sid vicious playng ability?

[Nykki Madd]

Personally I don't think sid vicious could play very well,and he only recorded 1 song "bodies" with the pistols on bass.Live shows on youtube I cant really tell.The sound quality and picture quality aren't great but from what I read is that he couldn't play well at all.does anyone have any infor,opinions,or facts about this?

 

[OldDirtyBassist]

He was starting to get a steady 8th note pump beat happening, but he got more into drugs and died. He would have gotten better in time, kinda like Adam Clayton of U2.

'Nevermind the Bollocks' is probably my favorite album.

 

[redwookie]

Loved 'Never Mind the Bullocks'.

I've seen interviews with both Johnny Rotten and Malcolm McLaren acknowledging that Sid Vicious was installed in the band by the manager because he fit a marketable image of punk rock. I often wonder how the other guys in the band felt when they found out they had to (try to) play music with a badly playing buffoon. Oh, wait, maybe I do know how they felt....

 

[OldDirtyBassist]

 

[lifeoffroadbass]

I don't think I can hate this guy any more than I already do....oh wait, yes I can.

 

[Son of Wobble]

Used to have a couple vinyl live bootlegs from the Pistols' ill-fated US tour, and these field recordings revealed Sid to be
an abysmal faker as an instrumentalist. And I say that as a true fan.

Dig Lars, too! "Anger is an energy."

 

[jazznrick]

He was starting to get a steady 8th note pump beat happening, but he got more into drugs and died. He would have gotten better in time, kinda like Adam Clayton of U2.

'Nevermind the Bollocks' is probably my favorite album.

Exactly. He was recruited by their manager , Malcolm McLaren, who knew he could not (at the time) play. I think a lot of the time people think that Sid Vicious didn't try or just sucked, but the day he became a basssist is the day he joined the Sex Pistols. It's quite sad actually, he used to take drugs and stay up all night learning the bass, just to forget it all the next day. This was towards the end.

 

[Smoove-Groove]

Didn't one of the road crew play bass back stage while Sid faked it? Thought I'd heard that somewhere.

 

[MegaSwing]

Sid Vicious was a joke from the beginning to the end, which, mercifully for everyone except Nancy Spungen, came quickly. It's all in his name.

 

[Freez]

The only steady thing Sid Vicious ever had going was a raging heroin habit. Give me Glen Matlock any day. You would be hard pressed to find a worse musician in the history of music than Sid, and I mean that very sincerely.

 

[jazznrick]

The only steady thing Sid Vicious ever had going was a raging heroin habit. Give me Glen Matlock any day. You would be hard pressed to find a worse musician in the history of music than Sid, and I mean that very sincerely.

Well the other "Bassist" mentioned in this thread, Adam Clayton comes to mind first.

 

[Goatrope]

Wiki says:

"Vicious asked Lemmy, the bassist of Motörhead, to teach him how to play bass with the words, "I can't play bass," to which Lemmy replied "I know." In another interview Lemmy stated, "Yeah. It was all uphill. And he still couldn't play bass when he died."

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

how is this even a question?

 

[Roland GR 88]

I have 2 bootlegs on vinyl - one from the 100 Club w/ Matlock and their last show at the Cow Palace. There is NO comparison. Matlock could really play. The band was tight and the recording holds it's own even today while the Palace show is a mess of unplugged bass, falling off the shoulder bass and drunken stupor flailing bass.
Can't effin' wait for his 5k signature model to come out.........

 

[bevan lurrito]

Similar to his speling ability.

 

[redwookie]

how is this even a question?

I think the word is 'oxymoron'.

 

[bassrich]

john said he woulda been a good reggae bassist if he lived

 

[ThaCoast]

If you look at the God Save The Queen video, Sid's actually playing the right notes. Although his bass amp might not be on, he's still playing it right.

 

[Son of Wobble]

john said he woulda been a good reggae bassist if he lived

Sounds like Johnny taking a veiled potshot at Wobble.

Great avatar, dude! Although Sid is not one of my favorite bassists, he is one of my very favorite-ever rock icons, and he is also yet one more reason for my irrational Fender Precision fetish.

 

[blindrabbit]

Loved 'Never Mind the Bullocks'.

I've seen interviews with both Johnny Rotten and Malcolm McLaren acknowledging that Sid Vicious was installed in the band by the manager because he fit a marketable image of punk rock. I often wonder how the other guys in the band felt when they found out they had to (try to) play music with a badly playing buffoon. Oh, wait, maybe I do know how they felt....

Yes, McLaren also acknowledged that if he had come across Sid before Johnny Rotten, that Sid would have been the one recruited to be the lead singer. Sid was described as the perfect image for punk, and that's the extent of what he was - image. Perhaps the way to get him into the band should have been to punt Rotten and keep Matlock. I'm sure it would have ended the same way though, with Sid dead.

As for Adam Clayton, the guy has far more talent than anyone gives him credit for, not sure how its even appropriate to mention him in the same breath as Sid Vicious. Has anyone ever listened to early U2 and the great melodic post-punk basslines that Adam played? Good stuff. I wish he would have kept that up a little more.