Rhino Factoids: The last gasp of the Sex Pistols…with Sid, anyway

37 years ago today, the Sex Pistols performed their final gig with bassist Sid Vicious, with frontman Johnny Rotten concluding the concert with the most famous punk rock question this side of “Who Killed Bambi?”

After taking the UK by storm and creating controversy every time they turned around, often whether they intended to or not, the Sex Pistols made a half-hearted attempt at winning over the hearts of American music fans. Unfortunately, by the time they got around to doing so, they’d added the aforementioned Mr. Vicious to their ranks, and he in turn had added heroin to his list of addictions.

While trying to tour their way around the US, the biggest challenge for the band was keeping Sid straight, and given that he was jonesing so hard for horse that he actually carved the words “Gimme a Fix” into his chest with a razor blade at one point, you can imagine that that was no easy task. In short, the entire tour was a big pain in the ass for all parties concerned, and by the time the Pistols limped into San Francisco, everyone was sick of everyone else, and Rotten was literally sick, battling the flu or some approximation thereof.

The Winterland performance notoriously wrapped up with a one-song encore, and after the band completed their cover of the Stooges’ “No Fun,” during which Rotten had asked no one in particular, “Oh, bollocks: why should I carryon?” he sneered seven words into the microphone which still live in infamy: “Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?” It may have been a rhetorical question, but it aptly summed up the feelings of most Americans, who never had a chance to see the Pistols in an incarnation that didn’t prominently feature a bassist who was far more interested in seeking smack than making music.

When the band members went their separate ways immediately thereafter, few can have been surprised. Thankfully, many years later and – sadly but unsurprisingly – long after Vicious had succumbed to his addiction, the Pistols reunited, with original bassist Glen Matlock returning to the fold, and played plenty of additional gigs around the world, but barring some future performance where one of them literally dies onstage, it’s unlikely that they’ll ever beat their gig at the Winterland for sheer memorability.