Sid Vicious 158287 225803773 2008-07-15T14:03:45Z 58.8.176.47 /* Death */ word order change for better flow and easier to understand {{Refimprove|date=February 2007}} {{for|the professional wrestler|Sid Eudy}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Musicians --> | Name = Sid Vicious | Img = Nancy Spungen.jpg | Img_capt = Sid Vicious and girlfriend [[Nancy Spungen]] | Background = solo_singer | Birth_name = John Simon Ritchie | Alias = Sid Vicious | Born = {{birth date|1957|5|10|df=y}}<br>[[London, England|London]], [[England]] | Died = {{death date and age|1979|2|2|1957|5|10|df=y}}<br>[[New York City]] | Voice_type = | | Instrument = [[Bass guitar]], [[Vocals]], [[Drums]], [[Tambourine]] | Genre = [[Punk rock|Punk]] | Occupation = [[Musician]] [[Songwriter]] [[Composer]] [[Actor]] | Years_active = 1976 - 1979 | Label = [[Virgin Records|Virgin]] | Associated_acts = [[Sex Pistols]]<br>[[Siouxsie and the Banshees]] | URL = | | Notable_instruments = [[Fender Precision Bass]] (American Classic)| }} '''John Simon Ritchie''' ([[May 10]], [[1957]] &ndash; [[February 2]], [[1979]]), better known as '''Sid Vicious''', was an [[England|English]] [[punk rock]] musician, the bass guitar player of the [[Sex Pistols]] (replacing [[Glen Matlock]]). == Early life == Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2523000/2523601.stm], although later became known as John){{Fact|date=April 2008}} was born in [[London]] to John and [[Anne Beverly|Anne Ritchie]]. Anne was more of the hippie-type, whereas his father was a guard at Buckingham Palace. <ref>The Filth and The Fury, St. Martin's Press, 2000, pg. 13</ref>Shortly after his birth, John Ritchie left the family. John ("Sid") and his mother moved to the island of [[Ibiza]]. She married Christopher Beverly 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 [[Royal Tunbridge Wells|Tunbridge Wells]] where he attended Sandown Court School. In 1971 the pair moved to [[London Borough of Hackney|Hackney]] in East London. He also spent some time living in Somerset where he was a pupil at [[Clevedon Community School|Clevedon Secondary Modern]]. According to the band's photographer, [[Dennis Morris]], Ritchie was "deep down, a shy person".<ref>http://www.hotshotdigital.com/WellAlwaysRemember.2/SidViciousBio.html</ref> However, he did [[assault]] ''[[NME]]'' journalist [[Nick Kent]] with a motorcycle chain, and with help from [[Jah Wobble]].{{Fact|date=April 2008}} 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 (radio)|Bob Harris]], which in turn resulted in Harris threatening him with legal action.{{Fact|date=April 2008}} However, Vicious was a poor fighter, at various times being beaten up by [[Paul Weller]], [[David Coverdale]], and [[Thin Lizzy]] man [[Brian Robertson]], who battered him with a clog inside a boat. Bouncers and audiences also assaulted Sid at times. Ritchie was given the nickname "Sid" by [[John Lydon]], after Lydon's pet [[hamster]]. The hamster had bitten Ritchie, who said that "[Rotten's] Sid is really vicious!" <ref>The Filth and the Fury, St. Martin's Press, 2000, pg. 90</ref> The animal was described by Lydon as "the softest, furriest, weediest thing on earth".<ref name="Frame">Lydon, John, "Rotten", Plexus Publishing (1993), p. 57. ISBN 978-0859653411.</ref> At the time, Ritchie was [[squatting]] with Lydon, [[Jah Wobble|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.<ref>The Filth and The Fury, St. Martin's Press, 2000, pg. 41</ref> ==Music career== ===The Flowers of Romance, and The Banshees=== Vicious began his musical career in 1976 as a member of [[The Flowers of Romance (band)|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 (musician)|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. {{Fact|date=July 2008}} ===Sex Pistols=== Before joining the band, Sid had associations with [[The Bromley Contingent]], the fashion [[avant garde]] that followed the Sex Pistols. He also created the "[[Pogo (dance)|Pogo]]" as a way to see the stage. 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."<ref>http://www.amazon.com/Punk-Definitive-Revolution-Stephen-Colegrave/dp/1560257695/ref=sr_1_1/102-3759739-4005708?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1191184622&sr=8-1</ref> His nails would be painted in a sloppy manner with purple nail polish <ref>The Filth and The Fury, St. Martin's Press, 2000, pg. 39</ref>. Ritchie 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]]''. 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 January 14, 1978. With Spungen acting as his "manager," Ritchie embarked on a solo career during which he performed with musicians including [[Mick Jones (The Clash)|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]]. ====Musicianship==== Sid was not recognized as a competent bass player. During an interview for ''[[Guitar Hero III]]'', when Sex Pistols guitarist [[Steve Jones (musician)|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".