Pete Doherty: Learn from Russell Brand
The nature of celebrity and fame throws up all kinds of moralistic outrage these days. For the last two years the UK has been treated to a one-man show of car crash TV, tabloid intrusion and rock-n-roll excess from the ex-frontman of The Libertines, Pete Doherty.
Widely condemned for rolling from shambolic, heroin-soaked gigs to drugs den, to rehab, and all the way back again via numerous run-ins with the police, he has become a figure of hatred, idolisation and fascination for all manner of folk. If you are twenty years too old to care about his band, you can still shake your head at his disgusting excesses. If you are twenty years too young to remember Jim Morrison, he's the rock idol the world has arguably been missing since Michael Hutchence passed away; a pied piper of disaffected youth to today's generation.But since being arrested and convicted on a myriad of drugs charges and misdemeanours, and even lashing out at a BBC Radio reporter outside a courtroom, he has lost his way entirely.
He has always been interesting to watch; he formed The Libertines, they became a phenomenon, and then was forced to disband them after his drug use spiralled out of control. He formed Babyshambles and watched them descend into an even worse melee of excess ; it was The Libertines with yes-men who couldn't throw him out.The irony of it all is that those fans who were with him from the beginning simply don't view him in the same way anymore. He isn't a Libertine anymore, not in the way he used to be. His dissolute behaviour and lack of restraint was an enchanting call-to-arms to thousands of young fans. Now they hold him with affection, but the affection of a cousin or friend who's lost their way. He isn't idolised anymore, he is pitied. A significant proportion of a generation has its fingers crossed for him; but for too many of them, his aim isn't to entertain them or enchant them any more.
Doherty has always been idealistic, and his fragile persona betrays a naiive and sensitive soul as much as it does his clever songwriting and talent as a wordsmith. Now it seems he is all too committed to writing himself into legend, except that with the only sporadic successes of his music, all he has left is the "Live fast, Die Young" mentality that has claimed too many of the world's great entertainers.The fads and phases created by the tabloid and magazine media's peaks and troughs of taste and decency have created a new hero, of sorts- one equally tainted by drugs, debauchery and self-indulgence and all without Doherty's air of innocence to lend him the excuse of being a young pup led astray.
No, the current flavour of the month is none other than Russell Brand, the fiercely verbose and intelligent comedian and host of E4's Big Brother's Big Mouth talk show and also MTV's 1 Leicester Square, both shows where he and his surreality have total sway over the audience.Brand, in many ways, should never have made it back to his current level- he was sacked from MTV once before, for arriving in to work dressed as Osama bin Laden on September 12th, 2001. Crass, drug-fuelled and arrogant, he could never claim to have been led astray- he always seemed too clever for such an excuse to wash.Yet, despite the fact that most of his audience (on the E4 show at any rate) will struggle to understand him- references to philosophy, classics, and literature abound at any moment Brand feels the urge- he is everybody's favourite. He has even been linked romantically with Doherty's obsession, the Supermodel Kate Moss- and the world is his oyster. Even she, after her own drugs scandals and the loss of numerous high-profile contracts, has come back even more of a success after rehab and a rethink.
The message to Doherty is simple- a downward spiral and glorious exit isn't the only way to make it from here. Since his disastrous Live 8 performance, and subsequent performances at court, there has been a sickening inevitablity about his demise. Yet surely, if Russell Brand shows us anything, it's that people love fighters- careers resurrected by sheer force of will and talent. We love Brand for his pluckiness, the fact that he has blown every chance he's had before this, and yet is grasping his good fortune with both hands.
If Doherty can acquire some of the spine Russell Brand has exhibited, then his place in his old fans' affections will be cemented. His mewling vulnerability isn't doing him any good any more- the only people who care are folks who like the image of all that debauchery without ever needing to go near it, and a whole new fan base of young teenage girls, looking for a controversial figure to idolise, without the slightest care as to what he's saying to them.Every drug-influenced lyric, every abandoned gig, every court appearance- it's all worth nothing it he doesn't come out of the end of it.
James Dean was an icon, but only made three movies where he appeared on the credits. Go back to rehab. Sort yourself out. Cement your place in the nation's consciousness that way; after all, Russell and Kate both did it.
