Sid Vicious

Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Background information
Birth name John Simon Ritchie
Also known as Sid Vicious
John Simon Beverley[1]
Born 10 May 1957(1957-05-10)
London, England
Died df=yes|1979|2|2|1957|5|10}}
New York City, New York, heroine overdoseUnited States
Genre(s) Punk
Occupation(s) Bassist Songwriter Composer
Instrument(s) Bass guitar, Vocals, Drums, Tambourine
Years active 1976 - 1979
Label(s) Virgin
Associated acts Sex Pistols
Siouxsie and the Banshees
Notable instrument(s)
Fender Precision Bass (American Classic)

Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie; 10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979) was an English punk rock musician, who played bass guitar for the Sex Pistols (replacing Glen Matlock).

Contents

Early life

Sid Vicious was born in London to John and Anne Ritchie. Anne was a hippie, whereas his father was a guard at Buckingham Palace.[2] Shortly after his birth, John Ritchie left the family. John ("Sid") and his mother moved to the island of Ibiza. She married Christopher Beverley in 1965 before setting up a family home back in Kent.

His stepfather died six months later, and by 1968 Ritchie and his mother were living in a rented flat in Tunbridge Wells where he attended Sandown Court School. In 1971 the pair moved to Hackney in East London. He also spent some time living in Somerset where he was a pupil at Clevedon Secondary Modern.

According to the band's photographer, Dennis Morris, Ritchie was "deep down, a shy person."[3] However, he did assault NME journalist Nick Kent with a motorcycle chain with help from Jah Wobble.[4] On another occasion, at The Speakeasy (a London nightclub popular with rock stars of the day) he threatened BBC DJ and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris.

Ritchie was given the nickname "Sid Vicious" by John Lydon, after Lydon's pet hamster. The hamster had bitten Ritchie, who said that "[Rotten's] Sid is really vicious!" [5] The animal was described by Lydon as "the softest, furriest, weediest thing on earth."[6] At the time, Ritchie was squatting with Lydon, John Wardle and John Gray.

According to John Lydon, the two of them would often busk for money with Sid playing the tambourine. They would play Alice Cooper covers and people gave them money to be quiet.[7]

Music career

The Flowers of Romance, and The Banshees

Vicious began his musical career in 1976 as a member of The Flowers of Romance along with former co-founding member of The Clash, Keith Levene (who later co-founded John Lydon's post-Pistols project Public Image Limited) and Palmolive and Viv Albertine, who would later form The Slits. He appeared with Siouxsie & the Banshees, playing drums at their notorious first gig at the 100 Club Punk Festival in London's Oxford Street. According to the Documentary Final Damnation, Sid, along with Dave Vanian, was considered for the position of lead singer for the Damned, but failed to show up for the audition.

Sex Pistols

Before joining the band, Sid had associations with The Bromley Contingent, the fashion avant garde that followed the Sex Pistols. According to various publications (such as Lydon's autobiography, England's Dreaming by John Savage) and films (namely The Filth and the Fury) Ritchie was asked to join the group after Glen Matlock's departure in February 1977 due to his being present at every gig. Manager Malcolm McLaren once claimed "if Rotten is the voice of punk, then Vicious is the attitude." Alan Jones described Sid as "[having] the iconic punk look (...) Sid, on image alone, is what all punk rests on."[8] His nails would be painted in a sloppy manner with purple nail polish [9]. Ritchie played his first gig with the Pistols on 3 April 1977, at the Screen on the Green in London. His debut was filmed by Don Letts and appears in Punk Rock Movie.

