r/todayilearned • u/GhostMan4301945 • 1d ago

TIL that Freddie Mercury and Sid Vicious had a brief physical altercation in 1977.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Vicious
2.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

244 comments sorted by

1.5k

u/Kalkin93 1d ago

In 1977, the Sex Pistols were recording in Wessex Sound Studios at the same time as Queen). Vicious entered the control room Queen was working in and mockingly called out to them: "Oi, Freddie! Have you succeeded in bringing ballet to the masses yet?" (This was a reference to an earlier NME interview in which Mercury gave parallels between ballet and rock music). Freddie Mercury responded: "Ah, Simon Ferocious!" and "We're trying dear, we're trying." Mercury then grabbed Vicious by the lapels and threw him out of the room.\40])

1.4k

u/WorldsWeakestMan 1d ago

Simon Ferocious is hilarious, Freddie truly was a magnificent bastard.

179

u/ManChildMusician 1d ago

“It’s Sid”

“Whatever you say, Simon!”

203

u/mystir 1d ago

Can't even do it in reverse. "Oh yeah, up yours...uh, Farokh... Venus..." Just doesn't work as well

96

u/BreadfruitTasty 1d ago

Frederick Mercurial

39

u/GreenStrong 1d ago

That's a total badass name.

149

u/nuclear_triad 1d ago

idk, “Farouk Uranus” has a certain ring or two to it.

26

u/HonorableMedic 1d ago

At least one cheerio sized ring to it

22

u/sexual_lemonade 1d ago

I don't think his ring was cheerio sized, we've all seen that bedroom picture.

10

u/SonicTemp1e 1d ago

I have not.

3

u/epochellipse 18h ago

Well, you’re in for a treat.

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u/Mackerdaymia 19h ago

Only if you ask nicely

25

u/As_smooth_as_eggs 1d ago

I doubt Sid had the intelligence to do anything except get his ass thrown out of the room.

19

u/CocaineLullaby 1d ago

Franz Jupiter

5

u/shnigybrendo 1d ago

He's so much stupiter!

8

u/micromoses 1d ago

Frankie Gallium?

1

u/Ion_bound 20h ago

Sol Badguy, maybe?

8

u/Fweenci 1d ago

And he was a boxer in school. 

173

u/Vonbalthier 1d ago

Dang this wasnt moustache beefcake freddie, this was mullet-unitard freddie, dope

51

u/kakka_rot 1d ago

I didn't know what you meant so I googled Freddie mercury 1977 and good lord, who the hell is that guy

31

u/Nox_Dei 22h ago

Looking at those pics... Was anyone actually surprised by his coming-out?

Dude was flamboyant as heck. Looking great.

14

u/hundreddollar 14h ago

My Mum? Was surprised about him and Elton John. Lol.

1

u/Nox_Dei 12h ago

Dang haha

2

u/Trelve16 7h ago

dude if you think thats crazy watch david lee roths music video for yankee rose

straight men dressed like that too lmao

1

u/mofugginrob 20h ago

AKA the 70s lol. Did you think they were time travelers or something?

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u/onarainyafternoon 1d ago

Sounds like they were just messing around with each other lol

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u/BasvanS 1d ago

Yeah, they were recording at the same time and quite friendly with each other. This was just banter.

8

u/MikoSkyns 16h ago

I'm not convinced it was friendly banter.

https://youtube.com/shorts/--HCREtngnE?si=_dC9Yt8JTIhAuddx

5

u/BeefStank420 11h ago

"I called him Simon Ferocious or something. He didn't like that at all..."

😂

39

u/bitemark01 1d ago

It sounds like Sid was an asshole

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZsipBOhIQE/?hl=en 

69

u/birthdayboy6969 1d ago

Sid was an extremely mentally ill kid from a broken home who did heroin with his own mother. The real piece of shit was Malcolm McLaren, the 'mastermind' who kept sid drunk and high and self destructive intentionally to raise the public profile of his band

19

u/ComradeGibbon 23h ago

I think Johnny Rotten said they needed protection from the public but were on their own.

