When a rock star dies unexpectedly, the question of how they died can loom as large as the memory of how they lived. If the post-mortem math doesn't add up, it divides public opinion on how to interpret the circumstances. Multiple theories emerge, and it can be difficult to differentiate suspicious positions from legitimate suspicions.
When a rock star dies unexpectedly, the question of how they died can loom as large as the memory of how they lived. If the post-mortem math doesn't add up, it divides public opinion on how to interpret the circumstances. Multiple theories emerge, and it can be difficult to differentiate suspicious positions from legitimate suspicions.
Rock 'n roll generally isn't the business to be in if you want to live forever. For evidence, consider the Queen song …
Fair or not, when we think of famous musicians, we think of the "rock star" lifestyle. Even if the musician in question isn't a rocker, the phrase "professional musician" conjures up images of backstage orgies and questionable life decisions. It's easy to see why: The music business has so many famous members who died young — the actuarial tables must be a sight to see. While you might imagine that being a professional musician is just sitting around strumming an instrument, the music business is physically punishing in many ways. From marathon concert performances to the unending pressure to
They don't say they "live fast and die young" for nothing: Being a rock star is dangerous. And sure, many of the threats are self-inflected and therefore avoidable, but look no further than the 27 Club for proof that the danger is real. But for everyone who went out young or died in a plane crash, there's someone else in the business who survived one or partied too hard, drove too fast, or overdosed but lived to tell the tale. (In several cases, they died and came back, making some rock concerts as much like a seance as you'll likely ever find in a horror movie.)
Let's face it: Musicians don't exactly have the most dangerous jobs on the planet. They're certainly not comparable to, say, lumberjacks or soldiers or those people who live on oil rigs for some reason. In fact, usually, the most dangerous day-to-day things a musician might encounter are high stages, late nights, and grouchy sound techs.
