Editing Sid Vicious (section)

== Sex Pistols (1977–1978) ==
[[File:SexPistolsNorway1977.jpg|thumb|left|The Sex Pistols (Vicious left, Steve Jones centre, and Johnny Rotten right) performing in Trondheim in 1977]]
In February 1977, Sex Pistols' manager McLaren announced that Glen Matlock had been "thrown out of the band" because "he liked [[the Beatles]]", and that he had been replaced by Vicious. In his autobiography ''I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/event/420316-glen-matlock-i-was-a-teenage-sex-pistol/|title=  Glen Matlock brings I Was a Teenage Sex Pistol show to 2014 Edinburgh Festival Fringe|publisher=[[Edinburgh Festival]]|   archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140720100438/https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/event/420316-glen-matlock-i-was-a-teenage-sex-pistol/  | format = Event listing   |  archive-date  =  20 July 2014 |access-date   =   13 June 2022 |date=30 July 2014}}</ref> Matlock says he quit because he was "sick of all the bullshit".{{sfn|Matlock|2012|pp=113–119, 162, 167–171}} In the 2000 documentary ''[[The Filth and the Fury]]'', the band members agreed that there was tension between Matlock and Rotten, but Matlock says that those tensions were aggravated by McLaren, who wanted to generate chaos in the band as a creative mechanism, and as a way of building the band's image. He wanted Matlock to leave, and to replace him with Vicious, saying "if Johnny Rotten is the voice of punk, then Vicious is the attitude".<ref name=TSG>{{cite web|work=[[Shields Gazette]]|title=Punk icon Sid Vicious died on this day in 1979|date=2 February 2016|url=https://www.shieldsgazette.com/news/punk-icon-sid-vicious-died-on-this-day-in-1979-372946}}</ref>

Vicious had become the Sex Pistols' uber-fan, never missing a concert. He was encouraged to be drunk and disorderly, with Wobble saying, "Sid was offered up as a sacrificial lamb by the people around the Pistols. None of them would have gone over the top. He was their kamikaze pilot, and they were all too happy to strap him in and send him off."<ref name="auto7"/>

In March 1977, the Sex Pistols were signed to [[A&M Records]]. In celebration, they trashed the company's offices, and then held a private party at [[the Speakeasy Club|the Speakeasy]], a club and restaurant frequented by established members of the London music scene. The Sex Pistols members confronted the [[BBC]] DJ [[Bob Harris (radio)|Bob Harris]], who was the presenter of the ''[[Old Grey Whistle Test]]'', a television show which featured non-chart music. Blocking Harris behind the bar, broken bottles in hand, they demanded to know when they would be on the show. A bar fight ensued. Vicious jammed a broken bottle into the face of BBC recording engineer George Nicholson. Harris was rescued by the [[Procol Harum]] road crew, who grouped around him and escorted him out of the club, where they found that police had had to cordon off the entire block. None of the Sex Pistols were arrested but, the next day, A&M dropped them and [[Capital (radio network)|Capital]] Radio banned all Sex Pistols music from its stations.<ref>{{citation|title=Bob Harris talks about being attacked by Sid Vicious |  via   = YouTube    |  format = Book reading   |date=25 October 2008|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mUO8LmzdeI |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/5mUO8LmzdeI| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live|access-date=28 October 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Vicious played his first gig with the Sex Pistols on 3 April 1977, at [[The Screen on the Green]];<ref name="Gig Archive">{{cite web |title=Gig Archive |url=https://www.sexpistolsofficial.com/gig-archive-1975-2008/ |website=sexpistolsofficial.com |publisher=Sex Pistols |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> his debut was filmed by [[Don Letts]] and appears in ''[[Punk Rock Movie]]''. But he could not play well and had no bass experience, so guitarist Steve Jones played bass on the band's debut album, ''[[Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|first=Tim|last=Quirk|title=Never Mind the Bollocks {{!}} Steve Jones {{!}} Talks at Google|date=17 September 2012|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXoba6T2fTc|access-date=3 March 2021|website=[[Talks at Google]]}}</ref> Vicious was allowed to play bass on one track, "[[Bodies (Sex Pistols song)|Bodies]]", but his contribution was later overdubbed by Jones. He also missed most of the band's rehearsals and recording sessions because he was in hospital with [[hepatitis]], likely caused by [[intravenous drug use]].<ref name="Jones 2017 194">{{cite book |last=Jones |first=Steve |title=Lonely Boy|publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2017 |page=194 |isbn=978-0-306-82481-4|oclc=967589025 }}</ref> By this time, Vicious was using heroin, with many believing that his mother was his supplier.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Meisfjord |first1=Tom |title=The Truth About Sid Vicious' Mother  |url=https://www.grunge.com/192180/the-truth-about-sid-vicious-mother/ |work=Grunge Magazine |date=4 March 2020 |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> [[Dee Dee Ramone]] had seen him shooting drugs on more than one occasion, and Rotten's friend John Gray had found Vicious shooting speed while he was still living with his mother; Vicious told him that the drugs were "me mum's".<ref name="auto3"/>

