Zachary Stockill of Policy Mic asks Why So Many Rock Stars Die at 27, Explained by Science, but this is just a catchy title to ask is it really true that rock stars tend to die at younger ages than the rest of us and indeed they do. I've interspersed YouTube videos of some of the famous rock stores we've sadly lost so please keep on reading all the way down.
When Kurt Cobain committed suicide in a Seattle suburb 20 years ago, the idea of the 27 Club entered the public consciousness. "I told him not to join that stupid club," his mother said at the time of death, and the quote was subsequently picked up and distributed worldwide by the Associated Press. Writers and music fans started drawing the link between Cobain and a long line of equally talented artists and performers — ranging from Brian Jones, to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison and more — who died at the same age. In 2011, Amy Winehouse followed in Cobain's wake. Her death immediately launched broad speculation about whether 27 was actually a cursed age.
In 2011, British researchers surveyed 1,500 performers over a 40-year period. They compared the rock stars' average lifespans to non-rock stars from the same periods. So, Elvis' life span would be compared to the average lifespan of other men who were 21 when he released "Hound Dog" in 1955. The researchers found, "North American pop stars were 87.6% as likely to be alive as [non-rock stars] of the same age and ethnicity — the lowest survival rate of any group identified in the study." Although less likely to die prematurely than their North American counterparts, Euro rockers were, on average, more likely to die young than non-rocking Europeans. That, of course, completely fails to explain Keith Richards.
Drug and alcohol overdoses were among the most common causes of death, which comes as no surprise given that the average rock star has access to an illicit pharmacy whenever he or she seeks it out. Author Howard Sounes lists 50 "unofficial" members in his book The 27 Club, the majority of whom had serious substance abuse problems. That culture, coupled with the emotional lives that inspire many musicians to write and perform, provide the perfect set of circumstances for an early death. Additionally, Sounes pointed out that most members of the club had "strikingly difficult childhoods," producing emotional wounds that would inspire artists like Cobain and Hendrix to look to drugs, alcohol and music as a means of self-medication.
Who would have that that drugs, sex, and rock and roll would turn out to have unhealthy consequences on longevity? "Why wasn't I informed of this?" I guess next time we go to see Metallica people will be shouting, "sobriety, celibacy, and spiritual chanting," as we all break out into a group, "Om!"
But, wait kogs, the news gets worse, if you can imagine that. "Pain attracts pain, and drug abusing musicians often attract, either willfully or not, other drug users into their lives. Most members of the 27 Club were romantically involved with other drug users at the time of their death."
I'm shocked, truly shocked to hear that not only were some of our favorite rock stars partaking in the consumption of illicit substances, but theywere also consorting with unsavory characters as well! Someone should have alerted them to the possibilities that such behaviors could have detrimental consequences for their art and their health!
Kossacks, I am so sorry to have to be the bearer of these sad tidings and hope this has not come as too much of a distress and shock for you this evening. One small bit of encouraging news the study found has been a steady downward trend of early deaths related to drugs since they peaked in the 1960s and 1970s.
One expert in substance abuse, and one of the authors of the study, Mark Bellis suggested an explanation for this trend - the "professionalization" of the music industry. He says that now that music has become a "business" going into music is a "valid career choice, as opposed to a means of escape for troubled young people." Gak!
Double Gak! Well, with attitudes like that we might not be going out on a limb if we were to predict if he has children they may be at "high risk" for being troubled youths at risk for using drugs and going into the music industry to escape from him."
Another possibility that Mark Bellis should have had enough exposure to research methodology to have thought are multitude of possible alternative hypothesis to explain this finding. Notice that this even close to being a controlled experiment with a random selection so we can see so many possible confounding explanations any responsible researcher should have prefaced any possible wild speculation about a causal theory that goes beyond his research numerous with an appropriate caution.
For example:
Alternative Hypothesis 1: Now that the rock industry is dominated by multi-billion dollar megacorporate empires that have teams of doctors, lawyers, keyperson insurance, and personal minders, and caretackers it is more difficult for rock stars to get that far out of control
Allternative Hypothesis 2: Many rock stars now are 65 years old and have been in rehab 15 to 20 times and have learned how to manage their addictive behavior or are finally abusingg drugs more carefully.
Alternative Hypothesis 3: In the 1960s a tremendous quantity of different drugs hit the scene all at once along with a total change of the whole culture, women's lib, civil rights, the end of McCarthyism, eastern religions, sexual mores so individuals felt empowered all at once with almost infinite choice, and no knowledge or experience in how to make those choices. Many of the young music rock stars of today, have had practice abusing drugs since they were very young children with lots of older kids to help them learn how to do it more safely.
So I better call it quits now because I wouldn't want to anything unkind. You know the kind of things those snotty kinds of writers might say when they get annoyed like "with regard to the question can science explain why rockers die at 27, the answer is not this simply minded idiot Mark Bellis who can't even respond to simple questions with revealing himself to be a crass asshole." That would be an example of the kind of thing I wouldn't want to say now because it would be unkind, probably untrue, and certainly not unnecessary.
Sorry to go on like his but perhaps, I should say that I find people like this moralistic and preachy Mark Bellis annoying and I'm in a bad mood. It makes me sad to see what wonderful people we've lost, and wonder how much richer the world we be if the were still alive. So when an idiot moron like Bellis pisses on their grave with his smarmy "holier than thou bullshit" saying they didn't make "valid career choices" he embarrasses himself and grates on my nerves. But let's put this behind us.
lLet's send a pray, or the humanist metaphorical equivalent to the souls of all of these wonderful musicians who I hope are still playing for someplace even if it is only in the deepest regions of our collective unconscious minds.
Please feel free to had your favorite musicians who have died too early. In fact, they do not even have to be dead, maybe they just look sort of tired lately, or their careers have been on the skids. I'll leave it to your judgement.