shittysid!

Sid Vicious

was born in London to John and Anne Ritchie. Anne was a hippie, whereas his father was a guard at Buckingham Palace. Shortly after his birth, John Ritchie left the family. John ("Sid") and his mother moved to the island of Ibiza. She married Christopher Beverley in 1965 before setting up a family home back in Kent. Sid had taken his stepfather's surname and became John Beverly. His stepfather died six months later, and by 1968 Ritchie and his mother were living in a rented flat in Tunbridge Wells where he attended Sandown Court School. In 1971 the pair moved to Hackney in East London. He also spent some time living in Somerset where he was a pupil at Clevedon Secondary Modern. According to the band's photographer, Dennis Morris, Ritchie was "deep down, a shy person." However, he did assault NME journalist Nick Kent with a motorcycle chain with help from Jah Wobble. On another occasion, at The Speakeasy (a London nightclub popular with rock stars of the day) he threatened BBC DJ and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter Bob Harris. Ritchie was given the nickname "Sid Vicious" by John Lydon, after Lydon's pet hamster. The hamster had bitten Ritchie, who said that "[Rotten's] Sid is really vicious!" The animal was described by Lydon as "the softest, furriest, weediest thing on earth." At the time, Ritchie was squatting with Lydon, John Wardle and John Gray. According to John Lydon, the two of them would often busk for money with Sid playing the tambourine. They would play Alice Cooper covers and people gave them money to be quiet.

Sex Pistols
Before joining the band, Sid had associations with The Bromley Contingent, the fashion avant garde that followed the Sex Pistols. According to various publications (such as the biography England's Dreaming by John Savage) and films (namely The Filth and the Fury) Ritchie was asked to join the group after Glen Matlock's departure in February 1977 due to his being present at every gig. Manager Malcolm McLaren once claimed "if Rotten is the voice of punk, then Vicious is the attitude."
McLaren also said in person, and in a documentary, that if he'd met Sid before he had hired Johnny to be the singer, Sid would have been the Sex Pistols front man, because he had the most charisma of anyone on that stage. Alan Jones described Sid as "[having] the iconic punk look Sid, on image alone, is what all punk rests on." His nails would be painted in a sloppy manner with purple nail polish. Ritchie played his first gig with the Pistols on 3 April 1977, at the Screen on the Green in London. His debut was filmed by Don Letts and appears in Punk Rock Movie.
In November 1977, Ritchie met American groupie Nancy Spungen, and they immediately began a relationship (Spungen had come to London looking for Jerry Nolan of The Heartbreakers). She was a heroin addict, and Ritchie, who already believed in his own "live fast, die young" image, soon shared the dependence. Although they were deeply in love, their often violent and rocky relationship had a disastrous effect on the Sex Pistols. Both the group and Ritchie visibly deteriorated during their 1978 American tour. The Pistols broke up in San Francisco after their concert at the Winterland Ballroom on 14 January 1978. With Spungen acting as his "manager," Ritchie embarked on a solo career during which he performed with musicians including Mick Jones of The Clash, original Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock, Rat Scabies of The Damned and the New York Dolls' Arthur Kane, Jerry Nolan, and Johnny Thunders. Ritchie performed the majority of his solo performances at Max's Kansas City and drew large crowds. His final performances as a solo musician took place at Max's.

Spungen's death
Interview footage shows the couple attempting to answer questions from their bed; Spungen's speech is very slurred while Vicious lapses in and out of consciousness. He came very close to death following a heroin overdose and was hospitalised for a time.[citation needed]
On the morning of 12 October 1978, Vicious claimed to have awoken from a drugged stupor to find Spungen dead on the bathroom floor of their room (number 100) in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, New York. She had suffered a single stab wound to her abdomen and apparently bled to death. On 22 November 1978 he was arrested and charged with her murder. Vicious said they had fought that night, but gave conflicting versions of what happened next, saying "I stabbed her but I didn't mean to kill her", then saying he didn't remember and at one point arguing Spungen had fallen onto the knife. Bail of $50,000 was arranged by his mother. On 22 October, 10 days after Spungen's death, Vicious attempted suicide by slicing his wrist, and subsequently became a patient at Bellevue Hospital for 72 hours. Some time after leaving hospital he was charged with assault after an altercation with Todd Smith (singer Patti Smith's brother). Vicious was arrested 9 December 1978 and sent to Riker's Island jail for 55 days. He was released on bail on 1 February 1979.