Post by Fuggle on Feb 4, 2006 19:09:40 GMT -5
SID VICIOUS VS. PETE DOHERTY
BRAD WHEELER
As Pete Doherty destructs, John Lydon shakes his head and remembers. The grimy-mouthed former punk rocker has seen it all before, very close up. As the sneering singer-leader of the barbarian Sex Pistols, Lydon answered to the name Johnny Rotten. The man holding the bass guitar in that band was Sid Vicious -- a mess of a man who had similar traits as current British pop star Doherty, formerly of the Libertines, but now of Babyshambles.
"Pete -- calm down a little and start checking yourself," Lydon recently counselled, via the British press. "You're not impressing anyone."
Doherty, who does not govern his impulses well, pleaded guilty a week ago in a London court to possessing heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and marijuana. These particular offences stem from an arrest in December. Sadly, it appears that Doherty follows the same path so erratically blazed by Vicious, who died of a heroin overdose in 1979. Lydon says: "He's made a decision to play these drugs games. But I haven't seen many survivors. And I don't want to see him become another stupid rock death."
Pete Doherty
Born: Peter Doherty, Northumberland, England, 1979. Father an Irish-born officer in the British Army; mother, a Liverpudlian.
Music career: After dropping out of Oxford University, the singer-guitarist was a founding member of the punk revivalists the Libertines, which released its debut album in 2001. After erratic conduct caused his expulsion, he formed Babyshambles in 2004.
Once charitably described as: "Taller than you'd think."
Did you know: He has a naltrexone stomach implant (which negates the effects of opiates on the brain), courtesy of ex-lover model Kate Moss.
Enduring image: Fag-lipped, drug-addled deadbeat.
Top musical moment: In 2002, the NME judged the Libertines to be the best new band in Britain.
Girlfriend: The hard-partying, waifish runway model Moss, who was the more stable of the two.
Quote: "What seems to be the problem, officer?," and "There is no such thing as bad publicity."
Death: Imminent.
Sid Vicious
Born: John Simon Ritchie, London, 1957. Father was a former Grenadier Guard; mother allegedly a drug-seller.
Music career: Stunningly inept bass player with the Sex Pistols, 1977-78.
Once charitably described as: "Slender and likable."
Did you know: He wore a padlock necklace, but didn't have a key.
Enduring image: On stage, bass slung low, sneering, and stripped to the waist.
Top musical moment: The striking video rendition of the Anka/Sinatra standard My Way -- seen in Julien Temple's film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.
Girlfriend: The ferociously annoying Nancy Spungen, an alleged drug-user and ex-prostitute apparently knifed to death by Vicious, who died before the case went to trial.
Quote: On the Sex Pistols' demise, "In the end, I was the only one with any anarchy left in me."
Death: Drug overdose, possibly intentional, at age 21.
BRAD WHEELER
As Pete Doherty destructs, John Lydon shakes his head and remembers. The grimy-mouthed former punk rocker has seen it all before, very close up. As the sneering singer-leader of the barbarian Sex Pistols, Lydon answered to the name Johnny Rotten. The man holding the bass guitar in that band was Sid Vicious -- a mess of a man who had similar traits as current British pop star Doherty, formerly of the Libertines, but now of Babyshambles.
"Pete -- calm down a little and start checking yourself," Lydon recently counselled, via the British press. "You're not impressing anyone."
Doherty, who does not govern his impulses well, pleaded guilty a week ago in a London court to possessing heroin, crack cocaine, morphine and marijuana. These particular offences stem from an arrest in December. Sadly, it appears that Doherty follows the same path so erratically blazed by Vicious, who died of a heroin overdose in 1979. Lydon says: "He's made a decision to play these drugs games. But I haven't seen many survivors. And I don't want to see him become another stupid rock death."
Pete Doherty
Born: Peter Doherty, Northumberland, England, 1979. Father an Irish-born officer in the British Army; mother, a Liverpudlian.
Music career: After dropping out of Oxford University, the singer-guitarist was a founding member of the punk revivalists the Libertines, which released its debut album in 2001. After erratic conduct caused his expulsion, he formed Babyshambles in 2004.
Once charitably described as: "Taller than you'd think."
Did you know: He has a naltrexone stomach implant (which negates the effects of opiates on the brain), courtesy of ex-lover model Kate Moss.
Enduring image: Fag-lipped, drug-addled deadbeat.
Top musical moment: In 2002, the NME judged the Libertines to be the best new band in Britain.
Girlfriend: The hard-partying, waifish runway model Moss, who was the more stable of the two.
Quote: "What seems to be the problem, officer?," and "There is no such thing as bad publicity."
Death: Imminent.
Sid Vicious
Born: John Simon Ritchie, London, 1957. Father was a former Grenadier Guard; mother allegedly a drug-seller.
Music career: Stunningly inept bass player with the Sex Pistols, 1977-78.
Once charitably described as: "Slender and likable."
Did you know: He wore a padlock necklace, but didn't have a key.
Enduring image: On stage, bass slung low, sneering, and stripped to the waist.
Top musical moment: The striking video rendition of the Anka/Sinatra standard My Way -- seen in Julien Temple's film The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle.
Girlfriend: The ferociously annoying Nancy Spungen, an alleged drug-user and ex-prostitute apparently knifed to death by Vicious, who died before the case went to trial.
Quote: On the Sex Pistols' demise, "In the end, I was the only one with any anarchy left in me."
Death: Drug overdose, possibly intentional, at age 21.