A Creep Is Born

I almost feel churlish admitting it, but I found the latest reincarnation of A Star is Born dull.  Part of this was the music, ponderous and not nearly worthy enough to cause the commotion that it did.  The other reason was the irritation factor of the well-worn tale of 'man discovering girl and turning her into a star'.  Yes, she does go on to shine as he falls boozily by the wayside, but the bottom line remains, that without the intervention of Bradley Cooper's Jack, Lady Gaga's Ally could never have escaped her occasional 'drag bar' performances.  

'Poker Face' is better than 'Black Eyes'

The film has sprung back into my consciousness over the last twenty-four hours though, as details have emerged of this insidious trope appearing in real life.  News of Ryan Adams and his vertiginous fall from grace, and allegations, not only of controlling behaviour towards women whom he formed relationships with, but also the allegation that he has engaged in sexually explicit texting – over 3,000 texts - with a fifteen year old girl, have hit the headlines.  The latter alone will deservedly do for him, but it's the former charges - and more and more women are coming forward now - that brought to mind the film.  Adams' controlling behaviour apparently stemmed from what was his mentoring relationship with young female musicians who were trying to make inroads into the music industry.  

One of those was Phoebe Bridgers.  Her testimony is telling.  Taken under the mentoring-wing of Adams when she was 20 years old and looking for her first musical break, the relationship turned romantic before it swiftly fizzled out.  Adams allegedly no longer wanted to help, threatening to renege on an invitation for her to accompany him on tour and vetoing permission to release any of the songs that they had worked on together.  She did end up touring with him in 2017, but only for him to allegedly expose himself in a hotel room after he requested she bring something to him (the Weinstein methodology leering into view again).    

Of course, Jack doesn't descend to anything like these levels of ignominy with Ally – although he does have quite a few moments that are blamed on his demons (do read Laura Snapes' superb piece in the Guardian on how difficult male musicians are forgiven all too easily and how this feeds into the Ryan Adams story) – but the dynamic of the male as the creative force shaping the young ingénue applies to both cases.  Yes, the film does take to task the music executives, controlling and manipulating, but it also seems to let Jack off far too easily on the basis of his craft and his authenticity.      

Authenticity might have been the word that I once used for Ryan Adams.  He is responsible for one of my favourite albums ever.  2000's Heartbreaker is an astonishing piece of work that I have played to death over the past eighteen years.  I've also seen him perform twice and was giving serious consideration to attending his Royal Albert Hall shows this year, despite the mediocrity of almost everything since 2002's Gold (in fact much of the music that he has been pushing in that time has left me as cold as Jack and Ally's  output in A Star Is Born).  That he has also got riled on occasion by hecklers in the crowd shouting out "Play 'Summer of 69'", refusing to carry on until the unimaginative but harmless perpetrator has been removed from the venue, wasn't showing him in a particularly good light.  Anyway, I won't be rocking out at the Albert Hall with him now, and I suspect quite a few people who have bought tickets already might feel the same.  You'd certainly hope so, although there are a number of tweets doing the rounds proclaiming the all too familiar male shout of 'innocent until proven guilty!'   Lads, the word on the street is that those 3,000 (yes, 3,000) text messages are damning and that Ryan Adams is a nasty piece of work. 

Not all rock stars wearing superhero t-shirts are superheroes

Instead, I will make sure that I will catch Phoebe Bridgers at the next opportunity (I missed her Islington Assembly Hall show last year because of a clash in my diary).  Indeed, Stranger in the Alps is one of the highlights from last year, a shimmering and bruised record that doesn't have an underwhelming tune on it.  I also learned today, that one of its strongest tracks, 'Motion Sickness', is actually about her relationship with Adams.  I can vouch that its brutally cutting lines – "And why do you sing with an English accent" – is indeed referencing a trait of Adams' to occasionally sing some of his best known songs in a plummy English accent.  

"Singing 'Ace of Spades' when Lemmy died ..." 

As I write, I'm just learning that the FBI has started to investigate Adams' texting relationship with the young girl.  And in thinking of Adams, I can't avoid thinking – almost mourning – that I will not be able to listen to Heartbreaker in the same way again.  But that's pathetic and solipsistic.  As Caitlin Moran has tweeted today, there's now suddenly a lot more time to listen to other great music.  So, my final word on this?  Go out and listen to the songs of Phoebe Bridgers.  She is incredible.