Sid burst upon the scene in 1977 when he was drafted in by Johnny Rotten to replace Glen Matlock in the Sex Pistols. Glen had fallen out with the others. The irony was that Glen could play and Sid couldn’t. But he was John’s friend and he looked good. Besides – it was Punk. All you needed was attitude.
Having said that the Sex Pistols were not only a breath of fresh air but Johnny wrote some amazing songs.
Sid didn’t last long. He rapidly entangled himself with Nancy Spungen and heroin and ended up probably murdering her and killing himself with a overdose.
I’ve only been in love with a beer bottle and a mirror.
I think a lot of the attitude was fabricated. He was a good looking lad out of his depth. The violence and attitude was a cover. He was quite mild mannered really.
I just cash in on the fact that I’m good looking, and I’ve got a nice figure and girls like me.
That was the problem. He didn’t have a lot of talent – just attitude.
I’m not vicious really. I consider myself to be kindhearted. I love my mum.
His mum supplied him with heroin!
You just pick up a chord, go twang, and you’re got music.
Hmmmm – probably the problem. There’s a bit more to it than that. The novelty wears off.
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Poor Sid. His drug addiction was a slavery, I’m sure. Probably the most self destructive person I have ever heard of.
I am sure that insecurity was the base of it. To be thrust into the limelight without the talent to back it up must have been bewildering. His mum didn’t help.
These surely can’t be the best quotes you could find?
Maybe more than 5 seconds of research could fix that.
Lydon doesn’t think he murdered Spungen and is pretty certain it was dealers who they owed money.
That is possible though Johnny was very taken with Sid wasn’t he? He’d likely cover.
There are probably some other great quotes out there but I quite liked those.
They were best friends in teenage years.
Why would he ‘cover’ for him 34 years later when he stated this?
There’s a couple of hours worth of interview available.
I dunno? Maybe he believes it? Maybe it’s what happened? I don’t think anybody really knows. It seemed out of character for Sid but things can get out of hand. It was crazy.
I think Lydon would be well aware of his money problems, he certainly knew all about Spungen’s NY associates and the probabilities of danger within the Chelsea Hotel, where they rented a room, where half the ‘residents’ were armed and extremely dangerous dealers.
Out of character?
Sid was a stupid very immature kid who hadn’t even formed a character and got off on sharing sweeties with 12 year old school children, which were about his level.
He hadn’t a clue what he was doing with heroin, nor how to handle it. If he did, he may well be here today.
Sadly for him he opted for cheap, dirty Black Tar which simply clogs up the blood stream and it’s curtains.
Whereas, fine quality heroin has some incredible properties and when used in definite controlled quantities will enhance the life span of human organs by as much as 20%.
As you say – he wasn’t a violent person, not too bright and out of his depth.
Very hard to control heroin. I’ve seen a number of people mess their lives up. Burroughs managed it. With illegal stuff you are in the hands of some unsavoury people for quality.
An experienced user just has to taste it to know what they’ve got. All street drugs are subject to adverse quality, not just smack. Which is exactly why they should all be legalised.
I would agree with that. Prohibition has not only been a failure but is a most stupid policy. It has created a far bigger problem. Altering minds is a human preoccupation.
Take the US for example. Many more than the above average rate of alcoholics were created during the prohibition years.
Dope smoking with young people are at a much lesser level in Holland than UK.
Heroin addiction is at a lesser lever in Holland than UK and even Switzerland, of all places.
Yes, agreed. A very confused kid in a confusing time, to say the least!
I saw the Pistols twice. After Sid was long gone and they had taken Matlock back. A gripping band, nonetheless!
Unfortunately I never got to see them. Would have loved that. Lucky you. I’m envious.
Wasn’t one of their best attended shows in the UK the one in the prison?
The city council banned their gig here.
It seems the establishment of today run riot right across the board. These stupid council bozo’s recently closed down a great venue because some stupid kid died after an illegal high drug.
The kid probably had an undetected ailment in the first place as nobody dies after one ecstasy tab.
I am not sure about the best attended show — when they hit the US the establishment went nuts (as usual).
Now-adays I guess no rock band can really ‘shock’ any more. It’s all been done, haha!
I have the DVD from the Dallas show, remarkable footage with Sid covered in blood and an audio LP of the last show in San Francisco.
I think you’re very own GG Allin was the ultimate in shock.
