Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols)

Short resume:

If I were to summarize Sid Vicious' life, James Dean's words would pop instantly into my mind - 'Live fast; die young; leave a good-looking corpse behind'. Because, he truly experienced life on the edge - he was the epitome of punk rock and he gradually became one of those larger-than-life icons of the pop culture. He had the looks - tall and slim with spiky hair, always wearing a padlock chain around his neck - due to which he gained worldwide recognition. As a side note, Sid was chosen as the bass player for the at-that-time-burgeoning band Sex Pistols although he sucked at playing the bass. But he was young, refreshing and was the 'real thing' in terms of punk ideology: self-destructive, suicidal and rebellious and the Sex Pistols needed that kind of image.

Vicious' 'role model' - Anne Ritchie, his mother - was a drug addict and a dealer, so he naturally had a more or less deviant behavior: selling drugs or throwing beer cans at people. On such an incident he reportedly hit a girl who consequently lost her eyesight. The lad was one of the biggest supporters of the Sex Pistols and after playing with a couple of other groups he got the chance of being the next bass player of this legendary band.

Soon afterwards, the introverted boy was presented to a young girl who had seen it all - prostitution, stripping in clubs, attempting to kill herself - 'Nauseating' Nancy was by all standards a tough cookie. At that time she had already reinvented herself as a groupie and she had the purpose of sleeping with one of the band's members. And Vicious was the lucky one. Or maybe bad luck was just written all over her but he couldn't read it. He fell madly in love with both Nancy and her addiction - heroin, which would eventually lead to his perdition.

Eventually he separated himself from his band and lived isolated with his beloved one doing all sorts of drugs, having sex and occasionally beating the crap out of each other. And what soon followed can only be labeled as a horror-movie-like tragedy. One night, Nancy's body was discovered in the hotel room she had been sharing with Sid. She was stabbed to death and the punk god couldn't remember squat and he was immediately accused of second-degree murder, but later released on bail. Out of jail, trouble still followed the rebel and during the party thrown on the day of his release he overdosed and died after 21 years of pain, drugs and worldwide recognition.

Many myths revolve around him and Vicious kinda became a legendary inspiration for endless speculations. Did he kill his lover? Did he commit suicide? Did his mother kill him in an attempt to ease his pain? But with that kind of life, he was bound to fascinate people and to stir up their imagination. Many would kill to find out what the cause of the two lovers' death was, but frankly, at the moment we can only speculate.

Biography:

The British punk musician only lived 21 years, and alongside Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison was one of those who adopted the philosophy 'live fast, die young'. And he surely did that, since his middle name was controversy: Sid was a pioneer of punk, a drug addict and a murderer.

John Simon Ritchie, later known as Sid Vicious was born on the 10th of May 1957 in London. His childhood was not exactly fairy tale-like. Upon their baby's birth, his parents soon split and he was left with his mother. Soon enough they moved to Ibiza, the famous Spanish Island where Anne (his mother) would allegedly make a living out of selling drugs. With such a role model and growing up surrounded by junkies, John's ending up as a criminal came as no surprise. Let's just think about the fact that he was only 14 when he started selling LSD to kids at concerts. Quite a debut for a disoriented kid whose life had never been a walk in the park.

By 17, taking up his mother's example, Vicious was already using drugs intravenously and manifesting antisocial behavior. Enrolled at the Hackney Technical College, it was there that John had the opportunity of meeting John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten, the frontman of punk legendary band Sex Pistols). So, after dropping out of high school, the tall, skinny teenager started hanging out with the 'Bromley Contingent', a group of alienated youngsters who adopted the music and fashion of the burgeoning British punk rock bands, whose lives revolved around the Sex Pistols. Needless to say, he was easily seduced by the idea of playing in a band, so he joined The Flowers of Romance and later the more famous Siouxsie and the Banshees (where Robert Smith of The Cure also played) as a drummer.

Ritchie took the stage name Sid Vicious as a result of the fact that he was bitten by Johhny Rotten's pet hamster, 'Sid'. So John called the little fury animal 'vicious'. Plus, he had to differentiate himself from the many other Johns out there: John Lydon, John Warble or John Gray. Hence, a legend was just emerging into rock history compendium.

What soon followed is the chaotic story of the 'ultimate Sex Pistols fan', the rebellious but shy bloke who got the chance of his life in 1977 when he joined his idols as their bass player after Malcolm McLaren's departure. Strangely enough, Vicious was chosen for his stereotypical punk looks: tall and thin as a whipping-post, with his spiky hair and ill-behaved attitude, Sid embodied the quintessential punk who rebelled against the system. So, who cared if his musical abilities were questionable enough (although he was creative and possessed compositional ability) even by punk standards? He had the look and the energy to attract the kids to every concert. Bear in mind that this guy is the 'inventor' of the pogo - a dance where the youths jump up and down while remaining in the same place (especially at punk concerts). Sid later claimed that around 1976, while standing behind crowds, in order to get a better look at the bands' performance he started jumping.

