Janet Carr posted: " I was quite shocked when I realised the other day that Eddie Vedder is the only surviving frontman of the big 5 grunge groups of the 90s. It's a very sad story: Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) - drug addiction, died by suicide Chris Cornell" https://thisbugslife.com
I was quite shocked when I realised the other day that Eddie Vedder is the only surviving frontman of the big 5 grunge groups of the 90s.
It's a very sad story:
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana) - drug addiction, died by suicide
Chris Cornell (Soundgarden) - drug addiction, died by suicide
Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots) - drug addiction, died of an overdose
Layne Staley (Alice in Chains) - drug addiction, died of an overdose.
There was also
Andrew Wood (Mother Love Bone) - drug addiction, died of an overdose
Mike Starr (Alice in Chains) - drug addiction, died of an overdose
I guess that in those circles at the time it was very easy to get drugs, and very hard to stay away from them. Being famous tends to attract the worst kind of hangers on, and I guess drug dealers are attracted by money and possible customers. It must also be very hard to get sober when you are in a band where everyone else takes drugs.
Another aspect of it is probably that the arts often attract vulnerable, fragile people who dig deep into their trauma to create amazing - often very dark - things. This was probably true of the grunge movement to a great extent.
Actors in training are often asked to dig deep into traumatic moments in order to bring authenticity to their parts. But this vulnerability or ensuing rage may also lead to drug use to calm the demons. And the pressures of fame must be enormous - the burden of the love of your fans, to keep on making hits, the fame machine, greedy music companies, becoming a commodity.
Layne Staley has one of the most amazing voices I have ever heard. But the band's touring and his life were both cut short in the saddest of ways. I rewatched the documentary Montage of Heck (about Kurt Cobain) recently and was reminded of how, at the time, it was never a matter of if but a matter of when he would die.
I wonder if - in the grunge era - drugs came first and fuelled the creativity, or if creativity came first and drugs quelled the pain?
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