<ref>[http://youtube.com/watch?v=1lJU_QxY8Kc&feature=related Guitar Hero III: Sex Pistols Trailer]</ref> At times during performances, other band members would unplug Sid's bass because his playing was so bad.<ref name="roomthirteen">{{cite web |url=http://www.roomthirteen.com/cgi-bin/feature_view.cgi?FeatureID=364|title=It's only Rock & Roll but he likes it! |accessdate=2007-02-09 |format= |work= }}</ref> 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."<ref name="roomthirteen"/> Sid also received lessons from former bassist [[Glen Matlock]]. In light of such comments and tales it is rarely acknowledged that early on, Sid's playing did reach a level of competency. In the few months between joining the band and meeting Nancy, he was a dedicated worker and tried his hardest to learn to play. 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 (Sex Pistols song)|God Save the Queen]]". His progression was halted irrevocably with the start of his relationship with Spungen, who brought out the worst in him and initiated his slide into self destruction. The audio from the final Winterland concert shows him playing appallingly, his fingers rendered sluggish and clumsy through intoxication and loss of interest. ==Spungen's murder== <!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Svarest.jpg|frame|Sid Vicious' arrest]] --> Meanwhile, Ritchie and girlfriend [[Nancy Spungen]] had become locked in their own world of drug addiction and self-destruction. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raEXGXw5VJM Interview footage] shows the couple attempting to answer questions from their bed: Spungen is barely coherent while Ritchie lapses in and out of [[consciousness]]. He also came very close to death following a heroin overdose and was hospitalised for some time. On the morning of [[October 12]], [[1978]], he awoke from a drugged stupor to find Spungen dead on the bathroom floor of their room (room 100) in the [[Hotel Chelsea]] in [[New York City]]. She had suffered a single stab wound to her [[abdomen]] and apparently bled to death. He was indicted [[November 22]] [[1978]], arrested and charged with her murder although he said he had no memory of the event. 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 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. Also unusual was 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" the night of October 11/12, 1978. Source, Police report. [[Bail]] of [[US$]]50,000 was put up by Sid's mother. The plan was for Vicious to record an album with fellow Pistols [[Steve Jones (musician)|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 (song)|White Christmas]]" and "[[Mack the Knife]]". <!-- deleted line for lack of linkable/prooveable sources--> On October 22, 10 days after Nancy's death, Sid attempted suicide by cutting his arm extensively and was taken to [[Bellevue Hospital Center|Bellevue Hospital]] where he remained for a certain time. Out again, he was charged with assault for smashing a beer mug in the face of [[Patti Smith]]'s brother, Todd Smith. He was arrested [[December 9]] [[1978]] and sent to [[Riker's Island]] jail for 55 days, and was bailed out Feb 1-2, 1979. Reportedly written at Riker's, Sid wrote this poem for Nancy<ref>http://www.punk77.co.uk/punkhistory/Sid%20Pt7.htm</ref><blockquote> You were my little baby girl<br /> And I shared all your fears<br /> Such joy to hold you in my arms<br /> And kiss away your tears<br /> But now your gone there's only pain<br /> And nothing can do<br /> And I don't want to live this life<br /> If I can't live for you<br /> To my beautiful baby girl<br /> Our love will never die. </blockquote> ==Death== On [[February 2]], [[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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/2/newsid_2523000/2523601.stm|title=BBC ON THIS DAY | 2 | 1979: Sid Vicious dies from drugs overdose}}</ref> 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 [[Rapid eye movement sleep|REM]] phase. Sid Vicious died at around 10:00 AM, 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 (TV series)|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. In 2006, the Canadian TV series The Final 24 did a segment on the last day of Vicious's life. This show advanced a shocking theory. Michelle Robinson claimed that Vicious's mother went into his room and injected him while he slept. Before her death in 1996, it was said that she confessed she had deliberately given her son a lethal dose because she feared he would be going to prison for the murder of Nancy Spungen. [[Alex Cox]]'s 1986 movie ''[[Sid and Nancy]]'' portrays Vicious's career and love affair with Spungen. [[Gary Oldman]] plays Vicious. == Discography == ===Singles=== *"[[My Way (song)|My Way]]" ([[June 30]], [[1978]]) - (B-side Chatterbox) *"[[Somethin' Else (Eddie Cochran song)|Something Else]]" ([[February 9]], [[1979]]) *"[[C'mon