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Sid Vicious

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For the professional wrestler, see Sid Eudy.
Sid Vicious

Simon John Beverley, formerly Simon John Ritchie (May 10, 1957 – February 2, 1979), better known as Sid Vicious, was an English punk rock musician, a tragic icon of the punk rock movement, and the bass player of the Sex Pistols (replacing Glen Matlock). He was deeply involved in the birth of the British punk rock scene, along with close friend John Lydon (Johnny Rotten, Sex Pistols vocalist).

Biography

Early life

Sid Vicious was born in London to John and Anne Ritchie. Shortly after his birth, John Ritchie left the family, ;leaving them to fend for themselves. Sid and his mother moved to the island of Ibiza while his mother became a drug dealer to get money.[citation needed] Anne later married Christopher Beverly in 1965 before setting up a family home back in Kent, England.

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 Community School or Clevedon Secondary Modern as it was then known.

Sid Vicious

Sid took his name after John Lydon's hamster, described by Lydon as "the softest, furriest, weediest thing on earth" [1] . At the time, he was squatting with John Lydon, John Wardle (Jah Wobble) and John Gray (the four were sometimes referred to as The Four Johns).

The Bromley Contingent, Flowers of Romance, and the Banshees

Vicious began his musical career 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 had loose associations with The Bromley Contingent, the fashion avant garde that followed the Sex Pistols, and 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 band's photographer Dennis Morris, Vicious was "deep down, a shy person." However, Sid did assault NME journalist Nick Kent with a motorcycle chain (it is saidafter this John gave him the name vicious, but it really comes from Johnny's hamster, that bit people), in retaliation for Nick's domestic assault on former girlfriend Chrissie Hynde. On another occasion, at a London nightclub popular with rock stars of the day, The Speakeasy, he threatened BBC DJ and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris, which in turn resulted in Harris threatening Vicious with legal action.

Sex Pistols

Already known as "the ultimate Sex Pistols fan," and a close friend of vocalist Johnny Rotten, Vicious was asked to join the group after Glen Matlock's departure in February 1977. Manager Malcolm McLaren once claimed "if Rotten is the voice of punk, then Vicious is the attitude". His punk rock character was considered far more helpful than any knack for playing, as he was not renowned for his playing skills, though he did have some composing ability, as was later shown when he composed the track "Belsen Was A Gas" entirely by himself. In his autobiography No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, Lydon writes, "he wasn't too bad at all for three-chord songs." Sid played his first gig with the Pistols on April 3, 1977, at the Screen on the Green in London. His debut was filmed by Don Letts and appears in Punk Rock Movie.

Nancy Spungen and the end of the Pistols

In November 1977 Vicious 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 Vicious, 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 Vicious visibly deteriorated during their 1978 American tour. The Pistols broke up in San Francisco after their concert at the Winterland Ballroom on January 14, 1978. With Spungen acting as his "manager," Vicious 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.

Deaths of Sid and Nancy

File:Svarest.jpg
Sid Vicious' arrest

Meanwhile, Vicious and Spungen had become locked in their own world of drug addiction and self-destruction. Interview footage shows the couple attempting to answer questions from their bed: Spungen is barely coherent while Vicious lapses in and out of consciousness. He also came very close to death following a heroin overdose and was hospitalized for some time.

On the morning of October 12, 1978, he awoke from a drugged stupor to find Spungen crumpled and dead on the bathroom floor of their room (room 100) in the Hotel Chelsea in New York City. She had received a single stab wound to her abdomen and apparently bled to death. He was arrested and charged with her murder although he said he had no memory of having done so. There are several theories that Spungen was murdered by someone else, usually said to be one of the two drug dealers who visited the apartment that night, and involving a possible robbery as certain 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 Nancy's killer as Rockets Redglare.

Bail of USD $50,000 was put up by Virgin Records at McLaren's request. The plan was for Vicious to record an album with fellow Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook in order to raise funds for his defense. This was to be a collection of standards including (according to McLaren) White Christmas and Mack the Knife. It is also possible, according to Paul Cook, that the album was to be a selection of Sid's favorite songs and would have included tracks from The Stooges, the Ramones, the New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers [citation needed].

On February 2, 1979, a small gathering to celebrate his release was held at the home of his girlfriend, Michele Robison, whom he'd started living with in October, after Nancy's death. During his time at Rikers Island jail, Vicious had undergone drug rehabilitation therapy and was clean. However, at the dinner gathering, he obtained some heroin from his mother, took a tiny amount, and accidentally overdosed that night. His girlfriend revived him, and he was fine. Much later that night, Michele and Sid fell asleep. The next morning Sid was discovered to have passed away. NY Chief Coroner Michael Baden explained at the time, when a person has an accidental heroin overdose, and then falls asleep, their heart slows with every REM phase. That is why Sid died at around 10:00AM, after the repeated REM phases, throughout the night. Forensic experts subsequently found the heroin was 99% pure, which, "Nobody gets in this city, unless somebody wants somebody dead" as NYPD Homicide Detective Houseman said to Sid's girlfriend, Michele Robison. The theory was that the dealer, Steve, who killed Nancy, also killed Sid with the unusually pure heroin.

