There is a saying that rock and roll stars live on the edge and drive in the fast lane. Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, and Michael Hutchence of INXS did just that. They were music icons who lived on the edge.
Sad to say, their fame and fortune also led to their untimely deaths. What’s more alarming is these stars die a few years after achieving fame.
News of rock stars and other music icons dying young is alarming because their deaths are associated with substance overdose.
A recent study conducted at Liverpool John Moores University showed that 1,050 American and European artists, or so-called “icons,” died earlier than average. Of the 100 stars that died from 1956 to 2005, the majority of these American “music icons” died at the average age of 42, while those from Europe passed away at 35 years of age.
The reason? Unhealthy lifestyle, improper diet, drug addiction, and alcohol and substance abuse. In addition, part of the dilemma is living with the stress and anxiety associated with fame.
According to the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, drugs and alcohol are the leading causes of death for many musicians, accounting for one out of every four deaths. Alcohol damages the body in many ways.
It can mess with the brain and cause problems with coordination, judgment, reflexes, vision, memory, and blacking out. Alcohol can damage many organs in the body.
It is absorbed directly in the bloodstream and raises the risk of acquiring life-threatening ailments like cancer. Extremely high doses of alcohol can even cause alcohol poisoning, coma, or even death.
It is a fact that many celebrities and music personalities are involved in the repeated and excessive use of drugs and substances. High doses of many illegal drugs can cause immediate life-threatening problems like heart attack, respiratory failure, and coma.
The combination of drugs and alcohol is extremely dangerous. In addition, some drugs can have dangerous interactions with alcohol.
The human body can only handle so many toxins at once, which is why illegal drugs should not be taken with alcohol. There are times that drug can chemically interact with alcohol, when taken with alcohol it disperses faster in the bloodstream and takes effect faster.
These are why alcohol and drug overdose is one of the leading causes of death among music icons and many individuals.
The number of rock stars who died and are dying at a young age is the cause of alarm for society because many artists are influential among children and young people.
They want to be like themóthe rock gods. The young people hero-worship them. They buy their albums, watch their concerts, and even try to dress like them. A lot of young people want to be like rock stars. They want fame, money, and other expensive stuff. Young people of today want to be rock stars more than anything else.
They want to sing loud songs, strum the guitars to produce loud music and beat the drums real hard. The young people want to experience the euphoria that these rock icons claim they feel whenever they’re on stage. Sad to say, all the fame, fortune, and money could not change the fact that many rock stars and music icons died early.
Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, and Michael Hutchence What went wrong? Were they overwhelmed by the fame that they lost control of reality and turned to drugs and other banned substances?
These rock stars were not happy at all. Death somehow makes people more attractive and famous than they were still alive. However, dead rock stars are reminders of the pain and depression that may occur as side effects of fame.
