‘Elliott Smith and the Big Letdown?

Biographical portrait draws parallels between life and song
Misha Warbanski, The Link (Concordia University)

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MONTREAL (CUP)—Like the posthu-
mous release of From a Basement on a Hill,
Benjamin Nugent’s book Ed/iott Smith and
the Big Nothing is as much an opportunistic
endeavour as it is homage to the deceased
musician. Arriving on bookshelves a year
after Smith’s death (and just before
Christmas), the biography based on inter-
views with friends and colleagues of
Smith will no doubt sail to success regard-
less of the reviews.

I cringed when I read that the author
is also a self-professed Elliott Smith fan.
Fearing a hagiographic sermon, I braced
myself for the worst and read on. But
Nugent, whose media credits include writ-
ing for Time and New York is the colour
reporter of Smith’s life, letting his inter-
view subjects use the whole palette.

The book follows Smith’s life starting
from his youth and musical beginnings as
Steven Paul Smith, living with his mother
and stepfather in suburban Dallas, Texas.
Moving to Portland, Oregon, he lived
with his father and went on to university,

16 | www.theotherpress.ca

 

where he adopted the name Elliott and
became the musician we recognize today.

Smith remains an enigmatic character,
in spite of Nugent’s extensive interview-
ing and reference to various articles
written about the musician. The character
known by his junior-high friends was not
the same Smith as revealed in magazine
interviews. Smith’s young friends seem
oblivious to his problems at home, and
they rarely agree on even the basics, like
Smith’s favourite music.

Much of the detail, especially at the
beginning, could have been edited out.
Nugent, for example, takes great care to
the difference
Mormonism and the Community of
Christ, only to report that Smith himself
was not particularly religious, though he
feared hell.

However, the book picks up as the

explain between

story moves beyond Texas. Smith’s deeply
emotional character really starts to take
shape in liberal Oregon. Steeped in sec-
feminist Smith

ond-wave literature,

becomes uncomfortable and perhaps pre-
occupied with his identity as a straight,
white man.

The focus of the biography is Smith
and his projects, including
Heatmiser with fellow musician Neil

musical

Gust. But Nugent’s book also serves as a
snapshot of the music scene in the 90s,
covering the musicians Smith toured with
and the bands who were “actually making
money,” like Nirvana and Sonic Youth.
Nugent intersperses life story with
analyses of song lyrics. Using substance
abuse as a metaphor for love, Nugent
writes, Smith “can easily steer clear of the
Céline Dion clichés of contemporary top-
40 music.” However, eventually those very
clichés claimed the Oscar for best original
song for Titani’s “My Heart Will Go On”

 

over Smith’s “Miss Misery” from Good
Will Hunting.

Perhaps the most controversial asser-
tion in the book is that, according to
friend and fellow musician Bill Santen,
Smith’s famous not-so-subtle song about
heroin, “Needle in the Hay,’ was written
before he was ever a junkie.

“Needle in the Hay’ could be just as
much a metaphor for the painful places in
Smith’s psyche as a metaphor for hero-
ine,’ Nugent writes.

The enigma of Smith’s life followed
him into death. In October 2003, with
From Basement on a Hill nearing comple-
tion, he died of multiple stab wounds to
the chest. While some believe it was a sui-
cide, the autopsy report did not draw a
decisive conclusion.

You are not alone

The Students’ Union’s Pride Collective
provides resources for lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgendered students at the college. The Collective
meets Thursdays at 3:00 in room 328 in the students’
union building at the New Westminster Campus.
All lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered,
questioning and allied students are welcome.

Douglas Students’ Union

Canadian Federation of Students Local 18

 

March 16/2005