would Sid Vicious have made a good replacement singer?

Sid could have pulled of a pale imitation of Rotten for a few months but there's no way it could have been a lasting thing. He just wasn't as intelligent or talented as Rotten is.

 

Absolutely, unequivocally... no.

After firing Matlock, the Pistols were like the Titanic heading for the iceberg. When Rotten quit, that's when the string quartet slid off the deck of the ship into the icy waters.

 

People don't understand that Johnny Rotten/Lydon is some kind of a genius singer, grafting on the sound and vibe of Sprechstimme to pop. And everybody knows that Sid Vicious was a bleedin' idiot on all levels.

 

I sure hope you're not being ironic about that, because I'd really like to believe it!

 

Not even a little. I dream of Johnny Rotten performing Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte. He has the perfect snarl and distain for that anti-fascist epic.

 

Not going to defend poor Sid, but the recordings from his Max's Kansas City shows are quite nice - great band with Jerry Nolan on drums. Sid could certainly carry a tune in a Johnny Thunders manner (Johnny was his idol) - lots of attitude and snarl and mostly on pitch. He had a more traditional 'punk' voice than Lydon. Sid was no musical genius, but certainly hope everyone who disses him have listened to his solo recordings...

 

That's my favorite Pistols song. I consider it a work of art. Like some critic said about some track both of which I have regrettably forgotten , it acts on the senses as much like a painting as it does as a musical performance.

 

Syd was too busy being dead to be a good replacement singer.

 

No. because he was a talentless, manipulated figure head / victim who's main attribute was looking the part.

 

He may have been a shoddy bass player but...

If you have never heard it: 'Sid Sings' is a really good album (CD).

 

There was a recording linked to a year ago on here of the Pistols soundcheck at their last show. Sid's bass was actually audible and he sounded halfway decent...by the end of the tour, he'd apparently learned how to play a bit (or at least wasn't completely wasted at soundcheck - that may have changed later in the evening).

Still, nobody was going to replace Johnny - I'm eternally frustrated by how Vicious's image came to define the Pistols visually and in the public imagination. If you ask the average person on the street to name a member of the Sex Pistols, you're always going to hear Sid's name first. I'd wager most people think he was the singer for the band.