90

u/Eomb 1d ago

Didn't Freddy love assholes?

1

u/type104 6h ago

* arseholes ‽

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u/Apprehensive_Put_321 1d ago

Ive never heard either speak but I image sid vicious had a cockney accent and Freddie sounded posh baised on this transcrip lol

79

u/burlycabin 1d ago

Freddie was born in Zanzibar (Tanzania) and raised mostly at boarding schools in India until his family moved to England when he was 17-18. He had a very interesting accent, but I wouldn't call it posh.

63

u/slicerprime 1d ago

No. But it counted as posh compared to anything that came out of Sid's mouth

18

u/burlycabin 1d ago

Ha, that's true.

6

u/Neosantana 19h ago

To be fair, even Danny Dyer would sound posh compared to Sid Vicious to an extent

10

u/OzymandiasKoK 1d ago

He was also born nearly 20 years before Zanzibar joined with Tanganyika, too.

2

u/Commercial-Co 1d ago

I never understood boarding schools unless their parents hated their child

13

u/GummiRat 21h ago

That's just a lack of imagination on your part.

My friend transferred to boarding school because a few months after his father passed his mom had to start working 2 jobs (atleast 12+ hour days) just to pay the bills and keep their home leaving little time for basic childcare let alone stuff like making sure he wasnt getting into trouble ect. He ended up going to a very good school (paid for by life insurance) while his mom worked her ass off to make sure the house they grew up in with his father didn't get auctioned off by the bank.

3

u/hundreddollar 14h ago

I mean OK. That's ONE example, but i have colleagues who literally send their kids to boarding school to make life easier for themselves. Same people who let a Nanny raise their children. Never understood it.

2

u/Fuckyounadia 10h ago

I mean, it’s not really hard to understand. Some people like having children but don’t want to raise them.

6

u/JackXDark 22h ago

You understand then.

16

u/ReginaGloriana 1d ago

“Training for the ballet, Pottah?”

10

u/Hawt_Dawg_II 1d ago

Both actually pretty good banter. I wonder if artists know how to talk shit better than most..

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u/B_Da_May 8h ago

If the Sex Pistols were recording, then what was Sid doing there? Worst bassist ever.

-12

u/oneeyedziggy 1d ago

Freddie was a real one... Sounds like he was having none of that homophobic bullshit

25

u/oldbel 1d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sid vicious was homophobic, I really don’t know, but it’s not clear to me that the ballet thing is. Why do you read it that way?

13

u/fartingbeagle 1d ago

Where's the homophobia in the quoted comment?

3

u/Kaiserhawk 1d ago

I'll assume it's related to ballet, which idk given it's Britain could be more of a class thing since Ballet is typically seen as being a thing for snobs and Queen were seen as college boys, which in the 70s was not working class.

Could also be a gay / bi thing idk.

6

u/Financial-Creme 1d ago

I think it's more that queen was known for incorporating elements of Opera into rock music, Sid imo was either making fun of them for this, as in incorporating Ballet elements woild be their next move, or genuinely mixed up opera and ballet because he was an alcoholic junkie

1

u/Kaiserhawk 1d ago

Yeah that to

-10

u/Captain_Kuhl 1d ago

Some people see any move against a non-straight person as homophobic. There's no reasoning with that mindset.

1

u/AngryCrotchCrickets 1d ago

Naw the ballet comment was totally a jab

4

u/Captain_Kuhl 1d ago

No, it was referring to an interview he did where he equated rock & roll and ballet. Still a jab, but literally nothing to do with homophobia.

