time, Vicious was using heroin, with many believing that his mother was his supplier.[29] Dee Dee Ramone had seen him shooting drugs on more than one occasion, and Rotten's friend John Gray had found Vicious shooting speed while he was still living with his mother; Vicious told him that the drugs were "me mum's".[5]
Also in 1977, Vicious met Nancy Spungen, an American groupie living in London, with a life-long history of unstable mental behavior and was also a heroin addict.[30] Spungen, who had initially set her sights on Rotten and who supported herself by alternately dealing drugs[31] and working as a topless dancer,[32] made herself useful on the King's Road scene by procuring drugs for musicians. She and Vicious became inseparable, which caused problems with the band, whose members did not like her; McLaren admitted to planning to have her abducted and forced onto a plane back to the United States.[33][34][35] Vicious and Spungen had a volatile relationship; Vicious played nursemaid when she was sick and was shy and polite with her mother, who reported watching Spungen cut his meat for him. On the other hand, Spungen was known to be verbally abusive and physically aggressive. Vicious may have facilitated Spungen's occasional prostitution (and watched). According to Rotten's wife Nora Forster, Vicious often hit Spungen and, in her last conversation with her mother, Spungen admitted that beatings which she had previously said were at the hands of strangers actually came from Vicious.[5] They shared an infatuation with knives.[32]
Beginning in July, with Spungen in tow, the band went on a Scandinavian tour, then toured the Netherlands and the UK.[26] On 28 October 1977, their only album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols was released and, due in part to notoriety (particularly of the song "God Save the Queen"), and in spite of sales bans at major retailers, the album debuted at number one on the UK Album Charts and went gold on 17 November. It remained a best-seller for nearly a year, spending 48 weeks in the top 75. It is frequently listed as the most influential punk album of all time.[36]
On 24 December 1977, the Sex Pistols played The Royal Links Pavilion, Cromer; the next day, the band played two shows at Ivanhoe's in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. It was during the national Fire Brigades Strike and the band performed a matinee for the children of firefighters.[37] In the 2013 documentary Never Mind the Baubles: Xmas '77 with the Sex Pistols, Lydon claimed that Vicious had to be warned not to be the "hardcore, tough rocker bloke" in front of the children. The track of Vicious singing the Johnny Thunders song "Born to Lose"[38] which appears on Sid Sings, was recorded during this performance, as Vicious stepped in when Lydon left the stage to pose as Father Christmas. These were the Sex Pistols' last performances in Britain, until the original members reunited for the Filthy Lucre Tour in 1996.[26]
In January 1978, the Sex Pistols embarked on a two-week USA tour. There was rising tension within the band. Rotten was barely speaking to anyone. Warner Bros., which organized and staffed the tour, insisted that Vicious clean up his heroin habit so he was using methadone. He was in a constant state of semi-withdrawal and furious that the band had blocked Spungen from accompanying them on the tour. McLaren had long been keeping Vicious on rations of $14.00 (US) a week but he still managed to find drugs.[39] To make matters worse, McLaren, ever eager for more chaos and careful that journalists were on-scene, booked the band, not into the clubs of New York, but into bars in Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas.[40] In San Antonio on 8 January, Vicious felt antagonized by an audience member and struck him on the head with his bass.[2] Before the Sex Pistols took the stage of the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas on 10 January, Vicious carved the words "gimme a fix" into his chest with a razor (later joking that "if you try to kill yourself [with a razor to the chest], it won't work"). He greeted the audience by calling them "cowboy faggots"; in return, he was struck by a full can of beer to the head.[41] The next night, 11 January, he punched a hole in the Green Room wall after the band's show at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa.[42][43] It was long rumoured that at their 14 January show at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, Vicious did not bother to plug in his bass at all, although video from the show makes it clear when Jones's guitar cuts out during "Bodies" that Vicious was both playing bass and the right notes.[44] There is also a pre-show soundcheck audio recording where Rotten says to turn Vicious down because his bass was too loud.[45] At the end of the show, Johnny Rotten uttered the famous quote "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?", marking the end of the Sex Pistols.[40]
Post Sex Pistols
[edit]On 19 January, Vicious boarded a flight from San Francisco to New York. By the time the plane landed at JFK Airport, he had slipped into a diazepam-, methadone- and alcohol-induced coma and was rushed to a hospital in Queens where, as he told the photographer Roberta Bayley, the doctor told him that if he did not quit drinking, he would be dead in six months.[2]
When he was released, he re-united with Spungen. In April, the two travelled to Paris to film the Sex Pistols mockumentary The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, where they spent most of their time in their hotel room, doing drugs. Director Julien Temple was able to get Vicious to attend production long enough to record three song covers: "C'mon Everybody", "Something Else" and "My Way".[46] When Vicious returned to his hotel, he found that Spungen had retaliated for being left alone by (superficially) cutting her wrists.[35]
The couple then travelled to London where, by August, they needed to return to the US but had no money. He bumped into Glen Matlock, who by this point had founded the band Rich Kids, and suggested that they play a gig together. For this concert, Vicious and Matlock recruited Rich Kids guitarist and singer Steve New, and the Damned's drummer Rat Scabies. They called themselves Vicious White Kids and performed once—at the Electric Ballroom in Camden Town on 15 August 1978. Vicious did not play bass in this band; he was the lead singer. Spungen joined on backing vocals but Matlock made sure that her microphone was not plugged in for the concert.
