Music's Top 10 Biggest Post-Drug Comebacks
The list of drug casualties in rock and roll is a long and sad one. All the suicides, car crashes and the stray gang-related murder are outweighed by the amount of people who just can't stop putting junk into their system, or at least moderate it to a point where they aren't lying cold on a hotel bathroom floor. It seems to be a slippery slope. 
For every Brad Nowell, Shannon Hoon, Tim Buckley or Janis Joplin, a rarefied list of greats did kick whatever demons they carried, be they in liquid, powder or pill form. Johnny Cash dealt with drug abuse up until the mid-'80s, even doing another stint in rehab in 1983. Some folks dabbled in hard drugs but looked to have grown out them, or in the case of many, couldn't afford the good stuff anymore. See: Most hair-metal bands.
Then there are some who, allegedly, just keep trucking along the primrose path and never really stopped using at least something, like Lemmy Kilmister and Keith Richards. Rocks Off made a list of the people who kicked the rough stuff, and left off the pot users.
Everybody smokes pot. It's from the Earth, y'all.
Scott Weiland: For a period in the '90s, the Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland was the go-to drug addict in rock. This was obviously before we all realized what Layne Staley was up to. Weiland did jail and rehab stints to try to kick his addictions and claims to have been off king heroin since 2002, but admitted to a dalliance with coke in 2007.
Dave Gahan: Dave Gahan has been dead. Three times. The Depeche Mode lead singer has had a heart attack onstage, slashed his wrists and once overdosed on a speedball but was brought back by paramedics. Today, at age 48, he is a lithe and dynamic performer. Like Morrissey, but with sex.
Eric Clapton: Clapton wrote in a recent autobiography that he once used to spend $16,000 a week on heroin. He also covered J.J. Cale's cocaine love letter, "Cocaine," which to this day we still aren't sure about it being anti- or pro-yayo. After kicking the crap, he ended up opening his own rehab clinic, Crossroads Antigua, which the drug rehab equivalent of rock and roll fantasy camp. You never know who will show up.
Elton John: After seeing footage of his bloated self around the time of child AIDS patient Ryan White's funeral, John entered rehab for addictions to food, cocaine and alcohol. Three years later he was writing the soundtrack to The Lion King.
Email to Friend
Write to Editor
Print Article