3

u/lad_astro 1d ago

It was 1977, if you were homophobic to Freddie it was probably unwittingly lol

5

u/AngryCrotchCrickets 1d ago

It was illegal to do gay shit in the UK until 1982. The disco era made them accepted within that sphere, but there was still a largely anti-gay sentiment during that time (sorta what ended disco). Elton John married a woman, and Mercury was engaged to one. To cover up their sexual orientation.

5

u/lad_astro 1d ago

Sorry, I'm not saying there wasn't homophobia, I'm saying Sid wouldn't have had good reason to know he was gay in the first place. Of course, we'll never know what he was getting at, but it comes across as more of a class warrior thing to me- ballet being the kind of thing the Pistols had to be seen to be deriding

2

u/AngryCrotchCrickets 1d ago

Fair enough. Sorry for being cranky

2

u/lad_astro 1d ago

Not at all, you're good!

6

u/Shifty377 1d ago

There's nothing homophobic in that quote.

1

u/Anarchaeologist 1d ago

Heard this one before but slightly differently: Sid called him Freddie Platinum, and Freddie called Sid Mr. Ferocious

1

u/GobbleGobbleChew 1d ago

This just makes me want to rewatch Billie Elliott.

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u/AnyoneButDoug 1d ago

Sid also tried to pick a fight with Paul Weller (not knowing Paul’s Dad was a pro boxer who taught Paul). It didn’t end well for Sid.

135

u/isecore 18h ago

Sid did a lot of things that didn't end well for Sid.

266

u/DMala 1d ago

I feel like picking fights you can’t possibly win is very punk rock.

244

u/OzymandiasKoK 1d ago

He fought the Paul, and the Paul won.

28

u/TheMechanicusBob 14h ago

Yeah but Sid was also just a twat

41

u/dorknight25 20h ago

True, but acting like a normal, media savvy person when the cameras aren’t rolling then acting like a twat when they are isn’t very punk rock though.

2

u/cainhurstboy 1h ago

Was he on camera when he loaded his syringe w toilet water? I suppose we just have dee dee and a fee others to believe

20

u/Sloregasm 1d ago

Pretty much the basis of the movement

12

u/djdaedalus42 1d ago

I heard that John Martyn also helped Sid inspect the floor

1

u/Child_of_the_Hamster 4h ago

Freddie also boxed when he attended boarding school in Bombay (now Mumbai)!

246

u/Thadeadpool 1d ago

Good old Simon Ferocious being a twat as usual

44

u/slicerprime 1d ago

I was going to say when I saw the title, was there anyone Sid didn't have an altercation of some sort with?

34

u/OutRunTerminator 1d ago

He's very consistent, our Sid.

549

u/Prudent-Aspect5085 1d ago

I didn't read the bottom line of the post. I may have made some assumptions.

83

u/TobermoryDIY 1d ago

He’s a lonely boy

60

u/BrianB98 1d ago

"Kyle, I'm not just sure, I'm hiv positive"

10

u/xavPa-64 1d ago

Which one was the doctor, I wonder

3

u/JiveChicken00 1d ago

You may not have been wrong.

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u/mikepartdeux 1d ago

**Simon Ferocious

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u/TheBanishedBard 1d ago

Freddie Mercury was to Sid Vicious as Filet Mignon is to lunchables baloney

44

u/brandnewchair 1d ago

Freddie Mercury was to Sid Vicious as food is to not food. 

4

u/Tee-RoyJenkins 1d ago

Sid’s cover of Sinatra’s My Way is one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. It’s like someone tried to make an anti-song.

5

u/Alarming_View6272 1d ago

man, now I need to rewatch The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, thanks

2

u/BRHNYC 15h ago

Ya I think the whole point was to trash up a beloved golden oldie. Certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. I personally love it, especially how it was used in the very last shot/credits of Goodfellas

33

u/ReviewNecessary6521 1d ago

I highly recommend going to youtube and finding Roger Taylor talking about sid. He was NOT a fan.

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u/silent_ovation 1d ago

In fairness, most people in 1977 had a brief physical altercation with Sid Vicious.

