El Sid: Saint Vicious

El Sid Saint Vicious, by David Dalton, is an in-your-face biography of Sid Vicious. Each chapter is very sloppy and unpredictable, just like Sid himself. The books goes through the life of Sid, as he were telling it, and it does not hold back any details that people may be offended by. This book shows the downward spiral of Sid's life. From drugs to fights it's a path to self destruction. It is a very real and humorous look into the life of a punk legend. The best part about this book is that it reads as if someone from England was talking to you. I had to read a little slower than normal to make sure I understood everything correctly, but after a little less than a quarter of the book I got used to the accent. Another thing I enjoyed was it had some historical information on fashion and lifestyle in 1970's England as well as history and the formation of punk rock and how it is today. I liked the fact that it is a brutal book and does not hesitate to talk about drugs or racism. Over all, this book is a great book to read if you enjoy punk rock. Something I did not like about this book is that it has on some pages boxes with big letters that are supposed to be "Sid's diaries." I think this was somewhat distracting and had nothing to do with the chapters. I also thought they did not need to be there because the author wrote them as if Sid wrote them. Another thing I did not like is that the book is intended for readers who should know some history of punk and have a good knowledge of bands. I think this book would be hard for readers who don't know anything about punk rock.

Jon Savage's "England's Dreaming" is the absolute best book on British punk rock and the Sex Pistols. David Dalton's "El Sid" is MUCH MUCH smaller in scope - it is a short book, but it gives a lot of insight as to WHY the Sex Pistols were so NECESSARY to music and pop culture, and bounces back and forth between an irreverent but interesting story of the Sex Pistols and inside boxes on the page, extreme poetic license (!) into the inside of SID'S simple brain, written in crude cockney. It also shows EXACTLY how and why SID had to self-destruct. Just one pic on the cover, but if you love studying punk/Sex Pistols/Sid, this is a small but entertaining look at the Pistols and Sid from a different angle. (And for the person who wrote or implied that SID was worthless, WHY, 21 YEARS after he DIED after a two-year career, at age 21, are there still books being written about him, why is his name known by any average rock n roll fan, and why does his appearance and style continue to fascinate like a Warhol painting?) Even if he was a moron, he unwittingly became a pop culture legend and 2nd level icon, whose image is synonymous with the entire concept of punk rock. And punk rock changed British society and pop culture forever, and much much more than is obvious.