The Love Kills soundtrack is a scabby, bloodied love letter to punk’s last waltz—the sonic ghost of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen’s doomed descent. More than just background noise, this record is a sneering, sweat-drenched character study in sound, perfectly mirroring the chaotic burn of their relationship and the era they imploded in.
Joe Strummer opens the wounds with the title track “Love Kills,” a jagged anthem that sounds like it was written on the back of a beer-soaked napkin in a Brixton squat. It’s scuzzy, raw, and strangely heartfelt—exactly how a song about self-destruction should sound. The Pogues lend their signature whiskey-stained poetry with “Haunted” and “Junk,” injecting ghostly beauty into an otherwise filthy narrative.
Steve Jones (ex-Sex Pistols) drops “Pleasure and Pain,” his guitar biting and hooks twitching like a hangover on repeat. Meanwhile, Pray For Rain’s score work threads through the noise like a nervous system: twitchy, synthetic, and coldly cinematic. Their instrumentals (“Chinese Choppers,” “Taxi to Heaven”) act as the grim scaffolding holding the chaos together.
But it’s Gary Oldman who steals the twisted spotlight. His snarling, unhinged renditions of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and “My Way” aren’t just covers—they’re performances possessed. He doesn’t sing like Sid; he becomes Sid. His version of “My Way” is less Sinatra and more suicide note set to feedback.
The only misstep? The absence of any actual Sex Pistols tracks—a glaring omission that underlines how fractured and legally tangled punk’s corpse had become by the mid-’80s. But the attitude remains intact, stitched together by contributors who were there and who felt it.
This is not an easy listen, nor is it meant to be. Sid & Nancy: Love Kills is punk rock in its purest, posthumous form: sloppy, beautiful, tragic—and very much still bleeding.
BY RUE MORGUE RECORDS
More context and highlights:
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No Sex Pistols tracks are on the album—but punk core runs deep via Steve Jones (ex-Pistol), Circle Jerks, The Pogues and Strummer’s gritty cuts .
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Joe Strummer contributed two credited songs, plus extra film-score work credited under fictional bands due to label restrictions .
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Pray For Rain (Dan Wool) composed much of the film’s original instrumental backdrop .
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Actors Gary Oldman rips into Iggy Pop’s “I Wanna Be Your Dog” and delivers a unique take on “My Way.” Both are movie performances rather than studio recordings
