have you seen the film sid and nancy? Gary oldman was sooo good in that film! He had that whole attitude just like sid! And the girl who plays nancy was ... let's just say even more unattractive than the real nancy spungen. But you can't deny, without nancy, sid wouldn't be the sid we know today. Hate to say it, but dying so young due to drugs made him a legend.
i saw the movie Sid&Nancy like ten times, and Gary Oldman was amazing (well, he is an amazing actor). but the story in the movie is just too naive, it's based o facts, but on what people wanted to see.
not to mention that when you watch the movie you gt a feeling that rotten had a crush on sid...
sid's death did made him a hero, a legend, but maybe he would become legend even if he haven't met nancy. like rotten.
^Rotten's a legend to some, but he's lost a big part of his fanbase because of his "hypocritical" actions in the more recent years. I mean, even ex-PiL Keith Levene finds the way he turned out sort of cringe-worthy, and they used to be really good friends. John's always said that the Pistols were "the end of rock n roll" and yet he reforms the band and goes on tour? And he pretty much is milking the hype of the Sex Pistols to earn money (selling rights to SP songs to guitar hero!?). But I do think he is a very intelligent or at least clever guy and he isn't ignorant to people's current opinions on him. But if he had passed away right after the SP disbanded, he would have been a bigger hero.
And yeah, I think Sid would still have been sort of a hero even if his fate was a little different.
When I think of PiL, the term "avant-garde" comes to mind. I'm not sure how well they'd fit into that, seeing as how "avant-garde" is usually used to describe scenes, not individual artists or works. They're definitely experimental, though, and make some of the most refreshing music I've heard in a while.
That said, being a person who likes the ethos of old-school punk and its rawness, I also like the Sex Pistols, but only when they were still musicians.