It’s Not All Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll
With all the celebrity musician overdose deaths over the last few years and decades, it’s hard for anyone to believe any rock stars actually live sober lifestyles. When Prince, Lil’ Peep, and Tom Petty died, one of the things I heard was:
“It’s sex, drugs, and rock and roll man.”
And
“That’s the life of a rock star!”
To a point, that’s true. When some people think of the life of a rock star, they think of Motley Cruë, partying it up with a bunch of girls in the back of their tour bus or the members of Metallica getting wasted and destroying a hotel room. Some people listen to rap music where they talk about drinking “lean,” smoking tons of weed and popping Xanax. Other people think about Janis Joplin overdosing on heroin. But the point is, addiction is very often associated with musicians and the music scene. Unfortunately, tons of rockers have died after addiction got the best of them. The lifestyle caught up with them and they met their ultimate demise. But with all of that, what’s forgotten about are the many, many musicians, rappers, and rock stars who are sober—where it’s not all about the drugs and alcohol. The list of sober, influential musicians is surprising, to some degree, because most people believe that in order to be famous it’s all about how many drugs you do and how many women you can get with.
Here’s a list of some sober rockers:
- Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)
- Elton John
- Calvin Harris
- David Bowie
- Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
- James Hetfield (Metallica)
- Gene Simmons (KISS)
- Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails)
- Eric Clapton
- Chris Martin (Coldplay)
- Ed Sheeran
- Eminem
The Show Will Go On…
You see, it doesn’t always have to be a party. The thing is, it’s not only possible to get sober, but it’s possible to stay sober and still be creative, draw huge crowds, and be crazy successful. While it used to be all about getting high, some musicians these days are all about being sober, ethical, and creating wonderful music for their fans. It might have once been about the party, but you can’t party forever and the dangers outweigh the short-term high.
