8. Vicious Murdered a Cat
In one of the more horrifying chapters of Sid Vicious’ troubled life, he tortured and killed a cat in front of friends. A friend who ran with the Sex Pistols crew from before they formed the band throughout its success, Mark Helfond witnessed the incident and, in later years, said he wished he could go back in time and stop the situation.
After Vicious was kicked out of his home, he and John Lydon, later known as Johnny Rotten, lived in squat flats where Vicious would find and strangle cats; not to mention, self-mutilate with aluminum can lids. In one case, Helfond witnessed Vicious killing a cat. He wrapped a belt around the poor creature’s neck and held it there while the cat struggled and slowly suffocated to death.
Lydon’s father also witnessed some of these incidents and stated he felt they were due to Vicious’ insatiable need for attention, which was never met by his drug addict mother. He said of Vicious, “If he was sitting here and no one was taking any notice of him, he’d cut his hand or something to attract attention. You’d have to take your mind off everything else and look at him.” One feels for Vicious and the abuse he must have suffered as a child, but his torture and murder of animals are truly horrifying.