Sid vicious
Simon John Ritchie (London, May 10, 1957 - New York, February 2, 1979), known as Sid Vicious, was an English musician, considered a one of the most important figures of the first wave of punk in the 1970s. He was bassist and backing vocalist for the Sex Pistols from February 1977 until mid-1978.
Before joining the Sex Pistols, he was a member of another punk band, The Flowers of Romance, in which he sang and played various instruments. With the Sex Pistols he recorded an album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, in 1977. In January 1978, following the departure of singer Johnny Rotten, the band disbanded. In the months that followed, Vicious recorded a series of songs for The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (1980), film about the history of the band starring Malcolm McLaren (a Pistols agent).
During his brief but chaotic tenure with the Sex Pistols, he met his future partner and agent, Nancy Spungen. The two entered into a destructive relationship dependent on drug use that culminated in Spungen's death on October 12, 1978, in room number 100 of the Chelsea Hotel, where they were staying. Vicious was arrested and charged with second degree murder, although he was later released on provisional release. He, too, was convicted of assault after attacking Todd Smith at a concert, and underwent a rehab program at Rikers Island Prison.
To celebrate Vicious's release from prison, his mother threw him a party. At the end, he used heroin; later, in his sleep, he passed away from an overdose.
Biography
Early Years
Simon John Ritchie was born in the London borough of Lewisham on 10 May 1957. His mother, Anne McDonald, dropped out of school to join the Royal Air Force, where she later met Vicious's father, John Ritchie., who worked as a guard at Buckingham Palace and also played the trombone in an amateur manner in jazz clubs. Some time after her birth, her father abandoned them and McDonald decided to move to Ibiza, where she married Christopher Beverley again in 1965. The family returned to Kent, England, and Vicious began using his stepfather's surname, becoming known under the name "John Beverley". He died of cancer six months after marrying Anne. In 1968, Vicious and his mother moved into a rented flat in Tunbridge Wells and the young man began attending Sandown Court School. Three years later they moved to the Hackney neighborhood, located in East London. During this time, he attended Hackney Technical College, where he met John Lydon, who later described Vicious as "a David Bowie fan".
At seventeen, he was a frequent visitor to Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's then little-known "SEX" clothing store, which would later become a focus of the punk rock scene and where some of its members met. future contestants. His stage name, "Sid Vicious", was invented by John Lydon, when his hamster, named Sid, bit Ritchie, who exclaimed, "Sid is really vicious!" (Sid is really ruthless! ) At the time he was living with Lydon, John Wardle (known as Jah Wobble) and John Gray. The group was known as "The Four Johns". According to Lydon, he and Sid occasionally danced and sang in the street for money and Sid also played the tambourine. They both did covers, usually by Alice Cooper. On one occasion, a man even gave them three shillings.
In 1976 he joined the so-called Bromley Contingent. He began his career singing with The Flowers of Romance alongside The Clash co-founder Keith Levene and Palmolive and Viv Albertine, who later formed The Slits. That year he also played drums for Siouxsie and The Banshees on their first show at the 100 Club Punk Festival.
Vicious, along with Dave Vanian, was considered as a possible lead vocalist for The Damned, but he failed to audition and Vanian was left as singer. Vicious later claimed that "Vanian and his associates" had withheld the audition information from him and, during the group's performance on the second night of the 100 Club Punk Festival, he attempted to assault Vanian by throwing a glass at him. The glass shattered and the splinters injured a girl in the eye, which left her blind. Vicious was locked up in the Ashford Remand Center. He had previously attacked music critic Nick Kent with a bicycle chain. According to Malcolm McLaren, it was "his best credential of his" to get into the Sex Pistols.
Sex Pistols (1977-1978)
According to various biographies (such as Jon Savage's England's Dreaming) and even the film The Filth and the Fury, Vicious joined Sex Pistols in February 1977, following the departure of bassist Glen Matlock. One of the main reasons he was accepted was that he was close friends with the singer, John Lydon (formerly known as Johnny Rotten), and was also known as "the ultimate Sex Pistols fan". Julien Temple, then a student hired to create an audiovisual about the band, opined that "Sid was John's protégé in the band. The other two just thought I was crazy." In the group's early days, Vivienne Westwood recommended that McLaren hire Vicious as the lead singer for the Sex Pistols, but McLaren mistakenly recruited Johnny Rotten. Despite not Having no experience playing bass, Vicious was included in the band due to his reputation in the punk scene. Even McLaren went so far as to say: “If Rotten is the voice of punk, Vicious is the attitude”,[citation needed] “when he joined, Sid couldn't play the guitar, but his madness fit into the structure of the band. He was the knight in shining armor with a giant fist.” However, Lydon later commented, “The first rehearsals in March 1977 with Sid were hellish. He was really trying and rehearsing a lot."
His membership in the Sex Pistols had an increasingly destructive effect on him: “At the time, Sid was absolutely childish. It was all fun and funny. He was suddenly a huge star, and having this status meant press, a good chance to be seen in all the right places, adoration. That's what it all meant to Sid." Vicious debuted with the band at London's Notre Dame Hall on March 28, 1977. In September the band began recording songs for their debut album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols. But it was Steve Jones who ultimately played most of the bass parts during the recordings of the album. Vicious's bass is present on the song "Bodies" from the original pressing of the album. Jones would recall, "[Vicious] played the crap for him and we just let him do it. After he left, I recorded a piece over it, leaving Sid's part loose. I think it's barely audible on the track."
