Credit: Dangerous Minds / Alamy / Watal Asanuma

In 1978, somewhere between the screaming headlines, the broken bottles, and the heroin haze of punk’s ugliest hour, Sid Vicious sat down and did something strangely tender: he made a list. Not a list of gigs, drugs, or dealers — no, Sid wrote out a list of reasons why his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, was “so great”.

It’s almost childlike. Sloppy handwriting, numbered like a schoolboy’s doodle, equal parts horny, awkward, and genuinely affectionate. For all his snarling nihilism, Sid was just 20 years old – barely an adult, emotionally stunted, crashing through the ruins of the Sex Pistols’ implosion with Nancy glued to his side.

By that point, Nancy Spungen was already the stuff of legend, and not in the flattering sense. Diagnosed schizophrenic, addicted to heroin, and dubbed ‘Nauseating Nancy’ by the salivating British tabloids, she had become a grotesque anti-muse for the punk scene. Wherever Nancy went, chaos wasn’t far behind. But to Sid, she was salvation. Or so he wanted to believe.

The two were inseparable, like some toxic cartoon of Romeo and Juliet as directed by John Waters on a particularly cruel day. As their codependence spiralled, so did their notoriety. Fans despised her. The band despised her. But Sid? He stayed. Whether out of devotion, desperation, or plain addiction, he clung to Nancy like a sinking ship clings to the rocks.

Then came the inevitable crash. Just months after scribbling down his lovesick list, Nancy was found dead in Room 100 of the Chelsea Hotel – a single stab wound, most likely delivered by the man who adored her. Sid was arrested but never stood trial. His own drug-fuelled exit came just four months later, overdosing at a party while out on bail.

Decades later, the myth of Sid and Nancy still looms like a cautionary fairytale from punk’s most sordid chapter. Two broken kids, egged on by the ghoulish circus of fame, locked in a slow-motion suicide pact, the world couldn’t stop watching. And yet, in that pathetic little list, scribbled in the middle of it all, lies the only thing remotely real.

And here it is — Sid Vicious’ completely unfiltered, utterly tragic tribute to the girl who dragged him down with her:

What makes Nancy so great by Sidney:

1. Beautiful
2. Sexy
3. Beautiful figure
4. Great sense of humour
5. Makes extremely interesting conversation
6. Witty
7. Has beautiful eyes
8. Has fab taste in clothes
9. Has the most beautiful wet pussy in the world
10. Even has sexy feet
11. Is extremely smart
12. A great Hustler