Love Kills(a.k.a.-An Apparent Salute To Parentheses)

On my way to work this morning, I was listening to some tunes from the soundtrack to "Sid And Nancy" (the album cover {yes, I do have it on vinyl} also has Love Kills written at the bottom, and that's the name of the GREAT Joe Strummer song on the soundtrack, but I don't think that's part of the original title of the movie-not that it really matters much), specifically the aforementioned (in the parentheses) "Love Kills" and "Haunted", by the Pogues(sung by bassist Cait O'Riordan-who, by the way, was married to old Declan Patrick Aloysius McManus{a.k.a. Elvis Costello}). Now, do not confuse this version of the song with the bastardized rerecording made by Shane MacGowan and sung with Sinead O'Connor, it doesn't hold a candle to the original. By the way, I think that is probably a misuse of the word bastardized, but I just felt the need to use it.

Both "Love Kills" and "Haunted " are great, great songs and you should check them out. But that's not really why I decided to start writing this post. And contrary to appearances, it was also not a pathological need to parenthesize either. No, that's not why either.

Listening to the songs got me thinking about the movie "Sid and Nancy". It occurred to me that I have not seen it in a looong time, and I wonder if it stands up ? I remember liking it quite a bit at the time,but I was also listening to the Sex Pistols(and the Clash and the Ramones and the Dead Kennedys, and the Cramps, etc.) a lot, and there was probably more than a bit of hero worship involved. Hero worship for the director, as well, as I had probably seen "Repo Man" 20 times or so.

So I wonder if I would feel the same way if I saw it again ? Or would it be like when I was 13 or so and read "No One Here Gets Out Alive" and decided that Jim Morrison was an ABSOLUTE GOD ! (It was a few years later that I realized that he was a talented singer and songwriter who seemed to be an absolute prick to everyone he knew- not something I strive for.)

Were both reactions the result of being a fat, unattractive,unpopular teenage boy ? Was I drawn to these "characters" because they seemed to possess the self esteem that I didn't ? And quite honestly, still don't ? At that point, I think I was just grasping at something to make me feel less alone. If these guys were once outcasts as well, maybe things won't be so bad after all. And the music was a place to channel the anger and the sadness.

Wow. I didn't mean to go all "Debbie Downer" on you there. I just thought i would ask if anyone had seen "Sid And Nancy" recently. Maybe I'll just add it to my Netflix queue.