During the band's US tour in January 1978, Vicious developed a serious addiction to heroin. Shortly after beginning the tour, he left the Holiday Inn hotel in Memphis looking for drugs and was found in a hospital, with the words "gimme a fix" ("give me a dose") carved on his chest with a knife. Later, Vicious hit a spectator with his bass guitar on the head during a concert in the Texas city of San Antonio. Due to increasing arguments with the other members of the group, Rotten left the Sex Pistols on January 17, 1978, thus ending. the country tour. After this, Vicious was taken to New York by a friend, where he was hospitalized due to his very poor condition.Malcolm McLaren was looking for a way to rebuild the gang with a new leader, and considered Vicious his first choice. In exchange for agreeing to record "My Way", the bassist asked her to sign a document stating that he was no longer his agent. Already in London, Vicious made his last performances as a member of the Sex Pistols, in which he recorded and filmed two versions of Eddie Cochran songs. In September he returned to New York, ending his tenure with the band.
Murder of Nancy Spungen
In early 1977, Vicious began a romantic relationship with Nancy Spungen, an American groupie. Both were addicted to heroin, which led to social isolation and alienation. Lydon, who had introduced them, subsequently blamed Spungen for Vicious's addiction: "we did everything we could to get rid of Nancy...she was killing him. I was absolutely convinced that this girl was on a mission of slow suicide... She just didn't want to go off on her own. She wanted to take Sid with her... she was a crazy fucking bad girl.
Despite the couple's constant bickering, Spungen became Vicious's manager after the Sex Pistols broke up and organized a few concerts. However, the bassist's performances were lackluster, due to his drug addiction. Both spent most of their time using heroin, barbiturates and synthetic morphine in room number 100 of the Chelsea Hotel. Subsequently, Vicious recorded a live album, accompanied by The Idols, a band that included Arthur Kane and Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls. It was released posthumously under the title Sid Sings at the end of 1979.
On the morning of October 12, 1978, Spungen was found bled to death with a stab wound to the abdomen. Vicious claimed that they had used drugs and when she woke up she found her lying in the bathroom of her room, wearing only her underwear.When the police arrived, she confessed that he had committed the crime; he was arrested and charged with murder. Subsequently, before the judge he pleaded not guilty and was released on bail of fifty thousand pounds sterling.
Reactions
Several people related to the musician questioned whether he was the perpetrator of the crime. In an interview at the time, McLaren said: "I can't believe he was involved in something like that. Sid was planning to marry Nancy in New York. They were very close and had a very passionate relationship."
Alan Parker, journalist and director of the documentary Who Killed Nancy? suggested, according to testimony, that the killer may have been someone named Michael. «We don't know his last name, we just know that he was in the middle [...] He was showing off a lot of money and bragging that he had stolen from the room and that Sid was there and that Nancy was dead and all that. There were people who also saw it at night, and we have witness statements. He was seen in the room, outside the room and in another Chelsea flat, bragging about having collected all that money, which he showed wrapped in Nancy's hair bow.
Arrest for Assault
The bail was paid by Virgin Records at McLaren's request. Initially, the idea was for Vicious to record an album with Steve Jones and Paul Cook, to raise money for his defense. However, before long, Vicious slammed a beer mug into the face of Todd Smith, Patti Smith's brother, at a Skafish concert at the Hurrah club in New York. He was arrested on December 9, 1978, and sent to Rikers Island Jail for fifty-five days for detoxification, which ended his addiction. He was released on bail on February 1, 1979. Bail had initially been set at US$50,000, though it was later lowered. following his statement in court and appeals by his lawyer. McLaren collected the money that was eventually paid by Virgin Records. John Lydon testified that Mick Jagger stepped in and paid off Vicious's lawyer and thanked the Rolling Stones singer for not going public. the gesture.
Death
On February 1, 1979, a party was held to celebrate his release at the home of his new girlfriend, Michelle Robinson. At the time, Vicious was clean from drugs, thanks to the detox program in jail, however, at the party he got some heroin and asked Robinson to inject him, but she refused. At approximately three in the morning, the couple went to bed. The next morning, Robinson found the body of Vicious, who had suffered a heroin overdose, he died before being tried and at only 21 years of age.
A few days after he was cremated, his mother found a suicide note in his jacket pocket that read: "We made a death pact, I have to keep my part of the bargain. Please bury me next to my baby. Bury me in my leather jacket, jeans, and motorcycle boots. Bye bye". About what happened, Lydon said: "Poor Sid. The only way he had to live up to what he wanted people to think of him was to die. It was tragic, but more for Sid than for the others. He really bought the public image of him ».
Cultural Influences
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At the age of twenty-one, Vicious was already a "T-shirt icon". Although his manner of death spelled the failure of punk's social ambitions for many, it cemented his image as the archetypal cursed youth.
In 1986, the film Sid and Nancy, by Alex Cox, was released, in which Vicious is played by Gary Oldman. In his autobiography, John Lydon harshly criticizes the film, for he "praises heroin addiction" and for "humiliating Vicious's life".
In the television series The Simpsons episode "Love, Springfieldian Style", the romance between Sid and Nancy is referenced, with Nelson Muntz portraying the bass player and Lisa portraying Spungen.
On 20 January 2009, the BBC aired a thirty-minute documentary about Sid Vicious entitled In Search of Sid, recorded thirty years after his death by musician Jah Wobble.
Discography
With the Sex Pistols
- 1977: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols
- 1978: The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle
With Vicious White Kids
- 1978: Vicious White Kids Live
Live Albums & Compilations
- 1979: Some Product: Carri on Sex Pistols
- 1979: Sid Sings
- 1980: Flogging to Dead Horse
- 1992: Kiss This
- 1993: The Idols with Sid Vicious
- 1996: Spunk
- 1996: Filthy Lucre Live
- 2000: The Filth and the Fury
- 2002: Jubilee
- 2002: Sex Pistols Boxed Set
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