Punk Is Dead

Well, it was in England.  By this time in early '79, the whole punk thing was over in the UK.  (Later in the year we'll see Goth rise from those ashes.)  And on this day in 1979, the Clown Prince of Punk was dead.  John Simon Ritchie, better known as Sid Vicious, died of an overdose on February 2nd, the day after he got out of Riker's Island where he was being held after an arrest for an assault on Patti Smith's brother.  His mother gave him the heroin. 

He had also been charged with murder in the death of his girlfriend Nancy Spungeon which was still hanging over his head.  We'll never know what really happened.  He did, however, leave a suicide note, which his mother found after he'd been cremated:  "We had a death pact. I have to keep my half of the bargain. Please bury me next to my baby. Bury me in my leather jacket, jeans and motor cycle boots. Goodbye".

He was sanctified after his death, with grafitti and t-shirts proclaiming, "Sid Died For Your Sins".  Whatever.  He has remained a, if not the, punk icon.  As Malcolm said in Sid and Nancy:  "Sidney's more than a mere bass player. He's a fabulous disaster. He's a symbol, a metaphor, he embodies the dementia of a nihilistic generation. He's a fucking star."  That he was.

Bonus trivia:  I got the report when I turned the evening news on that night... from Walter Cronkite.