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John Simon Ritchie, better known as Sid Vicious, was an English punk rock musician, the bass guitar player of the Sex Pistols (replacing Glen Matlock).
Early life Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie , although later became known as John) was born in London to John and Anne Ritchie. Anne was more of the hippie-type, whereas his father was a guard at Buckingham Palace. 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 Tunbridge Wells where he attended Sandown Court School.
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Timeline
Quotations
(On leaving the Sex Pistols) I still think Im pretty good. I think I was better than any of the others.
(On leaving the Sex pistols) I was the only guy with any bit of anarchy left.
(On leaving the Sex pistols) Today everything's a conflict of interest.
American audiences are just the same as any other audiences. Except a bit more boring.
I just cash in on the fact that I'm good looking, and I've got a nice figure and girls like me.
I'll die before I'm 25, and when I do I'll have lived the way I wanted to.
Encyclopedia
John Simon Ritchie, better known as Sid Vicious, was an English punk rock musician, the bass guitar player of the Sex Pistols (replacing Glen Matlock).
Early life Sid Vicious (born John Simon Ritchie , although later became known as John) was born in London to John and Anne Ritchie. Anne was more of the hippie-type, whereas his father was a guard at Buckingham Palace. 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 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". However, he did assault NME journalist Nick Kent with a motorcycle chain with help from Jah Wobble. 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, which in turn resulted in Harris threatening him with legal action. However, Vicious was a poor fighter, at various times being beaten up by Paul Weller, David Coverdale, and Thin Lizzy guitarist 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!" The animal was described by Lydon as "the softest, furriest, weediest thing on earth". 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.
Music careerThe Flowers of Romance, and The BansheesVicious 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 PistolsBefore joining the band, Sid had associations with The Bromley Contingent, the fashion avant garde that followed the Sex Pistols. He also created the "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." His nails would be painted in a sloppy manner with purple nail polish . 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 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.
MusicianshipSid 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". At times during performances, other band members would unplug Sid's bass because his playing was so bad. 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." 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". 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 murderMeanwhile, Ritchie and girlfriend Nancy Spungen had become locked in their own world of drug addiction and self-destruction. 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 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".
On October 22, 10 days after Nancy's death, Sid attempted suicide by cutting his arm extensively and was taken to 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
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 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.
DeathOn 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. 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 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 , 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. Johnny Rotten in his autobiography said he despises the movie.
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)
- 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 – The Battle Of The Rockers (LP, Jock, LP 7)
Sid Vicious/Elvis Presley
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.
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."
- In Gilmore Girls, Lorelai and Rory were throwing out examples of love mentioned, "Like Sid and Nancy?"
- The in anime series NANA, the character of Ren is based up in Sid.
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.
- Ed Hamilton, "Legends of the Chelsea Hotel: Living with the Artists and Outlaws of New York's Rebel Mecca" (2007, DeCapo Press)
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