In November 1977, Ritchie met American groupie Nancy Spungen, and they immediately began a relationship (Spungen had come to London looking for Jerry Nolan of The Heartbreakers). She was a heroin addict, and Ritchie, who already believed in his own "live fast, die young" image, soon shared the dependence. Although they were deeply in love, their often violent and rocky relationship had a disastrous effect on the Sex Pistols. Both the group and Ritchie visibly deteriorated during their 1978 American tour. The Pistols broke up in San Francisco after their concert at the Winterland Ballroom on 14 January 1978. With Spungen acting as his "manager," Ritchie embarked on a solo career during which he performed with musicians including Mick Jones of The Clash, original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, Rat Scabies of The Damned and the New York Dolls' Arthur Kane, Jerry Nolan, and Johnny Thunders. Ritchie performed the majority of his solo performances at Max's Kansas City and drew large crowds. His final performances as a solo musician took place at Max's.[10]

Musicianship

Sid was not recognized as a competent bass player. During an interview for Guitar Hero III, when Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones was asked why he instead of Vicious recorded the bass parts of Never Mind The Bollocks, Jones responded "Sid was in a hospital with hepatitis so he couldn't really play, not that he could play anyway."[11] At times during performances, other band members would unplug Sid's bass because his playing was so bad.[12] Sid asked Lemmy, the bassist of Motörhead, to teach him how to play bass with the words, "I can't play bass," to which Lemmy replied "I know." In another interview Lemmy stated "Yeah. It was all uphill. And he still couldn't play bass when he died."[12] Sid also received lessons from former bassist Glen Matlock.

In light of such comments and stories, it is rarely acknowledged that early on, Sid's playing did attain a basic competency. According to Paul Cook, in the few months between joining the band and meeting Nancy, he was a dedicated worker and tried his hardest to learn to play - indeed this period was Cook's favorite in the band [13]. Viv Albertine went further in defense of his ability, saying that one night she "went to bed, and Sid stayed up with a Ramones album and a bass guitar, and when I got up in the morning, he could play. He'd taken a load of speed and taught himself. He was so quick" [14]. Audio from his first show at the Screen on the Green (roughly two months after joining) demonstrates that he was able to hold a tune, and he is even heard to pull off a "run" during the outro to "God Save the Queen." Steve Jones, John Lydon and others maintain that his musical progression (along with much else) halted irrevocably when he met Nancy [15]; the audio from the final Winterland concert in San Francisco shows him no longer able to perform [16], his fingers rendered sluggish and clumsy through intoxication [17] and lack of interest.

Spungen's murder

Interview footage shows the couple attempting to answer questions from their bed; Spungen's speech is very slurred while Ritchie lapses in and out of consciousness. He came very close to death following a heroin overdose and was hospitalized for a time.

On the morning of 12 October 1978, he claimed to have awoken from a drugged stupor to find Spungen dead on the bathroom floor of their room (number 100) in the Hotel Chelsea in New York City. She had suffered a single stab wound to her abdomen and apparently bled to death. On 22 November 1978 he was arrested and charged with her murder. He claimed to have no memory of the event.

There are theories that Spungen was murdered by someone else, possibly by one of two drug dealers who visited the apartment that night, perhaps involving a robbery, as items (including a substantial bankroll) were claimed to be missing from the room. In his book, Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk, Phil Strongman names Spungen's alleged killer as actor and stand-up comic Rockets Redglare. Redglare had delivered 40 capsules of hydromorphone to the couple's room at the Chelsea Hotel the night Nancy was killed. However, those who knew Rockets and his boastful ruminations about having been Sid's "body guard" consider this to be a hypothesis with no evidentiary merit. It was also unusual that Neon Leon had Sid's leather jacket and two gold records in his room. He said he had been given them by Sid for safe keeping on the night of 11 October/12, 1978.

Bail of $50,000 was arranged by Sid's mother. In order to raise funds for his defense, it was planned for Vicious to record an album with fellow Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook. This was to be a collection of standards, which, according to McLaren would include "White Christmas" and "Mack the Knife."

On 22 October (10 days after Nancy's death) Sid attempted suicide by cutting his arm extensively and subsequently became a patient at Bellevue Hospital for some time. Some time after leaving hospital he was charged with assault for smashing a beer mug in the face of Patti Smith's brother, Todd Smith. He was arrested 9 December 1978 and sent to Riker's Island jail for 55 days. He was released on bail on 1-2 February 1979.

Reportedly, Sid wrote the following for Nancy while at Riker's:[18]

You were my little baby girl
And I shared all your fears
Such joy to hold you in my arms
And kiss away your tears
But now you're gone there's only pain
And nothing I can do
And I don't want to live this life
If I can't live for you
To my beautiful baby girl
Our love will never die.

