Nancy Spungen
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| Nancy Spungen | |
|---|---|
| Image:Nancy Spungen.jpg Nancy Spungen, right, with boyfriend Sid Vicious | |
| Born | February 27 1958 Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | October 12 1978 (aged 20) New York City, New York, U.S.A. |
Nancy Laura Spungen (February 27, 1958 – October 12, 1978) was the girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. Spungen has been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.
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[edit] Early life
Nancy Spungen was born February 27, 1958 to Frank and Deborah Spungen. The Spungens were a middle class Jewish family in the Huntingdon Valley area of Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her father was a businessman and her mother owned a local health food store. She was born a month premature, and suffered from severe cyanosis. As a child she was hyperactive and reportedly exhibited violent behaviour towards her younger sister Susan and her brother David. She is also alleged to have threatened to kill a babysitter and to have attacked her mother with a hammer during an argument. By age 11 she had been expelled from the public school system and was receiving psychotherapy. She reportedly attempted suicide several times and suffered from depression. Her family sent her to various residential facilities for disturbed children. She briefly attended the University of Colorado.
[edit] Relationship with Sid Vicious
Spungen left home at age 17 and moved to New York City. She followed bands such as Aerosmith, The New York Dolls and The Ramones. She later worked as a stripper in New York City, which sometimes involved prostitution. She reportedly moved to London with the express purpose of winning over Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers but met The Sex Pistols instead. Lead singer Johnny Rotten introduced her to bassist Sid Vicious and they promptly moved in together.
During a rocky 21-month relationship, Spungen and Vicious were addicted to heroin and other drugs. Vicious was already an abuser of multiple drugs before he met Spungen, but many sources claim she introduced him to heroin; other sources claim that he had begun to use heroin with his mother at an early age.
The tabloids dubbed Spungen "Nauseating Nancy" for reportedly frequent and public displays of drug-fueled verbal abuse and violence. After the Sex Pistols broke up in 1978, Spungen and Vicious moved to the famous Hotel Chelsea in New York City. There, Vicious tried, with limited success, to continue his musical career.
[edit] Death
Over the next few months, Vicious and Spungen spiraled into serious drug abuse, punctuated by reports of domestic violence. The end came on October 12, 1978, when Spungen was found sprawled on the bathroom floor of their hotel room clad in a black bra and panties. It is likely the details of Spungen's death will never be known, although in his book Pretty Vacant: A History Of Punk, Phil Strongman names her killer as Rockets Redglare. She had bled to death from a single stab wound to the abdomen, later traced to a knife owned by Vicious. This was reportedly a "007" hunting knife he had obtained after seeing Dee Dee Ramone give one to The Dead Boys' Stiv Bators. Vicious was immediately arrested for murder. While free on bail he made several remarks which were interpreted by some to be a confession. However, there was also an issue of a stolen bank roll and possible involvement of drug dealers. On February 2, 1979 Vicious died of a heroin overdose which has sometimes been described as suicide.
Spungen's and Vicious' romance was the subject of an off-Broadway play and the 1986 Alex Cox film Sid and Nancy, in which Chloe Webb portrayed Spungen, opposite Gary Oldman as Vicious.
[edit] Literary work about Nancy Spungen
- And I Don't Want to Live This Life (Deborah Spungen, Nancy's mother, 1983).
In this book, the title of which is taken from a poem written by Vicious after he allegedly murdered Spungen, Spungen's mother Deborah cited her daughter's medical records and revealed her daughter suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. This has been cited as a possible reason for her reported difficulties with relating socially to others.
- Rats by Veronica Schanoes, in the Interfictions anthology, 2007
This story is a punk rock fairy tale inspired by Spungen's life. The author says:
I wrote "Rats" because I was angry with the way the recent coffee-table histories of punk seem to have no problem demonizing a dead, mentally ill, teenage girl.
[edit] Nancy Spungen in pop culture
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- The hit song "Butterfly" by Crazy Town references Vicious and Spungen's relationship.
- The song "Jessica" by Dir en grey mentions Vicious and Spungen.
- The song "Ice Cream" by New Young Pony Club also briefly mentions Vicious and Spungen in the lyric, 'fantastic flavored fancies/ sick like Sid and Nancy/ wicked as a joyride jaunt'.
- The song "Back Drop Nancy" by The Gazette features lyrics themed around Spungen.
- The song "New College" by The Dollyrots mentions Vicious and Spungen's relationship.
- The Ramones songs "I Don't Want to Live This Life (Anymore)" and "Love Kills".
- The Joe Strummer song also titled "Love Kills", featured on the Sid & Nancy soundtrack, is about Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen.
- The song "Love Kills" by Kasey Katz is a tribute to Nancy Spungen.
- The Dar Williams song "Alleluia" refers to the film Sid and Nancy.
- The song "Sid Vicious was innocent" by The Exploited.
- The Ministry song "Just One Fix" features a sound clip of Chloe Webb from the film Sid and Nancy. ("Never trust a junkie.")
- The song "Sid & Nancy" by the Russian rock band Lumen also refers to their story.
- VH1 declared the incident one of the most shocking in rock and roll history.
- The song "Sid & Nancy" by the Polish singer Robert Gawlinski
- References to Sid and Nancy appear quite frequently in the anime and manga NANA by Ai Yazawa.
- There are several references to Sid and Nancy in the TV show Gilmore Girls, including the suggestion that Lorelai Gilmore was going to name her (fictional) twin babies Sid and Nancy in the episode Crazy Lazy Hazy Days, the quote "Like I was holed up in the Chelsea with a needle sticking out of my arm screaming 'Sid!' at the top of my lungs" from the episode "Application Anxiety" (both in Season 3), and Paris Gheller explaining to her boyfriend Lane Kim was "Nancy Spurgen-ing it" from A Family Matter
- The song "Godspeed" by Anberlin on their album Cities contains references to Spungen's death.
- The song "I Wanna Be A Narc" by Black Randy And The Metrosquad on their album "Pass The Dust, I Think I'm Bowie" contains the lyric, "Now Sid and Nancy think their in a safe place. They'll soon know I'm still working on the case. I'll get secret keys to the Chelsea Hotel. And all the O.D.s, I'll extridite from Hell. Way down in the dark, I wanna be a Narc."
[edit] External links
- Nancy Spungen website, with pictures and biography
- Photos of Nancy's gravestone in King David Cemetery, Bensalem, Pennsylvaniade:Nancy Spungen
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