Also in 1977, Vicious met [[Nancy Spungen]], an American groupie living in London, who had a life-long history of unstable mental behaviour and was also a heroin addict.<ref name="auto2">{{cite magazine |last1=Wakeman |first1=Jessica |title=Nancy Spungen Found Dead at Chelsea Hotel |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/flashback-nancy-spungen-found-dead-at-chelsea-hotel-118648/ |date=12 October 2017 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> Spungen, who had initially set her sights on Rotten and who supported herself by alternately dealing drugs<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hynde |first1=Chrissie |author-link=Chrissie Hynde|title=Chrissie Hynde: 'No one was particularly surprised'...Sept 2015 |url=https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/books/chrissie-hynde-no-one-was-particularly-surprised-when-sid-vicious-killed-nancy-spungen |newspaper=National Post |date=10 September 2015 |access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref> and working as a topless dancer,<ref name="The trial of Sid Vicious">{{cite news|last1=Jaffee |first1=Larry |title=The trial of Sid Vicious |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/09/from-rocks-backpages-talk-talk-sid-vicious-nancy-spungen |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|location=London |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> made herself useful on the King's Road scene by procuring drugs for musicians. She and Vicious became inseparable, which caused problems with the band, whose members did not like her; McLaren admitted to planning to have her abducted and forced onto a plane back to the United States.<ref name="MMc">{{cite web |last1=McLaren |first1=Malcolm |title=Sid Didn't Kill Nancy |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/web/20170618032346/http://www.thedailybeast.com/sid-didnt-kill-nancy |website=Daily Beast |publisher=IAC |access-date=13 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170618032346/https://www.thedailybeast.com/sid-didnt-kill-nancy |archive-date=18 June 2017 |location=New York |date=4 February 2009 |quote=Pistols boss also claims Vicious' mother smuggled him heroin!}}</ref><ref name="auto6">{{cite web |title=Malcolm McLaren: 'Sid didn't kill Nancy' |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/sex-pistols-32-1302521 |date=6 February 2009 |work=NME |access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite web |last1=Ott |first1=Tim |title=Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen, Apr 2020 |url=https://www.biography.com/news/sid-vicious-nancy-spungen-love-murder |website=Biography.com |date=2 April 2020 |publisher=Biography |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> Vicious and Spungen had a volatile relationship; Vicious played nursemaid when she was sick and was shy and polite with her mother, who reported watching Spungen cut his meat for him. On the other hand, Spungen was known to be verbally abusive and physically aggressive. Vicious may have facilitated Spungen's occasional prostitution (and watched). According to Rotten's wife Nora Forster, Vicious often hit Spungen and, in her last conversation with her mother, Spungen admitted that beatings which she had previously said were at the hands of strangers actually came from Vicious.<ref name="auto3"/> They shared an infatuation with knives.<ref name="The trial of Sid Vicious"/>

Beginning in July, with Spungen in tow, the band went on a Scandinavian tour, then toured the Netherlands and the UK.<ref name="Gig Archive"/> On 28 October 1977, their only album, ''Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols'' was released and, due in part to notoriety (particularly of the song "[[God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols song)|God Save the Queen]]"), and in spite of sales bans at major retailers, the album debuted at number one on the UK Album Charts and went gold on 17 November. It remained a best-seller for nearly a year, spending 48 weeks in the top 75. It is frequently listed as the most influential punk album of all time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Classic Albums: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSrRRMvLY0k |via=YouTube |access-date=13 June 2022 |location=UK |format=Retrospective/reminiscence  |publisher=Isis/Eagle Rock Entertainment   |date=19 November 2002}}</ref>

On 24 December 1977, the Sex Pistols played The Royal Links Pavilion, [[Cromer]]; the next day, the band played two shows at Ivanhoe's in [[Huddersfield]], [[West Yorkshire]]. It was during the national Fire Brigades Strike and the band performed a matinee for the children of firefighters.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ballinger |first1=Lauren |title=The Sex Pistols in Huddersfield: Dec 2015 |url=https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/sex-pistols-huddersfield-punk-legends-10646267 |website=examinerlive.co.uk |date=25 December 2015 |publisher=West Yorkshire News |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> In the 2013 documentary ''Never Mind the Baubles: Xmas '77 with the Sex Pistols'', Lydon claimed that Vicious had to be warned not to be the "hardcore, tough rocker bloke" in front of the children. The track of Vicious singing the [[Johnny Thunders]] song "Born to Lose",<ref>{{cite web |title=Sid Vicious – Born To Lose | date=30 June 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsnQ3x4qgIs |via=YouTube |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> which appears on ''[[Sid Sings]]'', was recorded during this performance, as Vicious stepped in when Lydon left the stage to pose as [[Father Christmas]]. These were the Sex Pistols' last performances in Britain, until the original members reunited for the [[Filthy Lucre Tour]] in 1996.<ref name="Gig Archive"/>

