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In real life, everyone knows at least one couple that fits together so well that they either endlessly irk or captivate all helpless bystanders, family, and friends. Everyone knows a couple that is, in combination, just too good-looking, too ambitious, too successful, or too happy to be taken seriously. These people typically meet in college, at the local coffee shop as each grabs for the last blueberry streusel, or, most endearingly, when the helpless, beautiful woman is rescued from impending doom by a strapping, dashing man. Wait. Did I say real life? Well, maybe in Hollywoods version of real life. In actuality, the real life version of Hollywood has produced its own legendary pairings, all of which abide by the golden rule: the best way for an actor to get lots of publicity is by dating another actor. This would be your TomKats, your Brangelinas, your Bennifers, but also classic couples like Humphrey Bogart/Lauren Bacall and Katherine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy.
Then theres those volatile and dangerous couples that attract attention the way a car crash attracts attention. Something could blow up at any minute, something terrible and irreconcilable could happen, but the relationship is also spontaneous and random, and has an energy all its own. This is typically the musician-musician pairing. Because these relationships stereotypically grow out of rawer, more passionate, or dangerous interactions, they are not bred for publicity, but undoubtedly attract it (or at least thats what the biopics tell me). These couples are unfailingly more tragic and always seem more authentic than the celebrity power couples. See Sid and Nancy, Kurt and Courtney, Johnny and June.
But somewhere in the middle of these two extremes, there occurs a rare but intriguing cross-over: the rock star-supermodel couple. As its pedigree suggests, this combination entwines the celebrity couples allure and the musicians danger, spontaneity, and common-person edge. While some of the musicians mentioned here have celebrity status in their own rite, these pairings most generally unite two worlds that seem born of different ideals: for all the celebrities glamour, the musician lives a rough-hewn lifestyle. This divergence might be what attracts the musician to the celebrity and vice versa, but its also makes the two engaging as a couple. The duo often exudes an artist-muse sense of kindred spirits, and, like the rock star-rock star relationship, is fueled by drama and usually snowballs into a tragic climax. Perhaps this inevitable doom stems from the fact that these pairings are usually unnatural or unsettling, like a breaching of class. Here, a selection of the most inspired or unsettling music-fashion power couples.
Keith Richards and Anita Pallenberg
In typical Stones fashion, the Italian model Anita Pallenberg originally dated Brian Jones, before she left him for Richards in 1967 (its also rumored she had a fling with Mick Jagger, although she firmly denies this). The two were married from 1967 until 1980 and had three children together. Pallenberg's influence on the Rolling Stones throughout the sixties and seventies was much greater than mere groupie. She is credited as singing background vocals on "Sympathy for the Devil, and her interest in black magic and the occult marks a significant aspect of the Stones aesthetic throughout the 70s. Unfortunately, Pallenberg and Richards shared more than a musical and artistic perspective; Richards claims his lawyers advised the couple to separate in 1980 after numerous incidents with the law and hard drugs. Check out 2005s Brian Jones biopic Stoned for an especially inspired portrayal (played by Monet Mazur) of Pallenbergs mystical sensuality in her relationships with both Jones and Richards.
Bob Dylan and Edie Sedgwick
Although theres no denying Dylan caroused with Warhol and the Factory scene throughout the 60s, his romantic relationship with Sedgwick is nothing more than a very likely rumor. The two supposedly became close following the celebutantes falling out with the Factory, while she was living at the Chelsea Hotel; her brother Jonathan has even claimed that Sedgwick was pregnant with Dylans child before she aborted it. Like a Rolling Stone is about the legendary queen of mod. The queen of mod is rumored to have been an inspiration behind Dylan's 1966 classic Blonde on Blonde (she is also featured on the inner sleeve), and the songs Just Like a Woman, "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" as well as like a Rolling Stone. Also, the lyric "your debutante" on the track "Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" supposedly refers to her. Sedgwick and Dylan's relationship apparently ended when Warhol informed her that Dylan had secretly been married to Sara Lownds for a few months. This relationship is hinted at with much artistic liberty in both Factory Girl and Todd Haynes Im Not There (although the former does not use his name and the latter does not use hers). Dylan was reportedly so angry about Factory Girls undoubtedly Dylanesque character Danny Quinn (played by Hayden Christensen) that he tried to stop the film from being released.
Pete Doherty and Kate Moss
This is an obvious one, but also a classic rock star-supermodel pairing. Propelled to infamy by cocaine, hard living, and a natural, effortless affinity for style, Moss and Doherty epitomized the ideals of sex, drugs, and rock n roll. Her vocals are featured on the Babyshambles' song "La Belle et la Bête," and before their breakup in July 2007, she had co-written the songs "You Talk," "French Dog Blues," "Baddie's Boogie," and "Deft Left Hand" from Babyshambles' second album Shotter's Nation (released this past October). She also appears in the video for the Libertines What Katie Did and is said to be the inspiration for that songs sequel by the Babyshambles, What Katy Did Next.
Jack White and Karen Elson
This is perhaps the strangest of the pairings mentioned here, and the best example of a mega-hot lady with a rather strange-looking man. In June 2005, just six-months after his breakup with Renee Zellweger, Jack White married top fashion model Karen Elson. (Elson is also a singer in her own rite: she sang the song "I love you (me neither)" with Cat Power on a tribute album to Serge Gainsbourg and is also a creative director/performer with the cabaret troupe The Citizens Band, which has also featured actress Zooey Deschanel.) The wedding took place in a canoe in the Amazon River and was officiated by a shaman and later blessed by a Catholic priest. Elson and White met when Elson appeared in the White Stripes video for "Blue Orchid." While tabloids initially speculated the wedding was revenge on Whites part following Zellwegers abrupt marriage to country star Kenny Chesney, others suggested it was a publicity stunt to promote the White Stripes' Get Behind Me Satan, which came out the same month the couple was married. Going on three years later, however, the couple is still together and has since had two children. This ones an exception to the tragedy/drama rule. So far at least.
Martin Crandall and Elyse Sewell
Perhaps a bit topical, but it felt necessary to mention because its really funny and ended oh-so-tragically. Americas Next Top Model season one finalist Elyse Sewell (who ended as the shows third runner-up) dated Martin Crandall, keyboardist/bassist of The Shins, for nearly seven years before they broke up just this month. Crandall reportedly assaulted Sewell in a Sacramento hotel, as reported on her LiveJournal blog (a ridiculously inane rambling of bullshit that for some absurd reason was inspiration for a book she published in China in 2006). Both Crandall and Sewell were charged with felonies of domestic assault, though their cases were later dismissed based on a lack of interest and Sewells laziness. Crandalls supposed violence is amusing in light of the sappy, sincere whininess of his irritating, omnipresent band. I have found no evidence of her influence on his artistic output or anything else noteworthy or significant about either of them. Now that I think of it, these two sort of sour the whole image of rock star-supermodel couples.
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