APBP Article Oasis

The Joke That is Pete Doherty

Pete Doherty seems to get away with everything short of murder, and though he makes for interesting conversation, the former Libertines front man has become a Spinal Tap-esque parody of a rock star to critical acclaim. The acclaim, of course, centers around his drug arrests and other “pity me” actions, which has to be the case as his musical viability has long since diminished and only holds sway in the UK, where bad taste in the medium seems to be commonplace.

The Libertines barely made a dent across the pond, and his current project Babyshambles seems to be nothing more than just another untalented group of hack musicians trying desperately to avoid getting a real job. It must be difficult for Pete’s bandmates to be a part of that circus, knowing full well that the only reason they have a career in music stems from their association with the poster boy for excessive living. While I wholeheartedly welcome anyone to do as they please to themselves so long as others aren’t affected in the process, it’s not a positive personality trait to let your drug use and abuse get in the way of you supposed friend’s careers.

But therein lies the rub, as Shakespeare would say. Were it not for Pete being Pete, there likely wouldn’t be any careers to ruin. Certainly his association with Kate Moss has helped to propel him to front page tabloid fodder, but even without it, he manages to approach life with so little concern for anyone but himself that he is all but guaranteed a perpetual a place in the limelight of infamy. While I’m not one to decry the culture of addiction and exclaim “think of the children” in front of Parliament, I have no qualms admitting that Mr. Doherty owes the greatest portion of his success to society’s fascination with a human train wreck.

Someday soon, Pete Doherty will grow old, and no one will be collecting money in one hand and patting him on the back with the other. It’s likely he’ll never realize that the joke he has become is a joke he played on himself. He will, in time, realize that the well wishers will only hang around so long as the nature of the fickle public is to move on and forget. Who knows, perhaps he’ll get his act together and take his career a bit more seriously. While it has worked for some, the usual precedence is to first give something of value to the world of music, then let the pressure of doing so result in your fall from grace. Since Pete hasn’t arguably accomplished the former, will anyone care if he cleans himself up?

Life seems to be a dream for Pete, though that dream will surely end when the only applause he hears is coming from the other members of the rehabilitation program he’s in. It’s either that or an early death that one might think would allow Mr. Doherty’s current legend live forever. To that end, I refer to American politics, specifically the vice presidential debate of 1988 when saying, “Sir, I saw Curt Cobain perform, I grew up on Curt Cobain, I’ve listened to Curt Cobain countless times, and you are no Curt Cobain.”

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