Grunge - The Deadliest Genre?
Byrnzie
Posts: 21,037
Interesting article here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/ma ... mike-starr
Mike Starr and the deadliest musical genre
Another grunge star has died young. Tim Jonze asks: is it the most lethal genre?
Tim Jonze
The Guardian, Thursday 10 March 2011
The tragic end of Mike Starr, the Alice in Chains bassist who died on Tuesday after a heroin overdose, might look like just another rock death. But for fans of grunge it was yet another reminder of the way heroin had blighted the scene ever since its inception in the mid-80s. After all, Starr wasn't the first grunge star to die early from heroin. In fact, he wasn't even the first member of Alice in Chains to fall prey to it – their singer Layne Staley fatally overdosed in 2002 at the age of 34. There are other grunge deaths of course – from Kurt Cobain to Kristen Pfaff – and the involvement of heroin mirrors the self-hating, nihilistic aspect to the music. But grunge probably isn't the most deadly of genres. After all, its story is more often littered with tales of survival – Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland, Courtney Love, Mark Lanegan and Evan Dando all had their run-ins with the drug, but lived to tell the tale.
Music has long been a risky business, and the deaths often mirror the genre. For instance, the sense of freedom and adventure of early rock'n'roll contrasts with the number of artists who lived fast and died young in car or plane crashes (Buddy Holly, Johnny Kidd, Eddie Cochran). The sexual freedom of disco also had a dark side, as Aids claimed several artists (Sylvester, Dan Hartman and Arthur Russell to name just three). Elsewhere, metal's fondness for theatre seems to have resulted in a series of bizarre deaths – from the surreality of Randy Rhoads being involved in a plane joyride (they hit their own tourbus) to the demonic nature of the Norwegian black metal scene, in which Varg Vikernes murdered his Mayhem bandmate Øystein Aarseth.
Even when they don't die, metallers have a habit of getting ill in style. Take Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who had to pull out of an Aussie festival because he'd been diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease. Compare this to, say, Kings of Leon who recently pulled out of gigs citing a "torn bicep" at one, a burnt tourbus at another and – famously – being pooed on by pigeons at another. It's clear that landfill indie might be your best bet if you want a healthy life on the music scene.
You might think singer-songwriters were too well-behaved to encounter death all that often, but you'd be wrong – the grim reaper needs to take some time off there, too. Or, with James Blunt still out there making music, at least show a bit more quality control. Suicide took the lives of many greats: Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Vic Chesnutt. Again, this seems to reflect the music – introspective, tortured, an expression of rage, but without the deafening volume and tempo to render it truly cathartic.
Perhaps the most health-damaging genre of all, however, is hip-hop, which makes a heroin-scarred career in grunge look more like a seven-day lentil binge at a yoga retreat. For those on the street, rapping about guns and drugs doesn't seem to be a barrier to being taken out by either guns (Biggie, 2Pac, Scott La Rock) or drugs (Pimp C, Ol' Dirty Bastard). But there are other, less documented, ways that hip-hop can mess with your health – especially obesity, which has delivered many a heart attack and claimed the lives of some, such as Puerto Rican rapper Big Pun. Once again, the mood of the music – living dangerously, then greedily – matches the deaths.
Indulgence isn't the only problem for the middle-aged musician who thinks they're past the danger zone, though. Josh Homme recently railed against a US healthcare system that left two of his bandmates in no position to afford cancer treatment – one of whom, Natasha Shneider, died in 2008.
"I've been beating myself up my whole life, but I'm insured, I know the status of my own health," Homme told the Guardian last year. "But even when you're insured, you still get slow-rolled. The bureaucracy of insurance has become its own problem. It's mystifying to me where it's all going."
The list of musicians caught without health insurance includes successful names – Funkadelic guitarist Garry Shider, for example. The moral of this story being that even if you do make it out of rock'n'roll in one piece, what's waiting on the other side could be equally grim.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/ma ... mike-starr
Mike Starr and the deadliest musical genre
Another grunge star has died young. Tim Jonze asks: is it the most lethal genre?
Tim Jonze
The Guardian, Thursday 10 March 2011
The tragic end of Mike Starr, the Alice in Chains bassist who died on Tuesday after a heroin overdose, might look like just another rock death. But for fans of grunge it was yet another reminder of the way heroin had blighted the scene ever since its inception in the mid-80s. After all, Starr wasn't the first grunge star to die early from heroin. In fact, he wasn't even the first member of Alice in Chains to fall prey to it – their singer Layne Staley fatally overdosed in 2002 at the age of 34. There are other grunge deaths of course – from Kurt Cobain to Kristen Pfaff – and the involvement of heroin mirrors the self-hating, nihilistic aspect to the music. But grunge probably isn't the most deadly of genres. After all, its story is more often littered with tales of survival – Stone Temple Pilots' Scott Weiland, Courtney Love, Mark Lanegan and Evan Dando all had their run-ins with the drug, but lived to tell the tale.
