Nancy Spungen

Alan G. Parker directed the 2010 documentary film Who Killed Nancy?, which includes interviews with Vicious and Spungen's associates, including John Holmstrom, Don Letts, Glen Matlock, and Howie Pyro.

Veronica Schanoes' story Rats appeared in the 2007 Interstitial Arts Foundation anthology Interfictions. The story is a punk rock fairytale inspired by Spungen's life. About her work, the author said: "I wrote Rats because I was angry with the way the recent coffee-table histories of punk seem to have no problem demonizing a dead, mentally ill, teenage girl."

Throughout his life, Redglare, who died in 2001, steadfastly denied any involvement in Spungen's murder to the press, but often "confessed" to the murder within his circle of friends, to mixed reaction. Friends like Zoe Hansen took Redglare at his word, but others like Howie Pyro have cast doubt on Rockets' alleged claims, insisting he enjoyed telling exaggerated stories for attention. Rockets also told the press that he believed a drug dealer he had seen in the lobby of the Chelsea Hotel on the morning of Nancy's murder had actually committed the crime, and not Sid.

The British biopic Sid and Nancy (1986), directed by Alex Cox, portrays the life of Vicious (played by Gary Oldman) and his relationship with Spungen (played by Chloe Webb). Critics praised Webb's performance as Spungen. In the film, Cox also put forth the theory that Spungen and Vicious had a suicide pact, but they got into an argument when Vicious reneged. The argument escalated when Spungen assaulted Vicious, who was trying to leave the apartment, and as portrayed in the film she was stabbed accidentally when she charged him while his knife was out.

Spungen's mother Deborah wrote the memoir And I Don't Want to Live This Life (1983). Its title is taken from a poem Vicious wrote.

"Horror Business", a 1979 song by the American punk rock band Misfits, is commonly said to have been inspired by Spungen's murder. This is because of the song's lyrics, which include lines such as "You don't go in the bathroom with me" and "I'll put a knife right in you", as well as because of connections between the Misfits and Vicious. Prior to Vicious's death, the Misfits were rumored to potentially back Vicious on his proposed debut solo album. Additionally, Misfits bassist Jerry Only attended a dinner gathering at the apartment of Vicious's girlfriend Michelle Robinson the night that Vicious died.

In October 1978, Spungen was found dead in the bathroom of the couple's room, with a single stab wound to the abdomen. Sid Vicious was charged with her murder, but died of a heroin overdose while on bail in February 1979, before the case went to trial. Various authors and filmmakers have speculated about Vicious's role in Spungen's death and the possibility that Spungen was killed by a drug dealer who frequently visited their room.

During a tumultuous 19-month relationship, Spungen and Vicious (who was abusing multiple drugs) became addicted to heroin and other drugs. The tabloids dubbed Spungen "Nauseating Nancy" for her frequent public displays of verbal abuse and violence. After the Sex Pistols broke up in January 1978, Spungen and Vicious moved to the Hotel Chelsea in New York City. They stayed in room 100, registered as "Mr. and Mrs. John Simon Ritchie", Vicious's real name.

Over the next few months, Vicious and Spungen spiraled into deeper drug abuse punctuated by domestic violence, with Vicious allegedly attacking Spungen. Their relationship ended violently on October 12, 1978 when Spungen's body was found under the sink in the bathroom of their room at Hotel Chelsea. Spungen had suffered a single fatal stab wound to the abdomen. Vicious reportedly owned the knife that made the wound. A "007" hunting knife he had obtained after seeing Dee Dee Ramone give one to The Dead Boys' Stiv Bators, was long rumored to be the murder weapon, but the NYPD police report notes the knife being a Jaguar Wilderness K-11 with a five-inch (13 cm) blade.

Spungen left home at 17 and moved to New York City, where she worked as a stripper and sex worker. She followed bands such as Aerosmith, Bad Company, The New York Dolls, and Ramones. In 1977, she moved to London, possibly to win over Jerry Nolan of the Dolls and The Heartbreakers, but met the Sex Pistols instead. Lead singer Johnny Rotten showed no interest in Spungen, so she pursued bassist Sid Vicious, and the couple soon moved in together.

Spungen graduated from Lakeside High School in April 1974, two weeks after her application to attend the University of Colorado Boulder was accepted. She began attending the university at 16, but five months into her freshman year she was arrested for purchasing marijuana from an undercover police officer. When she was later arrested for storing stolen property in her dorm room, the University of Colorado decided to expel her. Her father traveled to Boulder and accepted a plea bargain for her, which resulted in her being banished from the state of Colorado.

Spungen was a temperamental child who exhibited violent behavior toward her younger sister, Susan, but was very caring towards her younger brother, David. She allegedly threatened to kill a babysitter with scissors and attempted to batter her psychiatrist, who accused her of "acting out" for attention. At age 11, she was expelled from public school when she was absent from class more than two weeks. Weary of her erratic behavior, her parents enrolled her at Devereux Glenholme School, Connecticut and Devereux Manor High School, Pennsylvania. In January 1972, she ran away from Devereux Manor and attempted suicide by slitting her wrists with scissors. When she was 15, her psychiatrist diagnosed her with schizophrenia.

Nancy Laura Spungen (/ˈ s p ʌ ŋ ɡ ən / ; February 27, 1958 – October 12, 1978) was the American girlfriend of English punk rock band Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious and a figure of the 1970s punk rock scene. Spungen's life and death have been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.

Nancy Laura Spungen was born on February 27, 1958 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital to Franklin "Frank" (1934-2010) and Deborah Spungen (born 1937). She was born with severe cyanosis and nearly died of oxygen deprivation after being choked by her umbilical cord during delivery. She appeared to have suffered no brain damage and was released from the hospital eight days after birth. The Spungens were a middle-class Jewish family that resided in Lower Moreland Township, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her father was a traveling salesman and her mother later owned an organic food store called The Earth Shop in nearby Jenkintown, Pennsylvania.