Vicious and Spungen then returned to New York, where they settled into Room 100 of the Hotel Chelsea (after causing a fire in their first room) as Mr. and Mrs. John Ritchie.[47] Spungen acted as his manager, putting together the band of Steve Dior, Jerry Nolan and Arthur Kane and booking him into the New York club Max's Kansas City. Spungen sang with him,[48] and they were sometimes joined by Mick Jones and Johnny Thunders. He drew large crowds, though some performances were "hellish", with the audience booing his attempted imitation of Rotten, and Vicious insulting the audience. Examples of this can be heard in the in-between tracks on his live album Sid Sings;[49] these performances were also released in 2002 (and again in 2011), as Live at Max's Kansas City, NY 1978.[50] In the documentary Who Killed Nancy?, Dior said that Vicious "got good money for those shows" but Spungen often had to call her parents for money. In one of these conversations, Spungen said that she was having problems with her kidneys, and asked her mother to look into getting her, and Vicious, into a detox program.[5][51]
Death of Nancy Spungen
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/21/ViciousMugshot.jpg/220px-ViciousMugshot.jpg)
On the night of 11 October 1978, Vicious and Spungen hosted a party in their hotel room, during which Vicious took approximately 30 Tuinal tablets, and while numerous people came and went, was comatose for the rest of the night. At about 11 a.m. the next day, hotel staff found Spungen dead on the bathroom floor, with a knife wound to her abdomen. Vicious was found wandering the hallway. He first claimed to have killed her, then said he remembered nothing. Two people who had been at the party stated that Spungen was alive at 5 a.m. The murder weapon was identified as a Jaguar K-11 hunting knife, which Spungen had purchased for Vicious a few days earlier.[5][52] Vicious was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.[53] He told police that he and Spungen had argued that night but gave conflicting versions of what happened next, saying, "I stabbed her, but I never meant to kill her" then saying that he did not remember anything, then that Spungen had fallen onto the knife.[54] The arresting officer, Sgt. Thomas Kilroy of the Third Homicide Unit, said: "... Vicious admitted killing Miss Spungen during a dispute."[5]
Lawyer Michael Berger first dealt with the matter, but McLaren and Anne Beverley were lawyer-shopping. They interviewed several high-profile lawyers, including Melvin Belli, Gerald B. Lefcourt and William Kunstler before settling on F. Lee Bailey. Bailey never appeared in court, but another lawyer from his firm, Jim Merberg, arranged for Vicious to be released on $50,000 bail, with the conditions that he not leave New York and that he sign in daily at the Third Homicide Unit offices, and at the Lafayette Street Methadone Center. All legal costs were paid by The Sex Pistols' label, Virgin Records.[55] Vicious returned to the Chelsea Hotel, where he was joined by McLaren and his mother.
McLaren firmly believed that Vicious was innocent. Noting that the knife was left in plain view and that the couple kept their cash in a drawer, he believed that Spungen caught one of the party guests stealing money and was stabbed by that person.[33][34] Given the number of people who had been through the hotel room on the night of the murder, Bailey had his investigator look into the possibility that a third party was involved in Spungen's death.[32]
Bailey also hired forensic psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Teich to evaluate Vicious. After their initial conversation, during which Vicious was preoccupied by the 'working class in Berlin' and remained fixated on the television, Teich told Anne Beverley that Vicious must not be left alone. Hours later, Beverley called Teich and said that Vicious had slashed his arms with a smashed light bulb. Teich returned to the hotel and called an ambulance. EMS staff arrived with the police; when Vicious saw them, he headed for the window but was blocked by Teich. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital and then moved to the New York-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center in White Plains, New York.[56] He was released on 26 November and returned to the Chelsea. At this time, Rotten tried to contact Vicious, but his calls were barred by Beverley and McLaren.[5] On 28 November, Vicious was interviewed by the Irish journalist Bernard Clarke. He said that Spungen's death was "meant to happen" and that "Nancy always said she'd die before she was 21". He said that he just wanted to have fun. When asked where he would like to be, he replied, "Under the ground".[57]
In the meantime, McLaren announced that the Sex Pistols would reunite to record a Christmas album to benefit Vicious's defence, and sold T-shirts with the slogan, "She's Dead, I'm Alive, I'm Yours."[5][58]
Theories about the killer
[edit]In his 2007 book Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk, director Phil Strongman stated his conviction that it was actor Rockets Redglare who killed Nancy Spungen, noting that Redglare not only knew about the large amounts of cash kept in the bedside table drawer, but also brought the Tuinol to the party.[30] Redglare, who died in 2001, had publicly denied this but privately confessed it to friends.[30] However, Howie Pyro insisted that it was Redglare's habit to tell stories to gain attention.[59] Strongman also implicated Redglare's friend, punk rocker Neon Leon, who lived down the hall from Vicious and Spungen and was found to be in possession of many of Vicious's belongings, including his leather jacket. Leon claimed that Vicious had given the items to him for safe-keeping. He later surrendered them to police. Lester Bangs also told The Village Voice that he telephoned Leon after Spungen's death and that Leon had told him he knew who the murderer was, but refused to name the person.[47] Leon has since claimed, in two memoirs,[citation needed] that he had already left the Chelsea Hotel when Bangs claimed to have called him there.
