During the golden age of punk, John Lydon renamed himself Johnny Rotten on purpose. Throughout his time with Sex Pistols, Lydon would spout off about any artist he thought wasn’t promoting the right kind of rock and roll mentality, labelling many artists as fakes. Even though Rotten can be vicious at times, he did feel some remorse for one of the punk industry’s legends.
Before the music began, John Lydon would not compete with any virtuosos. Lydon did not become the Robert Plant type of frontman when he formed Sex Pistols with Malcolm MacLaren. Instead, he relied on the fundamentals of rock and roll singing as the band blasted power chords beneath him.
Even though many of their songs had simple structures, the attitude they conveyed was rapturous. It paved the way for the punk revolution, later led by bands like The Clash and The Damned. Despite creating great music in the studio, they decided Glen Matlock no longer fit the model they sought.
Firing Matlock for having almost too much musical knowledge, they replaced him with Sid Vicious behind the bass. While he couldn’t tell where his fingers were half the time, Vicious became one of the most recognizable punk icons. He dressed to the nines and exaggerated his rebellious attitude like a spiky-haired James Dean.
Even though Vicious looked the part, he was on the path to self-destruction when he began using heroin. In his relationship with Nancy Spungen, Vicious, too stressed out, played his instrument only half of the time. He focused on where he could get his next fix rather than where he could take his playing.
By the time the band began to disband on their first US tour, Vicious’ life took a tragic turn when Spungen ended up dead in his flat, having been stabbed in the night. Before Vicious could be charged with a crime, he succumbed to his demons and died of a heroin overdose.
While Lydon would return to Public Image Ltd a few years later, he had some regrets about Vicious’ death. Regardless of whether Lydon could have assisted him, he felt that he had led his bandmate down the wrong path many years before.
Lydon would say he still feels enormous guilt for Vicious’s death, saying, “Nancy taught him all of this. He was too young and dumb to know any different. The biggest joke of all is that Sid would never have hooked up with Nancy if I hadn’t introduced him to her. As a result, I accept significant responsibility for Sid’s death.”
While Lydon’s vision for the punk revolution began with shattering any sense of conformity, the aftermath of Sid’s death forced him to pick up the pieces of his band’s self-destruction. Punk may have continued as a movement after the band broke up. But we will remember Vicious as the artist who passed away before he could shine.
