7 Iconic Rock ‘n’ Roll Couples
Design by Katie Lew
By Heather Thorn
1. Nancy Spungen and Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols)
The Bonnie and Clyde of rock ‘n’ roll are Sid Vicious—mediocre-at-best bassist of the Sex Pistols—and Nancy Spungen. They met in March 1977 when Spungen, freshly nineteen years old, flew from New York City to London looking for a rock band to groupie. Although she originally went for the lead singer, Johnny Rotten, Spungen ended up with Vicious. During nearly an eighteen-month relationship, the pair’s intense, turbulent bond was fueled by heroin use, resulting in various criminal charges ranging from drug use to possession of an offensive weapon.
Spungen, nicknamed “Nauseating Nancy” by tabloids, became a point of contention within the band: She was seen as a destructive force who pushed Vicious deeper into an addiction that included heroin and barbiturates. Together, the group and their manager, Malcolm McLaren, successfully banned Spungen from the Sex Pistols’ first (and only) US tour in January 1978. Within two weeks, the tour imploded, and after performing only seven of nine scheduled shows, the band members returned to England on separate flights. The band had broken up.
In August, Vicious and Spungen moved from London into the Chelsea Hotel in New York City, where Vicious attempted a solo career with Spungen as his manager. Vicious also formed the band The Idols with a few other musicians, including New York Dolls members Jerry Nolan and Arthur Kane. With the Idols providing backup, Vicious recorded one live album, Sid Sings (1979).
Vicious and Spungen continued their descent into drug addiction and abuse in their Chelsea Hotel room. Just two months later, Spungen was found dead in the bathroom with a stab wound to her stomach. Vicious was charged with her murder despite claiming innocence, but drug use made his accounts unreliable: He was reported to have said both “I killed her” and “She must have fallen on the knife.”
Vicious was released on bail but returned to prison in December after striking Patti Smith’s brother, Todd, in the face with a glass bottle. In February 1979, Vicious was again released on bail; on the day of his release, he scored heroin at a party. The following morning, his mom found him dead from an overdose.
Vicious and Spungen’s tumultuous, drug-fueled whirlwind of a romance remains immortalized in the film Sid and Nancy (1986) and in various songs, including “Love Kills” (1986) by Joe Strummer, lead singer of The Clash, and “Love Kills” (1986) by the Ramones.
2. Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill) and Adam Horovitz (Beastie Boys)
Famed founder of the riot grrrl punk movement and creator of the bands Bikini Kill, Le Tigre, and The Julie Ruin, Kathleen Hanna first met Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz of the Beastie Boys in 1995. They were both on the bill at an Australian festival called Summersault and kept in touch following the tour via fax and phone calls, as recounted in her 2024 memoir, Rebel Girl. In the chapter “Root Down,” she writes of her feelings for Horovitz as “the kind of love that starts driving the car of your body.” Following Horovitz’s separation from his then wife, Ione Skye, Hanna and Horovitz started dating and married in 2006. The couple adopted their son, Julius, in 2013, following Hanna’s fertility struggles and Lyme disease diagnosis. They’ve been together ever since and keep their married life private, opting not to share much about their relationship in their songwriting.
3. Courtney Love (Hole) and Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love, of the grunge band Hole, were together from 1991 to 1994. Their intense relationship was sparked at a nightclub in Portland, Oregon, in late 1991 and they married on February 24, 1992. Six months later, they welcomed their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, on August 18, 1992. Love and Cobain dealt with substance use and addiction during their marriage, complicating their high-profile relationship under the public’s eye as they faced scrutiny from the paparazzi and the surveillance of their parenting in headlines.
On April 5, 1994, Cobain passed away, leaving behind his widow, Courtney Love, and their daughter, Fances, not yet two years old. Love has written several songs about Kurt Cobain including “Doll Parts” (1994), “Beautiful Son” (1994), and “Honey” (2010). Before his death, Cobain wrote “Heart-Shaped Box” (1993) about his love for Love.
4. Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)
Kim Gordon and Thurstoon Moore met in New York City during the “no-wave” music scene in 1980 and began dating shortly after. Together, they founded the noise-rock band Sonic Youth in 1981, welcoming second guitarist Lee Ranaldo and, eventually, drummer Steve Shelley to the group. Gordon and Moore split writing and vocals, with Gordon taking on guitar and bass and Moore on lead guitar. They married in 1984, and the group found mainstream success in the ‘90s following their breakout albums Daydream Nation (1988) and Goo (1990). In 1994, Gordon and Moore welcomed their daughter, Coco Hayley Moore.
