“None the less, the vast majority don’t die young. Just look at all the geriatric rockers still out there.”
There is quite a list of them with 25+ years, clean and sober. And that would be of those who did wind up with serious addiction troubles. Clapton, Ringo, Elton, Bonnie Raitt, Paul Williams, Bill Ward (original Black Sabbath drummer).
Another category includes those who never developed addiction problems. Rod Stewart, McCartney, for instance.
Some of those struck down young, simply accidentally overdosed on street drugs, of unknown purity-Janis Joplin, for instance. Probably Hendrix, too.
I don’t know if he as an addict, but Rod Stewart certainly was a heavy user at one time. I remember he said he used to do cocaine enemas so he wouldn’t trash his nasal membranes and ruin his voice.
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.