GutterPutter

Geordie Greep’s Vancouver misconduct shines a light on why the rock star archetype, in all its hedonistic form and romantic pities, is a toxic ideal.

CONTENT WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS A THOROUGH EXAMINATION ON SEXUAL ASSAULT AND MISOGYNY IN THE MUSIC SCENE. PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION.

One of the biggest disappointments of this year is well and truly in full swing. Geordie Greep, best known for his works as a frontman for black midi and his solo career with 2024’s The New Sound being beloved, had sexually assaulted a person during his tour in Vancouver. The rest of his band had left him while many venues had cancelled his performance in light of the event. An article by Paste which covers the testimony of the victim and the departing touring keyboardist Cameron Campbell shows how bad the situation is even if, contrary to the flyers handed out which kickstarts the whole event, there are no acts of rape involved. Greep’s career is most certainly stained if not broken on the back of this news. All you can hope at least is that he actually learns from this altercation and become a better person in the future even if that means stepping away from the public for a long, long time.

My condolences are out in full to the victim for the wrongs committed to her be it Greep’s unconsented kiss or the flyers that were handed out which robs her of her agency. No one should ever have to go through anything like that and it’s awful both for Greep and the man handing out the flyers to violate her right to consent. What I notice however with Greep’s act in particular is that in addition to how it correlates to the themes explored in The New Sound (that being inceldom and masculinity’s conflict with sexual frustration) which makes for a hypocritical/ironic moment, it highlights the problem surrounding his long-alleged drinking issues. Fans noted his frequenting in bars after live shows be it with black midi or as a solo artist. It’s clear that his alcoholism, while it does not absolve him of what he did, does play a role in how he acts based on how the event unfolds.

The alcoholism problem, thematic exploration of sexual frustration, and a bombastic live stage persona puts Greep in line with one of the many names who we would describe as “rock stars.” Most of us are aware of the stereotype as being that of a renowned music artist whose fame has reached a level of celebritydom thanks to their charisma with their earnest, larger-than-life personality on stage coupled with a hedonistic mindset that’s best summed up as “live fast, die young.” This is examined by sites like Psychology Today and History Workshop along with individual articles by Shivah Hoffine as one example over its development since its origins in the 1960s with the likes of Jim Morrison’s drug use and eventual death at the age of 27. In one subtle form or another, this image carries on today even if the extent of the artist’s fame feels relative to their scene compared to others.

The reason why I want to bring up the rock star archetype over the discourse with Greep’s sexual assault is that Greep himself does match the image. He’s known for his theatricity and charm be it through his Twitter shitposts or his sense of humour. He’s sociable and is no stranger to keeping in touch with his fans, oftentimes leaving social media updates on how he’s feeling and his future plans. And of course he’s known for his publicised drinking tendencies that become more apparent over the events that had happened. Now, it’s clear that his lampooning of men who have issues with women comes too close to home over his unwarranted womanising.

Greep’s attitude aligns with broader controversies over the past decade like the #MeToo movement which aims to give victims of sexual abuse a voice against powerful figures and the 2024 Cornell University rape allegations that has its lawsuit be opened. These events predominantly centre around women who are exploited by men whose success in their careers or lives have allowed them to be shielded away from scrutiny for a long time. Music specifically has its own instances of these moments like the high-profile Michael Jackson cases regarding his conduct on underaged children from the 1990s that resurfaced since the release of the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland.

And there are many people we deem to be rock stars who are entrenched in these kinds of problems. Sleeping with groupies who are underaged, addictive vices that damage their personal lives, a history of criminal charges with or without political reasons, there are lots who have met little punishment at all over what they had done. Alt-metal icon Marilyn Manson was accused of rape and domestic abuse by numerous women in the early 2020s. Influential guitarist Eric Clapton had admitted to raping and abusing his first wife Patti Boyd during the 1970s in an Associated Press interview which was documented in 1999. Even now within the alternative and indie scenes do you get accusations against relatively smaller figures like Brand New’s Jess Lacey as well as news surrounding the abuses from Daughters’s Alexis Marshall by ex-partner Kristin Hayter (formerly known as Lingua Ignota, now works under a new project name of Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter).

Much of the lyrics written by those men tend to be autobiographical in representing how they feel and their views (or rather satirisation) over certain topics and crises. However, even the most vulnerable of the written lines are prone to being lacking in introspection not simply on the lyricist’s attitude, but more so on how their examinations of the themes reflect on their personal history. By that, what I mean is that they lack the self-realisation that they are projecting themselves onto the very criticisms they are targeting and therefore must acknowledge that they need to change for the better. Many of us would like to take pride in separating the art from the artist owing to our awareness that we read it differently from them based on our own context as readers themselves. That just because the artist is an asshole doesn’t mean that the work will forever lurk in the shadow of its creator.

Once we know how intertwined the art and the artist are together however, how willing are we to hold those artists to account by staying away from their works? I can attest that I’m not perfect enough to follow through on it. At the heart of Greep’s scandal is that his works deeply affect many for how bluntly relatable they are. Who wouldn’t, for a minute, take a moment to laugh at misogynists flailing at their seductive attempts because of their attitude while feeling a moment of pitiness that they too have their issues with romance? ‘The Magician’ especially hits hard for how it sheds away any irony in favour of a genuine testament over trying to win over the love interest who never seems truly attainable. And I’m sure that there are fans who find themselves incapable of boycotting Brand New, Eric Clapton, and many more problematic names because they relate to the artist. Not in terms of what they had done throughout their lives up to and including the misconducts, but rather on the feelings expressed based on the themes explored.

So how do we combat the idolisation of the rock stars even as they are too problematic in their actions? I feel that it’s very much to do with the difficulty in holding artists to account not only in light of their scandals, but also on a more proactive note regarding their conducts during tours and live performances. The extent to which they holler at people they find attractive in concerts or the publicised rumours or news regarding their use of recreational drugs. These can easily build up from rebellious quirks to damning acts of abuse and violation which should have been prevented but was acknowledged all too late.

I do not condone the mob mentality at all as a way to ensure that the artists are on their best behaviour. Nor do I back the puritan censorship that threatens to dilute the gravitas of more serious or explicit subject matters at hand. What is needed however is the extra scrutiny over the attitudes of the performers whenever they’re playing to the wider audience. Many of the retrospective red flags on Greep prior to his misconduct stems largely from the normalised oversight of his drinking habits which wasn’t regarded as a ticking time bomb so much as it was a basic personality flaw.

For this, the days of the rock star vision as being a wild-living charmer should well and truly be over. Gone are the days where we perceive them as anti-authoritarian rebels; only a handful of such are genuine in their endeavours both behaviourally and ideologically like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana. Even then, they too have their own flaws that threaten to harm or even destroy themselves, their loved ones, and bystanders who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They’re people at the end of the day. And like most people, we need to both deter them from overexerting their influences on others and protect them from being influenced by those with malicious intent.