In January 1978, the Sex Pistols embarked on a two-week USA tour. There was rising tension within the band. Rotten was barely speaking to anyone. [[Warner Bros.]], which organized and staffed the tour, insisted that Vicious clean up his heroin habit, so he was using [[methadone]]. He was in a constant state of semi-withdrawal and furious that the band had blocked Spungen from accompanying them on the tour. McLaren had long been keeping Vicious on rations of $14.00 (US) a week but he still managed to find drugs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Ebert |first1=Roger |title=Anarchy in the U.K...Feb 1986 |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/anarchy-in-the-uk-my-life-with-sid-vicious |website=rogerebert.com |date=14 December 2012 |publisher=Roger Ebert |access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref> To make matters worse, McLaren, ever eager for more chaos and careful that journalists were on-scene, booked the band, not into the clubs of New York, but into bars in Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas.<ref name="auto">{{cite magazine |last1=Greene |first1=Andy |title=The Sex Pistols Come to a Chaotic End, Nov 2012 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/flashback-the-sex-pistols-come-to-a-chaotic-end-57410/ |date=20 November 2012 |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> In [[San Antonio]] on 8 January, Vicious felt antagonised by an audience member and struck him on the head with his bass.<ref name="auto7"/> Before the Sex Pistols took the stage of the [[Longhorn Ballroom]] in [[Dallas]] on 10 January, Vicious carved the words "gimme a fix" into his chest with a razor (later joking that "if you try to kill yourself [with a razor to the chest], it won't work"). He greeted the audience by calling them "cowboy faggots"; in return, he was struck by a full can of beer to the head.<ref>Lydon, p. 244</ref> The next night, 11 January, he punched a hole in the Green Room wall after the band's show at [[Cain's Ballroom]] in [[Tulsa]].<ref>{{cite news |     url = https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/movies/it-was-40-years-ago-this-week-that-cains-ballroom-hosted-the-sex-pistols/article_c63ccd33-d993-5c70-85f5-a6e12519f1ed.html | format = Mag | access-date  = 13 June 2022 |work=TulsaWorld |   publisher   =   BH Media Group, a Berkshire Hathaway Company |last1=Smith |first1=Michael |title=It was 40 years ago this week that Cain's ballroom hosted the Sex Pistols |date=7 January 2018 |location=Oklahoma}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/movies/the-sex-pistols-played-cains-ballroom-42-years-ago-see-pictures-of-that-jan-11/collection_11cf1d08-3098-5f12-801c-0ca554389eda.html|title=The Sex Pistols played Cain's Ballroom 42 years ago – see pictures of that Jan. 11, 1978 show|website=Tulsaworld.com|location = Oklahoma | last = Galbraith | first = Richard | format = Photo essay | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220601013438/https://tulsaworld.com/entertainment/movies/the-sex-pistols-played-cains-ballroom-42-years-ago-see-pictures-of-that-jan-11/collection_11cf1d08-3098-5f12-801c-0ca554389eda.html |  date  = 11 January 2020 |  archive-date  =   1 June 2022 | quote = It was 42 years ago that the Sex Pistols took the stage at Cain's Ballroom, the home of Bob Wills and Western-swing music. Check out these photos from that night of 11 Jan. 1978 |access-date=13 June 2022}}</ref> It was long rumoured that at their 14 January show at the [[Winterland Ballroom]] in San Francisco, Vicious did not bother to plug in his bass at all, although video from the show makes it clear when Jones's guitar cuts out during "Bodies" that Vicious was both playing bass and the right notes.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=November 20, 2012 |title=Flashback: The Sex Pistols' Final Gig |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/flashback-the-sex-pistols-come-to-a-chaotic-end-57410/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118171751/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/flashback-the-sex-pistols-come-to-a-chaotic-end-57410/ |archive-date=January 18, 2024 |access-date=2024-06-03 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}</ref> There is also a pre-show soundcheck audio recording where Rotten says to turn Vicious down because his bass was too loud.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Sex Pistols – No Fun – 1/14/1978 – Winterland | date=17 September 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3K3uAlyNL5o |via=YouTube |access-date=5 February 2022}}</ref> At the end of the show, Johnny Rotten uttered the famous quote "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?", marking the end of the Sex Pistols.<ref name="auto"/>