Assault on Todd Smith
[edit]By December, Vicious had started dating again and was casually involved with rocker Judy Nylon, and fellow drug addicts Connie Gripp (ex-girlfriend of Dee Dee Ramone), and Michelle Robinson (an aspiring actress). On 5 December 1978, Vicious went to the Hurrah night club with Boothe, photographers David Still and Peter Kodick Gravelle, and the comedian and drug-dealer Rockets Redglare who had appointed himself Vicious's bodyguard. Playing that night was Skafish; their drum roadie, Tarrah, was the girlfriend of Todd Smith (Patti Smith's brother). Vicious began flirting with Tarrah. She rebuffed him and he pinched her. Smith told him to back off and Vicious smashed a beer bottle and jammed it into Smith's face. Smith required five stitches. Redglare told police that Smith provoked Vicious, that the bottle broke in Vicious's hand and, producing the glass shards, said that Smith's wound was the accidental result of flying glass. On 7 December, Vicious was arrested and charged with assault.[60] The judge agreed that Vicious had broken the terms of his previous bail and sent him to Rikers Island, where he underwent opiate detoxification. While he was in Rikers, Anne Beverley brought Robinson to visit her son.[61]
On 18 January, Vicious appeared in court, represented by Jim Merberg. The judge, James Leff, unexpectedly released Vicious on $10,000 bail and reduced his previous bail conditions: requiring him to report to the Homicide Unit only three days a week and with requirement to attend the methadone centre. Leff applied one condition: Vicious was not to visit night clubs.[61]
While it was widely reported, including by Rotten, that Mick Jagger paid Vicious's bail it was Virgin Records who paid his legal fees. Anne Beverley, who was in court with Robinson, was happy with the outcome, telling reporters "Now the public will know he is a good boy".[61]
Death and aftermath
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/eb/ViciousDeathCertificate.gif/220px-ViciousDeathCertificate.gif)
On the morning of 1 February 1979, after completing his detoxification program, Vicious was released from Rikers Island. He arrived in Manhattan, and by chance, met his friend Peter Kodik. Vicious asked Kodick to find him some heroin. Kodik brought $200 worth of the drug to the apartment of Michelle Robinson at 63 Bank Street, where he joined Vicious, Robinson, Beverley, Jerry Only of the band Misfits,[62][63] Eileen Polk, Jerry Nolan of The Heartbreakers, Esther Herskovits, and Howie Pyro.[64][65][66] Gravelle said that they sat around doing drugs, and he left at 3:00 a.m.[67] Only said that he and Anne Beverley made dinner, and that he, Polk, and Pyro left early, when the heroin use began. He noted that Vicious was already nodding off,[63] and around 11 p.m., he "picked him up and slapped him around" before Beverley put a blanket over him and told Only "that he'd be okay. I was like, he's just been in prison for two months so he had to be clean so you know you can't be messing with him."[62] However, Gravelle said that Robinson gave Vicious four quaaludes (a barbiturate known in the UK as Tuinal and a favourite of Sid's) to help him sleep.[68] Vicious died in the night of a drug overdose. Robinson and Beverley discovered his body the next morning, Friday, 2 February 1979.[69][70]
Anne Beverley later claimed that Vicious and Spungen had made a suicide pact and that Vicious's death was not accidental. She produced a handwritten note, which she said she found in the pocket of Vicious's leather jacket,[71] reading "We had a death pact, and I have to keep my half of the bargain. Please bury me next to my baby. Bury me in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots. Goodbye."[72][73] According to Deborah Spungen, Vicious wrote a letter to her when he was last hospitalized, saying approximately the same thing. "We always knew that we would go to the same place when we died", he wrote. "We so much wanted to die together in each other's arms. I cry every time I think about that. I promised my baby that I would kill myself if anything ever happened to her, and she promised me the same. This is my final commitment to my love."[5] Spungen was Jewish, and is buried in a Jewish cemetery in Pennsylvania. Vicious's body was cremated at Garden State Crematory in New Jersey.[74] According to Polk, Beverley asked Deborah Spungen if she could scatter Vicious's ashes over Nancy's grave. Deborah said no. Regardless, Polk said that Jerry Only drove Anne Beverley, Beverley's sister Renee, and Howie Pyro to a border fence near Spungen's gravesite - the closest they could get - where Beverley scattered Vicious's ashes.[74] Only said that although he understood the wishes of Spungen's parents, he recognised that "the love affair between Sid and Nancy [was] going to live long beyond both of their parents" and figured the ashes scattering was "kind of a Romeo and Juliet story".[62] Only has stated that he believes Vicious had not committed suicide but instead accidentally overdosed as a result of his tolerance to heroin being lower due to his rehabilitation.[63]
By the time of Vicious's death, he and Spungen were internationally notorious. His death made the front pages of most New York newspapers for days, and Robison's apartment building was thronged by reporters.[75] Robison would soon change her name. The first of many posthumous albums appeared in 1980; Sid Vicious, released by EMI sub-label Innocent Records, has as its jacket image the photo of Vicious's body being removed from 63 Bank St.[76]
Legacy
