Since Britain's latest group of trad-rock revivalists, the Libertines, split, there has been a significant backlash against former co-frontman Peter Doherty (Pete Libertine). Now it may seem perfectly logical for the heavy handed backlash against the band to be due to Doherty's open admittance to having a terrible addiction to crack cocaine and becoming a tabloid darling because of it; but I would argue that it is the trials and tribulations of our most beloved artists that plays a large part in why we care for them.

For instance, one of the most regurgitated arguments in favor of Lennon's post-Beatles creative output is due to his frankness in regard to his problems with heroin, i.e, songs like "Cold Turkey". Now I realize that I may be perceived as promoting the "sex, drugs, and rock n roll" pastiche, though my argument rests on the basis that the controversy that accompanies our artists make them memorable. It's perfectly reasonable to believe that perhaps their foibles appeal to our basest instincts, but that I leave for the reader to decide.

For every one of those artists that just barely sticks his head out of the recesses of our minds back into our memories; a Scott Walker or a Jandek, there are a figurative phalanx of Sid Viciouses, Keith Richardses, and heck, I'll throw in the Malcom Mooneys as well who firmly and unabashedly stick out in our consciousnesses. Truth be told, they do stand out for their effective bodies of work, though at the same time a large part of their mystique owes to their troubles. It's their issues that music-geek trivia is made of; the aforementioned heroin withdrawal dementia associated with Lennon's "Cold Turkey", the love/hate relationship with drugs associated with Jason Pierce's Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 outputs, or Keith Moon's overdose.

I have a friend who works in a supermarket and he told me the other day about how he commented on this customer's worn-looking Sid Vicious shirt. Now, Sid Vicious has made his rounds as far as pop culture goes, if you need a reminder, remember the son of April O'Neil's boss in the first Ninja Turtles film? Yeah, he wears a Sid Vicious tee in every scene. Vicious became one of our lasting archetypes of teen angst, and unlike, say a James Dean, Sid did all of this without playing a note. What we remember about him is the sneer, all we remember is the spectacle of Sid Vicious. Would he have been remotely as immortalized as her is if he weren't a coke-addled nimrod who stabbed girlfriend and hanger-on Nancy Spungen to death?

Is Jerry Lee Lewis remembered today solely because of his output or in part because of his controversial liaisons? Is the Velvet Underground's mystique wrapped up in their raunchy, amoral, and all around decadence? Would their songs like "Heroin" or "Waiting For the Man" become gutter-rock staples if not for the weight given to the songs because of the actual throes of addiction that wore on Lou Reed?

Next time when you're in the magazine section of you're favorite bookstore, or you're reading through your favorite online music mag and you read about the personal problems of some artist and turn your nose up and say "who cares"; remember this: Apparently everyone does. Otherwise, would the Beatles Anthology be half as interesting?