Phil Strongman contends that Rockets Redglare, dealt the fatal dose of heroin; knowing who it was for, he ensured it was 99% pure rather than 22% (which itself was considered strong at the time).

After Vicious's death, his mother phoned Deborah Spungen, Nancy's mother, to request that he be buried next to her, but Deborah Spungen declined. There are several myths about what happened to Vicious' remains but one of the most persistent is that late one night, "Sid's mother jumped the graveyard fence where Nancy was buried and scattered his ashes over his beloved for them to be together for all time."

Sid Sings was released posthumously by Virgin Records. This was a collection of mostly cover versions recorded live at his gigs at Max's Kansas City in September 1978. Tracks included "C'mon Everybody" and "Something Else" by Eddie Cochran along with material by Iggy Pop and Johnny Thunders and a rendition of the Paul Anka / Frank Sinatra standard "My Way". Striking footage of Vicious performing this song in Paris provides the closing sequence for Julien Temple's film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. Also included on Sid Sings was a cover of the The Heartbreakers' "Born to Lose", which was recorded at the Sex Pistols last British gig at Ivanhoe's in Huddersfield on Christmas Day 1977, with Vicious on vocals.

Quote about Sid

"Sid had the iconic punk look. As much as I loved the others, Sid, on image alone, is what all punk rests on." (Alan Jones, from Punk: the Definitive Record of a Revolution)

Discography

Singles

Albums

Various pressings and bootlegs

  • My Way/Something Else/C’mon Everybody (1979, 12”, Barclay, Barclay 740 509)
  • Live (1980, LP, Creative Industry Inc., JSR 21)
  • Vicious Burger (1980, LP, UD-6535, VD 6336)
  • Love Kills N.Y.C. (1985, LP, Konexion, KOMA)
  • The Sid Vicious Experience – Jack Boots and Dirty Looks (1986, LP, Antler 37)
  • The Idols With Sid Vicious (1993, CD, Last Call Records, LC22289)
  • Never Mind the Reunion Here’s Sid Vicious (1997, CD)
  • Sid Dead Live (1997, CD, Anagram, PUNK 86)
  • Sid Vicious Sings (1997, CD)
  • Vicious & Friends (1998, CD, Dressed To Kill Records, Dress 602)
  • Better (to provoke a reaction than to react to a provocation) (1999, CD, Almafame, YEAAH6)
  • Probably His Last Ever Interview (2000, CD, OZIT, OZITCD62)
  • Better (2001, CD)
  • Vive Le Rock (2003, 2CD)
  • Too Fast To Live... (2004, CD)
  • Naked & Ashamed (7”, Wonderful Records, WO-73)
  • Sid Live At Max’s Kansas City (LP, JSR 21)
  • Sid Vicious (LP, Innocent Records, JSR 23)
  • Sid Vicious McDonald Bros. Box (3CD, Sound Solutions)

Sid Vicious & Friends

  • (Don’t You Gimme) No Lip/(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone (1989, 7”, SCRATCH 7)
  • Sid Vicious & Friends (1998, CD, Cleopatra, #251, ASIN: B0000061AS)

Sid Vicious/Eddie Cochran

  • Sid Vicious v’s Eddie Cochran – The Battle Of The Rockers (LP, Jock, LP 7)

Sid Vicious/Elvis Presley

  • Cult Heroes (1993, CD)

Films that include Sid Vicious

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.

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.

References

  1. ^ Lydon, John, "Rotten", Plexus Publishing (1993), p. 57. ISBN 978-0859653411.

Further reading

  • Anne Beverley, The Sid Vicious Family album (1980, Virgin Books)
  • Gerald Cole, Sid And Nancy (1986, Methuen)
  • Alex Cox & Abbe Wool, Sid And Nancy (1986, Faber and Faber)
  • Keith Bateson and Alan Parker, Sid’s Way (1991, Omnibus Press)
  • Tom Stockdale, Sid Vicious. They Died Too Young (1995, Parragon)
  • Malcolm Butt, Sid Vicious. Rock‘n’Roll Star (1997, Plexus)
  • David Dalton, El Sid (1998, St. Martin’s Griffin)
  • Sid Vicious, Too Fast To Live...Too Young to Die (1999, Retro Publishing)
  • Alan Parker, Vicious. Too Fast To Live... (2004, Creation Books)
  • Spungen's mother, Deborah, wrote a book about her daughter and her involvement with Vicious in And I Don't Want to Live This Life.

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Sid Vicious.
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