[edit]Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said of Vicious: "[He] was everything that's cool about punk rock: a skinny rocker who had a ton of attitude, sort of an Elvis, James Dean kind of guy".[77] Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees remembered Vicious in positive terms: "Before he got deeply into drugs, he was one of the funniest guys. He had a brilliant sense of humour, goofy, sweet, and very cute."[5] In 2009, Lydon told The Independent: "I'm sorry, God, for the day I brought Sid into the band. He felt so isolated, poor old Sid, because he wasn't the sharpest knife on the block. The best aspect of his character, which was his humour, just vanished the day he joined the Pistols."[78]
In 1996, Anne Beverley sold Vicious's bass guitar — a white Fender Precision Bass with a black pickguard and a leather strap with the name 'Sid' etched into it — to Steve Jones for £2,000.[28]
In 2006, the Sex Pistols were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The surviving members declined to attend the ceremony.[79][80]
On 20 January 2009, In Search of Sid, a 30-minute documentary about Vicious recorded by his close friend Jah Wobble was aired on the BBC Radio 4.[81]
In 2011, a suit of Vicious's sold at auction by Christie's for £11,000.[82]
Steve Jones states in his memoir, Lonely Boy, that Vicious's estate passed to maternal cousins.[28] As of 2022, Vicious-themed souvenirs are widely available for purchase. Many recordings with Vicious have been repeatedly released. His singles "My Way" and "It's Shit" were last released by the American label Cleopatra Records in 2021.[83] Also in 2021, Cleopatra's sub-label, Anarchy Records, released the album Love Kills.[84]
Music tributes
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Sid_vicious_madrid.jpg/220px-Sid_vicious_madrid.jpg)
Numerous bands have recorded songs about Vicious. In 1979, the band Helpless Huw released the four-track recording Sid Vicious Was Innocent.[85] In 1982, the Exploited included the song "Sid Vicious Was Innocent" on their album Troops of Tomorrow.[86] Former frontman for the Clash, Joe Strummer, recorded "Love Kills"[87] and "Dum Dum Club"[88] for the Sid and Nancy soundtrack. In 1986, the Ramones released "Love Kills" on their album Animal Boy, which was a tribute to both Vicious and Spungen.[89] In 1994, NOFX released "Punk Guy" on their album Punk in Drublic, which makes references to a number of famous punk rock musicians; the line "Exudes a vicious disposition" referencing Vicious. In 2017, Foster the People released "Loyal Like Sid & Nancy", which references Vicious and Spungen's relationship, as the second single from their album Sacred Hearts Club.[90][91] In 2015, Medusa released a music video to their song "Sid and Nancy" which portrays the two as children.[92] In 2017, Industrial Metal band Powerman 5000 released a single called "Sid Vicious in a Dress," which is about a female punk rocker who exhibits similar chaos and violent nature of the former Sex Pistols bassist.[93] In 2017, singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers recorded a track titled "Chelsea", included on her debut album Stranger in the Alps. The track was originally a poem about Vicious and Spungen's relationship in their final two months of life – Bridgers was so enthralled with the story, she turned it into a song.[citation needed] In his 2022 album Mainstream Sellout, artist Machine Gun Kelly released a track titled "Sid & Nancy", about a couple who was deeply in love but shared some dark ideas. The song ends with the sound of two consecutive gunshots.
Portrayals
[edit]The critically acclaimed 1986 film Sid and Nancy, directed by Alex Cox, portrays Vicious's life from his joining the Sex Pistols to the end of his life. It stars Gary Oldman as Vicious and Chloe Webb as Nancy Spungen. Oldman's performance was praised by Uncut as a "hugely sympathetic reading of the punk figurehead as a lost and bewildered manchild" though Oldman himself detested the film and punk music in general.[94]
In 1993, Ade Edmondson played Vicious in The Comic Strip Presents: Demonella.[citation needed] In the film, which was directed by Paul Bartel, Vicious resides in Hell with Oscar Wilde, Adolf Hitler, Genghis Khan and Marie Antoinette.
The Foo Fighters' 1997 video for "Everlong" is about Vicious and Spungen, with Vicious defending Spungen against party demons. Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins play Vicious and Spungen, respectively.[95]
Love, Springfieldian Style, the Valentine's Day episode of The Simpsons 2008 season, spoofs Vicious and Spungen's relationship.[96]
In September 2009, the Roy Smiles play Kurt and Sid debuted at the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End. The play, set in Kurt Cobain's greenhouse on the day of his suicide, revolves around the ghost of Vicious visiting Cobain to try and convince him not to kill himself. Vicious was played by Danny Dyer.[97]
In January 2021, FX announced that a series about the Sex Pistols, called Pistol, had gone into production, with Vicious to be portrayed by Louis Partridge. It is based on Steve Jones's memoir Lonely Boy and is directed by Danny Boyle. Lydon called the series "The most disrespectful shit I've ever had to endure"[98] and unsuccessfully sued to block the use of the Sex Pistols' music in the series.[99]
Discography
[edit]Solo
- Sid Sings (1979) Virgin, Silver BPI[49]
- Sid Vicious, 1980, Innocent Records
- Love Kills N.Y.C. (1985), Konexion[100]
- The Vicious White Kids (1986), DeLorean Records[101]
- Live at the Electric Ballroom London (1986), Konexion, MBC Records (re-released 2011)[102]
- The Real Sid and Nancy (1986), MBC Records[103]
- Battle of the Rockers, Sid Vicious V Eddie Cochran (1986), MBC Records[104]
- The Idols with Sid Vicious (1993), New Rose Records, Fan Club Records[105]
