Sid Vicious

Born Simon John Ritchie

May 10, 1957 - February 2, 1979

Age: 21

Cause of Demise: Heroin Overdose

I went back and forth on including Sid Vicious. Though a member of the Sex Pistols, Sid wasn't really a driving force in the band. He couldn't write music, play his instrument or sing. He instead was an icon, an image of what Punk should be, a tragic figure that I remember reading about at 15, and thinking "what a waste."

Still, as the February 2005 cover story Mojo Magazine makes clear, he continues to be an influence.

Back in '77 and '78, I read the LA Times, Rolling Stone, and any music mag I could find. I remember hearing the Ramones, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello on the radio, but the Sex Pistols didn't appear on any radio in LA that I knew of. From the neighborhood Licorice Pizza I purchased the American 45 of "Pretty Vacant" b/w "Submission," and I loved it. I saved up and bought "Never Mind the Bullocks" and read about Sid Vicious, the man who invented the Pogo dance.

Sid seemed like a mess even then. Born Simon John Ritchie to parents who never married, Sid was raised by his drug abusing mother in lower class neighborhoods. In 1971, Sid met John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) in school, and they quickly become friends, eventually sharing a flat in a Hampstead, a down and out part of North London. In 1975, Lydon was asked by Malcolm McClaren to front the Sex Pistols, and Sid became the band's #1 fan.

From 1975 to 1977, Sid achieved a level of notoriety in the London Punk scene that was unmatched. Sid formed the Flowers of Romance with future members of the Slits, and drummed for Siouxsie and the Banshees at the 100 Club punk festival. He also attacked music journalist Nick Kent with a bike chain, and blinded a girl with a smashed tankard. But the most important thing Sid did was replace Glen Matlock in the Sex Pistols.

The movie "Sid and Nancy" picks it up from that point. Sid met the heroin addicted Nancy Spungen and began the relationship that would cement their enduring infamy.

The Sex Pistols toured the US in January of 1978. The LA Times chronicled the tour and I read every report that was written, my 14 year old mind fascinated by the goings on of this band that seemed so different than my last favorite band, Kiss. I remember reading about and seeing pictures of Sid smeared in blood in Texas and wondering what it was all about. Then the band hit San Francisco, played by what all accounts call an amazing show, and promptly disintegrated, Cook and Jones in one direction, Lydon in another and Sid, in the classic rock star fade out, OD'ing in Haight-Ashbury.

But Sid didn't die then. He didn't die on the plane to New York when he OD'ed again. Instead Sid made it back to New York and tried to form a band. And as much as my 15 year-old innocence wanted him to succeed, it became clear that he wasn't the musical talent of the Sex Pistols. Then, Nancy was found dead and Sid was accused of murder. Malcolm McClaren, the Pistols manager stepped in like a blood sucking leach to defend Sid, and for me it was just too much. Sid, released on bail, promptly OD'ed one last time.

I dunno. Like a punk James Dean, Sid Vicious can never grow old. The difference is that James Dean was talented and died in an accident. Some might consider OD'ing an accident, but I don't. Sid was a look with little substance.

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