Sid Vicious Sid Vicious Sid Vicious (born Simon John Ritchie, 10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979) was an English bassist and vocalist. He achieved fame as a member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols, replacing Glen Matlock, who had fallen out of favour with the rest of the group. Due to intravenous drug use, Vicious was hospitalised with hepatitis during the recording of the Sex Pistols' only studio album, "Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols"; his bass is only partially featured on one song. Vicious later appeared as a lead vocalist, performing three cover songs, on the
Sex Pistols "one of the greatest, most inspiring rock records of all time". The Sex Pistols directly inspired the style, and often the formation itself, of many punk and post-punk bands during their first two-and-a-half-year run. The Clash, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the Adverts, Vic Godard of Subway Sect, and Ari Up of the Slits are among those in London's "inner circle" of early punk bands that credit the Pistols. Pauline Murray of Durham punk band Penetration saw the Pistols perform for the first time in Northallerton in May 1976. She later explained their importance: Nothing would have happened without the Pistols.