Music has long been a risky business, and the deaths often mirror the genre. For instance, the sense of freedom and adventure of early rock'n'roll contrasts with the number of artists who lived fast and died young in car or plane crashes (Buddy Holly, Johnny Kidd, Eddie Cochran). The sexual freedom of disco also had a dark side, as Aids claimed several artists (Sylvester, Dan Hartman and Arthur Russell to name just three). Elsewhere, metal's fondness for theatre seems to have resulted in a series of bizarre deaths – from the surreality of Randy Rhoads being involved in a plane joyride (they hit their own tourbus) to the demonic nature of the Norwegian black metal scene, in which Varg Vikernes murdered his Mayhem bandmate Øystein Aarseth.
Even when they don't die, metallers have a habit of getting ill in style. Take Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who had to pull out of an Aussie festival because he'd been diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis, a flesh-eating disease. Compare this to, say, Kings of Leon who recently pulled out of gigs citing a "torn bicep" at one, a burnt tourbus at another and – famously – being pooed on by pigeons at another. It's clear that landfill indie might be your best bet if you want a healthy life on the music scene.
You might think singer-songwriters were too well-behaved to encounter death all that often, but you'd be wrong – the grim reaper needs to take some time off there, too. Or, with James Blunt still out there making music, at least show a bit more quality control. Suicide took the lives of many greats: Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Vic Chesnutt. Again, this seems to reflect the music – introspective, tortured, an expression of rage, but without the deafening volume and tempo to render it truly cathartic.
Perhaps the most health-damaging genre of all, however, is hip-hop, which makes a heroin-scarred career in grunge look more like a seven-day lentil binge at a yoga retreat. For those on the street, rapping about guns and drugs doesn't seem to be a barrier to being taken out by either guns (Biggie, 2Pac, Scott La Rock) or drugs (Pimp C, Ol' Dirty Bastard). But there are other, less documented, ways that hip-hop can mess with your health – especially obesity, which has delivered many a heart attack and claimed the lives of some, such as Puerto Rican rapper Big Pun. Once again, the mood of the music – living dangerously, then greedily – matches the deaths.
Indulgence isn't the only problem for the middle-aged musician who thinks they're past the danger zone, though. Josh Homme recently railed against a US healthcare system that left two of his bandmates in no position to afford cancer treatment – one of whom, Natasha Shneider, died in 2008.
"I've been beating myself up my whole life, but I'm insured, I know the status of my own health," Homme told the Guardian last year. "But even when you're insured, you still get slow-rolled. The bureaucracy of insurance has become its own problem. It's mystifying to me where it's all going."
The list of musicians caught without health insurance includes successful names – Funkadelic guitarist Garry Shider, for example. The moral of this story being that even if you do make it out of rock'n'roll in one piece, what's waiting on the other side could be equally grim.
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Comments
Godfather.
read like one of those pissed off critics that blame heavy metal for youth suicides.....CHOICES !
Godfather.
Re: Tobacco displays to be banned from shops
by Godfather. » 10 Mar 2011 13:09
as a smoker I agree that smoking around a non smoker is rude, it really don't take much to smoke away from the crowd but......if I am alone having a grit and you don't like smoke stay the f#@k away from me and I will stay away from you.
Godfather.
hey g-
are cigarettes like drugs?
RED ROCKS 6-19-95
AUGUSTA 9-26-96
MANSFIELD 9-15-98
BOSTON 9-29-04
BOSTON 5-25-06
MANSFIELD 6-30-08
EV SOLO BOSTON 8-01-08
BOSTON 5-17-10
EV SOLO BOSTON 6-16-11
PJ20 9-3-11
PJ20 9-4-11
WRIGLEY 7-19-13
WORCESTER 10-15-13
WORCESTER 10-16-13
HARTFORD 10-25-13
Any drug in particular, or all drugs? What about weed? Has that killed anyone? Also, it's recently been discovered that ecstacy has no long term side effects, so what's your take on that?
no long term side affects to ecstacy!? really?
my personal opinion ?....all drugs.
and the no long term side effects of X....I'll call bullshit on that.
Godfather.
yes another bad choice on the road of life, do as I say not as I do.
Godfather.
tell that to keith richards
RED ROCKS 6-19-95
AUGUSTA 9-26-96
MANSFIELD 9-15-98
BOSTON 9-29-04
BOSTON 5-25-06
MANSFIELD 6-30-08
EV SOLO BOSTON 8-01-08
BOSTON 5-17-10
EV SOLO BOSTON 6-16-11
PJ20 9-3-11
PJ20 9-4-11
WRIGLEY 7-19-13
WORCESTER 10-15-13
WORCESTER 10-16-13
HARTFORD 10-25-13
Sorry to disect, but it was painfully obvious.
don't forget about jim, jimi, and janice
"what a long, strange trip it's been"
I'll bet that sneaky son of a gun secretly works for FOX NEWS :shock: .......
Godfather.
Both go well with food...
