my Vicious childhood

Andrew Jacobs here,

The very first time that I heard the song “Chinese Rock”, it was neither by The Heartbreakers nor by, as heard on this week’s edition of the Radio Sucks Radio Show, The Ramones.  It was by Sex Pistols’ bassist Sid Vicious on one of the many live albums released after his death from a heroin overdose (natch) on February 2, 1979.

As I’ve mentioned previously a few times, The Sex Pistols was the very first band to become my favorite band of all time when I was 15 years old.  And, of course, Sid Vicious was the very first rock star to become one of my heroes during that time as well.

Here’s a list of some of the things that I have done in the name of Sid Vicious:

• For my 16th birthday in 1986, I all but ordered my parents to shell out $100 to buy me The Sex Pistols’ movie The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle (it was only available as a Japanese import on VHS at the time). This scene with Sid, particularly at the 2:10 mark, is the main reason why I wanted it.  Hey, I was 16 for fuck’s sake!
• Also in 1986, I went as Sid for Halloween that year.  Unfortunately, no pictures exist as far as I know.
• Once again in 1986, I saw the movie Sid & Nancy in the theater on the day that it was released.  Because of my love for Sid, I absolutely hated it.  In fact, 26 years later, I still hate it.
• The very first rock book that I ever read was And I Don’t Want To Live This Life by Deborah Spungen, which was about her daughter Nancy (a.k.a. Sid’s very infamous girlfriend, who he allegedly murdered in 1978).

Nowadays, I don’t think very much of Sid and haven’t since I was a teenager.  However, I simply cannot deny the fact that I sure thought he was fucking cool when I was 16.