Perhaps no individual personifies the punk music scene of the late 1970’s better than Sex Pistol’s ‘bassist’ Sid Vicious. Vicious, I believe, has attained a mythologised pop-culture status as punks music's James Dean, Marilyn Monroe or Jim Morrison and is perhaps the most universally conceived perception of Punk music. Yet, compared to his contemporaries, Vicious contributed virtually nothing to the musicality of punk (if you watch his live performances his bass is quite often turned off), and never actually recorded with the Sex Pistol’s. So how and why did Vicious become the cult figurehead of punk musical expression?
Vicious was a close friend of Johnny Rotten and joined the band as original bassist Glen Matlock’s replacement in 1977. His introduction to the band contributed The Sex Pistol’s music becoming secondary to image and sensationalism and resulted in their eventual break-up in 1978. Rotten’s closing statement of their final concert: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" signaling the band’s, and possibly punk music’s demise. So what of Sid Vicious, the personification of punk music - the ultimate rock n roll cliché, without the rock and roll? I think it was Malcom McLaren who said: "if Rotten is the voice of punk, then Vicious is the attitude". But is Vicious not a product of media constructed characterisations of the punk music scene placed on stage with punk’s then most commercially successful band as a bizarre form of performance art in antagonism to punk music ideals? Is Vicious not a poster boy from the establishment for the anti-establishment? Is Vicious as Rotten defined "a follower, not a leade"r and the ultimate Sex Pistol’s fan? Is this really the attitude of punk music?
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