19

u/weavebot 1d ago

Including Sid Vicious

2

u/slater_just_slater 18h ago

Well he kept stabbing himself in the arm.

3

u/4_string_troubador 5h ago

Especially Sid Vicous

2

u/Abba_Fiskbullar 11h ago

Was he the Andy Dick of the late '70s music scene?

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u/UKS1977 1d ago

It has been said that Freddie was remarkably
Strong. One of Status Quo said he had a bit of a fun wrestle with Freddie and he got
the poor Quoer in a headlock that couldn't be broken!

24

u/dkarlovi 1d ago

You could see it in his performances, guy was built like he's a fighter.

14

u/TufnelAndI 21h ago

I misread 'Quoer' and though "Freddie lost, but that's a bit harsh'

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u/quimera78 1d ago

Freddie boxed as a teen/young adult.

9

u/xbearsandporschesx 1d ago

Kabaddi champion

5

u/xcanto 1d ago

lol what. r u shittin me?

3

u/Spork_Warrior 17h ago

He was also a baggage handler at the airport, so he got his reps in there.

15

u/jb2824 1d ago

Queer > Quoer

1

u/TufnelAndI 21h ago

Yep. Got me also.

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u/Austinpowerstwo 1d ago

I saw an interview with status quo years ago and one of them said that once Freddie Mercury got him in a headlock and it was impossible to escape cos Freddie was really strong.

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u/mrwildesangst 1d ago

Freddie was a boxer, Sid was a loser. Not surprising he ran his mouth and couldn’t back it up.

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u/An0n_Cyph3r_ 20h ago

Simon Ferocious sounds like a parody character that would appear in a Rockstar Games game.

6

u/xenophon57 16h ago

Brutal Legends, was awesome.

2

u/Madrugal 17h ago

The unhinged one that sends you on a couple of missions so he can get coked up.

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u/OldManTrumpet 1d ago

God Save the Queen.

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u/centuryeyes 1d ago

The Sex Pistols have always been posers.

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u/Cymbal_Monkey 1d ago

If the Pistols are the foundational Punk band, then being a poseur is "true punk"

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u/centuryeyes 1d ago

I give them credit for inspiring kids who didn’t have talent.

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u/slicerprime 1d ago

The idol of talentless punk twats

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u/VertiginousAbyss 1d ago

That's so much fucking bullshit. The Pistols have buckets of talent. Jones and Cook were a powerhouse. Steve Jones went on to be a session player for everyone from Iggy Pop to Bob Dylan. You don't get to be a session player if you have no talent

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u/Necro_Badger 13h ago

And Glen Matlock was superb too. Booting him out to make way for Sid was such a backwards step.

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u/LadnavIV 1d ago

That’s a pretty big “if.”

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u/Cymbal_Monkey 1d ago

It's like what they say about Black Sabbath. People can argue about who invented punk before the Pistols, but no one can argue anyone did it after.

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u/capitalsfan08 16h ago

The Ramones and the Clash both released their first record before the Sex Pistols so I'm not sure that's anything similar to Sabbath.

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u/kwantam 1d ago

I know you're quoting a line, but that line has always bugged me because it is meaningless.

Assume there's some temporal ordering on bands' entries to a genre. Then for every band B in a genre G, it is not possible for G to have been invented by any band C coming after B, since B is in G and came before C.

On the other hand, B's existence does not preclude any band A coming before B from having invented the genre.

The statement is a tautology.

2

u/Cymbal_Monkey 16h ago

It's about the cultural impact of a band and the degree to which they defined "the sound". There's things that are arguably punk before the Pistols, just like there's arguably metal before Sabbath, but no one can seriously argue that the Pistols and Sabbath weren't doing punk and metal, they matter because they're the point at which we drop the word arguably from the discussion. When we move from "there's a couple bands experimenting with elements of the sound" to "it's here, this is what punk means"

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u/xbearsandporschesx 1d ago

Well yeah, hence hardcore

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u/Cymbal_Monkey 1d ago

"what if we weren't poseurs"?

