Article on the early death of musicians, need help!

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F_cksia

New member
Hi all,

For the Dutch magazine I´m writing for I was asked to do a research article about the early death of musicians/ rock´stars´, as is concluded in this study.

Please help me with any input you have. Do you think that drug abuse is caused by the pressure of media/fans/record companies/keeping up an image/etc., or that it mostly occurs áfter the big fame, when the parties are over and depression hits?

What about the high rate of suicide in this bussiness? According to this interesting website, cause #1 is even heart attack.. any explanations? Any anecdotes from out of the studio, other musicians, bandmembers, crew, etc.??

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.
Cheers! Maarten
 
One important thing to recognize is that cause of death is only significant after you control for occupation. In other words, do non-musicians of the same age die from significantly different causes. It doesn't surprise me that suicide, drug overdose, violence, or automobile accidents kill musicians. Those are also the leading cause of death for young people generally. And with the exception of the guys who hang around here, most rock musicians are young.

The other thing to consider is the basic question: Do rock musicians actually die young? Sure there are a lot of prominent examples. But consider the fact that there are an awful lot of rock musicians. Given the size of the group, these number of deaths might not be all that meaningful.
 
F_cksia said:
Do you think that drug abuse is caused by the pressure of media/fans/record companies/keeping up an image/etc., or that it mostly occurs áfter the big fame, when the parties are over and depression hits?
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I think there's been a lot written on the subject of creativity and madness and there's some suggestion out there that these traits run hand in hand. So consider the possibility that some number of creative people who enter music are prone to depression.
 
dwillis45 said:
I think there's been a lot written on the subject of creativity and madness and there's some suggestion out there that these traits run hand in hand. So consider the possibility that some number of creative people who enter music are prone to depression.
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Yeah, I should know since I've just written my final paper on university on this subject, highlighting Ray Davies and Kurt Cobain. :) I was hoping from some suggestions/anecdotes/points of view from the 'field' to illustrate the article.
 
I think alot of musicians seem to be prone to excess...the ones who make it seem to do almost everything excessively. Look at how they live and act...huge houses, alot of cars, and massive partying. And if drugs or alcohol is readily available, then it can be overdone pretty easily. I think the lifestyle seems to lend itself to overindulgence...if they make it big, life sort of becomes a party. No real time schedules to keep, so they party ALOT. Most seem to handle it well, but for some, it's too easy.
 
dwillis45 said:
I think there's been a lot written on the subject of creativity and madness and there's some suggestion out there that these traits run hand in hand. So consider the possibility that some number of creative people who enter music are prone to depression.
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Creativity is also associated with manic depression.

I am mixed dominant, so I manage to be creative without coming unhinged :)
 
dwillis45 said:
The other thing to consider is the basic question: Do rock musicians actually die young? Sure there are a lot of prominent examples. But consider the fact that there are an awful lot of rock musicians. Given the size of the group, these number of deaths might not be all that meaningful.
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That's my belief. Non-famous people die young all the time. We just don't hear about it because they aren't famous.

I'll bet the percentage of famous people who die young isn't much different to the percentage of non famous people dying young.

If you are highlighting Kurt Cobain, you need to bring into it the popular speculation that he was murdered, which somewhat puts him aside from the statistics in that he really had no control over that, same as Lennon. Unsurprisingly, most people who are murdered die before their time.

On top of that, people who die before their time can't be said to have died of natural causes. So it's feasable there are going to be circumstances involved in the deaths that go beyond natural causes. But it's not always down to excess. For example Cliff Burton was killed in a bus crash, Lynard Skynard died in a plane crash. But this does highlight something. Musicians are more likely to travel long distances. More likely to get on planes. Therefore more likely to put themselves in harms way in that respect. But then in my experience, so are Civil Engineers.

And then you have firefighters walking into burning buildings, and cops and soldiers getting into all sorts of scrapes as part of their job. And most of them aren't too famous.

I'm pretty sure a higher percentage of cops and soldiers die young than famous people.

Something that interested me was an aticle I read about this very same thing. But it started talking about famous people and drug abuse and related deaths. Listing such people as John Lennon, Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix. None of whom died of drug abuse. It's a popular misconception that young famous people die of excess, quite often it isn't the case, but that sort of sensationalism sells magazines at the end of the day.
 
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Hey, Fred Eaglesmith explained it pretty well in his song "Alcohol and Pills."

