Why John Lydon blamed himself for the death of Sid Vicious
John Lydon rechristening himself Johnny Rotten during the golden age of punk wasn’t an accident. Throughout his time working with Sex Pistols, Lydon would run his mouth about any artist that he thought wasn’t promoting the kind of rock and roll mentality that he thought they were supposed to, christening many artists as fakes. Even though Rotten may have his vicious side now and again, he did feel a bit remorseful about one of his fellow legends of the punk industry.
Before the music began, though, Lydon wouldn’t give any virtuosos a run for their money. When forming Sex Pistols with Malcolm MacLaren at the helm, Lydon would not become the Robert Plant brand of frontman, relying on the rudiments of rock and roll singing as the band blasted power chords underneath him.
Even though many of their songs relied on simplistic structures, the attitude they brought across was rapturous, leading the way for the punk revolution to come with bands like The Clash and The Damned. For all of the great music they created in the studio, it was decided that Glen Matlock didn’t fit the model for what they were looking for anymore.
Having almost too much musical knowledge, Matlock was sacked to make way for Sid Vicious behind the bass. While he may not have been able to tell where his fingers were half the time, Vicious became one of the biggest stars in punk history, looking the part to a tee and playing up his rebellious attitude like a spiky-haired answer to James Dean.
Even though Vicious looked the part, he was on the road to self-destruction when he started to get involved with heroin. Forming a relationship with Nancy Spungen, Vicious would be too strung out to play his instrument half the time, focusing more on where he could get his next fix than where he could take his playing.
By the time the band started falling apart on their first US tour, Vicious’ life would turn tragic when Spungen was found dead in his apartment, having been stabbed in the night. Before Vicious could get charged with any crime, he would eventually succumb to his demons, passing away after a fatal overdose of heroin.
While Lydon would re-emerge with Public Image Ltd a few years later, he did have some regrets about Vicious’s passing. Regardless of whether or not Lydon could have helped him, he felt that he steered his bandmate down the wrong path many years ago.
Lydon would say he still feels tremendous guilt for Vicious’s passing, saying, “Nancy taught him all of this, and he was too young and dumb to know any different. And the biggest joke of all is that Sid would never have hooked up with a girl like Nancy unless I introduced her to him. So I take some serious responsibility in Sid’s demise because of that”.
While Lydon’s idea for the punk revolution began with tearing down any sense of conformity, the aftermath of Sid’s passing left him having to pick up the pieces of his band’s self-destruction. Punk may have continued as a movement after the band folded, but Vicious will always remain the one artist who was taken before he had a proper chance to shine.
