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» Add News | The Libertines
Despite only releasing two albums in their short and shambolic career, The Libertines are one of themost talked-about and acclaimed British bands of
the decade, as well as being instrumental inopening the floodgates for British guitar music in the '00s, helping pave the way for the likes ofFranz
Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, The View, Bloc Party, and The Coral.The group's sound is often compared to that of British artists
from the punk and post-punk era,including The Clash, The Buzzcocks, The Jam, and Television Personalities, whilst Pete Dohertyand Carl Barat's l ...read more
Despite only releasing two albums in their short and shambolic career, The Libertines are one of themost talked-about and acclaimed British bands of
the decade, as well as being instrumental inopening the floodgates for British guitar music in the '00s, helping pave the way for the likes ofFranz
Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, The View, Bloc Party, and The Coral.The group's sound is often compared to that of British artists
from the punk and post-punk era,including The Clash, The Buzzcocks, The Jam, and Television Personalities, whilst Pete Dohertyand Carl Barat's lyrics
are strongly influnced by the likes of Morrissey and Syd Barrett. There wasalso a strong influence from The Strokes in their sound; indeed, the band
had to put up with strongspeculation in some quarters that they had been engineered as 'the British Strokes' by their recordlabel, following comments
made by former member Johnny Borrelll.
The group's first album 'Up The Bracket' released in 2002, was a sleeper hit, hitting #35 in the UKalbum chart, but also spawning the top 20 hit single
'Time For Heroes'. The band's success quicklystarted to expand in 2003, when non-album single release 'Don't Look Back Into The Sun' dentedthe UK
top 10; in December of that year, the group played three sold out shows at the LondonForum, one of which was included in Q Magazine's 'Greatest
Gigs Of All Time' list.
But whilst the band's fanbase began to grow, so did the group's problems. Frontman Pete Doherty,who had been dabberling with hard drug use for
several years had developed a crack and heroinaddiction that was spiraling out of control. In summer 2003 alone, Doherty failed to show up for
aEuropean tour, was sent to rehab in London, temporarily kicked in out of the band and was evenarrested and sentenced for breaking into the
appartment of his fellow band mate and closet friendBarat to fund his drug addiction. The events of 2003 overshadowed the recording of the
group'ssecond album in spring 2004. The album, which was self-titled and topped the UK charts, was agenerally darker affair that focused on the
breakdown of the Doherty and Barat's friendship, and ofthe band as a whole, particularly on the transparent "Can't Stand Me Now". As Doherty's
drugproblems worsened, and Barat's insistence that he would only be allowed to continue in the band ifsober hardened, it became clear that the band
were heading for a split.
After the break-up was officially announced in 2004, each of the members went on to form side-projects. The most high profile of these Doherty's
Babyshambles and Barat's Dirty Pretty Things,both of which have sold well but failed to earn the stardom or acclaim that The Libertines had -
Babyshambles in particular were panned viciously by certain sections of the UK music press,including the NME, previously Doherty's most vocal
supporters. Bassist John Hassall has gone onto form the vocal harmony-heavy indie-pop band Yeti, while Gary Powell has arguably gone on tohave
the most interesting career of them all, collaborating with names ranging from New York Dollsand Eddy Grant to UGK and Skepta. « hide |
Similar Bands: Arctic Monkeys, Dirty Pretty Things, The Kinks, The Strokes, Babyshambles Contributors: portableheadd, tarkus, Iai, samthebassman, RandyfromPennywise, Dave de Sylvia, tom79, bAdMaRk, All Tomorrows Parties, Senor_Whippy, The Jungler, Muisee, Med57, Voivod, schreibstang, AliW1993, hellblau,
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