Sid Vicious

John Simon Ritchie (born London 1957) was better known as Sid Vicious, a stage name allegedly coined after his friend John Lydon's pet hamster.

Initially Vicious was part of the Bromley Contingent, the group of followers and fans of the Sex Pistols that consituted the fashion avant garde of the early UK punk rock movement. He began his musical career as a member of The Flowers of Romance, whose other members included Keith Levine and Jah Wobble, who later went on to become members of John Lydon's post Pistols project Public Image Limited. Shortly afterwards he was recruited to Siouxsie and the Banshees, playing drums at their notorious first gig at the 100 Club in London's Oxford Street. He was also part

Vicious, described as being "the ultimate Sex Pistols fan", joined the group after the departure of bass player Glen Matlock in February 1977. Legend has it that manager Malcolm McLaren apparently wanted Vicious in the band because of his looks and punk attitude, this counting far more than any actual playing ability. In fact Vicious was notoriously inept musically, and according to Jon Savage's biography of the Sex Pistols, Englands Dreaming, most of the bass parts on the bands recordings were actually played by guitarist Steve Jones.

Vicious began a relationship with American Nancy Laura Spungen who, legend has it, had come to London "to sleep with a Sex Pistol". Spungen was a heroin addict, and inevitably Vicious, who was already believing in his own "live fast, die young" mythology, came to share this dependance. Although deeply in love with each other, their often violent relationship had a disasterous effect on the Sex Pistols, with both the group and Vicious visibly deteriorating throughout the course of their 1978 American tour. Things finally came to a head at their concert at Winterland on (check date), when Johnny Rotten walked out of the band. Vicious also left shortly afterwards, and with Spungen acting as his 'manager', embarked upon a short and ignoble 'solo career'.