You have excellently dissected their aesthetic. They were legend seekers, and brilliant ones, but they were building their own legend on the ruins of punk and post punk British Rock which itself was founded on decay; societal, traditional, economic…. And those bands themselves fell apart in accordance with the strength of the emotion they were constantly expressing. In other words, by the time the Libertines came along, destruction and decay seemed to be as much form as subject.

Reading interviews with Pete Doherty it’s hard to tell how much he chased or tried to escape that fate of form. Could one write about decay without decaying? If so, which came first. Pete was never sure. It seems odd to suggest, but it is true in my mind that Pete’s drug use was an experiment in self destruction for artistic purposes. But he as admitted as much. Maybe he was playing with crazy fame or maybe he felt forced into crazy fame by the very form of his music.

But, yes, the Libertines were notsalgic for nostalgia and one can’t be nostalgic for nostalgia of nostalgia. One can simply identify with not knowing where to put yourself now that the traditions and the nostalgia for them have drained.