When Mick Jagger paid to try keep Sid Vicious out of prison in 1979: “Accidents are going to happen”
Rock stars are about as far away from lawyers as one can get, but when punk poster boy Sid Vicious was slapped with a murder charge in 1979, it was Mick Jagger who came to his aid. After all, The Rolling Stones have had their fair share of legal dealings over the course of their illustrious career.
Vicious and the Sex Pistols attracted the attention of the law on multiple occasions during their rise to punk infamy during the mid-1970s. Even before the bassist joined the ranks of the band, in fact, the Pistols represented the defiant voice of an anarchic new generation, and the establishment of the United Kingdom was expectedly antagonistic towards the band’s very existence.
By 1979, though, Vicious found himself in far deeper, murkier water when his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, was found stabbed to death in their New York hotel room.
If you pore over interviews from the architects of England’s punk scene, you would be hard-pressed to find any flattering quotes about the Philadelphia-born Spungen, but it is worth remembering that Sid Vicious was already deep in the throes of heroin addiction when the pair met. Nevertheless, over the course of their relationship, the pair became increasingly indebted to the needle, which inevitably culminated in tragedy.
“Her death is all entangled in mystery,” Vicious’ Sex Pistols bandmate John Lydon later told Uncut. Although there was no conclusive proof, nor any admission of guilt, all evidence seemed to point to Vicious as the killer, including the fact that Spungen’s stab wound was inflicted by a knife that the bassist owned.
“It’s no real mystery, though,” Lydon countered. “If you are going to get yourself involved in drugs and narcotics in that way accidents are going to happen.”
Accident or not, Vicious quickly found himself arrested, charged with second-degree murder, and facing a $50,000 bail fee. Given that any money the musician had was invariably shot up his arm, he didn’t have much of a hope of getting off. Unexpectedly, though, Mick Jagger quietly swooped in to pay for the punk’s lawyers.
“The only good news is that I heard Mick Jagger got in there and brought lawyers into it on Sid’s behalf,” Lydon shared, praising the generosity of the Rolling Stones frontman. “Because I don’t think Malcolm [McLaren, Sex Pistols manager] lifted a finger. He just didn’t know what to do.”
“For that,” he continued, “I have a good liking of Mick Jagger. There was activity behind the scenes from Mick Jagger so I applaud him. He never used it to advance himself publicity-wise.”
Exactly why Jagger felt the need to come to Vicious’ aid remains a mystery. He wasn’t, for instance, in it for the publicity, because Jagger never made much of a song and dance about paying for those lawyers. Nor, it would appear, was he acting out of appreciation for his fellow musician, given how openly the frontman criticised the punk scene when it first emerged.
Regardless of his motivations, Jagger’s well-meaning rescue of Sid Vicious was rather short-lived. Before a trial or much of an investigation could occur, the bassist took a fatal overdose shortly after leaving a detoxification programme at Rikers Island. In the immediate aftermath, many of his acquaintances suggested that his death was deliberate and even that he and Spungen had a suicide pact together.
Given the lasting mystery and controversy surrounding the death of Sid and Nancy, the fact that Mick Jagger paid to try to keep Vicious out of a jail cell is one that is often omitted from the story, not least by Jagger himself, who has never spoken openly about the incident or why he felt compelled to intervene.
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