Sid and Nancy (Love Kills)

Could someone please ‘splain to me how I managed to miss this movie all these years? Argh!

Since Ken is on a business trip (he’ll get home late tonight), I watched a movie or three that I know he wouldn’t have much interest in watching, either for the first time or as a repeat viewing. We both have our favorites and our dislikes, and we know that if either of us isn’t in the mood for a movie, the other can watch what they choose. For him, it’s repeat viewings of some of my favorites or certain rock and roll movies. For me, it’s anything with Steven Seagal or any kind of Fast & Furious-type stuff. Just not my cuppa, and Steven Seagal just makes me cringe. Anyway, I was in a rock and roll mood last night, so I took the opportunity to watch “Sid and Nancy.” I’ve had a copy for a while, but just hadn’t gotten around to watching it.

Well, shame on me. Feel free to throw safety pins at me, because it is on the verge of inexcusable that someone who is STILL a fan of the Sex Pistols never watched this movie. It’s even more egregious than missing out on “The Boondock Saints” all these years.

Before I comment more on the movie, can we set aside our partisan differences, and whether right or left, gay or straight, black or white, freckle, burn, or tan,  Miley is gross or just a kid finding her own way...can we all just admit that Gary Oldman is one of the finest actors of our time? Holy shit, the guy just disappears into whatever role he’s playing. He just OWNED the Sid Vicious role, getting his mannerisms down perfectly. Whew. Blown away.

Okay. Apparently John Lydon, AKA Johnny Rotten, was not pleased with this movie. He felt that he should have had more of a consulting role, especially because he was one of Sid’s best friends in the early days. He felt like it glorified heroin addiction, portrayed a somewhat glamorous picture of Sid. I love John, and I get his objection to some of the stuff in the movie. But glamorous? Not even close. Sid going on the nod and burning Nancy with his cigarette isn’t glamorous; Nancy throwing it on the floor and starting their Chelsea Hotel room on fire isn’t glamorous. Shooting up isn’t glamorous. Puking in the subway isn’t glamorous. The screaming, tears, blood, and vomit isn’t glamorous. John especially objected to the final hallucinatory scene, in which Sid hops into a cab with a lovely Nancy (who was already dead by this time), saying that it was just awful and made Sid’s death seem somehow a sort of redemption. I have to disagree...I just found it sad and tragic.

I love the Pistols to this day, and I have a soft spot for Sid. But he was a troubled and addicted young man. Some would make the case that he was taken advantage of by Malcolm McLaren and the record company. I wouldn’t argue very hard against that viewpoint. I feel that he was also taken advantage of by Nancy; she was also very troubled. I read a biography of her years ago, And I Don’t Want To Live This Life, written by her mother. I think this was a case of two seriously fucked up individuals meeting and being drawn into a seriously fucked up and mutually destructive relationship. I don’t doubt that they loved each other, but they both had major problems that were only compounded by their relationship. It was like reverse synergy: neither participant benefits from the relationship. It ends up killing them both. Nancy is portrayed in the movie as a real pig. She had her problems, too, but I don’t think you can blame either one for bringing them both down. It was mutual destruction.

Visually, the movie was just lovely. Whether it was crowded club scenes, street scenes, or the scene up there at the beginning of this entry where Sid and Nancy are leaning up against a dumpster with trash raining down all around them as they kiss...if that isn’t a perfect metaphor, I don’t know what is. The soundtrack is fantastic, with Joe Strummer providing the title track “Love Kills.”

The movie was fascinating for me, and man, the Pistols’ music STILL stands up. Sid couldn’t play for shit, but he had a sort of raw talent that was perfect for the time. I think he had a lot of potential, but his addictive personality and the influence of Nancy brought him to an untimely end. I wish he would have lived so we could see what he would become. John Lydon is one hell of a smart businessman and artist, and continues to make music and headlines; Steve Jones is still out there making music; Paul Cook is, too. They all made it through the crazy years, but Sid flamed out so soon. TOO soon.

This movie didn’t make me want to go out and do drugs because Sid and Nancy were somehow “glamorous.” It made me sad and angry that addiction killed them both.

And now…a song

I ran errands this morning and got a little behind on stuff, so while I continue to work on getting my Chicago pictures sorted out (Cubs game coming to this space soon!), please enjoy this musical interlude. It’s a sweet song from Green Day called “F.O.D.” This is not a message to any of my friends, by any means! I just dig the attitude.

