‘Final 24’: How did Sid Vicious die, was it a ‘suicide pact’ with girlfriend Nancy Spungen?
As ‘Final 24’ explores the final 24 hours of English bassist and vocalist Sid Vicious, one question that reverberates through fans' minds is — how did the Sex Pistols band member die? Over 40 years after his death on the evening of February 1, 1979, he still remains one of punk rock's biggest mystery.
Reportedly, he was found dead of a heroin overdose at a party where he was celebrating his bail after his late girlfriend Nancy Spungen's death with a small group of friends, including Jerry Only of the Misfits and future D Generation founding member Howie Pyro. A New York Daily Times report read, "The 21-year-old rock guitarist and former member of the Sex Pistols was found naked in the Greenwich Village apartment of his current girlfriend, Michelle Robinson."
While he was on a detoxification methadone program, Vicious's friend delivered drugs at the dinner gathering and was found unconscious by his mother, Anne Beverley, early the next morning. The New York Daily News report stated that Beverly "had stayed overnight in an adjoining room of the apartment at 63 Bank St. Beverly and had gone into the bedroom at 11:30 am to wake up Vicious for an appointment with the police." It also reads that his girlfriend at the time, Robinson, "an unemployed actress, was lying in bed beside him, asleep."
After his mother called the cops, "a team from the Medical Examiner's Office spent most of the afternoon in the apartment questioning the two women" according to the same report. Much later after his death, his close friend photographer Eileen Polk said in the book 'Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain' that due to his bad reputation, no funeral home was willing to hold a burial for the musician.
Moreover, he also said that he wanted to be buried with Nancy Spungen. In the same book, it is also said that Vicious' mother traveled to Spungen's Philadelphia home and asked if she could scatter his remains over Spungen's grave but Spungen's mother denied the request. Despite the refusal, it is believed that Beverly still drove to the grave and scattered his ashes there. Not just that, Vicious's mother claimed that his death was not accidental but the result of a suicide pact.
She claimed that after Vicious was cremated, she found a handwritten note in the pocket of Vicious' leather jacket, according to Independent. Reports say the note read, "We had a death pact, and I have to keep my half of the bargain. Please bury me next to my baby. Bury me in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots. Goodbye."
The truth is still not known. His tragic love story and death remain a conundrum and a puzzle waiting to be solved. ‘Final 24’ premieres on Wednesday, June 3 at 9 pm. ET/6 pm PT on AXS TV.