Wanderin home from the bus-stop couple days ago, ploughing on through that frozen numbness settles in a fella's skull sometimes around October wi no hint of a thaw till the arse-end a May if he's lucky, figured I'd stop off at the house of a mate a mine, fella lives few doors up an yet I ain't swapped a syllable wi the lad for much of the past eight months.
Decided we'd go for a dander round the back-roads a the home-slab, take ourselves off o'er these mucked-o'er byways an shoot the proverbial (i.e., the shit, the cack, the arse-paste, the plop) for a time.
Talk soon turns to the musicological, and to the Libertines shirt huggin mine nimble-form.
"I only heard a couple songs" the fella's sayin, "S'alright. He's mad that boy, y'see him on TV that night wi the kickin over cameras an gabblin right mad?"
"Aye, I saw it."
"He was arrested there, aye? For drugs or somethin?"
"Yeah", sayin. "Drugs or somethin."
Because the sad fact of the truth of the case is that most folks in Britain know who Pete Doherty is, and a casual dollop of The Libertines or Babyshambles in a conversation tends to stir up all sortsa opinion on the matter, and yet they don't know why they know him.
Somethin concernin drugs, somethin about Kate Moss, somethin along the lines of decadent grot-soaked revelry an mumbled half-words outside courthouses.
They heard "Albion", rang out clear as day on Coronation Street over Christmas. They've heard "Don't Look Back Into The Sun" an "Killamangiro", perhaps they even tapped a cheeky foot or two. But that's not why they know who this fella is.
They know him from the grotesque images slapped cross tabloid tales of coke-snortin abandon an fist-flingin cuntery. They know he fell asleep in the middle of a show a while back, but god knows what he mighta been playin at the time.
On a recent interview with Pete for BBC's Newsnight, Kirsty Wark asked him if maybe he felt any affinity with the recently departed George Best, a prodigiously talented fella who found himself gripped at the liver(s) by the ghoulish talons of addiction an' fame, who ended up a tabloid caricature far-removed from the lovable, cheeky rogue he once was.
Pete thought for a moment, then replied along the lines of how yeah, he kinda does, except he's done it in reverse. Folks knew George Best because he was an incredible footballer, and everything after that was viewed through the prism a those glories. In this case, Pete's become famous for the opium-hued antics an the drunken tomfoolery an the crack-stained dead-eye mumbling before the majority of folks have given half a second to a note he might've played, a word he might've written, a song he may have sung.
Article comments
1 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
UPDATE - It turns out Pete didn't actually show up at the gig mentioned at the end of this article. No-one's explained the absence as of yet. The rest of the band were there, that's as much as I know (except Patrick Walden who, as mentioned up yonder, walked out a couple weeks back).
2 - DJRadiohead
A few thoughts on this, Duke:
It has annoyed me no end to see the American headlines simply refer to him as "Kate Moss' Boyfriend" or ex-boyfriend or whatever.
Not to hijack this thread and take it to roads unintended... recent discussion of a hanging in Singapore brought up discussions of international drug trade and international drug policy. I don't know what the answers are... not nearly smart enough to wrap my head entirely around that one. I do feel pretty confident to say the current system in America (and from the sounds of it, the UK) is not working particularly well.
As for Pete his ownself... I don't know the guy from Adam's housecat. I just know him as a musician/artist. What makes me sad with artists like him is thinking of all the songs they'll never write because they leave so early (Elliott Smith, Cobain, Hendrix, etc). I want to believe Pete will pull out of this. Each passing installment makes it feel less likely.
3 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
DJ, that's exactly the feelin in my own guts - the ammount of stuff we won't get, either on account of the unthinkable, or on account of his talent bein pissed away. it is, of course, an incredibly selfish concern. would we rather have more nirvana records or Kurt put out his obvious misery?
i often get to thinkin bout my beloved Shane MacGowan, also, how since leaving The Pogues he's released TWO albums. TWO! from the best fuckin songwriter Britain's ever produced. an the reason bein he can't really be arsed, he's content enough. which is fine, but a fella can't help but wonder. if'n he got sorted out a wee bit for a time, what wonders would result?
in sayin that, Pete seems to be remaining prolific enough. although it could be that the ammount of b-sides etc on every single are not a sign of ongoing creativity but a result of the explosion of such erupting when Down In Albion was being produced. it was suggested it coulda easily been a double, back in the day. hence the surplus of great (and, it must be said, very occasionally not so great) material that continues to surface.
4 - Matt Largo
I think that Pete Doherty is from the school of thought in which Rockers should burn out instead of fading away. The sad thing about him is that I would have never heard of The Babyshambles if he wasn't a drug addict. He's not even at the Cobain or Hendrix level yet. At least he could wait until he achieved that level before engineering his own demise. This isn't Rock and Roll it's pathetic.
5 - Mark Edward Manning
I must say that I was pleased as punch that only 15 fans showed up to support him as he walked into court. Everyone's getting sick of his druggie, law-breaking and largely untalented ass. The media waste far too much time on him, sometimes I honestly wish he'd just OD already and be done with it.
Actually, I wish he'd clean up and become a serious songwriter, but I don't think that'll happen. He'll probably die before he calms down.
6 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Matt and Mark, valid points perhaps, but ones that fail to take into account the three stunning records he has to his name. three stunning studio albums, also, is one more than Cobain got round to. (although he gets the trio on account of Unplugged In NY bein amazing).
Matt, you talk about this, however, as if it was a planned out affair, like an addict can choose when and where to become addicted? that's some highly ridiculous notionry. but certainly i see the point, that he's goin to waste by the looks of things before he's lain down that legacy. in my honest opinion, however, the two records he made with The Libertines ARE enough of a legacy for anyone, and the Babyshambles album continues to delight an mesmerise my good self.
Mark - largely untalented is just way way off the, well, the mark. that's just incredibly ignorant talk that fails to take into account the wealth of stunning songs the fella has written, the stunning poetry (for which he was, of course, sent off to russia by the british government in his teens, to recite these gorgeous screeds), and the influence he has had on british music over the last couple years.
7 - Mark Edward Manning
Duke, you're right in your critique that he needs help. That is a possibility I would actually like to see enacted. To just throw drug users in jail doesn't solve their problem.
But, I dunno, it's hard to rate someone's talent when they fall asleep during their songs.