Big moments in music on this day. 36 years ago today Sid Vicious died and 73 years ago today Graham Nash was born. Which event was the most important?
I am not a Sid hater, far from it. I liked the Pistols, quite probably for all the wrong reasons but I always loved, in a manly kind of way, Graham Nash. As a child, I loved that high voice at the top of the Hollies best songs. It was a sound of sheer beauty and the band’s harmonies were, to me, made perfect by Nash. If I had ben old enough when he left the Hollies, I would probably have been devastated but as it was he was soon in two other bands, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, who oddly enough were usually quite different in their sound. The accompanied me through my teenage years.
I can even work out which Hollies song showed why Nash was destined to part and that was King Midas In Reverse, which I absolutely loved, but was wholly out of kilter with everything that had come before. It was much nearer the CSN/CSNY sound of the future.
Now, Nash is probably one of my best friends, given that I have met him on no less than two occasions, once outside the Hammersmith Apollo and then backstage at the Royal Albert Hall as a guest of the legendary drummer Joe Vitale. For some reason, Graham didn’t remember me from our five minute meeting several years before but why spoil a good story with the truth? We’re the best of friends now! Happy birthday, Graham.
Sid wasn’t really a musician at all, more a made up figure in the Sex Pistols after Glen Matlock departed. Even more a tragic drug-addled made up figure too who crashed and burned even quicker than the band. But bloody hell: 30 years ago. I did actually buy their seminal album Never Mind The Bollocks and it did contain one or two half decent tunes. Even in England they were barely better than League Two, certainly compared to Premier League giants The Clash and the one miracle was that they lasted as long as they did.
Vicious is a tragic pin prick in history but Nash remains a giant of music through six decades. But seeing the year in which Nash was born and the year in which Vicious died makes me realise just how long I have been listening to music.
