NME abandons Doherty after hero poll

The NME has slated "worn-out drug addict" Pete Doherty after readers voted him second in a poll of the greatest rock heroes of all time.

The Babyshambles frontman was only kept off the top spot by Kurt Cobain, the Nirvana singer who shot himself dead in 1994.

Despite its previous adulation of Doherty, the NME itself has questioned readers who still see him as an icon.

"Yes, there was a time when Pete Doherty lived his life with an unrivalled romantic zest, when he represented a truly anti-establishment voice," it argues. "But is he really still your hero? Now that his second home seems to be the courtroom? Now that he misses more gigs than he plays?"

The magazine thinks the stars off-record antics have affected his ability to produce music.

"Surely he's no longer anti-establishment, surely he's just a worn-out drug addict who needs help if he's every going to make decent music again?," it continued. "Don't you deserve better?"

Morrissey came third in the poll of 2000 readers, then Liam Gallagher, who was followed by former Libertine Carl Barat, Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Noel Gallagher at seventh. David Bowie came eighth, Ian Brown ninth and the late Ian Curtis tenth.

The magazine's editor Conor McNicholas said the heroes had been hugely influential. "It's difficult to imagine the rock landscape without any of these icons," he explained. "They are more than simply musicians, they have shaped the cultural landscape of the last 50 years. Every single one of these artists is mirrored in some form in the bands of 2006."