Death

On 2 February 1979, a small gathering to celebrate his bail was held at the home of his new girlfriend, Michelle Robinson, with whom he'd started living the day he got out of Bellevue Hospital the previous October. Ritchie was clean, having been weaned off heroin during his time at Rikers Island jail. However, at the dinner gathering, he obtained some heroin and that night he overdosed. Robinson revived him.[19] Much later that night, the couple fell asleep together. Vicious was discovered dead the next morning. As New York Chief Coroner Michael Baden explained at the time, when a person has a heroin overdose, and then falls asleep, their heart slows with every REM phase. Sid Vicious died at around 10:00 a.m., after the repeated REM phases throughout the night. Forensic experts subsequently found the heroin was 80 percent pure, as opposed to the 5 percent that was normal for the time and in that area, and because he had not been using since October his tolerance was greatly lowered. On HBO's Autopsy: Post Mortem, Dr. Baden claims Vicious' lungs were filled with fluid and water, which is common for someone who has overdosed on heroin. Ultimately, Vicious drowned in his own fluids.

Alex Cox's 1986 movie Sid and Nancy portrays Vicious's career and love affair with Spungen. Gary Oldman plays Vicious. In his autobiography, Johnny Rotten says he despises the movie.

Discography

Singles

Albums

Various pressings and bootlegs

Sid Vicious & Friends

Sid Vicious/Eddie Cochran

Sid Vicious/Elvis Presley

Films that include Sid Vicious

  1. Sex Pistols Number One (1976, dir. Derek Jarman)
  2. Will Your Son Turn into Sid Vicious? (1978)
  3. Mr. Mike's Mondo Video (1979, dir. Michael O'Donoghue)
  4. The Punk Rock Movie (1979, dir. Don Letts)
  5. The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle (1980, dir. Julien Temple; Julien Temple's The Great Rock N' Roll Swindle features famous Sid Vicious footage, such as his videos for "My Way" and "Something Else," along with various live Sex Pistols footage. There is also a video for "C'mon Everybody," of which only snippets are shown in the film; VHS/DVD)
  6. DOA (1981, dir. Lech Kowalski)
  7. Buried Alive (1991, Sex Pistols)
  8. Decade (1991, Sex Pistols)
  9. Bollocks to Every (1995, Sex Pistols)
  10. Filth to Fury (1995, Sex Pistols)
  11. Classic Chaotic (1996, Sex Pistols)
  12. Kill the Hippies (1996, Sex Pistols, VHS)
  13. The Filth and The Fury (2000, dir. Julien Temple, VHS/NTSC/DVD)
  14. Live at the Longhorn (2001, Sex Pistols)
  15. Live at Winterland (2001, Sex Pistols, DVD)
  16. Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols (2002, Sex Pistols, VHS/DVD)
  17. Punk Rockers (2003, Sex Pistols, DVD)
  18. Blood on the Turntable: The Sex Pistols (2004, dir. Steve Crabtree)
  19. Music Box Biographical Collection (2005, Sex Pistols, DVD)
  20. Punk Icons (2006, Sex Pistols, DVD)
  21. Chaos! Ex Pistols Secret History: The Dave Goodman Story (2007, Sex Pistols, DVD)
  22. Pirates of Destiny (2007, dir. Tõnu Trubetsky, DVD)
  23. Rock Case Studies (2007, Sex Pistols, DVD)

A fictionalised film about the relationship between Vicious and Spungen, Sid and Nancy, was made by director Alex Cox in 1986, starring Gary Oldman as Vicious, although this film is often criticized for containing many historical inaccuracies.

Adrian Edmondson played Vicious in The Comic Strip Presents: Demonella. He is shown in Hell, accompanied by Oscar Wilde, Genghis Khan, Marie Antoinette, and Adolf Hitler.

Ben Garant portrayed Vicious in a skit on the MTV sketch comedy series The State.

The Foo Fighters music video for "Everlong" includes Dave Grohl impersonating Sid and Taylor Hawkins impersonating Nancy.

