Biografías

Punk Originals
Perhaps more than any other figure, the Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious personified what punk rock was about ... anarchy and rebellion. In this 1978 photo he poses with his American girlfriend Nancy Spungen, in New York.

No Future
Simon John Ritchie (born the 10th May 1957 and died the 2nd February 1979), mostly known as Sid Vicious, was the son of Anne Beverley, a singlemother with a history of heroin addiction who brought him up in a poor suburb of London, England.

Battle Scarred
According to manager Malcolm McLaren, "When Sid joined (the Sex Pistols) he couldn't play guitar but his craziness fit into the structure of the band. He was the knight in shining armor with a giant fist." In Dallas, Sid infamously carved the words 'Gimme a fix' into his chest. He wasan orgy of self-destruction.

SPOTS the Difference
Sid became bassist with the Sex Pistols in 1977, who had already caused outrage with their antics on and off stage. To avoid being banned, they played under a secret tour name SPOTS (Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly).

Anarchy in the U.K.
The band sign a short-lived record deal with A&M Records in front of Buckingham Palace, home toEngland's Queen Elizabeth II (under pressure from its own employees, artists and distributors, A&M broke contract with the Pistols six days later). To mark the 25th anniversary of her reign, the Pistols released the anarchic anti-Royal anthem God Save the Queen, which became a punk classic.

Baiting the Audience
Sid performs beside his friend and the Pistol's venomous front man, John Lydon, akaJohnny Rotten. The gigs were often riotous affairs with the band sometimes attacking their audience.

Sid and Nancy
Not long after joining the Sex Pistols, Vicious took up with New Yorker Nancy Spungen. It was a love affair hell bent on self-destruction, immortalized in the film Sid and Nancy. Final CountdownThe Sex Pistols perform their last concert in San Francisco's Winterland, on January 14, 1978. After the performance Rotten addressed the audience directly — "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated? Good night" — before throwing down his microphone and walking offstage. Sid, who was withdrawing from heroin, ran riot throughout the tour. Rotten left the band the next day and the group split up onJanuary 17 (though they would reform during the 1990s).

Too Fast to Live. Too Young to Die
After the break-up Sid took his act to New York. His farewell U.K. gig was in London performing with former Pistol Glen Matlock, under the guise The Vicious White Kids.

Beginning of the End
By the fall of 1978, Sid and Nancy's lives had descended into a cycle of heavy drug abuse. On October 12,Nancy died from a single stab wound. Sid was the chief suspect, but due to drug use he had no memory of the night's events. In this photo, her body is removed from New York's Chelsea Hotel, where the couple was living in Room 100.

Pretty Vacant
New York police charged Sid with murder. It is still unproven whether or not he committed the crime.

Police Escort
Two months after his arrest, afterbeing released from Rikers Island prison for bottling singer Patti Smith's brother, Sid overdosed on heroin.

Doing Things his Way
Considered the most 'Sex Pistol' of them all, Sid is widely regarded as the personification of punk rock rebellion. But, aged just 21, he ended up being just another sex, drugs and rock and roll cliché. Everything he would have hated.

Interviewer: Are you havingfun now?
Vicious: Really? No, I'm not.
Interviewer: Where would you like to be?
Vicious: 3 meters underground.
Interviewer: Do you mean that?
Vicious: (quietly and sadly) Yes.

SID VICIOUS QUOTES:

* I'm not vicious really. I consider myself kind-hearted. I love my mum.
* I'll probably die by the time I reach 25. But I'll have lived the way I wanted to.
* Well, you know,...