If punk died the day The Clash signed with CBS, no bothered to tell Sex Pistolero Sid Vicious, who took a full two years time before offing himself the day after offing his longtime squeeze, Nancy Spungen, on February 2, 1979. Thus was born Gary Oldman‘s career.
Safety-pinned and dope-sick, Sid’s bass-mutilation act graced Texas only once, when the Sex Pistols played San Antonio venue Randy’s Rodeo on January 8, 1978. Suffice it to say the show went on to live in predictable infamy, thanks in no small part to the fact that Sid used his instrument to bash an audience member in the face.
The icky legend, the junk-punk iconography, only emerged later, with Alex Cox‘s 1986 biopic Sid and Nancy, which wasn’t necessarily the facts but had a good beat and you could pogo to it. Oldman, in his first big-screen role, embodied the walking chaos theory that was Sid Vicious with eerie precision.
Sid would have been 55 years old young clueless today, but the fact that we hold our Lucky Brand jeans together with small steel safety pins tells you all you need to know about the lasting impression this mal vivant made on young punks now old(-er). Light a candle, but try not to nod off while holding it.
This article appears in May 4 • 2012.