"A little art with a little sh*t in it, a little sh*t with a little art in it..."
On October 12th 1978 Nancy Spungeon, an ex-prostitute, sometimes stripper and heroin addict, was found dead in a bathroom at the Chelsea Hotel in New York. She also happened to be the girlfriend of the Sex Pistols' bassist Sid Vicious, who was quickly accused of her murder. Less than 6 months later, he died of a heroin overdose and the case was closed.
The death of Sid and Nancy has passed into rock legend and has only added to the controversial and notorious image of the Sex Pistols and punk music.
At the request of Sid's mother, who committed suicide in 1996, rock author and punk expert Alan Parker has devoted himself to discovering WHO KILLED NANCY? By interviewing 182 people and re-examining NYPD evidence, he investigates what really happened that night in room 100.
- 2.22
1978
- Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen were arrested in New York and charged with drug possession.
- 12.06
- 1978
- Sid Vicious smashed glass in the face of Patti Smith's brother Todd during an altercation at New York rock club Hurrah. Vicious was out on bail after being charged with the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen.
- 1.2
- 1979
- The trial of ex-Sex Pistol, Sid Vicious for the October 1978 murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, opened in New York City. Vicious died of a heroin overdose, thereby not living to hear the verdict.
Subject: Who Killed Nancy Spungen?
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 01/11/08 at 2:21
Nancy Spungen (2/27/58--10/12/78) Girlfriend of Sex Pistol's bassist Sid Vicious and mentally ill drug addict.
Sid Vicious (nee John Simon Ritchie, 5/10/57--2/02/79) Sex Pistol's bassist, drug addict, and punk rock icon.This isn't really a question.
Everybody knows the tired old story of how Sid Vicious killed his girlfriend by stabbing while they were on a heroin bender in the Chelsea Hotel, and then Sid killed himself by heroin OD while out on bond awaiting trial.
I'm not a fan of Sid Vicious, but I don't think it's right to assume Sid murdered Nancy. He will always be the main suspect; however, I would not call it "murder" if he did kill her due to diminished capacity brought on by chronic opiate intoxication.
Suspects other than Sid--
Unknown drug dealer(s): Low life scum arrived frequently at Sid and Nancy's room at the Chelsea to feed the couple's habit for cash. It is possible Nancy, an antisocial paranoid schizophrenic, started a fight over price or quantity, or attacked a dealer/bagman for no reason and was consequently dispatched. It is also possible one of these scumbags tried to physically/sexually assault Nancy who tried to defend herself, but was consequently dispatched. Sid might have been too wasted to do anything about it or even be cognizant of what was occurring.
Known drug dealer: For the first time in since 1978 there is a named suspect other than Sid. Philip Strongman fingers Rockets Redglare as the killer in his book "Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk." Michael Morra (aka Rockets Redglare) led about as sordid a life as one individual possibly could. See below.* He once worked for the Sex Pistols as a roadie and bodyguard. He seemed to have had a muddled sense of right and wrong. Rockets was running dope to Sid and Nancy and the night Nancy died she threw a fit at Rockets because he failed to obtain the Dilaudid she craved. She gave him more money and sent him back out. That was HIS story. Perhaps Nancy got in an altercation with Rockets, which turned violent and Rockets, being on dope and crazy himself, consequently dispatched Nancy. Rockets Redglare died of hepatitis-C, morbid obesity, and other complications in 2001. I have not read Strongman's book, but it seems unlikely he has much of a case against Rockets. If Strongman, or whoever told Strongman the story, had compelling evidence against Rockets, wouldn't they go to the police and potentially be the heroes to vindicate Sid and bring Nancy's killer to justice? Yet Strongman didn't point the finger until his accused was dead.
Suicide: Nancy might have been effed-up enough to end it all with a stab to the abdomen, but a stab to the abdomen is hardly a reliable method, and why inflict a painful stab when she had hundreds of dollars worth of opiates flowing into her hands every week which would have delivered a painless OD?
Accident/manslaughter: This is still my theory. You've got two crazy kids locked in a hotel room for weeks and pumping as much dope into their bodies as possible. Throw a big-ass knife into the mix and something terrible is bound to happen. No one will ever really know. My guess is if Sid had gone through trial he would have been found either not guilty due to lack of conclusive evidence or guilty of manslaughter mitigated by diminished capacity due to opiate intoxication. In the latter case, he would have been out of prison within 3 to 5 years.
Drugs are bad. Just say no, mmmkay!(This happened in the '70s, but is really part of pop culture spanning the next three decades)
Subject: Re: Who Killed Nancy Spungen?
Written By: KKay on 01/11/08 at 8:15 pm
hmmm..
I was just thinking about this a few days ago.
I came to the conclusion that it didn't really matter.
and that Spungeon was a weird name.
Also funny that you bring up Rockets Redglare, who was mentioned in something I was reading recently. I can see how this is a viable suspect.I am guessing the suicide line is more feasable.
Subject: Re: Who Killed Nancy Spungen?
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 01/12/08 at 12:58 am
hmmm..
I was just thinking about this a few days ago.
I came to the conclusion that it didn't really matter.
and that Spungeon was a weird name.
