John Simon Ritchie was born in 1957, and in his short life he
would have fame and money and more. The problem of course was that he could not
handle it, and a bright spark was dead at a very early age.
His name Sid Vicious got his name from Sex Pistol member John
Lyndon who named him after his pet hamster called “Sid” that had bitten John.
The name stuck, and for the rest of his life the Sid surname gave him an image
that really fitted the Sex Pistols anarchic image.
Sid was in his first band “The Flowers of Romance” in 1976, he
also appeared in “The Clash Keith Levine” and was also considered for the “The
Damned” but he never showed up. He joined the Sex Pistols in 1977 after Greg
Matlock had left. He fitted in so well into the group, in fact the manager
later said that he would have considered putting Vicious as the front-man if
Lyndon not been there.
In 1978, things just started to go wrong. The Pistols were deteriorating
on the US tour; it got so bad that the group split up after a concert in
February of that year. Also at this time Sid had met Nancy Spungen, who had
been following many bands and even tried to get with Johnny Rotten, but ended
up with Sid. They both became addicted to heroin and their lives just fell
apart even more, although Sid did play occasionally with the “Clash” and “Rat
Scabies” and ex Pistols member Matlock.
In October 1978 Nancy died at the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan. She
was found by Sid on the floor with a stab wound to her stomach, the stab came
from a knife that Sid had purchased. Sid was arrested and charged with murder.
In his confused and drugged up state he admitted to stabbing her,
but denied killing her. He ranted on how much he loved her, but also how she
treated him like “Shit”. Ten days after this Sid tried to commit suicide by
cutting his wrists; he was taken to Bellvue Hospital, where he was later
charged with assault against Patti Smith's brother. He later was sent to jail for
55 days and was released on February 1st 1979.
On that night he went for
a meal with his girlfriend Michelle Robinson, and he was now clean from drugs.
But during the dinner another party brought drugs along and Sid took some. He
injected three times and was found dead during the morning.
A few days later his mother found a suicide note.
We had a
death pact, and I have to keep my half of the bargain. Please bury me next to
my baby in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots. Goodbye
Then there followed a public argument on where Sid should be
buried. In the end his ashes were scattered in a Jewish graveyard where Nancy
had been buried the previous year. They seemed like a 1970's version of Bonnie
and Clyde.
