No other musical genre has strong connotations of drug use than rock and roll. The history of rock music is riddled with musicians and artists who have dabbled and even gotten addicted to different kinds of recreational drugs. Some use it to relax, and to draw inspiration from, while others develop an addiction as the high offers them a form of escape from whatever problems they have. Drugs have taken away some of the great music visionaries far too early in their lives and scarring those who live in the shadows of substance abuse.
Famous rock stars and their long history of drug addiction
Before drug use branched out into different genres of music such as pop, hip-hop, and even R&B, it was in rock (and in the jazz and blues as well) that the use of narcotics became prominent. The Beatles, who used to be cleancut and well-mannered looking men from England, openly admitted their use of cannabis and other drugs in the 1970s. They even went on to produce much of the popular rock tunes that influenced and were also influenced with the psychedelic trances of drug use. Fast forward to the late 80s to early 90s and grunge was the new wave of rock to hit the scene. Still, musicians in this era such as Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Courtney Love of Hole, and even Eric Clapton, used and were addicted to different drugs.
Rock stars who died young because of drug overdose
Despite the high that these illegal substances gives users, there are harmful repercussions to their physical and mental health. Oftentimes, death, either by overdosing or through drug-induced suicides, claimed people who have been addicted to drugs. Many famous rockstars who have taken the wrong way to get their inspiration or escape by taking drugs have instead become music legends at young ages. The 27 Club is referenced as a group of musical artists who have all passed away at the age of 27 years old, many of them dying from drug-related causes. The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, has been rumored to have died from polypharmacy or having been overdosed with many different kinds of drugs and medicine. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison were the icons of the 70s whose lives and careers were cut short by their substance abuse. Poster boy for the grunge scene in the early 1990s Kurt Cobain also found solace in drugs, but lost his battle by committing suicide after taking heroin and Valium.
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