As mentioned above, the Sex Pistols were all about anarchy and Vicious was the real deal: self-destructive, unconventional and bad-tempered he soon became the ultimate idol for every kid with an attitude. But the beginning of the end came with Nancy Spungen, an ex-prostitute/stripper who, at that time, had already reinvented herself as a 'professional' groupie. Born in an upper-middle-class family, she was a troubled teenager who abused drugs and repeatedly attempted to kill herself. Aged 11, she attacked her mother with a hammer and Nancy was such a hard cookie to swallow that every doctor possible refused to treat her - she was actually diagnosed with schizophrenia. She had come to London with a goal: 'to bed a Sex Pistols. And, in a way, Sid was easy meat' (stated Pamela Rooke, a friend of Sid's).

Sid was more or less confused about sex and love, but when Nancy came along it all changed for him. At 16, after his first one-night stand, Vicious told his mother 'I don't know what people see in sex. I don't get anything out of it.' But, after meeting the ex-prostitute, his life turned upside down since she was a pro and knew how to push all the right buttons. Immediately, the introverted lad fell head over heels for her, although she was more or less despised by everybody - 'She was unbelievably thick-skinned, one of the most unlikable people I've met. Everybody could see through her - except Sid' (Pamela Rooke). Johnny Rotten was one of those who soon realized what a bad influence Nancy was to Sid and begged him to dump her, because, after all she was the reason why he had started abusing heroin - 'Nauseating' Nancy was already an addict when they met. So, it was by no means a match made in heaven. And what followed comes as a proof that it was more of a match made in hell - for the both of them.

So, it was not long until punk's poster child started having problems with the band - Nancy was to the Sex Pistols what Yoko Ono was to the Beatles. Or, at least that's how the legend goes. The truth is, they were madly in love - the epitome of a sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll fairy tale. But the end was - how else but - tragic. Imagine 2 people who would kill for one another, young, rebellious and stoned all the time. The balance (if there ever was one in this off-the-wall story) lied in the fact that Sid needed a mother figure and bossy Nancy took care of that, looking after him. Or, to put it differently, she made sure Vicious didn't suffer any longer by making him share her heroin addiction. They were in the 'heaven' of drugs: with all the money they had, they afforded every possible illegal substance; they lived on the edge. Just think about the fact that, at one point, they were being interviewed while they were in bed. Nancy was mumbling incomprehensible words put together randomly (although they probably made a lot of sense to her) while the punk legend would often blackout. Yeah, during an interview.

In 1976, the couple moved in Manhattan's Bohemian Chelsea Hotel, where the foremost artists would check in, ranging from Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan to Eugene O'Neill. During their stay here, on one occasion, Sid and Nancy set the mattress on fire so they had to be moved to another chamber - Room 100. They were definitely no Romeo and Juliet since they would often beat each other, but at the same time, they were unbelievably co-dependent. Needless to say, when 2 addicts start beating the crap out of each other and a knife is around, no good deed can come out of it.

Moving on, the life of the man who was punk personified changed in an instant. In Room 100, the body of a blond, 20-year-old woman was discovered: she was laying face-up on the bathroom floor with her head under the sink. She was only wearing a black bra and panties, all smeared in blood. You must have guessed by now that the girl was Vicious' blond lover, the ultimate groupie who had reportedly died by the hand of her idol. And if you already pictured this horrific scene, add to your mental image the fact that the bed was immensely stained with blood. Cause of death: one single fatal knife-provoked wound in her abdomen. The principal suspect: Sid. Immediately after the murder, he was wandering the hallways of the hotel crying, and one of his neighbors heard him saying 'I killed her...I can't live without her.' and 'She must have fallen on the knife'. The lad was accused of second-degree murder but he never admitted the crime, stating that he had no memory of the incident. And frankly, the dude was stoned out of his minds so it's rather plausible. Some share the belief that Spungen was actually killed by two drug dealers who visited their apartment that night, especially since some items were reportedly missing from the room. But, the truth is, the only 2 people who know the truth are long gone so we can only speculate.

After the death of his lover, Vicious declared in an interview that he would rather be 'under the ground' and even wrote a poem about Nancy and the lyrics make it pretty obvious that he was contemplating suicide: 'But now you're gone, there's only the pain/ and nothing I can do about it./ And I don't want to live this life any more,/ If I can't live for you.' While in prison, the punk rocker was apparently subject to gang-rape - or at least that's what the band's photographer Dennis Morris stated, but no proof of such an incident was ever found.

He was ultimately released from prison on bail and, in order to celebrate his release, a party was held at the home of his new girlfriend, Michelle Robinson, on the 2nd of February 1979. While in prison, Vicious reportedly didn't have the opportunity to obtain any drugs. So now, a free man, he was determined to ease his pain with some drugs. After the party he was discovered dead because of a huge overdose. Consequently, there are many legends revolving that night: some say he wanted to die in order to be with the love of his life, others think that his mother intentionally gave him the OD of heroin (since she had been a drug-addict and a dealer all her life, she couldn't have possibly miscalculated the amount of substance). Many think she did that as an act of love - her son was deeply unhappy and she could not bear to see him this way. Plus, he was facing a life in prison. All in all, we'll probably never know the truth.

After his death, Nancy's mother refused that Sid be buried next to her daughter - since he was most likely the killer. What happened to the punk rocker's remains is still a mystery but the myth I particularly love is that of his mom going to Nancy's burial cemetery and scattering Vicious' ashes on the snow over his beloved one's grave.

In the end, Sid was right when he stated the following: 'I got this feeling I'm gonna die before I get old. I don't know why. I just have this feeling.' So what do you think about this troubled youth? Is he IN or OUT?