Sid Vicious Sexy

The name John Simon Ritchie probably doesn’t ring a bell but his moniker Sid Vicious is sure to register with most. Before Sid was charged with the stabbing death of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, his claim to fame was being the heroin-addicted, self-destructive, replacement bass player for the infamous punk rock band the Sex Pistols. The painfully thin, spikey-coiffed performer may have spent more time messing with his hair and spitting at audience members than actually playing his instrument. But, at least, he looked like a rock star while doing it. When the Sex Pistols broke up in 1978, Sid wasn’t ready to lose his notoriety. With Spungen egging him on, he made a go at a solo career, earning attention for his tone deaf cover of Frank Sinatra’s bread and butter ballad “My Way”. But heroin and the lack of talent got the best of the fellow, and he soon met a depressing demise at the age of 21. Even though he is gone, his likeness lives on via Vicious portrayals by Gary Oldman in the biopic Sid and Nancy (1986); Louis Partridge in the miniseries Pistol (2022); and Travis Barker’s 2021 Halloween costume. But before Sid overdosed and left this earth, he appeared in the music flick The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (1980) wherein he stripped down to a skimpy thong and lip-synced his way through a cover of the Eddie Cochran hit “Something Else”. While watching the topless bloke’s bulge, we can definitely say Sid is something else!