The Punk Who Was Afraid to Sing

Sid had been making music since he was a kid. Growing up in Salford, Greater Manchester, punk became central to his life. He played, he wrote, he absorbed everything around him. But there was one part of making music he had pretty much ruled out.

Singing.

“I always refused to sing because I thought having a bad voice should stop me. For years in fact I believed that.”
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It's an interesting admission from someone who describes punk as “everything to me.” Sid had spent years listening to voices that weren't conventional and weren't trying to be. Eventually, he had to confront the fact that he wasn't giving himself the same freedom.

“Then I realised I was a hypocrite.”

Sid didn't suddenly decide he had a great voice. He simply stopped believing that having the “right” kind of voice should determine whether he was allowed to use it.

“I’ve been writing music my whole life but now I wanted to be the one telling those stories.”

That hadn't always been the case. It wasn't until his mid-20s that Sid really wanted to start writing about himself.

“I’m not sure I felt I had anything interesting to say until then.”
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He does now.

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Salford

If you've ever opened a copy of The Queen Is Dead, you may already know Sid's hometown without realizing it.

Salford is a city in Greater Manchester in northwest England. For music fans, one of its most recognizable landmarks is Salford Lads Club, where The Smiths were famously photographed in 1985. The image appeared inside The Queen Is Dead and became part of the band's visual history.

For Smiths fans, the building became a destination.

For Sid, it's home.

“Salford is the city I am from. You’ll have seen it in the classic Smiths picture in front of Salford Lads Club. I’m so proud of being from here and the working class history which is massively important to the city’s past.”
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That working-class identity is something Sid wants visible in his own music.

“I am from a working class background and intend to celebrate the culture of musicians, poets and artists through my music.”

“It’s important to me to have some kind of representation of that in everything I do artistically.”

But the Salford Sid writes about isn't just its musical past.

One of his songs, Salford Is Sleeping, comes from looking at what's around him now.

“I think I’m overly emotional and sensitive in a lot of ways and so I over observe everything.”

One thing in particular stays with him.

“One thing I feel very emotionally attached to is the suffering of a lot of the poverty around me and the lost potential.”

Lost potential.
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Of everything Sid said about Salford, those were the words that stayed with me. There's pride in where he's from, but also an awareness of what can be lost there. Salford Is Sleeping sits somewhere between the two.

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His Grandpa's Guitar

Sid's grandfather was a huge musical influence.

He was also an important part of the first story I wrote about Sid for Vinyl Vibes, which explored his collecting, Manchester punk history and his efforts to preserve photographs, records and memories that might otherwise disappear.

But his grandfather's influence goes beyond what Sid preserves.

“My grandpa was my musical hero. Guitar hero especially.”

His grandfather was inspired by Bob Dylan and acoustic protest music. Sid has found himself drawn towards something similar.
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“He was inspired by Bob Dylan and that kind of acoustic protest music. I feel the same way about acoustic punk.”

Acoustic punk.

It's a good description of one direction Sid Spungen is exploring.

Sid writes poetry too, although poetry readings aren't really his thing. He's more interested in what happens when words are carried by music.

“I love the likes of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Boris Grebenshchikov and how they use the acoustic guitar to tell stories and poems.”

It's actually a relatively new love.

“I didn’t used to. It’s definitely a new love for me and it’s something I have thrown myself at.”
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And acoustic isn't where he intends to stop. Sid wants electric punk on the album too.

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The Prettiest Girl

Then somebody broke his heart.

Prettiest Girl came from what Sid calls his “most recent and most devastating heartbreak.”

He could have made the song as miserable as the experience. Instead, he wanted something different.

“I still want it to be an upbeat love song as a goodbye or a thank you, perhaps.”

That “thank you, perhaps” says plenty on its own.

Musically, Sid found himself looking towards Green Day's Saviors.

“Billie Joe writes love songs the best in my opinion.”
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Prettiest Girl and Salford Is Sleeping begin in very different places, but when I asked Sid what keeps appearing in his writing, the answer was immediate.

“I think I write the most about sadness.”

He already has an album's worth of songs written, and sadness keeps turning up in different forms.

“I try to be ironic about it in some songs, optimistic in others and depressed in the rest but that is the recurring theme.”

Then he puts it more simply.

“I think I’m just generally quite a melancholic person.”

Maybe that's enough of an explanation.

Salford, heartbreak, family and working-class life don't need to fit neatly into a concept. They're things Sid thinks about.
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Now he's writing songs about them.

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I Had Already Heard Sid Spungen

There's a strange twist in how I discovered Sid's music.

I'd already spent time talking with him about punk, collecting, Salford and his grandfather. Later, music by Sid Spungen crossed my path online.

I heard it.

What I didn't realize was that Sid Spungen was Sid.

When the connection finally clicked, it caught me off guard. I'd managed to encounter music made by someone whose story I already knew without connecting the music to the person.

It also hit on something I've been exploring on Vinyl Vibes: if music has never been easier to find, why can music discovery still feel so difficult?
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We have streaming, social media, playlists, algorithms, record stores and recommendations. Music isn't scarce. Attention is.

I didn't miss his music because I couldn't find it. I missed it while it was right in front of me.

If that can happen with someone I already know, what am I missing from everyone I don't?

Sometimes discovering new music might be less about finding more and more of it and more about stopping long enough to notice what's already there.
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This time, I stopped on Sid Spungen.

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Sid Spungen: From Acoustic Punk to an Album

Sid Spungen's music is already available digitally, and he has an album written. What he's still figuring out is exactly what that album should sound like.

“I’m still struggling with it but I think it’s because I’ve convinced myself I must create something that is one style or one theme and I need to get out of that.”

Part of the problem is simply having too many influences pulling in different directions.

“I have so many influences and I definitely get overwhelmed deciding which path to follow.”

So he's giving himself room.

There's the acoustic storytelling he's recently fallen for, but also the electric punk he wants to bring into it. Different instrumentation. Some genre bending. Less concern about everything fitting into one box.

“I want an album however with a mix of instrumentation and a little bit of freedom with genre bending.”
And then there are the shows.

“I hope to do shows. I miss punk club shows and pub shows. I hope to get to that soon.”

There's something fitting about that image: Sid in a small pub or punk club, singing songs he once thought he shouldn't sing at all.

His music is already out there. The album is written. The rest is taking shape.

But this is Vinyl Vibes, so there's one question I can't resist.

Will we eventually get Sid Spungen on vinyl?
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As for figuring out exactly who Sid Spungen is, Sid isn't pretending he has that answer yet.

“Hopefully by album two I’ll understand Sid Spungen completely.”

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What to Spin Next

If Sid's story brought you here, there are a few more places to go.

Meet the collector behind the artist
Before I knew Sid Spungen as a musician, I knew Sid through his records, his family and his connection to Manchester punk. Read his Collector Story: Manchester Punk Memories: A Salford Archivist's Story.

Why are we missing so much music?
Sid's music was already in front of me before I realized who I was listening to. That experience connects directly to a bigger question I've been exploring on Vinyl Vibes: Why Music Discovery Is Harder Than Ever in the Streaming Era.

Go deeper into The Smiths and Morrissey
Salford Lads Club gives this story another natural path. From The Queen Is Dead to Morrissey's music today, explore the Smiths & Morrissey stories and tour guides on Vinyl Vibes.
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Discover another independent artist
Continue through Artist Spotlight, where Vinyl Vibes slows things down and spends some time with the people behind the music.