- The Best of Sid Vicious (1996), Overseas Records[106]
- Never Mind The Reunion Here's Sid Vicious (1997), Cleopatra Records[107]
- Sid Dead Live (1997), Anagram[108]
- Sid Vicious & Friends (1998, includes Sex Pistols tracks), Dressed to Kill[109]
- Better (To Provoke A Reaction Than To React To Provocation) (2001), Yeaah! Records, Anagram[110]
- Live at Max's Kansas City, NY 1978 (2002), Prism Leisure Corporation (re-released 2011)[111]
- Too Fast to Live (2004), Virgin, EMI[112]
- Search & Destroy (2004), Anarchy Music[113]
- Sid Lives (2007), Jungle Records[114]
- F#@k Off You C#%t (2008), Anarchy Music[115]
- Sid! By Those Who Really Knew Him (2009), ITN Source, Jungle Records[116]
- Very Vicious (2011), One Media Publishing[117]
- The Chaos and Disorder Tapes (2011), Landmark[118]
- The Sid Vicious Experience: Jack Boots & Dirty Looks (2014), Cleopatra[119]
- I'm A Mess (2015), Vinyl Lovers, DOL[120]
- Love Kills (2021), Anarchy Music
With the Sex Pistols
- Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (1977), Virgin (Platinum, No. 1)
- The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1979), Virgin
- Some Product: Carri on Sex Pistols (1979), Virgin
- Flogging a Dead Horse (1980), Virgin
- Pirates of Destiny (1989), Ball X[121]
- Kiss This (1992), Virgin
- Anarchy in the U.S.A. (1992), MBC Records[122]
- Sid Vicious & Friends (1998), Dressed to Kill[109]
- Sex Pistols – Live! (2002), Eurotrend[123]
- The Filth and the Fury (2002), Virgin
- Jubilee (2002), Virgin
- Sex Pistols (2002), Virgin
- Punk Rockers (2003)[124]
Film, video, television, documentaries
[edit]- Acceleration Punk (1977)[125]
- Sex Pistols Number 1 (1977, directed by Derek Jarman)[126][127]
- Sex Pistols: Live in Stockholm 1977 (1977)[128][129]
- Sex Pistols: Holidays in the Sun (1977)[130][131]
- Sex Pistols: God Save the Queen (1977)[132][133]
- Sex Pistols: Buried Alive (1978)[134][135]
- Kill the Hippies (1978)[136]
- My Way (1978)[137]
- The Punk Rock Movie from England (1978, directed by Don Letts. Original title: The Punk Rock Movie.)[138]
- Sid Vicious: Something Else (1978, directed by Julien Temple)[139]
- Sid Vicious & Nancy Spungen (1979)[140]
- Top of the Pops (1979, Series episode 16.27)[141]
- Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979, directed by Michael O'Donoghue)
- The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980, directed by Julien Temple)
- British Rock: Punk and Its Aftershocks (1980)[142]
- D.O.A.: A Rite of Passage (1981, directed by Lech Kowalski)
- Decade...A Look Back (1989)[143]
- Rock & Roll (1995, Series episodes "Renegades" and "In the Groove")[144][145]
- Classic Chaotic (1996)[146]
- Degeneration Punk (1997)[147]
- Live at the Longhorn (1999)[148]
- Room 101 (1999, Series episode 4.1)[149]
- The Filth and the Fury (2000, directed by Julien Temple)
- Live at Winterland (2001)[150]
- 24 Hour Party People (2002, directed by Michael Winterbottom)
- Rage: 20 Years of Punk Rock West Coast Style (2001)[151]
- 25 Years of Punk (2001)[152]
- Sendung ohne Namen (2002, Series episode "Das Gute und das Böse!")[153]
- Hey! Is Dee Dee Home? (2002, directed by Lech Kowalski)[154]
- Classic Albums (2003, Series episode "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols")[155]
- Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2003, directed by George Hickenlooper)[156]
- Blood on the Turntable (2004, Series episode "The Sex Pistols")[157]
- John Lydon: The Best of British £1 Notes (2005)[158]
- Music Box Biographical Collection: The Sex Pistols (2005)[159]
- Joy Division: Under Review (2006)[160]
- Final 24 (2006, Series episode "Sid Vicious")[161]
- The Sex Pistols with Glen Matlock: Punk Icons (2006)[162]
- The Sex Pistols: In Their Own Words (2007)[163]
- NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell (2007, directed by Henry Corra)[164]
- Por Toda Minha Vida (2007, Series episode "Renato Russo")[165]
- Chaos! Ex Pistols Secret History: The Dave Goodman Story (2007)[166]
- Rock Case Studies: Sex Pistols (2007)[167]
- Chelsea on the Rocks (2008, directed by Abel Ferrara)[168]
- There'll Always Be an England (2008, directed by Julien Temple)[169]
- Derek (2008, directed by Isaac Julien)[170]
- British Style Genius (2008, Series episode "Breaking the Rules: The Fashion Rebel Look")[171]
- Who Killed Nancy? (2009, directed by Alan Parker)
- Sid! By Those That Really Knew Him (2009, directed by Mark Sloper)[172]
- Cuéntame (2010, Series Episode "Las dos comuniones de María Alcántara")[173]
- Whatever Happened to Pink Floyd? The Strange Case of Waters and Gilmour (2011)[174]
- Punk Britannia (2012, Series episode "Post-Punk 1978-1981")[175]
- Top of the Pops: The Story of 1977 (2012)[176]
- How the Brits Rocked America (2012, Series episode "We're the Kids in America")[177]
- Up Yours Ft. Feral Is Kinky: London (2013)[178]
- Basically, Johnny Moped (2013)[179]
- Christmas with the Sex Pistols (2013, directed by Julien Temple. Original title Never Mind the Baubles: Xmas '77 with the Sex Pistols)[180]
- Super Duper Alice Cooper (2014)[181]
- Sad Vacation: The Last Days of Sid and Nancy (2016, directed by Daniel Garcia)[182]
- Two Sevens Clash: Dread Meets Punk Rockers (2017, directed by Don Letts and Pablo D'Ambrosi)[183]
- The Public Image is Rotten (2017)[184]
- Here to Be Heard: The Story of The Slits (2017)[185]
- Bad Reputation (2018)[186]
- The Go-Go's (2020)[187]
- Blitzed! (2020)[188]
- Rudi Backstage (2021, Series episode "Die größten Skandale der Popmusik II")[189]
Additional Soundtrack Credits
- Top of the Pops (1977, Series Episode 14.43)[190]
- South of Watford (1983, Series Episode "Positive Punk")[191]
- Fame (1987, Series Episode "Ian's Girl")[192]
- Goodfellas (1990, directed by Martin Scorsese)[193]
