Sid Vicious (43)

Sid Vicious
1957-1979
The Sex Pistols' couldn't-play bassist
Cause of Death: Heroin overdose

Pretty, Vacant: Sid contributed nothing to the Pistols' music but everything to their legend, checking out while on bail for the murder of his girlfriend Nancy Spungen at New York's Chelsea Hotel. Actual royalties are limited to proceeds from perennial Sid single "My Way" and album tracks from unlovable exploitation albums-but value accrues from the estate's co-ownership of priceless film footage of the band, wrested from flamboyant former manager Malcolm McLaren in 1987. Sid's mom, Anne Beverley, was the initial beneficiary before she, too, OD'd in 1996. Today the estate is controlled by high-powered MGM executive Anita Camarata.
His Way: The apotheosis of punk's spiky biker look and wrecked moron schtick, Vicious has become antiestablishment shorthand, co-opted by stars as varied as Rancid's Lars Frederiksen, Avril Lavigne and Duff McKagan--who still steadfastly rocks Sid's trademark padlock-on-a-neckchain. Conversely, John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon's undignified recent foray into British reality TV has devalued the Pistols brand, while Sid wannabe Pete Doherty has rendered the affably doomed junkie archetype somewhat tired. A TV documentary, Sid: The Last 24 Hours, airs later this year in the U.K.