Also funny that you bring up Rockets Redglare, who was mentioned in something I was reading recently. I can see how this is a viable suspect.I am guessing the suicide line is more feasable.
Yeah, punks liked to make up gross names for themselves, but Nancy didn't. Spungen was good because she was always spongin' off of other people.I always remember Rockets Redglare as the cab driver in "Desperately Seeking Susan."
"I took some of that sushi stuff home and cooked it, tasted like fish!"
:DSid and Nancy were on a course one might call "suicidal," but I doubt Nancy's death was a premeditated act of suicide. I still say they were both acting in a zombified haze brought on by drugs, illness, and malnutrition. I mean, those kids were sick!
Suburban punks romanticized Sid and Nancy when I was a kid. Alex Cox's movie "Sid and Nancy," starring Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb* also romanticized the couple. Cox depicted the crime, the grime, and the squalor, but it was couched in a tragic manner, which tended to make impressionable viewers see Sid and Nancy too sympathetically. I admit I was one of them.
Twenty years ago I would not have guessed the legend would have survived until 2008. There's a second-hand boutique in Northampton, Mass., called "Sid Vintage." I give pause and say, wait a minute, this kid was no Jim Morrison or Ian Curtis. He didn't actually create anything. In fact, Sid was noting more than a creation of media swindle artist Malcolm McLaren. Sid couldn't play his instrument. He couldn't sing. He couldn't write a song to save his life...literally. He was just an emblem of nihilism. Does this merit 30 years of legend when today's punk kids don't even know who Johnny Thunders or Nina Hagen was? Absolutely not.
I sympathize with Sid and Nancy as human beings who suffered great pain in their lives and didn't stand a chance with the psychiatric problems and drug abuse...but this is not romantic, it's just sad. They were petty criminals with anti-social personalities. They were not creative, conscientious, or kind people in the least.
Philip Strongman naming Rockets Redglare as Nancy's killer is what inspired me to post this, but I think it's worth discussion even without the new intrigue.
Subject: Re: Who Killed Nancy Spungen?
Written By: KKay on 01/12/08 at 8:04 am
Suburban punks romanticized Sid and Nancy when I was a kid.
true; I know we did. it was 77, 78 when it all happened for us as far as the movement goes. any trip to the city inevitably ended with someone saying "let's go to the chelsea" ..jsut so us kids could go stand in front and look at it and thinka bout the the artists and idols inside.even today; about a year ago i was going to the bar downstairs from the hotel...i still think about those days.
Subject: Re: Who Killed Nancy Spungen?
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 01/15/08 at 11:24 pm
true; I know we did. it was 77, 78 when it all happened for us as far as the movement goes. any trip to the city inevitably ended with someone saying "let's go to the chelsea" ..jsut so us kids could go stand in front and look at it and thinka bout the the artists and idols inside.even today; about a year ago i was going to the bar downstairs from the hotel...i still think about those days.
I never thoght the Sex Pistols were any good in and of themselves. Johnny Lydon did turn out to be very talented and creative in later work with P.I.L., but the rest of them were just two-bit street urchins. However, the Sex Pistols were the catalyst responsible for great bands ranging from The Clash to New Order. What happened to Sid & Nancy was tragic--just not romantic. Visiting the Chelsea is cool, IMO. It was the lame-ass suburban punks who used to say "Sid died for our sins!" and all that inane crap that bugged me.Subject: Re: Who Killed Nancy Spungen?
Written By: KKay on 01/16/08 at 8:01 am
yeah, at that time, people certainly could spot crap, but sometimes did not care. there was a fine line between pop crap for $ and art.
Subject: Re: Who Killed Nancy Spungen?
Written By: MaxwellSmart on 01/18/08 at 9:15 pm
yeah, at that time, people certainly could spot crap, but sometimes did not care. there was a fine line between pop crap for $ and art.
- Alan G Parker
WRITER/DIRECTOR
“If we are all truly honest, then let’s be straight about it, he’s forgotten more about rock n’ roll than most of us can actually remember!” Steve Jones/Sex Pistols
With 17 published books to his name, including the best selling "Vicious: Too Fast to Live" and the critically acclaimed "And Now for Something Completely Digital: Monty Python DVD Guide". Alan has worked on a number of TV and DVD documentaries, these include; "Love Kills" (Momentum Pictures), "the Clash: From Westway to The World" (Sony Pictures) and "Final 24" (Cineflix Pictures). He has worked extensively with Grammy award winning director Don Letts. Since 1999 Alan has been a consultant regarding Punk/New Wave and Comedy at EMI Records (he headed the campaign to re-issue the entire Monty Python back catalogue). His most recent book "Sid Vicious: No One Is Innocent" is published by Orion.
FILMOGRAPHY
LOVE KILLS: THE MAKING OF ‘SID & NANCY’ (Momentum Pictures)
GOD SAVE THE SEX PISTOLS (Demon/2 Entertain)
ALL MOD CONS: THE JAM (Universal Records) With Don Letts
BOOKS PUBLISHED
SID’S WAY: SID VICIOUS (Omnibus Press) With Anne Beverley
SATELLITE: SEX PISTOLS (Abstract Sounds Publishing) With Paul Burgess.
