Sid Vicious could play the bass

[rufus.K]

I dont want a baby that looks like that.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I'm not even going to address the "rebels" who came to a thread that's clearly about Punk Rock to slam Punk or to comment that they're not interested.
It's not like they opened the thread & then were surprised by the topic at hand!

I do remember reading in Lemmy's "White Line Fever" that Sid came to Lemmy & said he'd been hired by McLaren to play for the Pistols & Lemmy flatly told him that he couldn't play bass, LOL!
I'm also thinking that adequate & competent are basically the same.

A lot of players weren't competent when they first started playing in a band, but then grew into it.

 

[Mushroo]

I don't have a strong opinion about Sid Vicious one way or the other. As Sam Elliot said in the Big Lebowski, "Sometimes there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there."

I did want to drop by and put in a good word for Jonesy. That guy can really play! I bet he'd be a lot of fun to jam with.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Please note: This thread isn't about whether or not you like the Pistols, Sid Vicious or punk music in general. I'm just trying to clear up a common misconception.

Today marks the 41st anniversary of Sid's death. Because of this, a lot of people are remembering him on Facebook and in other places with the mandatory mention heard a million times - that he couldn't play the bass at all.

Quite the contrary: he actually could, and there are a few pieces of evidence attesting to that.

Here's 20 minutes of Sid Vicious in Stockholm in 1977 - plugged in, playing the bass, audible and doing exactly what he's supposed to.



Of course he ain't Jaco or Wooten, or even his more melodic and capable predecessor Glen Matlock. He's playing root notes, having fun and I'd say he's doing a good job.

I'll post three more clips at the end of this post. The first two are of the Pistols live where you can hear Sid playing. The third is the sound check for the infamous final show in San Francisco. You can hear Sid playing some simple Ramones lines and Johnny Rotten at one point asks the sound guys to turn Sid down.

I'd say it's about time to start clearing up the misconception about his inability to play and other things like Sid being unplugged on purpose. Whether you like him or not, he was after all a fellow bass player with a very tragic story. Things would have certainly been different for him if heroin hadn't set in, and there are many people who consider the Pistols among their influences for picking up an instrument and starting to play. I know I'm one of them - there was a time when my teenage self wouldn't stop playing "Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols" and "Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables" by the Dead Kennedys back to back on a continuous loop for days on end.

RIP Sid. No future!

Bah ... terrible playing ... OMG if this is being able to play I am Stanley Clarke ahahah

 

[BurningSkies]

I've always loved the Sex Pistols (along with Generation X, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, etc.). And while I'd definitely say he's certainly holding a bass and hitting a bunch of notes roughly in the neighborhood of in time with the rest of the band...he's not really doing more than that. I don't know though, that this was more than was needed, and/or that when it comes to his role in the band to be the 'punk rawk trainwreck' both on and off stage being a truly competent player was wanted.

 

[Kilgore777]

Just for the record, since you didn’t exactly touch upon it, you do know that any tracks from Bollocks that were not Matlock, bass was overdubbed by Steve Jones in a rooty/riff style(Sid did attempt one session, song title escapes me, but Jones had to clean that one up as well), right? As far as I know, Jones even played bass on “My Way”.

I think that the only track Matlock played on was God Save the Queen (I could be wrong).

Speaking of Matlock.... his being ousted or quitting was the beginning for the end of band IMO. I think they only wrote one or two songs after he left. Sid looked great and fit in better image-wise, but that was about it for me.

 

[BurningSkies]

I think that the only track Matlock played on was God Save the Queen (I could be wrong).

Speaking of Matlock.... his being ousted or quitting was the beginning for the end of band IMO. I think they only wrote one or two songs after he left. Sid looked great and fit in better image-wise, but that was about it for me.

My preference for recordings is the 'demo' source material I have it as 'the Mini-Album' but in my mind it's superior in it's roughness and overall threat level. It was the record I bought first and when I did get a copy of Bollocks shortly after I was disappointed in how polished and toothless it was.

 

[higain617]

Just for the record, since you didn’t exactly touch upon it, you do know that any tracks from Bollocks that were not Matlock, bass was overdubbed by Steve Jones in a rooty/riff style(Sid did attempt one session, song title escapes me, but Jones had to clean that one up as well), right? As far as I know, Jones even played bass on “My Way”.

