When Nancy Spungen, groupie girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist and punk icon Sid Vicious, was found dead in the couple's room at New York City's Chelsea Hotel on Oct. 12, 1978, few were surprised. Vicious was known for his explosive outbursts, Spungen for her grating personality, and both for their serious drug habits and oft-stated desire not to live past age 21.
The idea that Vicious, either in a heated argument or drug-fueled accident, put his hunting knife into Spungen's side and nodded off as she slowly bled to death, seemed perfectly plausible, to both the police and fans. Her murder became viewed as something of a death-trip Romeo and Juliette myth (Vicious himself would complete the pact, ODing mere months later) and was immortalized in Alex Cox's 1986 film, "Sid and Nancy."
Yet the death of an icon — whether it's JFK, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon or Tupac Shakur — rarely turns out to be as uncomplicated as we thought. Or, more accurately, devotees find more solace in the notion of evil conspiracy than the capricious hand of fate.