An episode of The Simpsons tells a fictionalized tale of Sid and Nancy as a Valentine's Day spoof, starring Nelson Muntz as Sid.

References

  1. ↑ "Works written by: BEVERLEY JOHN SIMON". ACE Title Search. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved on 2008-10-19.
  2. ↑ The Filth and The Fury, St. Martin's Press, 2000, pg. 13
  3. ↑ Sid Vicious Biography - hotshotdigital.com
  4. ↑ The Guardian
  5. ↑ The Filth and the Fury, St. Martin's Press, 2000, pg. 90
  6. ↑ Lydon, John, "Rotten," Plexus Publishing (1993), p. 57. ISBN 978-0859653411.
  7. ↑ The Filth and The Fury, St. Martin's Press, 2000, pg. 41
  8. ↑ Amazon.com: Punk: The Definitive Record of a Revolution: Stephen Colegrave, Chris Sullivan: Books
  9. ↑ The Filth and The Fury, St. Martin's Press, 2000, pg. 39
  10. ↑ "Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols Bring The Filth and the Fury". Max's Kansas City. Retrieved on 2008-09-17.
  11. ↑ Guitar Hero III: Sex Pistols Trailer
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "It's only Rock & Roll but he likes it!". Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
  13. ↑ The Filth and The Fury, Julien Temple, 2000; "The best time in the band of all, was when Sid first joined - he was really determined to learn the bass, and fit in and be part of the band"
  14. ↑ England's Dreaming, Jon Savage, Faber & Faber, 1991, P.194
  15. ↑ The Filth and The Fury, Julien Temple, 2000; "Everyone knows when a bird starts poking her nose into a rock 'n roll band, it is suicidal, 'cause that was when he started getting fucked up and not caring about playing"
  16. ↑ England's Dreaming, Jon Savage, Faber & Faber, 1991, p.458; "Vicious [was] not so much out of tune and rhythm as on a different planet: the reports of his flailed bass punctuate the songs like far-off explosions"
  17. ↑ The Filth and The Fury, Julien Temple, 2000; "And then we get to San Francisco, and Malcolm's in town, and Sid goes off with Malcolm - suddenly Sid comes back smacked up." - John Lydon
  18. ↑ Sid Vicious - Life History Part 7
  19. ↑ "BBC ON THIS DAY".

Further reading

External links

Sex Pistols
Paul Cook • Steve Jones • Glen Matlock • Johnny Rotten
Wally Nightingale • Sid Vicious
Studio album
Compilations
and soundtracks
Spunk • The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle • Some Product: Carri on Sex Pistols • Flogging a Dead Horse • Kiss This • Jubilee • Sex Pistols Box Set • We Have Cum For Your Children • Greatest • Never Trust A Hippy • Pirates Of Destiny • Back & There Again • Anarchy In The USA • Anarchy In The UK • Mini Album • There Is No Future • Pretty Vacant: The Best of '76 • Agents Of Anarchy • Indecent Exposure • Aural Sex • No Future UK? • Silver Jubilee • The Legends Collection: The Sex Pistols Collection • Archive • Early Daze
Live albums
Filthy Lucre Live • Raw • Anarchy in the UK: Live at the 76 Club • Live at Winterland 1978 • Live at Chelmsford Top Security Prison • Submission • Extended Versions • Alive • The Original Pistols Live • Better Live Than Dead • Pistol Whipped Live •
Singles
"Anarchy in the U.K." • "God Save the Queen" • "Pretty Vacant" • "Holidays in the Sun" • EMI • "No One Is Innocent" • "Revolution in the Classroom"
Post-split
singles
"Something Else" • "Silly Thing" • "C'mon Everybody" • "The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle" • "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" • "Pretty Vacant (live)" • "God Save the Queen (2002 remix)"
Film
The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle • The Filth and the Fury • Who Killed Bambi?
Related articles
Public Image Ltd.  • The Professionals • Vicious White Kids • Malcolm McLaren • The Rich Kids • Ex Pistols • "Filthy Lucre Tour" • D.O.A. • Edward Tudor-Pole