Posted on 09/20/2015 8:12:59 PM PDT by MtnClimber
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Because we’d all rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints, but it ain’t the good who are dying young. SHARE ON FACEBOOKSHARE ON TWITTEREMAIL TO A FRIEND 95 SHARES SIGN UP FOR OZY EMAILS
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It’s been hard to avoid tragic tales of troubled musicians lately. Two recent documentaries, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck (on HBO) and Amy (in theaters), chronicle the lives, and early demises, of Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse, respectively, beloved singers whose struggle with drugs, depression and the consequences of fame precipitated their deaths at age 27. Another recent biopic, Love & Mercy, takes us inside the head of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, who only just survived such swirling forces and more in his own life.
In some ways, like Achilles, the legendary Greek warrior in Homer’s Iliad beset with inner conflict, these artists sense that joining the tour and pursuing earthly glory could mean dying young, but many choose to embrace it nonetheless. “[I]t’s better to burn out than to fade away,” Cobain wrote in his suicide note. Of course, such tales of downfall and destruction are not limited to musicians as well known as Cobain, Winehouse and Wilson. Indeed, according to the alarming findings of one new study, pop musicians more broadly tend to live up to 25 years less on average than the rest of us, and have much higher rates of death by accident, suicide and homicide.
But is it just the temptations, hazards and vicissitudes of life on the road and in the limelight that are to blame for such numbers and destructive tendencies? Or are these musicians really just playing out a life strategy that lies dormant within almost all of us should we be placed in the path of fame’s freight train?
Wow, sounds interesting.
I know, that's why I said I don't know if he was an addict. And a lot of addicts quit too. Back then drugs were everywhere in the music biz. I was there, and I never became an addict. OTOH, some of my best friends from back then did get addicted and aren't around anymore.
I was just a child when Joplin was in her heyday so I was surprised at her wit and intelligence when all I knew about her is that she sang really well and she died of an overdose.
“I know, that’s why I said I don’t know if he was an addict. And a lot of addicts quit too. Back then drugs were everywhere in the music biz. I was there, and I never became an addict. OTOH, some of my best friends from back then did get addicted and aren’t around anymore. “
Drugs was never my thing. Alcohol was. I am now nearly 22 years clean and sober, and have met many, many people from all walks of life, that got sober.
I was conveniently in denial until my late 30s. Before that, I paid little attention to others, to risks, etc.
However I remember one guy that was a friend of a friend, when we were in our very early 20s. The guy was a mess. He was probably one of the most hopeless types, who get heavily addicted in a very short time. I’m talking dirty, dirty clothes, living on the streets.
The thing with big rock stars, was the money (and fame) prevented them from the downside for awhile.
I read a book by Clapton, and have heard Paul Williams and Bill Ward speak at AA meetings. I am convinced that there are very few, if any, older performers that still use or drink heavily.
Ever see Yoko Ono and/or listen to her...um...sing?
What instruments do you play?
Guitar
Pedal steel guitar
Lapsteel guitar
Tenor banjo
5-string banjo
Mandolin
Mandola
I thought for sure my husband would be the one posting this! :-) We saw Yes just last month (RIP Chris).
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