John Simon Ritchie,a name which will mean very little to people,bring little thought or judgement,however,his stage name or rather nickname does.Sid Vicious,immediately there's a violent thought,there's the thought of suicide,murder and perhaps a thought of pity.Some of these thoughts,especially the thought of him committing a murder may not be fully true,more of that later.
Then there's the violence,yes there was a violent persona,especially in his image,his self harm and if you believe Nick Kent the way he swung a bicycle chain,but if you see the footage of the Sex Pistols playing a gig in Huddersfield on Christmas Day 1977 for the children of striking firefighters,you come away with a very different image and idea.Where as the survivor footage shows,Sid dancing and laughing with children and having food fights,all good fun,all natural for a young 20 year old man.Seems very implausible that the anti establishment,anarchists of rage,the Sex Pistols could play Santa Claus but they did.
Stories of good nature are not usually associated with Sid Vicious or the Sex Pistols,if there is such stories similar to this they've been buried underneath by the tabloid jewels of hate,but very soon you realise that they were victims of their own image,where the part they were playing took over the person they were.This is very true for young John Simon Ritchie.
Bass on Bodies
The Sex Pistols stand alone release,'Never Mind The Bollox',features very little of Sid,if at all.Sid wasn't the greatest of musician or using the word musician was a loose word to describe him,he was self taught,the story of how he was thought hinges on the record By The Ramones.
The Ramones self titled debut album,the Sgt. Pepper of the Punk generation,was the tool Sid used to learn the bass.A marathon fourteen hour session of purely listening and learning as you go taught Sid the bass.So legend goes at least,throw in the story of being on speed to stay awake and focused and now it becomes more real.Anyone associated with Sid or the Pistols always maintain that Sid was a far better singer than bass player,the Rock N'Roll Swindle soundtrack holds weight to that theory,songs such as 'Something Else' and 'C'mon Everybody' and the apocalyptic version of 'My Way',are without doubt extremely good as rock songs go let alone punk songs and suit Sid to sing,he had the snarl and can add that extra tone of aggression and malice in his vocal.
In the background of Jim Callaghans Labour Led Britain,heading into a winter of discontent,what spit in the face hope the Sex Pistols Never Mind The Bollox must have given the young generation,As the needle hit the marching intro of 'Holiday In The Sun',not an album of escapism but rather one of aggressive acceptance at the state of the country,like the Bob Dylan of the '60's,the young had a voice.
A monumental work the Sex Pistols one and true release.Sid plays two roles on that album,one the image of the album,a projection on what a band with that much aggression should act and look like,the other was the tune 'Bodies',the only song that Vicious is reported to have played Bass on.By all accounts he was hospitalised during the recording due to having contracted hepatitis or jaundice depending on who is telling the story.Steve Jones the man covering the bass lines throughout the rest of the recording as legend goes.
The Chelsea Hotel Swindle
From Rock To Rikers Island
Did he or did he not do it? Nancy Laura Spungen was murdered on the 12th of October 1978 at the age of 20,the girlfriend of Sid Vicious suffered a stab wound to the abdominal region in room 100 at the Chelsea Hotel,New York,and bled to death.All very bleak and sad.
Viscous was arrested and charged with her murder and served time in Rikers Island penitentiary New York. Before Vicious stood trial,and while out on bail,he died of an overdose,four months after Nancy,an apparent assisted suicide as he had proclaimed he wanted to be 'Under the ground!',previous suicide attempts pointed to this frame of mind. The case was closed by the NYPD.
The theory of what happened that night,has been told many times,my own belief reading so much over the years is this. There are two theories as to how Nancy or Nauseating Nancy,as the British tabloids named her,died that night and neither involve Vicious murdering her.
The first is Spungen made it clear she did not want to live past the age of 21,and the two made a suicide pact,which went wrong in the sense that Sid being too stoned to kill himself and Spungen stabbing her self with the hunting knife which Sid had obtained for some say that very reason.It would explain Sids testimony of 'She must have fell on the knife',by that he means stabbing or pushing the knife into herself.
In the days and weeks that followed Vicious had tried to commit suicide,one attempt jumping out a window screaming 'I want to be with Nancy!'.Sids mother,Anne Beverly is thought to have assisted in his suicide,and presented a letter after Sids passing that read
'We had a death pact, and I have to keep my half of the bargain. Please bury me next to my baby. Bury me in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots. Goodbye.'
That's one theory,the second and I believe very close to the truth is this,
It was a botched robbery,botched in the sense that Vicious was out cold but Nancy disturbed whoever it was that had entered the room. A fact not widely publicised is Sids royalty money was gone from the room safe.There had been two people present earlier that night,an apparent drug dealer only named as 'Michael' and a comedian and dealer known as Rockets Redglare,both had been to the room to deliver a batch of drugs earlier that evening and both were due to return.So when Redglare or this supposed 'Michael' returned to rob the royalty payment,they would have found Sid passed out and maybe got disturbed by Spungen which led to her murder.
Apparently this Rocket Redglare did admit to the murder years after,but to friends and not the NYPD,is their truth in it? If so it's been long buried.
The NYPD closed the case quickly,no investigation was ever done to find out what happened to Sids royalty money,nor were the fingerprints on the knife and in the apartment ever fully investigated.It was a dead Punk,a dead junky,but behind it all,it was 20 year old girl and 21 year old guy.
