Sid Vicious: 5 Reasons For Enduring Legacy 34 Years After His Death

By Matt Aspin /

Yesterday marked the 34th anniversary of the death of Sid Vicious. The 21 year old bass player who shot to fame as a member of anarchic punk band The Sex Pistols was found dead by his mum Anne Beverley in his bed just days before his trial for the murder of his American groupie ex-girlfriend Nancy Spungen. An autopsy confirmed that Vicious - real name John Simon Ritchie - died from an accumulation of fluid on his lungs, something commonly found among heroin users. No one has ever proved Vicious was guilty - many blaming the death on a drug dealer who took advantage of Sid's comatose state to frame him after a deal went bad. With all parties no longer among us, it's a safe bet we will truly never know what really happened. To mark the occasion of the death of an iconic figure in the British music scene we look at 5 of the most enduring examples from his legacy, and remember him not for what he is alleged to have done but for the Punk Rock icon that he has become and the embodiment of Punk that he always was.

5. The Pogo

Sid Vicious is often credited with creating the now infamous 'dance move' known as The Pogo in which a person stands with their arms by their sides and simply bounces up and down in an uncontrollable fashion, just like a pogo stick. Legend has it Sid was getting tired of not being able to see the stage from where he was standing one night so he started jumping up and down on the spot. Mistaking this as a dance move the kids in the audience started to mimic the young John Richie and thus the only real dance move for the Punk generation was born.