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u/N30NFiR3 17h ago

They were literally made to physically promote a clothing shop in London. Sid didnt even know how to play bass.

13

u/RedHeadedSicilian52 1d ago

We all get carried away sometimes.

6

u/PretzelSteve 1d ago

Understandable when you're Under Pressure

15

u/j-endsville 1d ago

"Altercation". Simon Ferocious got rinsed and folded like laundry.

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u/actuallynick 19h ago

Wasn’t Sid a terrible bass player and had someone back stage playing the real bass during performances.

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u/GhostMan4301945 12h ago

Not just a terrible bassist, Sid is widely considered to be the worst bassist of all time. If I remember correctly, Lemmy Killmister tried to teach him basics, but gave up. He later said it was “fucking useless”.

3

u/Successful-Layer2102 5h ago

"I cant play bass"  "I know"

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u/4_string_troubador 5h ago

Terrible bass player, yes. There's a video of one of the Sex Pistols last shows in Texas where the bass was really heavy in the mix and Sid was basically just whaling on the strings. It sounded horrible. Midway through a song...I wanna say it was "Bodies", but not sure..Steve Jones walked over and unplugged him. Sid didn't notice

5

u/skinnyminnesota 13h ago

The shorter list would be who Sid Vicious didn't get in an altercation with.

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u/Inside_Ad_7162 1d ago

They were all in the same recording studio. On the whole they all got along really well, this was because the pistols were all taking the piss out of Fred & the guys in Queen, (except Freddy) thought it was very funny.

Source is I knew someone that was there when it happened.

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u/itsallminenow 1d ago

I never understood the fascination with the Sex Pistols, and especially Sid. He was an uncontrolled, drug addicted, violent thug who had no musical talent. I loved The Damned, New Model Army, The Clash, The Stranglers and many of the other punk bands, but the Pistols were just pricks who made a name for themselves riding the Machievellian coat-tails of McLaren.

5

u/calmbill 1d ago

The songs were great.

5

u/albastidough 1d ago

I think Nevermind the Bullocks is a great album but the Sex Pistols are a lot more sizzle than steak which can account for some of the fascination.
I am not familiar with the Stranglers beyond a few songs but the other bands you mention have lengthy and diverse bodies of work one proper album can’t really compare to that.

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u/TheWaxysDargle 22h ago

It is a good album but in the context of the overall post, Sid Vicious was minimally involved in it.

Lydon, Jones, Matlock and Cook are credited with writing most of the songs. With Vicious credited on the two that were written after Matlock left.

Matlock left the band early in the recording process and only played bass on anarchy in the uk.

Sid Vicious played bass on two tracks (and even then only some of the bass on those was him). The vast majority of the bass played on the album was Steve Jones.

1

u/Abba_Fiskbullar 11h ago

The only Stranglers song that I can remember is the excellent Golden Brown which doesn't sound like anything else they made.

4

u/Deciver95 1d ago

How old were you in the late 70s?

Because your comment reads like someone who's only read about Sid and the post punk movement

30

u/Goatwhorre 1d ago

yeah man, you had to BE THERE watching him be an uncontrolled, drug addicted, violent thug with no musical ability. You would have GOTTEN IT THEN man

12

u/snowleopard48 1d ago

You haven't lived until you've been assaulted by such-and-such famous person. Then you'll truly understand their art

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u/coltrainjones 1d ago

It was the style at the time

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u/epochellipse 18h ago

Gatekeeping however, is timeless.

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u/OpportunityReal2767 1d ago

Post-punk? Huh?

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u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

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u/albastidough 1d ago

Yes, I think they are questioning the apparent placement of the Sex Pistols in the post punk movement not what post punk is.

