Occupational Hazard: Substance Abuse Related Deaths of Famous Rock Stars – Live Fast, Die Young

© 2012 by Theocharis Vagelis

It is indeed an occupational hazard.

Occupational hazard is “a working condition that can lead to illness or death”. For instance, a factory may hurt himself while working on dangerous machines or a taxi driver has a constant risk of getting involved in an car accident.

On the other hand, if you’re a rock star you have a far higher chance of dying because of drug and alcohol abuse than the rest of the public. It is an occupational hazard. When I did my research for this specific hub, I found more than 250 musicians that have died the last 30 years or so, due to drugs overdose and alcohol consumption. It is a pity really that talented artists die because they abuse their bodies by injecting and/or drinking poison, but hey…this rock & roll. After all there hundreds (I managed to count 338) of drug related songs, such as:

• A Passage To Bangkok (Rush),
• Ain't It Fun (Rocket From The Tombs),
• All Night Train (The Allman Brothers Band),
• Bagman (Stone Temple Pilots),
• Beetlebum (Blur),
• Cocaine (JJ Cale),
• Gravedancer (Velvet Revolver),
• Hate To Feel (Alice in Chains),
• Heroin (The Velvet Underground),
• I'm Waiting For The Man (The Velvet Underground),
• Junkhead (Alice in Chains),
• Meds (Placebo),
• Motorhead (Hawkwind),
• Mr. Brownstone (Guns N' Roses),
• Opium Trail (Thin Lizzy),
• Poison Was The Cure (Megadeth),
• Sister Morphine (The Rolling Stones),
• Snowblind (Black Sabbath),
• The House Jack Built (Metallica),
• The Needle And The Damage Done (Neil Young),
• The Needle And The Spoon (Lynyrd Skynyrd),
• The Pusher (Steppenwolf),
• True Faith (New Order),
• We Are All on Drugs (Weezer),
• White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane),
• Would? (Alice in Chains) and many, many more.

The following list includes musicians that were related to the rock genre who died due to substance-abuse before they even reached 30! The list does not include members of the Jazz, Fusion, Country and Rap genre and of course people who passed the threshold (!) of 30 years old. Overall, my research showed that the average age of death for the rock stars that passed away because of substance-abuse is merely 29!

Jan Paul Beahm, aka Darby Crash (1958–1980), 21 years old: Singer and founder of the Punk-Rock Band “The Germs”. He committed suicide by drug overdose. Check the biopic film “What We Do is Secret”.

Billy Murcia (1951–1972), 21 years old: Original Drummer of the “New York Dolls”. He probably drowned after a drug overdose. Check “Billy Boy”, a song written by Johnny Thunders in honor of Murcia. Also, David Bowie’s “Time” is about Murcia.

John Simon Ritchie, aka Sid Vicious (1957–1979), 22 years old: Bassist of the Punk-Rock Band “Sex Pistols”. He most probably committed died suicide by Heroin overdose. Watch “The Punk Rock Movie” (1979), “The Great Rock & Roll Swindle” (1979) and “Sid and Nancy” (1986).

Robbie McIntosh (1950–1974), 24 years old: Drummer of the “Average White Band”. He died due to a Heroin overdose.

Andrew Wood (1966–1990), 24 years old: Singer of the Alternative Rock Band “Mother Love Bone”. He died due to a Heroin overdose. Listen to Chris Cornell’s songs “Reach Down” and “Say Hello 2 Heaven”, as well as to Alice In Chain’s “Would?”, all written in honor to Andrew Wood.

Tommy Bolin (1951–1976), 25 years old: Extremely talented Guitarist. He is known for his collaboration with Deep Purple. He die because of drug overdose. Listen to Deep Purple’s “Come and Taste the Band”.

Casey Calvert (1981–2007), 26 years old: Lead Guitarist of “Hawthorne Heights”. He died due to lethal mixture of APAP, citalopram, and clonazepam.

Paul Gardiner (1958–1984), 26 years old: Bassist of “Tubeway Army”. He died due to a Heroin overdose. Listen to “Tubeway Army” (1978).

James Honeyman-Scott (1956–1982), 26 years old: Guitarist and founding member of “The Pretenders”. He suffered a cocaine-induced heart attack. Listen to “Pretenders” (1980).

Jimmy McCulloch (1953–1979), 26 years old: Guitarist in Paul McCartney’s “Wings” and “Thunderclap Newman”. He died because of a Heroin overdose. Listen to “Something in the Air” by Thunderclap Newman. Jummy McCulloch is – up to date – the youngest person to have performed a No 1 song in the U.K.

Hillel Slovak (1962–1988), 26 years old: Guitarist and founding member of “Red Hot Chili Peppers”. He died due to a Heroin overdose. Listen to “Freaky Styley” (1985).

