quote:
Originally posted by cwrenn
was anyone in the village on monday night?i have to say,the concept behind it made me slightly queasy...i don't think that the people were there to hear the music,more out of a morbid fascination with mister mcgowan...i suppose it's something thats linked to the whole pete doherty thing..i wish the people would realise that overuse/misuse of drink/drugs just isn't cool..take,for example david byrne...he's roughly the same age as mcgowan,but instead of incoherence,he's producing some of the most lyrical,lucid and insightful work of his career..it's sad ti see mcgowan and compare them..are we going to go down the 'he has a disease' route of excuses?or should willpower be enough to overcome something like that?what do people think?
shane mcgowan has been a car-crash his whole career. yes it is sad to watch just as it is grotesquely magnetic to observe. theres a element of the Paul McGraths here too because loads of people (idiots largely) want to buy shane a drink and go on the rip with shane to be able to say "he's a mighty man" etc. but whereas mcgrath has gone and got (is getting) treatment for his alcoholism, mcgowan continues to drink, drink drink. we have a terrible problem with alcohol in this country but refuse to do anything adult about admitting whats wrong and doing something about it, the longer we tolerate someone like mcgowan, the more we will continue to stick our heads in the sand and refuse to admit its a problem
the comparison with that sad misguided junkie doherty is spot on - he's just as pathetic as those poor saps you see walking up and down thomas street trying to score. the fact that you have the NME, kate moss and all that hullabaloo with him makes it even worse. the Doherty thing is more sinister because of the various record company/management shenanigans behind it - both Geoff Travis at Rough Trade and Alan McGee have a lot to answer for - but its also sad to see a young life so wasted.
<rant over>
sorry about that! but the glorification and bland acceptance of people with alochol/drug problems like those two really pisses me off