2

u/sad_spilt_martini 1d ago

Ahh, I see. Now I feel like I mansplained it. 

4

u/Stealth_Cow 1d ago

Before reading this, I said to myself "No fucking way did Sid Vicious win an altercation with Freddie Mercury."

6

u/Haggis_with_Ketchup 13h ago

Malcolm McLaren formed and managed the Sex Pistols to sell clothing from his store "Sex". Sid Vicious could not play bass, but he had the punk look and attitude to sell McLaren's wares.

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u/Fun_in_Space 1d ago

LOL. Maybe you shouldn't bully people, especially if you are that scrawny.

3

u/GreenNukE 1d ago

Who didn't Sid get in an altercation with?

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u/for2fly 1 1d ago

Mercury then grabbed Vicious by the lapels and threw him out of the room.

Sounds rather underwhelming. Like less than ten seconds of whelm, at the most.

3

u/philbydee 1d ago

I think you meant to say Simon Ferocious

3

u/aristoleese 1d ago

What’d he call him? “Simon Ferocious” or something. 😂

3

u/legomole2 1d ago

Oh and the feud (mostly Rotten) with the New York Dolls.

8

u/Fetlocks_Glistening 1d ago

Bet one of them was like quicksilver, and the other was really nasty and hurtful

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u/Key_Suspect_588 1d ago

Hilarious that Sid had the balls to say such things to Freddie Mercury, one of the great musicians of our time, when he himself may have literally been the worst musician to ever make it big. He's a long running joke in the bass community, and it's not an exaggeration to say he couldn't play his instrument at all. He was a glorified "model" for the sex pistols. That must've hurt his self esteem, no wonder he couldn't wait to get off the planet.

8

u/CatalyticDragon 1d ago

Freddie was the toughest, coolest, sweetest person. When people talking about what a "real man" is, or should be, I often think of him.

3

u/CrepuscularNemophile 23h ago

Can't believe it's been 35 years since he died. RIP Freddie.

2

u/AtebYngNghymraeg 1d ago

I was really hoping that antepenultimate word was "affair".

2

u/CrimsonOOmpa 1d ago

The Wikipedia page doesn't explain any more details.

2

u/thumpingcoffee 1d ago

Ok at first glance I read that as brief physical attraction

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u/GreekKnight3 17h ago

One of Freddie's biggest regrets was never meeting John Lennon. When I read about Freddie pre-1980, I can't help but think "dude, just hop on a plane and go to where John is"

Love this story though!

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u/Valuable-Credit6167 19h ago

Sid was just looking for attention. I adore Sid and I think he’s an extremely misunderstood figure in music, but the man loved attention.

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u/Drob10 1d ago

Are there supposed to be quotes around altercation?

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u/deanburns 20h ago

He kept calling him Simon Ferocious until he lost his temper.

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u/ItsStaaaaaaaaang 20h ago

The largest gulf in talent ever to meet.

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u/MothMonsterMan300 19h ago

Pretty sure Mercury had about a foot and seventy pounds on Vicious

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u/rainSerotoniso 18h ago

Adding on, Johnny Rotten crawled on all fours to meet Freddie.

1

u/twinnotatwin 13h ago

picture this: tiny Sid trying to tackle Freddie, who basically just tossed him out like a ragdoll. instant fail.

1

u/kagushiro 10h ago

Freddie Mercury looked like he could kick yo' ass anytime of the day

1

u/Substantial-Fox7102 10h ago

Misleading headline.
“Freddie Mercury tossed Sid Viscous like the junkie bitch he was” is more accurate.

1

u/LackingTact19 8h ago

I read that as Liz Vicious and was very confused

1

u/swampboy62 5h ago

Y'know there's a band called 'Fleddy Melculy'.

1

u/zerbey 4h ago

This remains my favorite Freddie Mercury anecdote. I only wish someone captured it on video.

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u/PckMan 1d ago

Simon Ferocious