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Life & Arts

Where are all the true rock stars?

Stay Sick

Jason Gagnon 

Has it really been so long that we have forgotten what it takes to be considered a true rock star? With the arrival of the 1990s, hedonism, excess and careless abandonment seemed to fade away with the arrival of grunge music. When you break it down, it appears the last ones to grace Earth were Noel and Liam Gallagher. Music has become stale and dormant with one trend recycling another, leaving little room for any positive evolution. 

It's always easier to deal with this state of affairs when you have rock stars to distract you with their insane behavior. For instance, when the Beatles were going down the tubes, no one seemed bothered because they were publicly embracing hash and acid and getting busted in airports. That's way more interesting than the album Ringo Starr got to sing on.

Finally, there is a rock star in our midst. One who is arrogant, a total and unapologetic cocaine fiend, crack head and junkie. Plus, he writes some pretty cool songs in between jail stays, banging models and starting bar fights. Thank you, Elvis, for Pete Doherty. (Although, to be fair, Ginger of the Wildhearts qualifies as well and has been doing this all longer. But none of you know who that is even though you should.)

He was kicked out of the Libertines because of his irresponsibility that stemmed directly from his love of narcotics. While they were recording what was sure to be their breakthrough record with producer Mick Jones (The Clash), the Libertines got more press for Doherty's idiotic exploits than for their music. Of course, that's what the British press are famous for, but all these stories trickled to our side of the pond and Doherty became sort of a cult icon. I'm willing to bet Doherty has had about as much ink spent on him as the Sex Pistols did in their heyday.

Now he's got a new band, the Babyshambles, and his bandmates don't seem to care how big of a screw-up their frontman is and how much time he spends in the slammer. It all translates into huge interest and record sales which is the bottom line in the music biz and why Doherty is able to keep up his expensive extracurricular habits while kicking out great jams like, "(Nasty four-letter slang for fornicate) Forever."

For too long music fans have had to suffer the sermonizing of overpaid, under-talented and extremely pretentious stars who are obviously way more focused on making political statements than writing a decent record. We live in a world where John Lennon gets gunned down in broad daylight and no one yet has had the balls to empty a clip into Bono?

Thank you, Pete Doherty, for showing the younger generations what real rock stars are like. Don't give me a 10-minute preamble on the plight of indigenous bean sprout farmers -- just go out there and blow me away with some good tunes.
 

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