History Music / SidVicious

* NoAnimalsWereHarmed: In "My Way" he adlibs a line about "killing a cat".

* IronicNickname: His name came from the fact that he was actually useless in a fight and wasn't known as very violent or dangerous at all.

* LeadBassist: Type C, with a giant, 72-point "C".

Vicious' career started in 1976 as a member of The Flowers of Romance. He later appeared with Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees and was considered lead singer for Music/TheDamned, but according to him he was deliberately kept out of the audition. During a concert of The Damned he got drunk and high and hurled his glass at band member Dave Vanian out of revenge, but missed. This partially blinded a girl in one eye and Vicious was arrested and imprisoned the next day. This was just the first of a number of run-ins with the laws, caused by his AddledAddict lifestyle. Apart from alcohol he was addicted to heroin, a drug that [[WithFriendsLikeThese his beloved mother had introduced to him]]. His drug problem got worse when he met groupie Nancy Spungen, who also frequently shot up.

-->\\\[[Music/JohnLydon John Lydon]]''': ''Sid couldn't punch his way out of a bag of crisps!''

-->[[Music/JohnLydon John Lydon]]: ''Sid couldn't punch his way out of a bag of crisps!''

--> [[Music/JohnLydon John Lydon]]:''Sid couldn't punch his way out of a bag of crisps!''

--> [[Music/JohnLydon John Lydon]]:''"Sid couldn't punch his way out of a bag of crisps!"''

* AbsenteeActor: Or rather Absentee Musician. Vicious didn't play any bass on ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'', except for the song "Bodies", but even there most of his work was buried under overdubs. Other band members Steve Jones and Glen Matlock usually did these bass parts.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: After his death Sid Vicious became a punk legend and an icon of teen rebels in the '80s and '90s. He is considered more true to the spirit of the genre because he could never grow old and turn into a superstar who betrayed his ideals.

* DestructiveRomance: Vicious' romance with Nancy Spungen was an endless of cycle of fights, drug abuse and make-up sex. He had major self-control issues and suffered from addiction problems even before heroin addict Nancy came into his life. She was a self-medicating, violently unstable schizophrenic runaway stripper destined for an early grave, and persuaded him to enter a SuicidePact with her, which was apparently the subject of their final, drug-addled argument. It's impossible to know who made whose life shorter, but tragedy was inevitable and some have referred to it as a tragic romance worthy of Shakespeare.
* DreadfulMusician: Zig-Zagged. Most of the "Sid Vicious can't play" examples cite events that happened immediately after he was hired, since previously he had been a drummer, saxophonist and singer. While they weren't letting him play bass in concerts, he showed interest in improving for the recording studio, at least until Nancy came along.
** Regarding the bass on ''Never Mind the Bollocks'', Steve Jones said "Sid was in a hospital with hepatitis, so he couldn't really play, not that he could play anyway."
** Supposedly, he once told [[Music/{{Motorhead}} Lemmy]] "I can't play bass". Lemmy's reply? "I know". However Paul Cook and Keith Levene have both said that Sid Vicious did become a fairly competent bassist with practice.
** Also worth mentioning that the manager stated he would have hired Sid Vicious to be the singer if it was an option, a logical choice given that Sid seemed to be able to hit notes far more accurately than Lydon when one compares their vocal performances.
** Vicious apparently once stayed up a whole night on speed with a bass guitar and Music/TheRamones' [[Music/{{Ramones}} debut album]], practising along to the record until morning, by which time his playing had been greatly improved.
* DrivenToSuicide: He attempted to kill himself twice after Nancy's murder, apparently wanting to complete the suicide pact he made with her. Whether his death was a successful suicide attempt or just an overdose is unknown, since he had just been bailed out and completed a detox program.

* LeadBassist: Type C, with a giant, 72-point "C" [[DreadfulMusician (and he couldn't even play!)]]
* MyBelovedSmother: [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Sid was very close to his mother]]. She even introduced him to heroin, and gave him his final fatal dose.

Vicious' career started in 1976 as a member of The Flowers of Romance. He later appeared with Music/SiouxsieAndTheBanshees and was considered lead singer for Music/TheDamned, but according to him he was deliberately kept out of the audition. During a concert of The Damned he got drunk and high and hurled his glass at band member Dave Vanian out of revenge, but missed. This partially blinded a girl in one eye and Vicious was arrested and imprisoned the next day. The first of many run-ins with the laws, caused by his AddledAddict lifestyle. Apart from alcohol he was addicted to heroin, a drug that [[WithFriendsLikeThese his beloved mother had introduced to him]]. His drug problem got worse when he met groupie Nancy Spungen, who also frequently shot up.