I think he was credited as playing on “Bodies.”

 

[rashrader]

Yes. He is playing a bass. Nobody can deny that.

 

[lfmn16]

I'm not even going to address the "rebels" who came to a thread that's clearly about Punk Rock to slam Punk or to comment that they're not interested.
It's not like they opened the thread & then were surprised by the topic at hand!

I do remember reading in Lemmy's "White Line Fever" that Sid came to Lemmy & said he'd been hired by McLaren to play for the Pistols & Lemmy flatly told him that he couldn't play bass, LOL!
I'm also thinking that adequate & competent are basically the same.

A lot of players weren't competent when they first started playing in a band, but then grew into it.

Adequate means you can fulfill the absolute minimum standards; competent means you can fulfill those standards well.

Lots of people can bang out a ZZ Top song on bass. Few can play each note the same and in time while having the self discipline to play the bass line as recorded.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

acceptable & satisfactory:

right here^^

You obviously don't like Sid or his playing, why monitor this thread so closely?

 

[-Asdfgh-]

I was a bit of a bass snob as a young man when the Pistols were around, I was trying really hard to be Chris Squire, the antithesis of everything the Pistols were about. I get it now, you don't have to be a great player to have something to say, but who's going to have more ability to speak, the functionally illiterate guy, or the trained writer. Not talking content, just ability to express what's in your head. Sid was an idiot, and Johnny Rotten one of the world's preeminent A**holes based on the few interviews I've seen of him. It's hard to separate the message from the messenger, but when I try, all I hear is mediocre playing at best. Yeah, they were pissed off and socially alienated, which makes them no different than generations of young players who actually took the time to learn to play. Next..........

Yes, no point comparing to Yes as Rotten, at least, liked ELP.

 

[gln1955]

If you lower the bar far enough, anyone can play bass.

 

[dkelley]

Quite the contrary: he actually could, and there are a few pieces of evidence attesting to that.

Here's 20 minutes of Sid Vicious in Stockholm in 1977 - plugged in, playing the bass, audible and doing exactly what he's supposed to.

He could also sing and be a good front man.

I liked sid - the guy learned to do what he needed to do in the band and on his own solo stint, and was seriously entertaining.

 

[dkelley]

Steve Jones was a very cool bassist.... but yea Sid could play live when he wanted to... surprisingly enough. Musician? nope, but able to be one on those rare moments when he gave a crud about it enough to take it seriously....like on my way, he actually cared about that, hence he did a really fun job of the front man job.

Steven Jones was (is?) a great musician who is one of the founding fathers of punk as a legitimate genre, able to play whatever he wanted, and focusing on inventing the sound and style of Punk.

 

[Pings Bass]

Well, he was better than Jaco, anyway.

(ducking)

 

[Lava]

ya... no.

 

[Turbo Sparky]

Sid Vicious was innocent.

 

[Kilgore777]

Sid was an idiot, and Johnny Rotten one of the world's preeminent A**holes based on the few interviews I've seen of him. It's hard to separate the message from the messenger, but when I try, all I hear is mediocre playing at best. Yeah, they were pissed off and socially alienated, which makes them no different than generations of young players who actually took the time to learn to play. Next..........

I don't think Lydon was an A**hole at all... I think it depended on who was doing the interviewing and whether he liked/respected them. And there was the whole "playing to the audience thing." I actually think he's a very smart guy. I have seen some great interviews with him.

As far as them not learning to play well.... wasn't that really the point? They wanted to do so and prove that you could make great music without much prowess and they achieved that goal IMO. And look, isn't that true of a lot of "big," musicians? I know some people may think Dylan is a great singer... me, not so much. But it didn't matter. Other things well made up for his lack of vocal talents. The Pistols re-iterated that you can write a great song and be a great band without being great musicians. It worked for me.

...And, once a lot of the old punks got around to learning how to play (the "Post-Punk" era).... things got really interesting. Punks influence is all over the place these days.

 

[Tubehed]

I don't have anything to add about the bass playing, but "Never Mind The Bollocks" is quite simply a great Rock record. Pretty sure it's recorded in Mono, which is too bad. It deserved a much better mix.

No, it's stereo. The sound is very dense and compressed. Steve Jones' guitar sounds like a Panzer tank! Perfect!