VICIOUS-TOO FAST TO LIVE... by alan parker 2003, creation books £11.95.I have to admit that when i opened an Xmas present this year to find it contained yet another SID VICIOUS book i groaned, not another SID book! my shelves are heaving under the weight from all the SID/SEX PISTOLS books that i seem to have got every Xmas since Caxton first printed the 'SEX PISTOLS FILE' book that was originally released before SID died (and was then updated to include SID'S said death).
But once i had started to read this 'new' book i found that this one actually had something new to say, well, new in that the book contained a lot about SID from the eyes of SID'S MUM, even though she has been dead for some time, the author had 19 odd hours of tapes that were made during interviews with her for a previous book by the author that she didn't allow to be used because she thought them too personal, so it contains much about Sid from a perspective that we haven't heard much from before and so has a lot to tell us differently about events we are all familiar with.
The book follows the life of SID from his childhood to his stupidly young death, with his PISTOLS career being a predominate part (as you would expect), and contains a lot of the 'SID'N'NANCY' gossip but unusually, the book uses the 'tales' and statements of people who were around the tragic couple during their end to make an attempt at finding out what actually happened, and it actually tries to find out the truth about what happened that night in the CHELSEA HOTEL and the tragic (for SID, NANCY and both their families) consequences and tries to 'prove' that it was in fact SID who was the innocent person (and still is).
Throughout the book the author tries to show that the SID VICIOUS' persona that is known around the world was just a stage name and he was just a walking punk 'myth' made to sell records, and how the real man behind the name was a gentle, intelligent caring person who wasn't capable of killing anyone, let alone the woman he loved, despite the 'punk show-boating' he would put on for any camera that was pointed at him.
This book doesn't use the VICIOUS persona to sell the same old shock stories, instead it tries to show the man SID VICIOUS really was, from the one person who knew him the best, his mum. With whom he had a loving but at times uneasy relationship with, plus there are quotes from his friends and their own ideas about what really happened the night NANCY SPUNGEN died, this is a good book for all those who worship SID as some sort of 'punk god', and who need to get their heads out of the clouds, plus it is a good read for pistols fans in that it takes a different angle on the tragic SID story (no mum should have to bury their child, mindless of whatever the hackneyed old rock'n'roll catchphrases say).
The book has also got some good photos of SID, from when he was a baby and then on to the newspaper covers and articles that was the the media circus that surrounded his death and after, some of which show how sad he had become near his end, a reality check for those 'hero worshippers' of SID.
And the book also includes some good SEX PISTOLS photos as well by the way.
This is a good book in that it treats SID and the PISTOLS, as real people and not the figures of legend they have become, a SID book worth getting (and JOHN ROBB or JOHN SAVAGE didn't write it, so that cant be a bad thing).
In all i would give the book six out of ten for taking a fresh look at a worn out subject, but is let down by the cover, its just an average 'punk' photo that is aimed squarely at SID/SEX PISTOLS fans and would hold no interest for anyone else who might have an interest in the case, its title is the same and gives the impression that this is just another book selling the same old SID/SEX PISTOLS stories in the same old way which it tries not to do, if it fails or succeeds or not though is the readers opinion in the end, but at least it tries to wade through the pool of shite to find the real events 'that' night and discover the real killer rather than repeating them to make money from a story that has been repeated and printed in books and magazines a million times before.
A recommended book for all SEX PISTOLS fans.
No comments:
Post a Comment