Groundhog Day: 25 Years Since Sid V's Death

[MindGoneHaywire]

Based on the 'Sid Sings' album I never held out much hope that he could've done much that would've been really good had he lived; and that's in spite of what I thought were damn good vocal performances on the Eddy Cochrane covers on 'Rock And Roll Swindle.' Still, props to him for having the Heartbreakers be his back-up band; and a cursory mention that the death of Nancy Spungen left unanswered questions (such as the fact that their Chelsea Hotel room was burglarized the day she was killed). Sid always vehemently denied murdering her. The guy was a junkie, a bad one. But was he a liar? A murderer? He did attack Patti Smith's brother violently, an incident that, according to Please Kill Me, was basically unprovoked & unnecessary. He does come off like a total @$$hole in that story.

Getting back to whether or not he was guilty...him being dead, ultimately I don't really care beyond the sympathy one has for the family of the victim, and the sadness at the loss of life. But...I've never seen any instance where anyone had a good word to say about Nancy Spungen, either. Regardless, this guy was one of the least credible instrumentalists ever to achieve the level of notoriety that he did, and that's worth a mention, if nothing else. Oh, and I'm not putting on Never Mind The Bollocks to think about it, because that's not him playing bass. But I might watch Swindle or, more likely, D.O.A., which is actually a good watch.

Who knows, maybe if he'd lived & sobered up he would've done something along the lines of what people like Mike Ness or David Johansen have done--mature work that leans away from punk & more towards roots styles like country, folk, & blues. Sid didn't have the talent these guys did--but he did have a presence & in going from Siouxsie & the Banshees to the Pistols to Johnny Thunders' crew he displayed an ability to surround himself with people more talented than himself. Sometimes that's all it takes in order to be able to put a decent piece of work together.

[nobody]

What? No love for Sid? Sure, the guy was a train wreck, but he had style.

And, like J mentioned, he may have been musically inept, but he must have had something figured out if the three bands he picked to get with were Siousie and the Banshees, the Sex Pistols, and Johnny Thunders's boys. At the very least, I have to compliment his taste. And, his cover of My Way was as good as the stuff the Pistols did in my opinion. Kinda summed things up nicely.

Don't know that he would have done much if he had lived, but you never know. I wouldn't have been surprised to see him come up with something interesting, just by getting in a room with the right people if nothing else. I always liked his cover of Somethin' Else.

Maybe that would have been it. He could have become the world's greatest Punk Rock, cover-tune, human-jukebox