Pete Doherty: Last of the Rock Romantics [Paperback]

Alex Hannaford is clearly the master of the quote. I don't think he conducted one interview with the actual subject of the book, preferring to simply pick out chunks of 'Kids in the Riot', by Pete Welsh - incidentally a far better read. The author seems to be biased towards Pete, and doesn't give a objective view of the relationship between him and the man he formerly shared frontman duties with, Carl Barat. Simply stating that Carl failed to turn up to one of Pete's gigs when in fact Pete had organised it on Carl's birthday and quoting some of the nastier things Pete had to say about Carl, which no Libertines fan wants to read. The only thing I can find in favour of this Pete Doherty/Libertines book (and I've read most of them) is that it doesn't build up the tension too much and simply states what happened (a band split) but for most fans of Pete and The Libertines it was a great deal more than this, and it kind of adds a drab atmosphere to the entirety of the book. A poor collection of quotes, few interesting snaps of the band/Pete, and even the foreword by Pete's mother is pretty uninspiring as she's basically saying what she's said on countless radio and TV programmes. I wouldn't recommend.

There have already been a few biographies that seek to chart out the life and musical career of this relatively youthful singer-songwriter, who is known as much as for his drug-taking, imprisonment and dalliances with supermodels as he is for his artistic endeavours in the early 21st century with The Libertines and Babyshambles. That leads me to ask the question: Is there any actual need for this 300 page-plus account by the experienced music journalist Alex Hannaford? Well, if I were to believe the unlikely grouping of woman's magazine Elle, tabloid newspaper Sunday Sport, the broadsheet Sunday Times, and the irksome journalist Toby Young, whose praise is emblazoned on the back cover, that would appear to be the case.

But having read (and subsequently re-read) this pacily-written biography I don't find myself wholly seduced by their words of approval. That impression was established pretty early on; Hannaford devotes just 2 of his 20 chapters to life for Doherty prior to his musical career. His peripatetic childhood growing up in British Army bases in the United Kingdom and continental Europe; his early fascination with fresh-faced boy-bands New Kids On The Block, SNAP, Fresh Prince, and Kriss Kross; attendance at Sunday School; and his first job as a gravedigger, are lightly sketched in approximately 20 pages of text. This hasty despatch of Doherty's back-story suggests an implicit confession, or perhaps inadvertent recognition, that Hannaford knows that as a 20-something Doherty isn't yet worthy of the kind of in-depth scrutiny a full-scale biography requires.

Nonetheless, there are things to be admired here. There is little of the sensationalism that is/was promulgated by tabloids like the Daily Mirror, News Of The World and The Sun, who can't help but write about this bright individual - who has managed to pass 11 GCSEs, with nine A grades - in hackneyed phrases like "Crack addict Doherty", or "Junkie rocker Pete". Instead, Hannaford presents information in less morally arbitrary terms. For instance, on page 236, he recounts how in November 2005 Pete was flat-hunting near Brick Lane, London. As he points out it only "just" made the news, before he pointedly adds that, "we don't want to know that about our rock `n' roll stars: that they can and do lead normal lives as well. Yes Pete's excessive behaviour is real; his drug taking is not an act, but he still watches T.V. occasionally."

Hannaford definitely does not lambast this occasional attendee at rehabilitation clinics in the way that one-time Conservative Party leader Michael Howard did, in a misguided stab at trying to grab the political agenda ("Here you have a man who takes drugs and gets locked up - yet ends up on the front pages"). That can be seen in both the sympathetic titling of his tome, and the favourable 2 page foreword by Doherty's own mother, Jackie. Unfortunately though, the line between understandable empathy and sympathy, and misguided sycophancy, is occasionally made. I was dumbfounded by the stridency of some of the assertions Hannaford makes for his subject. Within 20-odd pages he notes:

"In both his lyrics and his interviews, Pete has revived the notion of the rich star as intellectual and as romantic troubadour." [227]

"He is one of the most charismatic individuals, not just in rock, but of his generation." [247] #

I found that I was mouthing these words as I read, before asking myself - really? A few top 10 hits, baubles like the Best New Band at the 2003 NME awards, and a couple of studio albums, doesn't really provide enough justification for entry into rock-and-roll's hall of fame for me.

My irritation was exacerbated somewhat by the occasional stylistic tics in Hannaford's writing. There is the odd phrasing which occasionally occurs in this otherwise plainly-written account. He notes the violence of the English "soccer" hooligans (Why not football?), and refers to the police, at one point, with the laughable "the fuzz were back" (Why not the rozzers? Why not the pigs?) And there are certain passages which read like lists of extraneous material Hannaford has identified during his research, and has decided to include to fulfill his word count, regardless of whether they bear any direct relevance. On p157, when he is writing about a spell of incarceration for Doherty, he adds unnecessarily: "Of course it wasn't the first time a rock star had been sentenced to prison. In 1988 James Brown was sent to prison for assault and carrying a pistol without a licence... In 2000, musician and author Gil Scott-Heron spent ten days in a Manhattan jail... Jim Morrison was sentenced to eight months in 1969." *

Last Of The Rock Romantics tries to place Doherty's oeuvre in the lineage of bands like The Clash, The Jam, Sex Pistols and The Smiths, and romantic poets like Blake, Byron and Rimbaud. Ultimately, he fails in that pretentious aim. Personally, I found it far more gratifying to listen to engaging material like 'Albion', 'Can't Stand Me Now', 'For Lovers', and 'F___ Forever', rather than reading about this and his romance with Kate Moss, fights with Carl Barat, and consumption of crack cocaine.

# See also p232: "Pete is fulfilling the role of the 'outsider' - a character society has branded immoral, but which society needs far more than he needs society."
* There are other examples of this tendency scattered throughout the text. They include instances on: p31; p92; p216; p220; p221; and 307.

This book is not in line w/ the spirit of Doherty or the Libertines, it paints a dark, sordid, lurid, and boringly fantasized image of Pete--- any fan can tell. Can't beeelive Ms. Doherty authorized it. Not worth reading, particularly for the younger fans. The only thing i gleaned from the book was the Pete does not wear underwear, Carl hates the Smiths, Pete sleeps naked, Lisa called the cops on Pete, & the rest is either standard knowledge of any libs fan or entirely made up.