Widely condemned for rolling from shambolic, heroin-soaked gigs to drugs den, to rehab, and all the way back again via numerous run-ins with the police, he has become a figure of hatred, idolisation and fascination for all manner of folk. If you are twenty years too old to care about his band, you can still shake your head at his disgusting excesses. If you are twenty years too young to remember Jim Morrison, he's the rock idol the world has arguably been missing since Michael Hutchence passed away; a pied piper of disaffected youth to today's generation.But since being arrested and convicted on a myriad of drugs charges and misdemeanours, and even lashing out at a BBC Radio reporter outside a courtroom, he has lost his way entirely.
He has always been interesting to watch; he formed The Libertines, they became a phenomenon, and then was forced to disband them after his drug use spiralled out of control. He formed Babyshambles and watched them descend into an even worse melee of excess ; it was The Libertines with yes-men who couldn't throw him out.The irony of it all is that those fans who were with him from the beginning simply don't view him in the same way anymore. He isn't a Libertine anymore, not in the way he used to be. His dissolute behaviour and lack of restraint was an enchanting call-to-arms to thousands of young fans. Now they hold him with affection, but the affection of a cousin or friend who's lost their way. He isn't idolised anymore, he is pitied. A significant proportion of a generation has its fingers crossed for him; but for too many of them, his aim isn't to entertain them or enchant them any more.
Doherty has always been idealistic, and his fragile persona betrays a naiive and sensitive soul as much as it does his clever songwriting and talent as a wordsmith. Now it seems he is all too committed to writing himself into legend, except that with the only sporadic successes of his music, all he has left is the "Live fast, Die Young" mentality that has claimed too many of the world's great entertainers.The fads and phases created by the tabloid and magazine media's peaks and troughs of taste and decency have created a new hero, of sorts- one equally tainted by drugs, debauchery and self-indulgence and all without Doherty's air of innocence to lend him the excuse of being a young pup led astray.
No, the current flavour of the month is none other than Russell Brand, the fiercely verbose and intelligent comedian and host of E4's Big Brother's Big Mouth talk show and also MTV's 1 Leicester Square, both shows where he and his surreality have total sway over the audience.Brand, in many ways, should never have made it back to his current level- he was sacked from MTV once before, for arriving in to work dressed as Osama bin Laden on September 12th, 2001. Crass, drug-fuelled and arrogant, he could never claim to have been led astray- he always seemed too clever for such an excuse to wash.Yet, despite the fact that most of his audience (on the E4 show at any rate) will struggle to understand him- references to philosophy, classics, and literature abound at any moment Brand feels the urge- he is everybody's favourite. He has even been linked romantically with Doherty's obsession, the Supermodel Kate Moss- and the world is his oyster. Even she, after her own drugs scandals and the loss of numerous high-profile contracts, has come back even more of a success after rehab and a rethink.
The message to Doherty is simple- a downward spiral and glorious exit isn't the only way to make it from here. Since his disastrous Live 8 performance, and subsequent performances at court, there has been a sickening inevitablity about his demise. Yet surely, if Russell Brand shows us anything, it's that people love fighters- careers resurrected by sheer force of will and talent. We love Brand for his pluckiness, the fact that he has blown every chance he's had before this, and yet is grasping his good fortune with both hands.
If Doherty can acquire some of the spine Russell Brand has exhibited, then his place in his old fans' affections will be cemented. His mewling vulnerability isn't doing him any good any more- the only people who care are folks who like the image of all that debauchery without ever needing to go near it, and a whole new fan base of young teenage girls, looking for a controversial figure to idolise, without the slightest care as to what he's saying to them.Every drug-influenced lyric, every abandoned gig, every court appearance- it's all worth nothing it he doesn't come out of the end of it.
James Dean was an icon, but only made three movies where he appeared on the credits. Go back to rehab. Sort yourself out. Cement your place in the nation's consciousness that way; after all, Russell and Kate both did it.
Labels: Pop Culture
posted by Matt at 5:38 pm
1 Comments:
Probably my favourite musing, if only because of the fact that Pete Doherty annoys me by letting his musical talent fall into drug-fuelled disgrace. Brand on the other hand is now the antithesis of everything that Pete Doherty represents, dispite similarities early on in his career.
Both are wildly creative (one in terms of zany humour and eloquence, and the other music) however it is easy to see who will sit in the lap of popularity. Good work Matt, continue the good work!
Post a Comment
<< Home