I’ve seen a few snippets from that show. Looked kind of scary!
Not really as all he’d done was slam his guitar into his nose.
At least he found some good use for the guitar.
GG Allin was scary. You wouldn’t want to be in the front row at any of his gigs.
You’ll find him on youtube. I suggest that you not be eating anything as you watch.
I didn’t see how he got so bloody. I thought they were chucking stuff at him!!
I’ll have a look on You Tube when I get time. Busy moving. All a bit fraught!
The establishment went berserk – the Pistols were a danger to civilisation!
Nobody, even his friend John Lydon (he confirmed that later), realised Sid was going down… just because NOBODY CARED (enough) to help him! NOBODY!
Absolutely not true at all.
Lydon knew all about Sid’s heroin issues. He hated Spongen for introducing him to it.
How do you ‘help’ anyone who chooses to spend their time in the company of Johnny Thunders & known associates?
How do you ‘help’ anyone sent for 2 months to Riker’s Island jail on remand?
How do you ‘help’ anyone who upon the day after their release decides to buy some bad smack and injects it?
Absolutely true.
1/ Lyndon said it several times: “I should looked after Sid more than I did. I will regret that for the rest of my life.”
2/ Like I said nobody cared enough. Nobody protected him for himself, nobody was around. They probably ALL said ” you can’t help a junkie, why bother, let him die”.
For goodness sake – your quote has Lydon speaking in general terms some 25 years on retrospectively – he’s saying as just about anybody probably would.
You’ve misunderstood the context of that quote.
However, originally Lydon had expressed himself somewhat more carelessly with something like “Poor Sid, silly boy”.
Also the fact that Lydon in `78-79 was now into a new thing completely as this was a whole year after any Pistols stuff had finished. Sid had long left his immediate circle.
There were many people doing smack in the music scene in the late 70s and Lydon would have known a number of them. Many others died.
Ref your point 2 – … did you envisage them all still living together like the Monkees or something? The guy was 21 doing his own thing on his own terms.
They might have been manufactured like the Monkees but I did not envisage them living together. After the split I’m not sure how much contact they had. Not a lot I imagine. It must have been full on.
I can’t imagine Sid coping well. There were lots of unscrupulous people wanting to milk his celebrity and I’m sure the expectations were great. The pressures were beyond his ability to contain. The H was an escape. He was little boy lost.
I think it was more that they were trying to salvage themselves from the wreckage of the Pistols and Sid got left to his own devices.
I guess you try to talk to them. You have influence from long-term friendship. That must count for something? But in the end there is little that can be done. But at least you can try.
It was rock ‘n roll, not the Royal Ballet and he’d damaged his ankle and would never dance again!
He was owed nothing by anybody.
Most people get thrown out of bands because of their drug problems. This didn’t happen to him did it?
Basically, he was a thick as two short planks childish idiot.
I still feel sorry for him. They brought him in, threw him in at the deep end and scarpered.
What sanctimonious twaddle.
Pete Best survived, didn’t he?
Even Jimmy Winston!
They didn’t assault Nick Kent with a bike chain and threaten Bob Harris or hurl a glass and blinding a girl at the 100 club.
The Pistols didn’t bring him in out from the blue.
He’d dabbled with Keith Levine in Flowers of Romance, played with Siouxsie & The Banshees and could have joined The Damned. He was well into the scene beforehand.
Basically he was a rotten piece of hooligan shit that I cannot possess any sympathy for.
He was certainly hanging round the scene and trying to get in everywhere but he was useless. They only took him for effect. All that violent stuff was part of the act though wasn’t it? He was just another crazy, lost, mixed up kid. As daft as a brush.
Threatening Bob Harris was probably an act but not the other violent acts. I’m surprised the girl’s family never got hold of him.
He was pretty much abandoned as everybody split to try to do their own things.
Try talking to a smack head and tell them different. Guaranteed failure.
As for abandoned, for goodness sake, he barely recorded anything – nothing at all on Bollocks and only played (for want of a better term) a handful of disaster gigs.
Nobody owed him anything.
I know smackheads are not very open to listening. But I do think he was abandoned and not equipped for that world. He was all front – the big punk. I don’t think he was capable of doing anything. His gigs were disastrous.
I think they did owe him. They elevated him and put him there.
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
You’ve got to love Sid!!