Singer

Died On This Date (February 2, 1979) Sid Vicious / Sex Pistols

themusicsover February 2, 2010 2 Comments

Sid Vicious (Born Simon Ritchie)
May 10, 1957 – February 2, 1979

Sid Vicious is best remembered as the bassist for the enormously influential and equally notorious punk rock band, the Sex Pistols.  Vicious’ music career began in 1976 with a band called The Flowers of Romance in which he sang and played the saxophone.  He also played drums for Siouxsie & the Banshees at their first ever gig, 1976’s 100 Club Punk Festival.  It has alson been reported that Vicious was once considered to be the lead singer of the Damned.  He was asked to join the Sex Pistols in early 1977, not necessarily because of his bass skills – he didn’t have any – but because of his punk attitude.  Besides, he had been to every one of the band’s shows thus far.  He played his first gig with the band on April 3, 1977, but what many don’t realize, he did not play on Never Mind the Bullocks.  It was Steve Jones playing the bass parts.  In November of 1977, Vicious met American music lover, Nancy Spungen, with whom he began a stormy relationship that many feel lead to the disintegration of the Sex Pistols along with his own life.  At the very least, she was his enabler as he spiraled deeper and deeper into drug addiction.  After the Sex Pistols broke up during their disastrous 1978 U.S. tour, Vicious tried to mount a solo career with a series of shows at Max’s Kansas City in New York City.  On October 12, 1978, Vicious, according to his own recollection, awoke in the morning after a night of heavy drug use to find Spungen dead of a stab wound to her abdomen.  She had bled out in the bathroom of their Chelsea Hotel room.  Vicious was arrested and charged with the murder after making conflicting statements along with comments that implicated himself.  It should be noted that he was in a drug induced stupor.  Ten days later, he tried to kill himself by slicing his wrists.  Although on the surface, it seemed like an open and shut case against him, there is a strong possibility that Spungen was killed during a robbery or drug deal that turned bad. On December 9, 1978, Vicious was involved in an altercation that lead to his arrest and incarceration.  On February 2, 1979, he posted bail and went to celebrate at the home of a friend.  By this time, he was clean due to his time in a psychiatric hospital following his suicide attempt.  In an unbelievable turn of events, his mother had some heroin delivered to their celebration. Not being able to resist, Vicious took part and died of an overdose early the next morning.  He was just 21 years old.

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