Sex Pistols: Official photographer show shines light on violence of punk'Sex Pistols official photographer Dennis Morris said Sid Vicious was not a violent person as he show shines light on violence of punk'
by Agence France-Presse
30-06-2022 15:36
in Entertainment
Photographer Dennis Morris explains an installation of a hotel room trashed by Sid Vicious, during his exhibition SID: Superman is Dead and the Sex Pistols at The Rock n Roll Wall of Fame Gallery in London on June 28, 2022. You read about Sid Vicious and you would think he was really quite a violent person, but he was actually quite a gentle person, very shy, says official Sex Pistols photographer Dennis Morris, the man behind some of the most iconic images of the 1970s punk group. Vicious who tragically epitomised the live fast die young mantra ended up dead at the age of 21 of an overdose. (Photo by CARLOS JASSO / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION / TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY Helen ROWE
Dennis Morris was the official Sex Pistols photographer, taking some of the most iconic images of the 1970s punk trailblazers.
--
More than 40 years after the band shot to notoriety, an exhibition of Morris's classic photographs is revealing the mayhem and violence that surrounded the band to a new generation of fans.
The immersive show SID: Superman is Dead also features a recreation of a hotel room bassist Sid Vicious smashed up in 1977.
The floor surrounding an unmade bed is littered with glass from smashed pictures, pages ripped from a Bible and a wrecked television.
--
Drugs paraphernalia cover a bedside table.
ALSO READ: R. Kelly: I believe I can fly' artist faces sentencing over sex crimes case
SID VICIOUS, A BASSIST OF SEX PISTOLS You read about Sid Vicious and you would think he was really a violent person, but he was actually quite a gentle person, very shy,
Morris told AFP at the central London gallery staging the show. Vicious epitomised the live fast, die young mantra and ended up dead in New York at the age of 21 from a drugs overdose.
--
Months earlier he had been charged with stabbing his girlfriend Nancy Spungen to death.
When he took heroin he completely changed, he became a completely different person and that was awful, he basically just fell apart,
said Morris. Razors In Morris's original photograph of the hotel scene recreated for the exhibition, Vicious is seen half-naked lying between two beds while an unidentified person probably a fan is curled up asleep on one of them.
One night Sid went absolutely berserk and completely destroyed his bedroom,
he said. My room was next door to his and eventually when the commotion stopped I pushed the door open to his room and there was complete devastation.
Morris, 62, originally wanted to be a war photographer, but made his name photographing reggae legend Bob Marley.
One of the aims of the installation was to give a sense of the energy and violence of punk .
The Sex Pistols' 1977 anti-monarchy tirade God Save the Queen coincided with Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee and provoked strong reactions.
Singer John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten and two producers were attacked with razors.
At other times Morris remembers being chased down the road by pro-monarchists when they spotted Lydon.
With Sid I found my war they came out against the queen and there was this reaction which was shocking because people became quite violent sometimes,
the British photographer said. It became quite scary but for me it was really an opportunity to live out my dream (of documentary photography). I was there 24/7.
Respect for Queen Lydon now 66 and a US citizen recently said he had attended a street party for the queen's Platinum Jubilee this month.
He said his dislike of the monarchy as an institution was as strong as ever, but he totally respected the 96-year-old head of state.
Whether Vicious would have changed his views will never be known, but Morris said he had also developed a deep respect for the queen.
She's held it together over the generations, despite coming to it at a very young age, and that's a really tough thing to do,
he added. I was never really against them (the royals) but over the years I've grown up.
None of us were against it really, it was just something that was said to create a reaction. All our parents had a picture of the queen on their wall or of Jesus, that's how it was we were just rebelling.
ALSO READ: US CVS pharmacies limit morning-after pill purchases to avoid shortage
Sid was innocent' Morris firmly believes that Vicious had star quality but his damaged background made an early death almost inevitable.
His problem was that at the age of 14 his mother gave him heroin. And it was his mother who gave him the heroin that killed him,
he added. After being released on bail from New York's notorious Rikers Island jail following Spungen's death, he was terrified of going back, he said.
Because of his reputation he got raped quite a few times so when he came out on bail he said to his mother, I just can't go back to prison, I just can't do it', so she went out and scored and that's what killed him.
Spungen was found in the couple's room at New York's Chelsea Hotel with a fatal stab wound to the abdomen. Morris, however, remains convinced Vicious was innocent.
One of his favourite photographs is of the pair backstage in which Nancy is seen talking animatedly to a docile-looking Vicious.
He would never have done that,
he said. Agence France-Presse
Most recent headlines
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
23/04/2025
In 2024, Thomson's Total Turnout project played a pivotal role in elevating ethical election reporting and strengthening journalist safety in Pakistan.
Wit...
23/04/2025
We heard that you could use a little pick-me-up, so get ready to sh-sh-shake it ...
23/04/2025
WBD's Max viewership climbs 6%, boosted by The White Lotus' and The Pi...
23/04/2025
March shows a further downward trend of time spent watching television; following the February period when winter holidays contributed to a shorter time spent. ...
23/04/2025
During March, audiences in Mexico increased their streaming usage by 2.1 points compared to the previous month, accounting for 24.4% of TV viewing.
Disclaimer:...
23/04/2025
AANHPI audiences over index the total U.S. for share of time spent with Netflix ...
23/04/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Roku has announced new TVs, new streaming devices and significant upgrades to its user interface and software platforms that are designed to st...
23/04/2025
COW Job Listing: Opportunity for a Passionate Feature Film Editor - London-Based...
23/04/2025
RM Equity Partners Acquires MAGIX Software, Appoints Robert Rutkowski as CEO to ...
