“Rock Music – Premature Death of Rock Stars” is one page of a website that calculates averages – based on various statistics that interest the general population. This particular page lists the causes of death for 231 rock stars. Heart attack and drug overdose are the top two leading causes of death. They trump suicide, cancer, and many other seemingly popular ways to kick the bucket. The net average life span for rock stars (who rarely make it past 60 years of age) was a mere 36.9 years. Compare to this to the “average age at death” of typical americans, which is 75.8 years.
It looks like rock ‘n roll isn’t as glitzy and enticing a lifestyle as we may have romanticized it to be via our imaginations. Not being able to celebrate a 40th birthday is certainly not worth the attention from groupies and adrenaline rush that accompanies live performances.
Ozzy Osbourne beat the odds and addressed his problem before alcohol could take his life. For many years, Ozzy used drugs as a creative “enhancer” through which he wrote songs and performed. Like many alcoholics, his deep-set insecurity about being successful without drugs as the medium for his “creative juices to flow” precluded him from getting sober in the beginning. I’m sure the excitement that came with being a part of a heavy metal band was also not exactly a catalyst for sobriety. Since Ozzy’s glory days, his lifestyle has dramatically shifted. We’ve been given a window into his home life with the reality TV show, “The Osbournes”. Whether or not you’d like to admit it, I can guarantee you’ve seen at least one episode. Although Ozzy Osbourne may stumble around his house and mumble things in a seemingly foreign language, the man deserves a big round of applause. He’s still making music even after a chaotic career of drugging and drinking – and doing it while he’s sober.
The realm of rock’n roll is notorious for involving an excess of of booze, scantily clad women, drugs and over-the-top parties. For the person who is genetically predisposed to the disease of alcoholism, being thrown into the land of rock ‘n roll is the ideal breeding ground for alcoholism to grow and thrive. The “environmental component” of alcoholism is certainly accounted for when rock ‘n roll artists find themselves surrounded by screaming groupies, free drugs left and right, and fellow rockers who have long since passed the tipping point.
We can quickly think of the “cause and effect” debacle for reference. Does a “normal” drinker become immersed into the rock ‘n roll scene and subsequently evolve into an alcoholic? Or did the alcoholic self that was brimming underneath the surface from day one gravitate toward a profession in which drinking and getting stoned on the job are acceptable behaviors? I tend to believe in the latter. As Ozzy says, “It’s part of the job, you know. I suppose for an alcoholic or drug addict, it’s the perfect job, you know.” Whether or not people choose the occupation as a conscious extension of their inner alcoholic, or whether the progression occurs subconsciously, probably differs on a per-person basis. Ozzy continues on in his interview with Bravewords, November 3, 2010; “I don’t think you can ever think of another job where you would turn up stoned,” he said. “People would go, ‘(Bleeping) hell, you’ve got to do surgery today.’ ” Bravewords writes, “Of course, rock ‘n’ roll isn’t brain surgery — or so the saying goes. And what Osbourne has discovered is that he can function and be creative without the help of alcohol and drugs. This is the exact opposite of what he believed for most of his career, which stretches back to 1968, when he joined Black Sabbath, the band that helped pioneer heavy metal in the 1970s on albums such as Paranoid and Sabotage.” Ozzy’s realization that drugs and alcohol are not the answer kept him motivated to stay the course of sobriety. He’s not only abstained from drugs and alcohol, he’s taken a personal risk and made two albums since 2007 — untainted by mind-altering substances.
Led Zeppelin is a musical legend – and if you haven’t heard the band name before, you should probably crawl back under that rock.
The band was in its heyday in the 1970’s and has since sold over 200 million records worldwide. Unprecedented fame didn’t keep John Bonham from experiencing the heavy cloud of depression however. No amount of fans could shake him of the hole he felt in his heart. He tried to fill it with alcohol; in futile attempts to “feel OK” his toxic habits eventualy caught up with him on October 17, 1977. When you kick off your morning with four quadruple vodkas at 450 mililiters each you can anticipate a rocky day. By the time night fell, Bonham was passed out in bed and suffered the same fate as Jimmi Hendrix – asphyxiation from vomit. He choked and died, and the band’s members dispersed. It’s disappointing that it takes his death to point out to the lethal consequences of alcoholism.
Up until the day Bonham gulped down 40 shots of vodka and died, he was known as a “hell raiser” and admired by fans for his “ability” to party. If society keeps rewarding alcoholic behavior, it’s going to be exponentially more difficult for active alcoholics to reach out when they’re already reticent about seeking treatment. In the case of Bonham, “The Drunken Prophet” dedicates a page “in honor” of his infamy regarding the booze; “Bonzo was a hell raiser and the boozer of the band. But his drinking antics never got in the way of his playing. No matter how much drink, no matter how many women he indulged in, drugs he consumed, or hotel rooms he trashed, he would always turn up to rehearsals and performances on time. Even more surprisingly he would always be able to play. His intricate rock rhythms were a driving force for the band. For a man larger than life it is only fitting that he played with the largest drum sticks available (called tree’s in drummer jargon.)”
I don’t see anything about the toll alcohol took on his body – progressively over time – or the demons he struggled with behind closed curtains. The rock ‘n roll culture is what it is. My heart goes out to the alcoholics who deny their disease and cover it up underneath a sea of fans. My condolescenes to the alcoholic rock stars who keep their alcoholism under wraps and tune out pangs of inner pain with an electric guitar, because despite the flourescent stage lights, a life of sobriety is much brighter.
Charlie Sheen has been undergoing an at-home drug rehab program of late, famously texting all former associates in the porn industry to let them know that he is no longer open for business. Though it has been less than two weeks since the 36-hour spree reportedly involving cocaine abuse, porn stars and copious amounts of alcohol that landed him in the hospital, Sheen says he’s just fine – and ready to go back to work.
