The music community has had a lot to mourn in recent months.
First came the tragically sudden and momentous death of Michael Jackson, the “King of Pop,” whose inventive and evocative lyrics and dances have forever woven themselves into American culture.
Next came the somber passing of guitar legend Les Paul, to whom we owe such remarkable rock innovations as overdubbing, multitrack recording and, of course, the Les Paul guitar.
Most recently, however, came the shocking death of master mixologist Adam Goldstein, better known to fans as DJ AM.
Goldstein was in all regards an extremely talented and troubled individual whose life was marked with tumultuous personal struggle and numerous near-death experiences. Despite a successfully blooming career, the DJ struggled with obesity and cocaine abuse at the age of 20 and, following a failed suicide attempt, went sober with the help of his friends and lost 155 pounds by undergoing gastric bypass surgery.
Goldstein launched his career as a member of the rock band Crazy Town, best known for their 1995 single “Butterfly,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. He has also scratched on albums for Will Smith, Madonna, Papa Roach and Shifty, and played concerts with Jay-Z and Travis Barker of Blink-182.
Goldstein cheated death on Sept. 19, 2008, when he and Barker were seriously injured in a Learjet crash that killed four others. At a Television Critics Association panel on July 29, while promoting his upcoming MTV series, “Gone Too Far,” Goldstein announced, “I’ve been a recovering addict for 11 years.” The show features the musician and concerned families staging interventions for drug abusers. Whether it will air or not is currently unknown.
Still, understandably, the plane crash had severely rattled Goldstein and he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and recurring nightmares in the months following the accident.
“There’s no reason why I should have lived … and they didn’t,” he told the Los Angeles Times in July, “And it’s something I struggle with every day.”
Haunted by the demons of his past, in addition to a heart-wrenching breakup with longtime girlfriend Hayley Wood, Adam Goldstein was found dead in his apartment on Friday of an alleged cocaine and Xanax overdose.
Three days earlier he posted on Twitter, “New York, New York. Big city of dreams, but everything in New York ain’t always what it seems.”
Unfortunately, drug abuse and the tragedies that ensue are anything but new in celebrity culture. Jimi Hendrix, Bradley Nowell of Sublime, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison of The Doors, Elvis Presley, and, yes, Michael Jackson are just some of the countless musicians who have had their lives and careers cut short by accidental overdoses.
As celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears have proved, it’s just as easy to get tabloid coverage these days by shaving your head and going on a drugged-up rampage as it is by producing a smash hit album.
Perhaps it is our duty to cast the first stone against celebrity drug abuse, for the sake of preserving the musicians we love from destroying themselves.
In our youth we are often deceived into assuming a faux invincibility, but our lives are as fragile as they are precious.
Here’s to making dying of old age chic again.
Nine out of 10 doctors agree that the secret to a long, happy life is sending Hal your thoughts at hscohen@asu.edu.