Everybody]]" ([[June 22]], [[1979]]) ===Albums=== *''[[Sid Sings]]'' ([[December 15]], [[1979]]) ===Various pressings and bootlegs=== * ''[[My Way (song)|My Way]]/[[Somethin' Else (Eddie Cochran song)|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 &ndash; Jack Boots and Dirty Looks'' (1986, LP, Antler 37) * ''[[The Idols with Sid Vicious]]'' (1993) * ''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 Gimmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye) 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 &ndash; The Battle Of The Rockers'' (LP, Jock, LP 7) '''Sid Vicious/[[Elvis Presley]]''' * ''Cult Heroes'' (1993, CD) == Films that include Sid Vicious == # Sex Pistols Number One (1976, dir. Derek Jarman) # Will Your Son Turn into Sid Vicious? (1978) # [[Mr. Mike's Mondo Video]] (1979, dir. Michael O'Donoghue) # [[The Punk Rock Movie]] (1979, dir. Don Letts) # [[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) # DOA (1981, dir. Lech Kowalski) # Buried Alive (1991, Sex Pistols) # Decade (1991, Sex Pistols) # Bollocks to Every (1995, Sex Pistols) # Filth to Fury (1995, Sex Pistols) # Classic Chaotic (1996, Sex Pistols) # Kill the Hippies (1996, Sex Pistols, VHS) # [[The Filth and The Fury]] (2000, dir. Julien Temple, VHS/NTSC/DVD) # Live at the Longhorn (2001, Sex Pistols) # Live at Winterland (2001, Sex Pistols, DVD) # Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols (2002, Sex Pistols, VHS/DVD) # Punk Rockers (2003, Sex Pistols, DVD) # Blood on the Turntable: The Sex Pistols (2004, dir. Steve Crabtree) # Music Box Biographical Collection (2005, Sex Pistols, DVD) # Punk Icons (2006, Sex Pistols, DVD) # Chaos! Ex Pistols Secret History: The Dave Goodman Story (2007, Sex Pistols, DVD) # Pirates of Destiny (2007, dir. Tõnu Trubetsky, DVD) # Rock Case Studies (2007, Sex Pistols, DVD) A fictionalized 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 criticised for containing many historical inaccuracies.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} [[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]]. The [[Foo Fighters]] music video for "[[Everlong]]" includes [[Dave Grohl]] impersonating Sid and [[Taylor Hawkins]] impersonating Nancy. ==In popular culture== *In the pilot episode of [[Mission Hill]], while talking about his apartment, Andy French says that "there's a rumor that Sid Vicious threw up in the bathtub." ==References== {{reflist}} ==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 Spungen|Deborah]], wrote a book about her daughter and her involvement with Vicious in ''[[And I Don't Want to Live This Life]]''. * Ed Hamilton, "Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws of New York's Rebel Mecca" (2007, DeCapo Press) ==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * [http://www.myspace.com/sidviciousmusic Sid Vicious at MySpace] * [http://www.thesmokinggun.com/vicious/vicious.html Vicious' confession to the NYPD and other documents] * [http://flickr.com/photos/sfitzstephens/132017797 A fan's photos of Vicious] * [http://www.theviciousfiles.co.uk/frame1.html Site with pictures of the murder scene] * [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=3675 Sid Vicious' Photo & Death Certificate] * [http://www.wardsbookofdays.com/2february.htm The Life and Death of Sid Vicious @ ''Ward's Book of Days''] * [http://www.hotshotdigital.com/WellAlwaysRemember.2/SidVicious.html Sid Vicious @ "Hot Shot Digital Rock Tributes"] * [http://nancys.110mb.com/ Nancy Spungen website, with pictures and biography] {{Sex Pistols}} {{lifetime|1957|1979|Vicious, Sid}} [[Category:English actor-singers]] [[Category:English rock bass guitarists]] [[Category:English rock singers]] [[Category:Deaths by heroin overdose in the United States]] [[Category:Backing vocalists]] [[Category:Virgin Records artists]] [[an:Sid Vicious]] [[ast:Sid Vicious]] [[zh-min-nan:Sid Vicious]] [[be-x-old:Сыд Вішэс]] [[bs:Sid Vicious]] [[br:Sid Vicious]] [[bg:Сид Вишъс]] [[ca:Sid Vicious]] [[cs:Sid Vicious]] [[cy:Sid Vicious]] [[da:Sid Vicious]] [[de:Sid Vicious]] [[et:Sid Vicious]] [[el:Σιντ Βίσιους]] [[es:Sid Vicious]] [[eo:Sid Vicious]] [[eu:Sid Vicious]] [[fr:Sid Vicious]] [[fy:Sid Vicious]] [[ga:Sid Vicious]] [[gd:Sid Vicious]] [[gl:Sid Vicious]] [[ko:시드 비셔스]] [[hr:Sid Vicious]] [[io:Sid Vicious]] [[id:Sid Vicious]] [[ia:Sid Vicious]] [[is:Sid Vicious]] [[it:Sid Vicious]] [[he:סיד וישס]] [[la:Sid Vicious]] [[lv:Sids Višess]] [[li:Sid Vicious]] [[hu:Sid Vicious]] [[mt:Sid Vicious]] [[nl:Sid Vicious]] [[ja:シド・ヴィシャス]] [[no:Sid Vicious]] [[nn:Sid Vicious]] [[nds:Sid Vicious]] [[pl:Sid Vicious]] [[pt:Sid Vicious]] [[ro:Sid Vicious]] [[rm:Sid Vicious]] [[ru:Сид Вишес]] [[scn:Sid Vicious]] [[simple:Sid Vicious]] [[sk:Sid Vicious]] [[sl:Sid Vicious]] [[sr:Сид Вишос]] [[sh:Sid Vicious]] [[fi:Sid Vicious]] [[sv:Sid Vicious]] [[tl:Sid Vicious]] [[tr:Sid Vicious]] [[uk:Сід Вішез]] [[fiu-vro:Viciousõ Sid]] [[zh:席德·维瑟斯]]