23/04/2025
All Men Are Wicked Western Shot with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton April 23, 2025
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4Ks were put to the test...
23/04/2025
NEW YORK Warner Bros. Discovery captured the largest monthly viewership increase among media distributors in March, according to Nielsen's latest Media Dist...
23/04/2025
MIAMI, Fla. Hemisphere Media Group has inked a deal with Samsung to launch WAPA+ as a FAST channel on Samsung TV Plus, a free TV streaming service that comes pr...
23/04/2025
HEBDEN BRIDGE, U.K. Calrec Audio has promoted Sid Stanley to managing director. Stanley, who joined the company in July 2018 as general manager, has been instru...
23/04/2025
WASHINGTON Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Nathan A. Simington has announced a series of staff appointments made in March and April 2025, includi...
23/04/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has set its agenda for the Monday, April 28, 2025 Open Meeting, which is scheduled to start at 10:30 a.m. in th...
23/04/2025
COW Job Listing: Full-Time Video Editor, Remote
Brie Clayton April 22, 2025
0 Comments
Full-Time Video Editor
April 23, 2025COW Job Listing: Opportu...
23/04/2025
Berklee Abu Dhabi's Jazz Night Kicks off Global Celebration of Music and Cul...
23/04/2025
The E.W. Scripps Co. said it was shutting down its Scripps News over-the-air channel effective November 15 and eliminating at least 200 jobs....
23/04/2025
Audio Helps Chess.com Checkmate Cheating Matches are produced using REMI workflows By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Wednesday, April 23, 2025 - 7:00 am
Print Th...
23/04/2025
Tech Focus: Intercoms, Part 1 - Key to Onsite, REMI, Hybrid Operations Intercoms keep increasingly disparate production locations together By Dan Daley, Audio ...
23/04/2025
Speaking my language: Bringing AI to the fore with real time audio translation f...
23/04/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Drops Trailer for Crime Drama Secrets We Keep, Set in ...
23/04/2025
Back to All News
World Book Day: Netflix Announces New TV Adaptations and Impac...
23/04/2025
Comscore to Announce First Quarter 2025 Financial ResultsRESTON, VA, April 23, 2025 Comscore, Inc. (Nasdaq: SCOR), a trusted partner for planning, transacting...
23/04/2025
In an email to RT staff today, RT Director-General, Kevin Backhurst confirmed that RT 's Voluntary Exit Programme (VEP) 2025 is open from today, Wednesday...
23/04/2025
RT will air live coverage on television, radio and online of the funeral of Pope Francis which takes place this Saturday, 26 April 2025.
Beginning at 8.30am o...
23/04/2025
As AI models evolve and adoption grows, enterprises must perform a delicate balancing act to achieve maximum value.
That's because inference - the process ...
23/04/2025
Financial services has long been at the forefront of adopting technological innovations. Today, generative AI and agentic systems are redefining the industry, f...
23/04/2025
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Enables Michelin to focus on development of its ...
23/04/2025
AI is rapidly reshaping what's possible on a PC - whether for real-time image generation or voice-controlled workflows. As AI capabilities grow, so does the...
23/04/2025
An AI agent is only as accurate, relevant and timely as the data that powers it....
23/04/2025
April 23 2025, 02:00 (PDT) Dolby Ushers in the Future of In-car Entertainment at Auto Shanghai 2025
Dolby and industry partners demonstrate robust momentum ...
22/04/2025
Chloe Sevigny at the Magic Farm premiere (photo by Michael Hurcomb/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
22/04/2025
Music has the power to connect us to one another and to the world around us. Spotify is once again teaming up with the Museum for the United Nations - UN Live&#...
22/04/2025
Spotify has an unwavering commitment to supporting emerging artists across all g...
22/04/2025
This year marks the 55th anniversary of Earth Day, celebrated annually on April 22. On Spotify, listeners can explore a world of stories about our planet in our...
22/04/2025
McAvaney takes the lead for SBS' Coverage of the World Athletics Championshi...
22/04/2025
Virtual idols are poised to revolutionize entertainment, with the market projected to top $4 billion by 2029. Crafted with motion capture and game engine techno...
22/04/2025
As the audiovisual (AV) industry rapidly evolves, educational institutions are preparing the next generation of AV professionals for the future. Singapore Polyt...
22/04/2025
DENVER A new survey highlights just how important streaming has become in the entertainment landscape. Data compiled by Adtaxi shows streaming isnt just an alte...
22/04/2025
Samsung TV Plus has announced that it is now offering nearly 700 streaming channels in the U.S. more than any of the other major FAST platforms, the streaming s...
22/04/2025
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. New findings from Hub Research's latest survey on sports and television coverage reveal Amazon may have cracked the code of how to use tech...
22/04/2025
DETROIT Rockbridge Growth Equity has sold a controlling stake in GSTV to MidOcean Partners. Rockbridge will retain a minority stake in the video network which i...
22/04/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Dana Neves to senior managing vice president, overseeing a number of Gray's television markets in the Northeast and Mid-Atla...
22/04/2025
The Infrastructure of Creative Flow: DigitalGlue's creative.space Wins NAB 2...
22/04/2025
iZotope unveils Equinox: the ultimate reverb plugin for Post and Music productio...
22/04/2025
Every way to export transparent videos from After Effects
Graham Quince April 21, 2025
0 Comments
In this video, I break down each way you can export ...
22/04/2025
April 22nd, 2025 Press Materials Available Here
Tribeca Festival 2025 Announces Short Film Lineup
Featuring How I Learned to Die Executive Produced by Osca...
Sex Pistols: Official photographer show shines light on violence of punk'Sex Pistols official photographer Dennis Morris said Sid Vicious was not a violent person as he show shines light on violence of punk'