Something's on my mind
It's been for quite some time
This time I'm on to you
So where's the other face?
The face I heard before
Your head trip's boring me

Let's nuke the bridge we torched
2,000 times before
This time we'll blast it all to hell
I've had this burning in my guts now
For so long
My belly's aching now to say

Stuck down in a rut of dislogic and smut
A side of you well hid
When it's all said and done
It's real and it's been fun
But was it all REAL fun?

You're just a fuck
I can't explain it 'cause I think you suck
I'm takin' pride
In telling you to fuck off and die

Goood niiiiiiiiight…




Then I was thinking that nobody does the rage face sneer like Billie Joe...but then I thought of some other guys.






And THEN I made you a poll. Who doesn’t love a good pollin’, amirite? If you vote for “Other,” you have to be fair and say who you think does the Sneer better.

Who has the best sneer?

Billy Idol

Billie Joe Armstrong

Elvis Presley

Sid Vicious

Other

Please Specify:

free polls

Beth’s Music Moment: Rolling Stone Archives

Boy, I’m sure doing a lot of Music Moments lately! That’s because I’m having a lot of really good music moments these days!

Today’s came when I was sitting out on the deck catching some rays and catching up on some back issues of Rolling Stone that I hadn’t gotten to yet. Lots of good stuff. One of my favorite features is the back page, where they list the top 40 albums and a few other charts. The part I love the best on that page is the “From the Vault” box, where they show a past cover, a brief quote from whoever was on it, and the top ten singles at the time. Today’s just slayed me. Since I’m a subscriber, I get full access to their online archives, and I spent a brief time there today. I have to be careful there because I could easily get lost in reading old articles!

The issue in “From the Vault” was RS 250, from October 20th, 1977, and it was Johnny Rotten on the cover, with the headline “Rock is Sick.” But what really made me grin was seeing the top ten singles from that week:

1. Debby Boone “You Light Up My Life”
   
2. Carly Simon “Nobody Does It Better”
   
3. Shaun Cassidy “That’s Rock ‘N Roll”
   
4. KC & the Sunshine Band “Keep It Comin’ Love”
   
5. Heatwave “Boogie Nights”
   
6. Foreigner “Cold As Ice”
   
7. Commodores “Brick House”
   
8. Donna Summer “I Feel Love”
   
9. Meco “Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band”
   
10. Johnny Rivers “Swayin’ to the Music (Slow Dancin’)”
    

Now, I don’t hate all of the songs on that list. I think I even had a couple of the records (and “Brick House” is still a blast!). But all in all, it’s a pretty anemic list, and it brought back memories of how boring much of the radio was at that time, and how excited Shane and I were by punk rock and New Wave. We felt like, “YES, this is IT!” Punk was and is always my first love in music, and part of it is because of how exciting it felt to be caught up in it. That is the music of my young adulthood and college years, and they say that’s always what you love the best. That makes sense, because it sort of helps form who you are. Man, I remember that freakin’ Debby Boone song being at the top of the charts for weeks, and it was just so sappy and gagworthy. Shane and I were like, “Screw it, play the Clash and blow the pictures off the walls!” (We really did that once...”Death Or Glory” was the song, and we still laugh about it.)

I won’t argue that it was the most revolutionary change in music ever, because I’m sure people have said that about rap, hip hop, many other genres, and probably even Mozart, for that matter. But it was certainly revolutionary for me, and opened my eyes to a whole different world, one far beyond my small town. I think it’s fair to say that it changed my life. The juxtaposition of that cover and the top ten list brought all that back to me in a flash. Shane and I and our friend Steve were very much in the “Disco sucks!” crowd, although there weren’t too many of us at our school. In fact, I think we might have been it!

Also interesting and pertinent was this quote from Sid Vicious:

“The Stones should have quit in 1965. You never see [them] walkin’ down the street. If it gets so you can’t see us that way, then I don’t want it. But the entire American music industry is poised to turn you into the next big thing. They’ll suck out any integrity the band has.”

The Pistols were essentially a band manufactured by Malcolm McLaren, sort of the Monkees of the punk era. Sid couldn’t play for shit, although Steve Jones, the guitarist, could. The band flamed out in almost record time. But the music still stands up and it still rocks. Of course, Sid is long gone, and Mick and Keith and the guys are still out there making music. There might be a lesson there, but I’m not sure what it is. It’s more than a little ironic, though. Don’tcha think?