RAT PATROL FROM FORT BRAGG: THE CLASH (Abstract Sounds Publishing)
HARDCORE SUPERSTAR: TRACI LORDS (Private Publishing)
THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY FILES (Abstract Sounds Publishing) With Bruce & Nick Reynolds. SONG BY SONG: STIFF LITTLE FINGERS (Omnibus Press)
VICIOUS: TOO FAST TO LIVE (Creation Books)
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIGITAL: MONTY PYTHON (Disinformation /USA) With Mick O’Shea
SID VICIOUS: NO ONE IS INNOCENT (Orion Books)
SLADE: CUM ON FEEL THE NOIZE (Carlton Books) With Steve Grantley.
VIVE LE ROCK: SEX PISTOLS (Publisher TBC) With Mick O’Shea
EXPOSE: SEX PISTOLS WESSEX 1977 (Genesis Books) With Grant Howard.- Christine Alderson
PRODUCER
In 2007 Christine founded Moxie Makers, a more genre driven label with the remit of producing fresh and innovative films on a micro budget. "Who Killed Nancy?" is the first film release from Moxie Makers.- Ben Timlett
PRODUCER
Ben Timlett has produced and post-produced numerous music video's, commercials, DVD releases and narrative films. He has produced for the Sanctuary Music Group as well as Virgin Records and V2 Records for over 5 years, most recently producing Music Documentary DVD release for the band Madness and a BBC documentary about the Sex Pistols titled Never Mind The Sex Pistols.
His narrative productions include Mockingbird, which premiered at the 2005 Edinburgh Film Festival staring Olivia Williams (Sixth Sense, Peter Pan), as well as the critically acclaimed and award winning comedy feature film The West Wittering Affair, released theatrically in the UK in October 2006 and scheduled for theatrical release in the US in September 2007 through Life Size Entertainment. Ben's most recent production is the feature film Chemical Wedding. A horror / thriller written by Iron Maiden's lead singer Bruce Dickinson and starring Simon Callow, released theatrically in the UK in May 2008 through Warner Music Entertainment.IPSO FACTO FILMS PRESENTS A BILL & BEN PRODUCTION IN ASSOCIATION WITH DOUBLE D PRODUCTIONS AND MOXIE MAKERS DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY NICK RUTTER EDITOR BILL JONESLINE PRODUCERS MARGARITA DOYLE HAYLEY MANNING EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS MARK VENNIS GARY PHILLIPS IAN DAVIES SUSAN DOUGLAS PRODUCERS BEN TIMLETT CHRISTINE ALDERSON DIRECTOR ALAN G PARKER © MOXIE 2 LTD
| Contributors | Alan Jones | |
| Steve Dior | ||
| George X | ||
| Peter 'Kodick' Gravelle | ||
| Ned Van Zandt | ||
| Elliot Kidd | ||
| Handsome Dick Manitoba | ||
| Glen Matlock | ||
| Don Letts | ||
| Zoe Hansen | ||
| Hellin Killer | ||
| Howie Pyro | ||
| Alan G Parker | ||
| Kathleen Wirt | ||
| Kenny 'Stinker' Gordon | ||
| Sturgis Nikides | ||
| Leee Black Childers | ||
| Rev Victor Colicchio | ||
| Neon Leon | ||
| Edward Tudor Pole | ||
| Esther Dior | ||
| John 'Boogie' Tiberi | ||
| Keith Levine | ||
| Kris Needs | ||
| Mark Helfond | ||
| Simone Stenfors | ||
| Steve 'Roadent' Connolly | ||
| Steve English | ||
| Viviane Albertine | ||
| John Holmstrum | ||
| Cast | ||
| Sid Vicious | Nigel Marshall | |
| Nancy Spungeon | Sophie Boyes | |
| Victor Colicchio | George Ancock | |
| Michael | Dave Twigg | |
| Detective | Will Cummock | |
| Additional cast | Bradley Gardener | |
| Emory Ruegg | ||
| Tara Mitchell | ||
| Margarita Doyle | ||
| Director | Alan G Parker | |
| Produced by | Ben Timlett | |
| Christine Alderson | ||
| Executive Producers | Ian Davies | |
| Susan Douglas | ||
| Edward Fletcher | ||
| Mark Foligno | ||
| Nigel Foster | ||
| Eve Gabereau | ||
| Ruth Keattch | ||
| Geoff Keattch | ||
| Steve Milne | ||
| Gary Phillips | ||
| Deepak Sikka | ||
| Mark Vennis | ||
| Line Producers | Margarita Doyle | |
| Hayley Manning | ||
| Director of Photography | Nick Ray Rutter | |
| Editor | Bill Jones | |
| Gaffer | Ben Fordesman | |
| Sound Recordist | Peter Gaudino | |
| Narration | Tony Hertz | |
| Researcher | Mick O'Shea | |
| Animation Producer | Nick Ray Rutter | |
| Animators | Steve Lall | |
| Justin Weyers | ||
| Jessica Deacon | ||
| Will Cummock (Will & George) | ||
| George Ancock (Will & George) | ||