Hank Williams, he came up from Montgomery,
With heart full of broken country songs
But Nashville, Tennessee didn't really understand him,
'Cause he did things differently than the way that they were done
But when he finally made it to the Grand Old Opry,
He made it stand still
He ended up on alcohol and pills

Elvis Presley, he came up from Jackson,
With a brand new way of singing, lord
And a brand new way of dancing,
And even from the waist up, lord, he gave the world a thrill
He ended up on alcohol and pills

Alcohol and pills, it's a crying shame,
You'd think they might've been happy with the glory and the fame
But fame doesn't take away the pain, it just pays the bills,
And you wind up on alcohol and pills

Janis Joplin, she was wild and reckless,
And then there was Gram Parsons, lord
And then there was Jimi Hendrix,
The story just goes on and on, and I guess it always will
They ended up on alcohol and pills

Alcohol and pills, it's a crying shame,
You'd think they might've been happy with the glory and the fame
But fame doesn't take away the pain, it just pays the bills,
And you wind up on alcohol and pills

Sometimes somebody just doesn't wake up one day,
Sometimes it's a heart attack, sometimes they just don't say
But they pulled poor, old Hank Williams,
Out of a Cadillac Coupe de Ville
He ended up on alcohol and pills

Alcohol and pills, it's a crying shame,
You'd think they might've been happy with the glory and the fame
But fame doesn't take away the pain, it just pays the bills,
And you wind up on alcohol and pills

And you wind up on alcohol and pills
 
I think one of the dumbest things I see all the time is when do-gooders explain the use of drugs as being caused by depression, or low self esteem, or "to escape their poor lives etc. etc.
People, musicians and otherwise, start out drinking or doing drug primarily because they find it to be FUN! That's the main reason ...... peer pressure figures into it some but otherwise they do them because it feels good.
Later on when the newness wears off or the buzz is no longer like the first few times, or the body needs more and more of it ............ that's when depression and the other addictive factors take over or come into play ...... but any of you that smoke pot or drink or (hope not) do heavier drugs. When you did it the first few times wasn't it because it felt good or because you had fun doing it?
I think that's a big mistake the anti-drug forces make, when they attempt to analyze druggies and think that if they only change the circumstances of life for these people that they wouldn't do drugs.
Rich people with great lives do drugs ..... hobos do drugs ...... people with crappy lives do drugs and historical evidence shows that drugs of some kind have existed as long as civilized man has. Seems to be part of the human condition to want to get high.
Hell ...... bears are known to travel just to eat berries in places where they've fermented to get a buzz.
 
I'm skeptical of that study. I'd like to get a closer look at their data and methods but the press coverage doesn't provide much background other than the researcher's conclusions. They apparently looked at 1,000 "artists" from 1956 to 2005 and concluded that the mortality rate was higher than the general population. They also seem to suggest that the cause of death differed significantly. Again, however, the proper comparison would be between musicians and younger members of the general population--not the population as a whole. I also wonder which artists were selected and what the selection criteria were. Were they selected randomly, do they cover the spectrum of artists, are men and women represented, and is a thousand sufficient to generalize given the large number of potential artists covered by the period.
 
One thing to consider - lots of pop stars wind up taking charter flights, and a lot of them died that way.
 
legionserial said:
And then you have firefighters walking into burning buildings, and cops and soldiers getting into all sorts of scrapes as part of their job. And most of them aren't too famous.
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Yeah but they're only saving lives. Why should that be noteworthy? Now - someone who can memorize and emote dialog that someone else wrote? That is an act of only the select few, chosen by God, to entertain us while we are not burning alive!
 
cusebassman said:
Yeah but they're only saving lives. Why should that be noteworthy?
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Oh they would have to save a celebrity to earn the accolade of noteworthiness!

It seems a fitting day to say, that in perfect world, if we know the name of Michael Jackson's pet monkey, and the exact pounds per square inch of the grip of Paris Hilton's naughty bits (which probably isn't much) we should know the names of every firefighter who marched into the WTC to save lives. We should all be able to recite every one of those names at the click of a finger.
 
legionserial said:
It seems a fitting day to say, that in perfect world, if we know the name of Michael Jackson's pet monkey, and the exact pounds per square inch of the grip of Paris Hilton's naughty bits (which probably isn't much) we should know the names of every firefighter who marched into the WTC to save lives. We should all be able to recite every one of those names at the click of a finger.
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That is a really thoughtful, perfect, and timely observation. Thank you.

You're quite a brilliant guy. I bet you have a cat! :)
 
Man, you have a whole basis for a good book here...go for it..to hell with the article.


As you can tell, I am in one of my "up" swing rolls at the moment....please don't place a speed bump, in the way of "brainstorming"...and send me to the 'other' end of the manic spectrum..I owe my Therapist a fortune as is....:eek:


And the fact that my brainstorm is not really a brainstorm, does not compute at the moment.....:D

Good luck with your article. If I actually think of any helpful input, I will be back.:)
 
legionserial said:
Oh they would have to save a celebrity to earn the accolade of noteworthiness!

It seems a fitting day to say, that in perfect world, if we know the name of Michael Jackson's pet monkey, and the exact pounds per square inch of the grip of Paris Hilton's naughty bits (which probably isn't much) we should know the names of every firefighter who marched into the WTC to save lives. We should all be able to recite every one of those names at the click of a finger.
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Quite right you are....:)
 
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