- Rodrigo D: No Future (1990, directed by Víctor Gaviria)[194]
- The Astronaut's Wife (1999, directed by Rand Ravich)[195]
- Performance and Cocktails: Live at Morfa Stadium (1999, Stereophonics)[196]
- On the Road (2003)[197]
- Punisher '79-'82) (2010)[198]
- Juan of the Dead (2011, directed by Alejandro Brugués)[199]
- Californication (2014, Series Episode "Smile", directed by John Dahl)[200]
- Gotham (2016, Series Episode "Wrath of the Villains: Pinewood")[201]
- Dare to Be Different(2017)[202]
- Natsuki: The Movie (2018, directed by Chris Broad)[203]
- Hits, Hype & Hustle: An Insider's Guide to the Music Business (2018, Series Episode "Revivals and Reunions")[204]
- Professor Rex Sings Every Song Ever! (2020, Series Episode 5: "Sex Pistols")[205]
Radio and interviews
- Cult Heroes, Sid Vicious/Elvis Presley, was released in 1993 by BBC Transcription Services. It is an in-depth profile of Vicious intercut with interviews and music, presented by Magenta Devine.[206]
- Sid Vicious – Probably His Last Ever Interview (2000), Ozit-Morpheus Records
- In Search of Sid, a 30-minute radio documentary about Sid Vicious recorded by Jah Wobble, was aired on the BBC Radio 4 on 20 January 2009.[207]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Lydon, John (27 November 2023). Anger Is An Energy: My Life Uncensored. Simon & Schuster. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-4711-3719-8.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Savage, Jon (18 January 2009). "Sid Vicious: Little boy lost (Jan 2009 )". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ Sommerlad, Joe. "Sid Vicious is still punk’s biggest mystery, 40 years after his death". The Independent, 2 February 2019. Retrieved 7 August 2023
- ^ Parker, Alan. Sid Vicious: No One Is Innocent. Orion Books. p. 11.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Robinson, Charlotte (15 June 2006). "So Tough...June 2006". Pop Matters. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Tunbridge Wells turns down red plaque..." Louder Than War. 3 July 2017. Retrieved 16 July 2023.
- ^ Butt, Malcolm (27 November 1997). Sid Vicious: Rock 'n' Roll Star. Plexus, London. p. 10. ISBN 0-85965-234-3.
- ^ Parker, Alan; Bateson, Keith. Sid's Way: The Life And Death of Sid Vicious (1998 ed.). Omnibus Press. p. 13 0.7119-2483-X.
- ^ "John Lydon 'I Really Love Pink Floyd'". 27 August 2013. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2017 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Whatever happened to the King's Road?". allinlondon.co.uk. All in London. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/why-chrissie-hynde-nearly-married-sex-pistols/ [bare URL]
- ^ "'Chrissie Hynde's Vicious Love'". MTV. 14 July 2014. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
- ^ "The Flowers of Romance". punk77.co.uk. Punk77. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Ramones – "I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement"". Retrieved 2 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ Robinson, Charlotte (15 June 2006). "So Tough...June 2006". PopMatters. Pop Matters. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious...A Series of Events". jungle-records.net. Jungle Records. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ Wells, Steven (8 January 2008). "Musical hack attacks" (Music blog). The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Linazasoro, Nick. "It's back to 1977 with the original Damned". brightonandhovenews.org. Brighton and Hove News. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
- ^ a b Savage, Jon (17 January 2009). "Sid Vicious: Little boy lost". The Observer. London. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ https://punkgirldiaries.com/100-club-punk-festival-20th-september-1976/ [bare URL]
- ^ Clothes Clothes Clothes Music Music Music Boys Boys Boys by Viv Albertine, page 137
- ^ "Glen Matlock brings I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol show to 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe". Edinburgh Festival. 30 July 2014. Archived from the original (Event listing) on 20 July 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Matlock 2012, pp. 113–119, 162, 167–171.
- ^ The Newsroom (2 February 2016). "Punk icon Sid Vicious died on this day in 1979". Shields Gazette.
- ^ Bob Harris talks about being attacked by Sid Vicious (Book reading), 25 October 2008, archived from the original on 11 December 2021, retrieved 28 October 2017 – via YouTube
- ^ a b c "Gig Archive". sexpistolsofficial.com. Sex Pistols. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Quirk, Tim (17 September 2012). "Never Mind the Bollocks | Steve Jones | Talks at Google". Talks at Google. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
- ^ a b c Jones, Steve (2017). Lonely Boy. Da Capo Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-306-82481-4. OCLC 967589025.
- ^ Meisfjord, Tom (4 March 2020). "The Truth About Sid Vicious' Mother". Grunge Magazine. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ a b c Wakeman, Jessica (12 October 2017). "Nancy Spungen Found Dead at Chelsea Hotel". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Hynde, Chrissie (10 September 2015). "Chrissie Hynde: 'No one was particularly surprised'...Sept 2015". National Post. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ a b c Jaffee, Larry. "The trial of Sid Vicious". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ a b McLaren, Malcolm (4 February 2009). "Sid Didn't Kill Nancy". Daily Beast. New York: IAC. Archived from the original on 18 June 2017. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
Pistols boss also claims Vicious' mother smuggled him heroin!
