Birthday: 10 May 1957, Lewisham Hospital, Lewisham, London, England, UK
Birth Name: John Simon Ritchie
Height: 185 cm
Along with fellow Sex Pistol member, Johnny Rotten, lanky, sneering, pock faced Sid epitomised the punk movement born in the mid 1970s in working class England. Sid Vicious (real name John Beverly) wasn't an original member of the Pistols, but rather joined the band after original bassist, Glen Matlock dropped out after personality clashes wit...
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Along with fellow Sex Pistol member, Johnny Rotten, lanky, sneering, pock faced Sid epitomised the punk movement born in the mid 1970s in working class England. Sid Vicious (real name John Beverly) wasn't an original member of the Pistols, but rather joined the band after original bassist, Glen Matlock dropped out after personality clashes with lead singer Rotten. On stage, Sid (often stripped to the waist) would incite the audience to get wilder and more frenzied, and his infamous antics included spitting and spraying beer into the audience. The British establishment despised the Pistols with a passion, and Sid was viewed as a crude, foul mouthed hoodlum corrupting English youth with his unclean image. Unfortunately for a naive Sid, he fell into the company of alleged drug user, Nancy Spungen, and his world spiralled out of control leading to the break up of the Pistols (their last show being in San Francisco), and Sid's lame attempts to kick start his own solo career, which included a demented cover of the popular Frank Sinatra song "My Way", accompanied by a violent video clip. Vicious and Spungen took up residency in the Chelsea Hotel in New York City in early 1978, however their self destructive personalities meant a tragedy was fast approaching, and on October 12th 1978, Spungen was found dead in their hotel room from stab wounds. Vicious was charged by police with Spungen's murder and released on bail, pending trial. However, only four months later in February 1979, Vicious himself was found dead of a heroin overdose. Sid was dead at aged 21. His will requested his ashes be poured over Nancy's grave at the King David Cemetery in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Along with Janis Joplin, Brian Jones & Jimi Hendrix, Sid had assured himself a place in rock and roll history, as another iconic music figure dead at a young age. Show less «
On John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten: "John's just jealous because I'm the brains of the group. I've ...Show more »
On John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten: "John's just jealous because I'm the brains of the group. I've written all the songs, even from the beginning when I wasn't in the group." Show less «
On what EMI thought the Sex Pistols were: "We weren't the nice boys they thought we were. And, we we...Show more »
On what EMI thought the Sex Pistols were: "We weren't the nice boys they thought we were. And, we weren't nice boys, we were fuckin' nasty little bastards... and we still are. Show less «
When there are no more categorizations; when there are no more "niggers", when there are no more "wh...Show more »
When there are no more categorizations; when there are no more "niggers", when there are no more "whites", when there's just "people", you know, when there's no more "punks" when there's no more "dirt", that is when everything is gonna be OK. Show less «
On drugs: "I don't want to be a junkie for the rest of my life. I don't want to be a junkie at all."
On drugs: "I don't want to be a junkie for the rest of my life. I don't want to be a junkie at all."
[towards the end of the Sex Pistols career] "In the end I was the only one with any anarchy left in ...Show more »
[towards the end of the Sex Pistols career] "In the end I was the only one with any anarchy left in me." Show less «
I got this feeling I'm gonna die before I get old. I don't know why. I just have this feeling.
I got this feeling I'm gonna die before I get old. I don't know why. I just have this feeling.
[Talking about joining the Sex Pistols] I was getting my own group together; "The Flowers of Romance...Show more »
[Talking about joining the Sex Pistols] I was getting my own group together; "The Flowers of Romance", and John (Lydon) said to me - there was this big hoo-haa, and Malcolm was saying "it's all a big secret man, you know. Come down to this pub at such-and-such", and I thought they were gonna do me over cos I didn't turn up to one of Rotten's parties or something - he gets touchy over things like that. And they said "do you wanna play bass for The Sex Pistols?" Show less «