I LOVE THE ROMANCE OF CRIME

Someone mentioned the Libertines in the comment section, and they're actually a band that has been coming up a lot in my life in the past month. Josh has become obsessed with Pete Doherty and I made Brandon a copy of some songs from their albums and he's been dancing around in his apt listening to them. Almost every night i listen to "Can't Stand Me Now" cause it reminds me of a night that is both beautiful and heartbreaking. It's my thoughts thrown onto music. I remember when I heard this song for the umpteenth time, but finally ACTUALLY heard it was when i was lying in bed asleep and the song came on mtv2 since i left the TV on. The opening guitar sound must've penetrated my snoozing mind in a way that allowed me to hear the lyrics for real and the moment they start singing "i know you lie, i know you lie, i'm still in love with you" i started feeling like someone was singing right to me, so much that when "You can't stand me now" started to get sung, i actually felt like that was my subconcious reply. I cried myself to sleep that night.

There's something genuinely gorgeous about the lyrics those boys write. The narrative of it all mixed with the romance of longing, even if that longing is for drugs or physical contact.

There was an article in the issue of Q Magazine with Green Day on the cover that's about the east London Crack scene. It mostly centers around the notoriously cracked out Pete Doherty who plays house parties for 15 pounds a head and uses that money for drugs. I'm a bigger fan of their first album, which i imagine, was written before the downward spiral of heroin and crack, my favorite song on the album is "What a Waster" which is about that very topic and it could almost have been written today to describe the past two years for the band. "Can't Stand Me Now," which PERFECTLY chronicles the travels of Pete and Carl Barat from their first album to their second album, is possibly my favorite Libertines song. Obvious choices, sure. But they're mine.

I remember when I was about 22 or 23, i was supposed to interview the band for my spin column. Pete was missing from the mix and I was supposed to take a photo with the entire band and chat with them for a bit. So I took a photo with the guys (which has since been lost in a file transfer mishap) sans Pete and asked one of them where he was. "probably off finding drugs" was the reply, and I thought that was a bit odd and guessed it to be a joke since I was very young and innocent then.

A few days later, I was prowling through photos on Friendster and came across a very disturbing one someone had taken of Pete as he's preparing a needle of heroin. I was utterly disturbed. Showed it to my friends in horror and disbelief, and became completely fascinated. It was such sad and hauting photo, and again, I can't remember where it's located or if I even have it, which I dont think I do. Then Blender printed a disturbing photo of Pete smoking from a crack pipe that seemed to be taken with his consent. It's just so strange and almost Verlaine & Rimbaud of him, only, I'm not sure which one he'd be. Is he the wise, yet twisted, older man who inspires? Or is he the young, devilishly clever and manipulative genius? Either way, both of them had a chemical romance. THEY had a chemical romance. They get into them and use drugs as a cover for their emotions, using them as a scape goat to see each other and a bonding tool. Eventually the drugs become their emotions. They're no longer using drugs to get closer to the one they like, but to get closer to feeling the way they like while on drugs. Anyone who has had an addiction to drinking knows this. Drug users know this. This means that one of the drug buddies can escape without notice and fix themselves up while the other just strives for that feeling that they didn't even know they were looking for.

Anyway, those are my random thoughts about the Libertines, inspired by someone talking about them.