I thought Ronnie was starting to clean up his act when the crash happened.
Maybe he was. Sounds familiar, now that you mention it. It has been a while since I saw it, so I’m fuzzy on a lot of the details.
Yes, I think Ronnie was figuring it out. How much progress he made with himself we don’t really know — many, once hooked, battle with their addiction(s) the rest of their lives. But, clearly “That Smell” is an incredibly powerful, effective song. As anti-substance abuse songs go, I think it is only exceeded by (ironically) Black Sabbath’s “Hand of Doom”, with its incredible “punch to the gut” conclusion.
Musically, both are genius, both go right at the listener, and I just love the tight, sparse, masterful use of “The Honkettes” in “That Smell”.