On This Date, February 2nd, in 1979: Sex Pistols’ bassist Sid Vicious (Born Simon John Ritchie) died of a heroin overdose in New York City. He was 21 years old. Sid did not live a long life, and that is a shame. But he was such a mess when he died, it is difficult to speculate on the type of person he might have become had he never met/murdered Nancy Spungen, and eventually gotten his act together. Some people just aren’t built to last (see also Darby Crash and Kurt Cobain), so maybe it’s a moot point to even entertain such thoughts as what he might be like in his fifties, if he were alive today.

I recently watched the Sex Pistols mockumentary, The Great Rock & Roll Swindle (thank you Netflix for making this possible) and really enjoyed it. The Swindle, not unlike Sid, is a huge mess, but is nevertheless wild nostalgic fun – especially for its inclusion of the videos for “Silly Thing,” sung by Pistols’ drummer Paul Cook and “Lonely Boy,” performed by guitarist Steve Jones. Those songs are awesome. You can also see Sid’s iconic rendition of “My Way,” as well as Eddie Cochran’s hits “C’Mon Everybody” and “Something Else.” Worth adding to the queue, for sure. Rest in Peace, Sid.