In Defense of Nancy Spungen - 30 Years Later

Most people remember Nancy Spungen, the doomed, peroxided lover of Sid Vicious, as Chloe Webb portrayed her in the movie Sid and Nancy. Staggering, stoned, and shrieking "SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!" as she trips down the sidewalk. She has been portrayed as punk rock's Yoko Ono; the destructive force behind The Sex Pistols' ultimate failure and Vicious's death a mere four months after he confessed to stabbing Nancy and passing out from barbiturates, leaving her to bleed to death on a bathroom floor in the Chelsea Hotel 30 years ago this month.

But is this a fair portrayal of the 20 year old groupie? Was Nancy simply a strong, outspoken girl who didn't fit in to the punk scene and was therefore reviled? And more fascinating still...Did Sid really kill her?

New York Magazine recently profiled Spungen in a surprisingly sympathetic way, describing her as not a harpy, but as a whip-smart, tough as nails young woman who knew what she wanted, and got it, giving the finger or a fist to anyone who got in her way. She kept Vicious awake during interviews, promoted the struggling bands in the NYC punk scene, and even gave musicians a place to stay in her apartment. Spungen had decided that even though she wasn't a musician and didn't want to be, she was going to be a major part of the punk rock movement, and no one was gonna fuckin' stop her.

Legs McNeil, who wrote the outstanding oral history of punk, Please Kill Me, defends Nancy and her antics, saying:

“Nancy was no more fucked up than anyone else on the scene,” he says. “She wasn’t any more fucked up than Dee Dee [Ramone] or me. Joey [Ramone] was paranoid schizophrenic. Joey pulled a knife on his mother. We were all a little disturbed.”

So what was it that made Nancy Spungen so hated? The way she is portrayed in Sid and Nancy is repugnant. She has no redeeming qualities in the film, and her voice alone is enough to make your teeth hurt. On several of the countless viewings I have had of the film, more than one person has muttered, "Thank God," when Vicious stabs her. Lead singer Johnny Rotten blames her for all the trouble the Sex Pistols ran into, and Spungen's own mother disavows her in her autobiography. But other than being a woman, what made her any more obnoxious than anyone else in the scene? Punk rock was SUPPOSED to piss people off. So why do we shrug off Nancy's death and not her alleged killer's?

I say "alleged" because although Vicious confessed to the stabbing, many people who knew the couple don't believe that Sid killed Nancy. Author Alan Parker has an upcoming documentary called Who Killed Nancy? debuting soon that explores the subject. One former acquaintance of the couple calls Vicious so "hen pecked" that he would never have killed Nancy  "unless she asked him to."

Would people have been more outspoken about the mystery of Nancy's death if she was more liked and accepted in the scene? Or is the Punk Rock Romeo and Juliet too good of a story to give up? After all, the same people who say Sid didn't kill Nancy also suspect Courtney Love killed Kurt Cobain, so maybe all of this should be taken with a grain of salt.

There is one thing, though, that I am certain of. That Nancy Spungen was more than she's been given credit for, and it is sad that it has taken 30 years for people to start realizing that.

Victor Colicchio, another survivor of the '70s punk scene, describes Spungen this way:

“She was highly intelligent and very aware,” he says. “She could spot someone conning her a mile away. She had good insight into people. She was aware of phonies and fakes and users. She did display that wild, crazed behavior, but it wasn’t her total being."

It's quotes like this that make me think that if Nancy had lived, perhaps she would have been another Sharon Osbourne, someone who understood the lifestyle, but saw through it for what it really was. Perhaps Nancy was just ahead of her time. Perhaps punk rock just wasn't ready for Nancy Spungen.

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Comments

[Marmite Breath]

Her Mom wrote a book years ago called "And I don't want to live this life" which I thought gave a good insight into who Nancy was before all the Sid stuff.

I've never seen the movie. I should, right?

[jenn]

Amen! I couldn't agree more. Why can't Nancy be seen as a strong woman?
As far as being blamed for the demise of the Sex Pistols? They were going to self destruct with or without Nancy Spungen. (and I say that as a fan of the Sex Pistols.)

[dayment]

I second the recommendation for "And I Don't Want to Live this Life" by Deborah Spungeon. It's a fascinating story of Nancy's completely bizarre behaviour from her BIRTH, and it's VERY well-written.
I definitely think she's a large element of punk's history, and this book tells a lot of it.

[Kathy]

Staggering, stoned, and shrieking "SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!" as she trips down the sidewalk. She has been portrayed as punk rock's Yoko Ono; the destructive force behind The Sex Pistols' ultimate failure

Unfortunately, that's the only image most people have of her. I've tried to find her mom's book (I'm guessing it's long out of print), but no dice. I'm pretty sure my local library doesn't have it.

[sweetney]

women are almost always derided and called bitches for possessing character traits that are viewed as noble and admirable in men.

the world is seriously fucked in this manner. it never ceases to amaze me and fill me with rage.

[sweetney]

women are almost always derided and called bitches for possessing character traits that are viewed as noble and admirable in men.

the world is seriously fucked in this manner. it never ceases to amaze me and fill me with rage.

[theclevermom]

Reading this made me feel really good. Thanks.

[mamatulip]

I was really in to punk rock when I was a teenager and was all over the Sex Pistols. I read And I Don't Want to Live This Life during that time and the Nancy that you learn about in that book, the Nancy that her mother details, is not the Nancy that was portrayed in the movie, or in the media. It's a must-read for anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of who was beneath the fishnets and the peroxide...and sadly, the drug addiction.

Great post.