The Cause Of The Decay

posted: 5 September 2007 Alan Maddrell

A day does not pass without further tracing of the approaching death of Doherty or Winehouse. Who will be first? Why do our music stars self-destruct?

Tell me why can't they at least take this place and take it straight?
- Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers

Roger Daltry recently commented of Doherty that 'He seems to have a death wish and that is so incredibly dull - to think that that's a cool and exciting thing.'

Artists often come out with semi-realised ramblings about wanting to deaden the pain of being alive, but that claim bears scrutiny. The pain of being fabulously rich and universally adored? The pain of actually achieving your goals? They self-destruct because they have been led to believe that somehow it won't happen to them.

Addiction replaces your priorities and drives your existence, but the reality firewall that surrounds professional talent filters out anything which doesn't sustain the illusion. They believe their own hype and want to dull out anything that contradicts it, ie existence unmediated by PRs. Musicians and Hollywood stars are surrounded by people too scared to tell them that drugs lie, as anyone who's tried cocaine will secretly know. In that ivory powder tower, everything is permitted and the only thrill is not getting caught.

We are ourselves partly to blame for complicity in a culture that sees intoxication as an achievement - everyone outdoes each other and themselves with how much they drank last night and how sick they are the next day. It's something Brits do well.

Do you need to suffer to make good art? It's a shortcut for many but far from necessary. Some of the most terrifying things ever lensed have been made by David Lynch, a squeaky-clean, chipper man who has meditated twice a day for 20 years and there are countless other examples. Equilibrium does not equate to sterility - and when our musicians learn this, there'll be a music revolution really worth listening to. And never believe anyone whose livelihood depends on keeping you happy.

Alan Maddrell - Poet, bon viveur, raconteur, chef, sailor, lover, thief. At seven foot three, Alan towers over lesser beings. Fluent in over one language, he has travelled the world, studying 137 ways of killing a man using just one thumb like Sean Connery is The Presidio. He has an active interest in politics and hopes to use his modelling career as a platform to bring attention to the plight of wasps. He is a Zen Buddhist. He is 32 years old. He lies for a living, but one of these facts is true.