- ^ a b "Malcolm McLaren: 'Sid didn't kill Nancy'". NME. 6 February 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ a b Ott, Tim (2 April 2020). "Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, Apr 2020". Biography.com. Biography. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ "Classic Albums: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols" (Retrospective/reminiscence). UK: Isis/Eagle Rock Entertainment. 19 November 2002. Retrieved 13 June 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ Ballinger, Lauren (25 December 2015). "The Sex Pistols in Huddersfield: Dec 2015". examinerlive.co.uk. West Yorkshire News. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
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- ^ Ebert, Roger. "Anarchy in the U.K...Feb 1986". rogerebert.com. Roger Ebert. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ a b Greene, Andy (20 November 2012). "The Sex Pistols Come to a Chaotic End, Nov 2012". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Lydon, p. 244
- ^ Smith, Michael (7 January 2018). "It was 40 years ago this week that Cain's ballroom hosted the Sex Pistols" (Mag). TulsaWorld. Oklahoma: BH Media Group, a Berkshire Hathaway Company. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
- ^ Galbraith, Richard (11 January 2020). "The Sex Pistols played Cain's Ballroom 42 years ago – see pictures of that Jan. 11, 1978 show". Tulsaworld.com. Oklahoma. Archived from the original (Photo essay) on 1 June 2022. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
It was 42 years ago that the Sex Pistols took the stage at Cain's Ballroom, the home of Bob Wills and Western-swing music. Check out these photos from that night of 11 Jan. 1978
- ^ Greene, Andy (20 November 2012). "Flashback: The Sex Pistols' Final Gig". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 18 January 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
- ^ "The Sex Pistols – No Fun – 1/14/1978 – Winterland". Retrieved 5 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sex Pistols – The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle". Discogs. 27 November 1992. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ a b Bangs, Lester (23 October 1978). "A Sid Vicious Story...Oct 1978". The Village Voice. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ Roberts, Ebet. "Mick Jones, Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious, Max's Kansas City, NYC, 1978". morrisonhotelgallery.com. Morrison Hotel. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ a b "Sid Vicious – Sid Sings". Discogs. 27 November 1979. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious – Live At Max's Kansas City, NY 1978". Discogs. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols Bring The Filth and the Fury". Max's Kansas City. Archived from the original on 16 July 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
- ^ Bardach, Ann (28 October 1978). "The Not So Lonesome Death of Nancy Spungen". SoHo Weekly News. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ Time Waster (20 June 2014). "Sid Vicious MUG SHOT". The Smoking Gun. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
- ^ Time Waster (12 June 2014). "Copy of Statement by Police". The Smoking Gun. Retrieved 25 July 2014. [dead link]
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- ^ White, Timothy. "Interview with Dr Steven Teich, 2014". altcitizen.com. Alt Citizen. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Video of Final Interview. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 4 March 2021 – via YouTube.
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- ^ "Sid and Nancy: a Punk Rock Murder Mystery". crimeandinvestigation.co.uk. Crime+Investigation. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ Savage, John (2005). England's Dreaming. London: Faber and Faber. p.116
- ^ a b c Barcach, Ann Louise. "Another Break for Sid Vicious, Jan 1979". bardachreports.com. Bardach Reports. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ a b c Doreian, Robyn (August 1999). "A Day in the Life of the Misfits". Metal Hammer. No. 65. UK: Future plc. pp. 66–67.
- ^ a b c Everley, Dave (15 May 2020). "Misfits' Jerry Only: I partied with Sid Vicious the night he died". Louder Sound. Metal Hammer. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ Schoemer, Karen (17 October 2008). "The Day Punk Died". New York. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
- ^ Medina, David; Lombardi, Frank (1 February 2015). "Punk rocker Sid Vicious dies of an overdose in 1979". Daily News. New York. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
- ^ Somaiya, Ravi (6 February 2009). "Peter Gravelle, Vicious Enabler – Peter Gravelle Comes Clean About Selling Sid Vicious His Final Dose of Heroin". New York. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ Somaiya, Ravi (6 February 2009). "Peter Gravelle, Vicious Enabler, Feb 2009". New York. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
- ^ Carey, Wayne (8 February 2019). "Interview with Peter Gravelle: Sex Pistols Photographer". Louder Than Bombs. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ Savage, Jon. England's Dreaming. pp. 527–529.
- ^ Strongman, Phil. Pretty Vacant. pp. 241–242.
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- ^ Ward, Laura (2004). Famous Last Words: The Ultimate Collection of Finales and Farewells. Robson Books, Ltd. p. 131. ISBN 1-86105-723-7.
- ^ a b McNeil, Legs; McCain, Gillian (2014). Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk. Grove/Atlantic, Inc. pp. 358–359. ISBN 978-0-8021-9276-9.
- ^ Florio, Donna (9 March 2021). "When I Lived Across the Hall From Sid Vicious, Mar 2021". lithub.com. Literary Hub. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious – Sid Vicious". Discogs. 27 November 1980. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
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- ^ Pingitore, Silvia (7 May 2020). "Interview with post-punk legend Jah Wobble about music, Sid Vicious, star signs, Brexit and everything else you can think of". the-shortlisted.co.uk. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
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- ^ a b "Sid Vicious – Sid Vicious And Friends". Discogs. 27 November 1998. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
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- ^ "Sid Vicious – Live At Max's Kansas City, NY 1978". Discogs. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious – Too Fast To Live". Discogs. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious – Search & Destroy". Discogs. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious – Sid Lives". Discogs. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
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- ^ "Acceleration Punk". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
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- ^ "Sex Pistols: Live in Stockholm 1977". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sex Pistols – Live In Stockholm, Sweden July 28th, 1977". Retrieved 5 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sex Pistols: Holidays in the Sun". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sex Pistols – Holidays in the Sun". Retrieved 5 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sex Pistols: God Save the Queen". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sex Pistols – God Save The Queen". Retrieved 5 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sex Pistols: Buried Alive". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sex Pistols – Buried Alive documentary". Retrieved 5 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sex Pistols – Kill The Hippies (Atlanta 1978)". Retrieved 4 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Sid Vicious: My Way". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "The Punk Rock Movie from England". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious: Something Else". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious & Nancy Spungen". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Top of the Pops Episode #16.27". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Punk and Its Aftershocks". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Sex Pistols – Decade...A Look Back". Discogs. 27 November 1989. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Renegades". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "In the Groove". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Sex Pistols Classic Chaotic". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Degeneration Punk". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Sex Pistols – Longhorn Texas – 1978". Retrieved 4 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Room 101, Episode #4.1". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "The Sex Pistols – Full Concert – 01/14/78 – Winterland". Retrieved 4 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Rage: 20 Years of Punk Rock West Coast Style". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "25 Years of Punk". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Das Gute und das Böse!". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Hey! Is Dee Dee Home?". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Mayor of the Sunset Strip". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "The Sex Pistols". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "John Lydon: The Best of British £1 Notes". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "SEX PISTOLS Music Box Biographical Collection". jcrmusicnews.com. JCR Music News. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Joy Division: Under Review". Discogs. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid Vicious". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Sex Pistols Punk Icons". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "The Sex Pistols: In their own words". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Renato Russo". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Dave Goodman – Chaos! Ex Pistols secret history – the dave goodman story". Discogs. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Rock Case Studies: Sex Pistols". Retrieved 4 February 2022 – via YouTube.
