Death, drugs and rock ’n’ roll

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There was an anecdote that began doing the rounds circa 2000, about the members of three bands on the US Tattoo the Earth tour and their bizarre pre-show rituals. Keeping in mind that Tattoo the Earth was a pretty bizarre tour anyway, a few members of Slipknot, Mudvayne and One Minute Silence used to stand in a circle with one person holding the decaying carcass of a little bird. Each member of the circle would take a deep breath of the rotting stench and then they’d head off to the stage area.
“It was a way of reminding ourselves that despite any success or fame or fortune, we were all headed to the same final resting place,” said OMS drummer Eddie Stratton at that time. Just under a decade after that remark, one of the dead bird-sniffing crew, Slipknot bassist Paul Gray breathed his last at the age of 38. He had died of an apparent drug overdose a little over a week after Ronnie James Dio succumbed to stomach cancer and a shade more than a month after Type O Negative’s Pete Steele heart attack and death.
Premature deaths or dying young is something that unfortunately happens to a wide cross-section of people across the world and potentially could happen to anyone. “Whether is was a natural cause or a terminal illness or a drug overdose, to that extent even being killed by a natural disaster, there are numerous ways in which people can and do get killed prematurely,” says the singer of a household name Mumbai rock band, who prefers to stay anonymous and opts for a pseudonym, settling eventually for Shiva. He adds, “It’s just that when it happens to someone famous, there’s an added tinge of drama and tragedy.” And it also goes the some way towards immortalising your art.
Get your checklist out. Freddie Mercury (Queen), Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham (Led Zeppelin), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Bon Scott (AC/DC), Hillel Slovak (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Dimebag Darrell (Pantera/Damageplan), Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols), Keith Moon (The Who), Randy Rhoads (Ozzy Osbourne), Cliff Burton (Metallica), Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) and of course, John Lennon (The Beatles) are just a fraction of a sliver of the premature dead rock stars. Interestingly, in a recent survey of dead American rock stars, it was found the average age of death was 39.8 years, as against a national average of 74.5 years.
The list of young dead celebrities can be extended beyond the realms of music to include Heath Ledger, Marilyn Monroe, Princess Diana, Corey Haim, River Phoenix, Divya Bharti, Smita Patil and even Rajiv Gandhi.
“Most often the inescapable public attention is what creates the drama and tragedy. These people live most of their lives out in the public eye. Naturally, their death will be no different. Of course, the fact that some people can’t handle all the attention and end up taking their lives a la Cobain is a different matter,” adds Shiva.
For those who love the fame and fortune, he adds, there’s often recklessness and irresponsibility that comes with the territory.
Vince Neil (Mötley Crüe) in a drunken stupor once jack-knifed his De Tomaso Pantera into an oncoming vehicle, injuring the occupants of the other car and killing his passenger Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley, the Hanoi Rocks drummer. Similarly, recklessness with substances has led to many a drug overdose, some because of too much joy and others, due to too much sorrow. Not everyone after all can survive an overdose, or two as Nikki Sixx did and come back from the dead.
But what is it about the road that leads to such wanton recklessness? “You’re free. You’re young. You’re out there in the world with your friends to do whatever you want, with no one to say no to you,” explains Shiva and adds, “And after a show, the adrenaline levels take a while to drop, so people tend to do silly things. Also, people can get lonely out on the road,” He reasons that while potentially keeping things in perspective and not losing one’s head while out on tour, touring is for the largest part, stressful.
“Stressful lives, stress about not messing up your performance, about money, about in-band problems, about your family back at home and so many other things. Stress is the biggest killer, as far as I’m concerned,” he says. Dipping into his bag of clichés, he chips in, “It’s a fun job, but it’s still a job. And a stressful one at that.”
“We were young when we started off, but we’ve all been mainly focussed on the music and the performance side of things. Sure, at the start, there were the drugs, the alcohol and the girls, but you have to realise at some point that the more you focus on the music, the less you have to worry about. Ergo, less stress for you,” smiles Shiva impishly.