Sonic Youth released seven more albums—including Washing Machine (1995), A Thousand Leaves (1998), Sonic Nurse (2004), Rather Ripped (2006), and their final studio album The Eternal (2009)—before disbanding in 2011 following Gordon and Moore’s divorce, which finalized in 2013. In her 2015 memoir, Girl in a Band, Gordon detailed her divorce from Moore and the dissolution of their marriage of twenty-seven years, describing Moore’s “midlife crisis” and a much younger mistress.
Moore has released eight studio albums, and his debut memoir, Sonic Life, was released in 2023. Gordon has released two solo albums, including Grammy-nominated The Collective (2024). Her next album, PLAY ME, will be released on March 13, 2026.
5. Paul and Linda McCartney (Wings)
Paul McCartney met American photographer Linda Eastman in May 1967 at a nightclub in London. Four days later, they met once again at the press party for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), where Eastman took photos of the Beatles for her book.
As Eastman lived in the United States with her daughter, Heather, they didn’t see each other until a year later when McCartney visited New York and invited Eastman and her daughter to London. By March 1969, they were married, and their romance continued to blossom over a mutual connection to animal activism and vegetarianism.
Linda served as an emotional crutch to Paul when the Beatles broke up: He credits her as an anchor during his depression. “Maybe I’m Amazed” (1970) was written for Linda in honor of her helping him through the fallout of the Beatles’ breakup.
More than a muse, she became his partner in music, too, when they formed the band Wings in August 1971: She played keys alongside Paul, their lead vocalist. He wrote “My Love” (1973) for Linda early in their relationship.
Outside of music, Linda and Paul celebrated a peaceful and private married life at their farm in Scotland. Paul adopted Linda’s daughter, Heather, and the pair had three more children: Mary, Stella, and James. Linda and Paul’s marriage lasted twenty-nine years, ending with Linda’s death following a battle with breast cancer. Their partnership remains eternalized in Wings’ discography as well as in songs Paul Paul has written about her, including “The Lovely Linda” (1970), “Two of Us” (1970), “Long Haired Lady” (1971), and “Dear Boy” (1971).
6. Debbie Harry and Chris Stein (Blondie)
Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, cofounders of the punk new wave band Blondie, were together for thirteen years, their romantic relationship spanning from the early ‘70s to the late ‘80s. Their romance lasted the entirety of Blondie’s initial and highly successful run (1974–1982).
The pair met in 1973 when Harry was performing with glam rock band the Stilettos in a New York City bar. Stein, an art student and guitarist from Brooklyn, was in the audience and became smitten with Harry. He briefly joined the Stilettos before he and Harry left to form their own group. They formed Angel and the Snake before establishing Blondie later in that year. They attribute their band name to the catcalls Harry received after bleaching her hair.
Together, the pair recorded numerous hits including “Dreaming” (1979), “Atomic” (1980), “Island of Lost Souls” (1982), and four number-one singles, “Heart of Glass” (1979), “Call Me” (1980), “The Tide Is High” (1980), and “Rapture” (1981). Off of Parallel Lines, Stein wrote “Sunday Girl” (1978) about Harry’s cat, Sunday Man, who had run away.
Following declining album sales of The Hunter in 1982, Blondie disbanded due to internal band conflicts, exhaustion, and financial mismanagement. Stein was also diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare, life-threatening autoimmune skin disease. He and Harry had become “functioning addicts” by the end of the ‘70s, and it was time to detox from heroin. Harry cared for Stein in the hospital during his treatment, and the pair eventually broke up in 1987.
Harry has remained publicly single, while Stein married actress Barbara Sicuranza on May 27, 1999. They have two daughters and remain happily married today. Stein and Harry’s musical partnership continues, spanning over fifty years. On Instagram, Stein regularly posts his photography of Blondie, Harry, and other rockstars from that era, alongside updates of him and Harry in the studio.
7. Robert Smith (The Cure) and Mary Poole
Robert Smith met his wife years before he formed the rock band the Cure. Smith first met Mary Poole in 1973; they were both fourteen and enrolled in a school drama class. Smith formed the band that would become the Cure with schoolmates in 1976. The group settled on their name in 1978 following several changes—including “Malice” and “Easy Cure.”
Smith wrote the famous song “Lovesong” (1989) as a wedding present for Mary after they married on August 13, 1988, following a fifteen-year courtship. “Lovesong” proved massively successful, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Just Like Heaven” (1987) serves as a tribute to Smith’s relationship with Poole, who appears in the song’s music video. Smith credits her with saving his life by pulling him out of the abyss during dark, self-destructive times. “She’s always been the one that has caught me when I have been so very close to fall[ing] apart completely,” he told Pop in 1996.
Smith and Poole have been happily married ever since, keeping their marriage private.