El Sid: Saint Vicious

by David Dalton

Examines the life of Sid Vicious, the infamous late member of the Sex Pistols, and argues that this mindlessly violent, nihilistic, self-destructive young man was the perfect rock 'n' roll icon

Genres: Music, Biography, Nonfiction, Punk

Hardcover

First published August 1, 1997

Reviews

[Kate Peckham · Rating 2 out of 5]

And thus ends my short-lived obsession with Sid and Nancy and the Sex Pistols. This book was so very annoying. It had a few quotes that I had never heard before and that was interesting. But the tone of the writing is obnoxiously self-aware. The fake Sid diary bits on the side of the page written in Cockney dialect were a bridge too far. About halfway through I just stopped reading those.
I have noticed a lot i. My reading this year that what I really enjoy about books is the FLOW; and immersion into a story whether it’s fiction or non. Footnotes, quotes on the side of the page, side bars— these all destroy irreparably the flow of a book. Not a fan.

I gave it two stars because the last few chapters were engaging. Not so with the rest of the book.

[Ken Mcintyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretentious but in a good way

[soskinnyy · Rating 2 out of 5]

sid is innocent btw

[Katya · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is definitely worth reading to better understand the phenomenon of punk. Writing is smooth and intelligent with a hint of humor that immediately draws you in and leaves you begging for more. It is a devour-in-one-night kind of book. Being less of a biography of Sid Vicious, it is rather an exploration of punk as a socio-cultural phenomenon. I’m on the fence about the so-called pseudo Sid diary inserts, but you can easily disregard them. All in all, it is a fascinating reading from the cultural history point of view that gives you a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of punk as well as social culture and human nature in general. Although it is fun any light, It gets you thinking and might challenge your understanding of the some things. I will definitely re-read it at some point.

[Elisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

ma che roba è? non c'è NIENTE di Vicious qui dentro....un 10% scarso! Una brutta, inutile, confusa, pseudobiografia dei Sex Pistols, contornata da paroloni e fatti inutili per riempire pagine....che delusione!
Non una stella solo perché non parla di Nancy come una troia approfittatrice che lo ha ucciso , come chiunque altro ha fatto/farà.....

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of those books where you feel like the author is writing to amuse himself and has stopped paying attention to the reader.
I think this succeeded in getting my short-lived Sex Pistols obsession out of my system.

[Jinjer]

Why this book? I'm reading Andy Warhol's diaries and this author has written like 24 books and I just needed to add one of them to my TBR so I could make this note. I didn't want to add all 24 books to my shelf.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

eh?? Got this in one of those closeout bookstores for a couple bucks. Plowed through it in a couple days. And came away from it with not much I hadn't already heard or read before.

[Dana Preb · Rating 1 out of 5]

A lot of this was questionable. Other sources have vastly different recounts of Sid Vicious' life.