Overall smoking a bowl is more negative regarding the damages it does to a persons body than not smoking a bowl. Smoking weed has many benefits, but smoking it still dangerous. This is science.
Vaporizing however, that is all types of goodness, extract the best of what's in the herb, without the dangers of smoke. Not only that, but it extracts more of the THC than smoking. Anyone try it? I bought a Volcano a couple years ago. Solid purchase
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBNvlf17TEw
I bought this piece of shit a couple of years ago, wasted alot of weed in it and i didn't feel a damn thing.
Spent like $250 on it, down the drain. I've heard good things about the Volcano on the internet, but still havent recovered from the emotional damage the damn Vapir thing did to me to try it.
Yeah the Vapir is trash, for hand held devices I hear http://my-iolite.com/ is best. A buddy of mine gives it a thumbs up. But Volcano is really the way to go, it cost quite a bit, but it's built well (Made In Germany) and is highly consistent.
Mind blowing good
Only downside people have with it is the price, but it's worth it when you consider the health benefits of using it and the herb you can save with it. Get one, you will love it!!
Provide her with the scientific evidence :ugeek: Let me know how it works out for yea
i listen to a shitload of grunge.. i think i might die soon.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
Will you really? O.k.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/ ... -new-study
Ecstasy does not wreck the mind, study claims
Previous research was flawed, say experts, but findings will shock those who campaign against the drug's use
Robin McKie
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 February 2011
There is no evidence that ecstasy causes brain damage, according to one of the largest studies into the effects of the drug. Too many previous studies made over-arching conclusions from insufficient data, say the scientists responsible for the research, and the drug's dangers have been greatly exaggerated.
The finding will shock campaigners who have claimed ecstasy poses a real risk of triggering brain damage. They have argued that it can induce memory loss, decrease cognitive performance and has long-lasting effects on behaviour.
But experts who have argued that the drug is relatively safe welcomed the new paper. "I always assumed that, when properly designed studies were carried out, we would find ecstasy does not cause brain damage," said Professor David Nutt, who was fired as chair of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs by Alan Johnson, then home secretary, for publicly stating alcohol and tobacco were more harmful than ecstasy.
The study was carried out by a team led by Professor John Halpern of Harvard Medical School and published in the journal Addiction last week. Funded by a $1.8m grant from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse, it was launched specifically to avoid methodological drawbacks that have bedevilled previous attempts to pinpoint whether or not ecstasy users suffer brain damage.
Ecstasy – or 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA – came into widespread use in the 1980s when taking it was linked to raves and the playing of dance music. Its symptoms include euphoria, a sense of intimacy with others and diminished anxiety and depression. In the US alone, more than 12 million have taken it.
But the taking of ecstasy has also been linked to damage to the central nervous system and research in recent years has suggested that long-term changes to emotional states and behaviour have been triggered by consumption of the drug. Possession of it has been made an offence in most western nations.
However, Halpern was sharply critical of the quality of the research that had linked ecstasy to brain damage. "Too many studies have been carried out on small populations, while overarching conclusions have been drawn from them," he said. For a start, some previous research has studied users who were taken from a culture dominated by all-night dancing, which thus exposed these individuals to sleep and fluid deprivation – factors that are themselves known to produce long-lasting cognitive effects. Non-users were not selected from those from a similar background, which therefore skewed results. In addition, past studies have not taken sufficient account of the fact that ecstasy users take other drugs or alcohol that could affect cognition or that they may have suffered intellectual impairment before they started taking ecstasy. In Halpern's study only ecstasy users who took no other drugs and who had suffered no previous impairment were selected.
The resulting experiment whittled down 1,500 potential participants to 52 selected users, whose cognitive abilities matched those of a group of 59 non-users. "We even took hair samples of participants to test whether they were telling the truth about their drug and alcohol habits," said Halpern. "Essentially we compared one group of people who danced and raved and took ecstasy with a similar group of individuals who danced and raved but who did not take ecstasy. When we did that, we found that there was no difference in their cognitive abilities." In other words, previous studies highlighted problems triggered by other factors, such as use of other drugs or drink, or sleep deprivation.
But the drug still posed risks, he said. "Ecstasy consumption is dangerous because illegally made pills often contain contaminants that can have harmful side-effects."
And Iggy.
And Nick Cave.
i thought Iggy was straight edge/clean?
He is now.
Though he didn't used to be. You should read the book 'Wonderland Avenue' by Danny Sugerman if you have any doubts about that.
Great book by the way. The first half covers his time with Jim Morrisson, the second half with the Igster.
I'll take your word for it. Sounds like an intresting book, but it might get me curious, i don't need any temptation.
sorry man...just cause someone in the guardian posted this story don't mean a lot to me, the effects of foreign chemicals put into the body may not be known yet or these guys are just looking for any reason to get high and feel good about them selfs.
Godfather.
It has nothing to do with anyone writing about it in the Guardian. If you have an issue with it then take it up with the Harvard Medical School who carried out the research.
still can't buy it.
Godfather.