The career of John Simon Ritchie (he died as Simon John Beverley, but was known to the world as Sid Vicious) mirrors a cultural change that saw the hippies swept aside by the street rats. Vicious usurped the popularity of Johnny Rotten’s Sex Pistols when his posthumously released single, “Something Else”, outsold the punk heroes’ own “God Save The Queen”. This 25-years-on set is short, brutal and nasty, but it contains a few live items, Squid’s post-Pistols versions of “Belsen” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, plus an unreleased demo of “My Way”. The Vicious cult has abated in recent years, but a new book and various documentaries will awaken interest in this diabolical performer.
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