FX's 'Pistol': Did Sex Pistol's Sid Vicious kill girlfriend Nancy Spungen? Here's the truth behind the claim
The Sex Pistols is regarded as one of the most influential bands in history and started the punk rock movement in the UK. The band’s original members – John Lydon, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Glen Matlock – gained a lot of recognition for their music. However, in 1977, Matlock was replaced by Sid Vicious. The band members fought with each other and Matlock was thrown out of the group.
Vicious, whose real name was John Simon Ritchie, joined the group as the bassist and achieved international fame during his time with the band. However, his addiction to drugs stole everything from him. He was not one of the greats, but he had the attitude of being a complete bada**. During his time with Sid Vicious, he played at several venues and was a part of the infamous US tour that ended everything for Sex Pistols.
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While playing for the band, he also met a girl named Nancy Spungen and began a relationship. Within two years of their relationship, both Vicious and Spungen died. While Vicious died from an overdose, Nancy was brutally killed.
So, who was Nancy Spungen, and who killed her? Was Sid Vicious involved in Nancy’s murder? Let’s find out.
Did Sid Vicious kill Nancy Spungen?
A lot of things have been said and written about Nancy Spungen. She was even considered to be one of the reasons for the band’s breakup. In reality, she was a great human being and graduated high school at the age of 16. She enrolled at the University of Colorado but dropped out after she was arrested for buying drugs from an undercover cop in 1975.
After leaving college, she went to New York City and became an integral part of the punk rock scene. She was frequently hanging out with different bands and established herself as one of the groupies. However, everything changed when she visited London in 1977. She met Sid Vicious there and as soon as they were introduced to each other, they were inseparable. They both were addicted to drugs and were responsible for taking each other’s addiction to a whole new level.
On one hand, Vicious’ time with the Sex Pistols was nearing its conclusion and on the other, Nancy was going berserk with all the drug-related problems. We can say that they were together walking toward their doom. In early 1978, John Lydon suddenly announced that Sex Pistols is over and they won’t be performing together now. The entire world was shocked to hear that, but Vicious didn’t care about that because he was already down with a heavy drug overdose. He was even taken to the hospital right after the US tour because of heroin addiction.
However, in the fall of 1978, Nancy and Sid checked into the New York City’s Chelsea Hotel. Sid was planning to work on his solo career, but he was too busy doing drugs. Nancy accompanied him everywhere and their hotel room became a hot spot for all the junkies to have a good time. People were doing drugs at all times and the couple was also clicking pictures that made everyone realize what kind of life they were living. On October 11, 1978, they slept after having a heavy overdose of drugs and when Sid woke up, he never knew it was the last time he’ll ever see his Nancy.
The bassist saw Nancy on the bathroom floor, covered in her own blood with a knife wound in her abdomen. Police arrived and it was revealed that she bled to death. No one else was present in the room at the time, so Sid was taken into custody as the prime suspect because the knife used to kill Nancy was identical to the “007 flip knife” that the band’s bassist purchased. However, when he was arrested he was not in his senses and had taken drugs. Initially, he said that he and Nancy fought with each other and stabbed her, but he never meant to kill her. After giving several bizarre reasons, when he came to his senses, he said he didn’t remember what happened.
Almost 10 days after Nancy’s death, he also tried cutting his wrist and attempted suicide, but he was taken to the hospital on time. “I want to be with my Nancy,” he said while trying to jump out of the window.
Sid also had a tragic end and four months after Nancy’s murder, the bassist from Sex Pistols also died from a drug overdose. As soon as he died, the New York Police Department (NYPD) closed the case of Nancy’s murder.
Was someone else involved in Nancy Spungen’s murder?
One theory suggests that Rockets Redglare, the drug dealer who used to provide drugs to Sid, killed Spungen. According to Phil Strongman’s book ‘Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk’, Spungen caught Redglare stealing money from their hotel room so he stabbed her in her abdomen and killed her.