- ^ "Chelsea on the Rocks". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "There'll Always Be an England". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Derek". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Breaking the Rules: The Fashion Rebel Look". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Sid! By Those Who Really Knew Him". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Las dos comuniones de María Alcántara". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Whatever Happened to Pink Floyd? The Strange Case of Waters and Gilmour". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Post-Punk: 1978 – 1981". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Top of the Pops: The Story of 1977". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "We're the Kids in America". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Up Yours Ft. Feral Is Kinky: London". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Basically, Johnny Moped". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Christmas with the Sex Pistols". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Super Duper Alice Cooper". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Sad Vacation". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Two Sevens Clash: Dread Meets Punk Rockers". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "The Public Image is Rotten". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Here to Be Heard: The Story of the Slits". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Bad Reputation". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "The Go-Go's". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Blitzed!". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Die größten Skandale der Popmusik II". IMDb. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Top of the Pops Episode #14.43". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "South of Watford, Positive Punk". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Fame, Ian's Girl". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Goodfellas". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Rodrigo D: No futuro". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "The Astronaut's Wife". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Performance and Cocktails: Live at Morfa Stadium". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "On the Road". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Punisher '79-'82". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Juan of the Dead". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Californication: Smile". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Wrath of the Villains: Pinewood". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Dare to Be Different". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Natsuki: The Movie". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Revivals and Reunions". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "Professor Rex Sings Every Song Ever!". IMDb. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
- ^ "SID VICIOUS/ELVIS PRESLEY Cult Heroes". eil.com. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
- ^ "Interview with post-punk legend Jah Wobble about music, Sid Vicious, star signs, Brexit and everything else you can think of". The Shortlisted. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
Further reading
[edit]- Anne Beverley, The Sid Vicious Family album (1980, Virgin Books) ISBN 978-0-907080-02-2
- Gerald Cole, Sid and Nancy (1986, Methuen) ISBN 978-0-413-41210-2
- Alex Cox & Abbe Wool, Sid and Nancy (1986, Faber and Faber) ISBN 978-0-571-14545-4
- Keith Bateson and Alan Parker, Sid's Way (1991, Omnibus Press) ISBN 978-0-7119-2483-3
- Tom Stockdale, Sid Vicious. They Died Too Young (1995, Parragon) ISBN 978-0-7525-0689-0
- Deborah Spungen, And I Don't Want to Live This Life (1996, Ballantine Books) ISBN 978-0-449-91141-9
- Malcolm Butt, Sid Vicious. Rock'n'Roll Star (1997, Plexus) ISBN 978-0-85965-373-2
- David Dalton, El Sid (1998, St. Martin's Griffin) ISBN 978-0-312-15520-9
- Sid Vicious, Too Fast To Live...Too Young to Die (1999, Retro Publishing)
- Julien Temple, The Filth and The Fury (2000, St. Martin's Press) ISBN 978-0-312-26494-9
- Alan Parker, Vicious. Too Fast To Live... (2004, Creation Books) ISBN 978-1-84068-110-9
- Ed Hamilton, "Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws of New York's Rebel Mecca" (2007, DeCapo Press) ISBN 978-1-56858-379-2
- Alan Parker (foreword by Malcolm McLaren), No One Is Innocent (Orion Books 2008) ISBN 978-0-75289-366-2
- Jeremy Simmonds, The Encyclopedia of Dead Rock Stars: Heroin, Handguns and Ham Sandwiches (2008, Chicago Review Press) ISBN 978-1-55652-754-8
- Glen Matlock, I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol (2012, Rocket 88) ISBN 978-1-906615-36-9
- Teddie Dahlin, A Vicious Love Story: Remembering the Real Sid Vicious (2013, New Haven Publishing) ISBN 978-0-9575170-0-4
- John Lydon, Anger Is An Energy: My Life Uncensored (2014, Simon & Schuster) ISBN 978-1-4711-3719-8
External links
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- Sid Vicious at MySpace
- Vicious' confession to the NYPD and other documents
- Sid Vicious day-by-day timeline
- Birth and death of Sid Vicious Archived 6 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine
- Sid Vicious at IMDb
- Sid Vicious discography at Discogs
- Sid Vicious discography at Discogs as John Beverley
- Sid Vicious
- 1957 births
- 1979 deaths
- 20th-century English bass guitarists
- 20th-century squatters
- Criminals from London
- Deaths by heroin overdose in New York (state)
- Drug-related deaths in New York City
- English expatriates in Spain
- English expatriate musicians in the United States
- English people of Scottish descent
- English punk rock bass guitarists
- Sex Pistols members
- Siouxsie and the Banshees members
- Musicians from Royal Tunbridge Wells
- Virgin Records artists
- British male bass guitarists
- Musicians from the London Borough of Lewisham
- People from Lewisham
- English buskers
- People charged with murder
- People charged with assault