TONS OF PHOTOS! 9 FRIENDS ONLY ALBUMS.
Life
Born May 10, 1957 in London, England John Simon Richie Beverly to Ann and John Richie. John Richie soon left them and Ann married Christopher Beverly whom died six months later. Anne made a living off selling drugs. Sid first used drugs with his mother. He met band mate John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten in college. He dropped out of Sandown Court School at the age of fifteen. Rotten dubbed him Sid Vicious after his seemingly harmless hamster Sid bit his dad’s hand. According to Rotten, Sid couldn’t punch his way out of a bag of crisps. He was a harmless guy who tried to live up to his reputation given to him by the media. He squatted with John Lydon, Jah Wobble and John Gray, together they were known as the four Johns.
Music
At concerts he would jump up and down to see the bands on stage, people started imitating him and that’s how the pogo was invented. At one concert he allegedly threw a glass bottle at a pillar and it shattered, blinding a girl in one eye. He also beat journalist Nick Kent with a bike chain for giving the Sex Pistols a bad review. He was not yet in the band, but he was their biggest fan.
Sid started his musical career in the band The Flowers of Romance. He played drums for Siouxsie & the Banshees first gig at the 100 Club in London’s Oxford Street. After Glen Matlock left the Sex Pistols, Rotten and Malcom McLaren had Sid join the Sex Pistols as their bassist. He attempted to learn to play bass but was too wasted to learn. During concerts he was usually turned down or off. Sid’s first concert with them was at the Screen On The Green on February 3, 1977. In the Sex Pistols last concert at Winterland, San Francisco on January 14, 1978 you can hear him play bass live. Sid attempted to have a solo career with Nancy Spungen as his manager.
Nancy Spungen
She was an outspoken, American junkie/groupie who had the intentions of shagging a Sex Pistol. After getting sick of Nancy’s propositions, Johnny Rotten introduced Nancy to Sid. They quickly started a relationship and became dependent on each other. They became deeply addicted to heroin. His band mates made various attempts to separate them, but they always came back to each other, they went as far as kidnapping her. After the Sex Pistols split up they moved into the Chelsea Hotel in New York. Sid and Nancy had a destructive, violent relationship.
No one knows exactly what happened on the night of October 12, 1978 in room 100 of Chelsea Hotel. Sid and Nancy were strung out on drugs, the next morning Sid woke up to Nancy dead on the bathroom floor with a single stab wound to the abdomen. Some say a drug dealer killed her over money, or that Sid did it on accident during a fight with her, another theory is that she did it to herself and Sid was supposed to also, part of a love pact. Sid was arrested accused of murder. Malcom Mclaren convinced Virgin Records to pay the bail of $30,000. He was quoted to have "killed her because I’m a dirty dog.†During his time in jail he allegedly went through drug rehab and was clean.
Death
On February 2, 1979 there was a party for his release from jail. Its said that he slashed his wrists yelling I want my Nancy, I want to be with Nancy. He committed suicide by overdosing on heroin at the young age of 21. Of course since everything has to be complicated there’s a new theory that his mother administered the lethal dose of heroin that caused Sid’s young death. Sid’s mother asked Nancy’s mother if she could spread Sid’s ashes over Nancy’s grave but she didn’t allow it. It’s said that she did it anyways. Others say she spilled his ashes at Heathrow Airport. Sid was an icon of the punk genre, not for his musical talent, but for his lack there of. He had an attitude and lived life not caring what others thought of him. He was the first monster of the hippie generation.
Myths/Stories
According to John Lydon Sid could not figure out how to spike his hair. He tried talcum powder and even shoved his head in the oven, it never occurred to him to use hair spray. Whenever he got a new shirt everyone had to see. In the middle of winter he came to Rotten’s house in his underwear and a shirt asking if Johnny was home because he had gotten a new shirt.
Sid was eating at a diner when a tough cowboy invited Sid to eat with him and his family. Sid grabbed his plate and sat down with them. The cowboy put his cigarette out on his arm and since Sid was supposed to be so tough he challenged him to do the same. Sid took out his switchblade and stabbed his hand and continued eating, his blood dripping on his eggs, the knife still in his hand. The cowboy grabbed his family and left.
At a concert at Dallas, Texas in the Longhorn Ballroom Sid appeared on the stage with the words Gimme a Fix scrawled across his chest. A girl head-butted him and he played most of the show with blood dripping from his nose and down his chest, throughout the show he spat on her. During the show the audience was throwing objects like soda cans on the stage, at one point he hit a man over the head with his bass and they had to stop playing.
