Far Out Forensic Files: The tragic deaths of Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious
Punk’s enduring blaze of attitude or nihilistic dead end is inextricably wrapped up in the tragic lives of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen.
As ever, lives cut short in the world of rock and pop always generate a grim romanticism, masking the very real, damaged human beings behind the deified fascination. Vicious is no exception. A towering figure of punk mythos, the bassist’s short, choppy hair, perennial snarl, and ever-present air of violence still stand as an inescapable symbol of the late 1970s’ musical and cultural upheaval.
Born in south London in 1957 as Simon John Ritchie, Vicious was raised in a severely dysfunctional household, he and his mother, Anne, jumping around various countries with a string of partners while plagued with a gnawing heroin habit. Attending Kingsway College of Further Education in Westminster, key friendships were forged with John Wardle, later to play dub bass for Public Image Ltd as Jah Wobble, and most fortuitously, future Sex Pistols frontman John ‘Rotten’ Lydon.
Before long, regular hangouts at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood‘s Sex fashion store on King’s Road would immerse Vicious in the emerging punk counterculture, lending his amateurish music chops to The Flowers of Romance with Keith Levene and Viv Albertine prior to their respective PiL and The Slits fame, and sit behind the drum kit for the first ever incarnation of Siouxsie and the Banshees at the famed 100 Club Punk Special weekender.
The Sex Pistols would form under McLaren’s impresario management, ‘Anarchy in the UK’ took a hatchet to the establishment, and rock was never the same again. Following bassist Glenn Matlock’s departure in early 1977, Vicious filled the spot with barely any proficiency but an arresting aura beloved by their eccentric manager, deeming Vicious’ hostility as the remaining element in his marketing string-pulling.
It wasn’t long after Vicious had joined the band that Spungen entered the Pistols lore.
Born in 1958 in Philadelphia, Spungen too shared a similar troubled background, displaying aggressive behaviour as a child, spending time in institutions, and being diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teen, and moving to New York City at 17, Spungen survived on a haphazard income of minor music journalism, retail, and sex work, immersing herself in the groupie culture with the likes of Aerosmith, New York Dolls, and the Ramones. Joining The Heartbreakers as they left for the UK in December 1976, Spungen found herself amid the zenith of the London punk scene, crossing paths with Vicious.
The two soon were inseparable. Despite the rest of the Pistols’ loathing of her presence, Spungen and Vicious spent the following 19 months in an infatuated and drug-addled relationship, both sharing a taste for heroin and reported mutual violence. After the band’s tumultuous close in 1978, the young couple resided indefinitely at Room 100 of New York’s famed Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan. It was here that Spungen’s life came to a violent end.
Allegedly, on the evening of October 11th, Vicious had consumed as many as 30 Tuinal pills, a fatal amount of barbiturates for most, slipping in and out of a near-coma through to the early morning hours.
Around 2:30am, Spungen asked if Rockets Redglare, their minder and drug dealer who’d later find fame as an actor and stand-up, was able to retrieve some Dilaudids, a powerful opioid painkiller. Five hours later, a guest heard “female moans” from the room, with Vicious coming around at 10:00am to ask the front desk for help.
Spungen’s body was discovered on the bathroom floor, stabbed in the stomach with a Jaguar K-11 hunting knife. She was 20 years old.
Vicious was charged with her murder, and initially made a confession, but later retractions and a lack of clear evidence resulted in his release on bail, possibly as high as $50,000, plus legal fees covered by Virgin Records. Later, an assault on Patti Smith’s brother, Todd Smith, with a broken lager bottle spelt some jail time in Rikers Island and an extra $10,000 added to his bail.
Holding a gathering at an apartment in Greenwich Village, Vicious was found dead the following morning, February 2nd, 1979, of a heroin overdose at 21 years old, his body discovered by his new girlfriend, Michelle Robinson, and his mother, Anne.
After Vicious’ death, rumours abounded as to who the culprit was who murdered Spungen. Doubts were raised about Vicious’ culpability, alleging his near-comatose state rendered such an act impossible. Perhaps a robbery? Money had been stolen, and it was well known that a cycle of unsavoury characters would pass through Room 100 as part of their hedonistic lifestyle. Author Phil Strongman has even alleged that Redglare was the murderer in 2007’s Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk, sources indicating that Redglare had confessed to fellow drinkers he’d stabbed Spungen after trying to rob them.
Spungen’s killer was never caught, triggering much ire among friends and the punk community as to the perceived lack of will among the NYPD. The couple’s violent end marked a nasty close to the punk story, fuelling the eternal lore around the ‘Sid and Nancy’ mythos that all too often veers into crass mythmaking and lurid fascination. Among his closest comrades, the overwhelming sentiment regarding Vicious’ short but tragic life was one of pity.
“I’m sorry, God, for the day I brought Sid into the band,” Lydon confessed to The Independent in 2009. “He felt so isolated, poor old Sid, because he wasn’t the sharpest knife on the block. The best aspect of his character, which was his humour, just vanished the day he joined the Pistols.”