Kurt Cobain (1967–1994), 27 years old: Frontman and founding member of the Grunge Rock Band “Nirvana”. He shot himself. His body was lying dead in his home for days. The coroner found high concentration of heroin and diazepam in his body. He had probably listened to Courtney Love singing. Who could stand such unbearable torture? Read Michael Azerrad’s “Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana” and watch the 1998 documentary “Kurt & Courtney”.

Brian Jones (1942–1969), 27 years old: Guitarist, founding member and only talented guy of the “Rolling Stones”. He drowned under the influence of alcohol and drugs. However, there are various conspiracy theories that Brian Jones was murdered. Listen to just about everything that he was involved in.

Janis Joplin (1943–1970), 27 years old: American singer, songwriter and goddess with a “devastatingly original voice” (Tom Moore: Music Historian). She died due to Heroin overdose. Watch “Monterey Pop” (1968), “Woodstock: 3 Days of Peace & Music” (1994), “Janis Joplin with Big Brother: Ball and Chain” (2009). Also watch “The Rose” (1979), a movie loosely based on Janis’ life, with Bete Midler (nominated for an Oscar Award).

Bryan Ottoson (1978–2005), 27 years old: Guitarist of “American Head Charge”. His death was a result of an accidental prescription-drug overdose (he suffered a mere strep throat).

Gram Parsons (1946–1973), 27 years old: American singer, songwriter, guitarist and founder of the Cosmic American Music genre (a mix of country, blues, folk and rock music). He was associated with “The Byrds” and “The Flying Burrito Brothers”. He died due to Morphine overdose. Watch the documentary “Gram Parsons: Fallen Angel” (2006).

Kristen Pfaff (1967–1994), 27 years old: Bassist, known for her work with “Hole”. She died due to Heroin overdose.

Gary Thain (1948–1975), 27 years old: Bassist associated with “Uriah Heep”. He suffered a respiratory failure due to a heroin overdose. Listen to “Uriah Heep Live” (1973).

Alan Wilson (1943–1970), 27 years old: Leader, Singer, Guitarist and Composer in Blues Band “Canned Heat”. Most probably, he committed suicide (drug overdose). Read Wilson’s biography “Blind Owl Blues” (Winters, 2010).

Wes Berggren (1971–1999), 28 years old: Guitarist of the Rock Band “Tripping Daisy”. He died due to drug overdose. The coroner found in his body traces of cocaine, propoxyphene, and benzodiazepine.

Tim Buckley (1947–1975), 28 years old: Vocalist, Musician and Folk Rock God. The coroner reported that he died from “acute heroin, morphine and ethanol intoxication due to inhalation and ingestion of overdose". His son Jeff Buckley, a very talented rock guitarist, composer and singer, drowned in 1997 (31 years old). Jeff’s death was not related to drugs, alcohol or suicide. Listen to just about everything these two talented, yet unlucky musicians ever relased.

Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970), 28 years old: Guitarist and Rock Legend. He died because God wanted guitar lessons. Period! No more comments!

Shannon Hoon (1967–1995), 28 years old: Frontman and Singer of the band “Blind Melon”. He died due to Cocaine overdose. Read the book “A Devil on One Shoulder and an Angel on the Other: The Story of Shannon Hoon and Blind Melon” (Prato, 2008).

Richard Charles Knellar, aka Dickie Pride (1941–1969), 28 years old: British Rock & Roll Singer. He died due to Sleeping Pills overdose.

Jim Morrison (1943–1971), 28 years old: Poet, Rock Icon, Singer and Frontman of “The Doors”. Official cause of death is recorded as heart failure, even though Sam Bernett claims that Morrison died in his club, with heroin overdose as the suspected cause. Read Morrisson’s book “The Lords and the New creatures” (1969), “An American Prayer” (1970), and “Wilderness: The Lost Writings of Jim Morrisson” (1988). Watch Olver Stone’s “The Doors” (1991) with Val Kilmer.

Bradley Nowell (1968–1996), 28 years old: Kead Singer and Guitarist of the Ska Punk Band “Sublime”. He died from a Heroin overdose. Listen to Subb’s song entitled “Brad Nowell”.

James Owen Sullivan, aka The Rev (1981–2009), 28 years old: Drummer for the American Heavy Metal Band “Avenged Sevenfold”. He died from "acute polydrug intoxication due to combined effects of oxycodone, oxymorphone, diazepam, nordiazepam and ethanol."

Noel Rota, aka Helno (1963 – 1993), 29 years old: Singer and founding member of Les Negresses Vertes. He died of a drug overdose. Watch the official video clips of “Zobi La Mouche” and “Sous Le Soleil de Bodega”.

Rob Jones, aka The Bass Thing (1964–1993), 29 years old: Founder and Bassist of the British band “The Wonder Stuff”. He suffered a heart attack potentially caused by heroin.