The Hardest Partiers In Rock History

When you hear the words "rock star" you probably don't think about what it really takes to become a musical demigod. Nobody considers the guitar lessons, the early gigging in dingy bars, the cramped band vans, and going over the finer points of a recording contract with managers, lawyers, accountants, and label executives. Nah, "rock star" conveys images of flowing booze, endless drugs, groupies, trashed hotel rooms, and other unbelievably salacious and self-destructive practices. There's a reason why rock stars are synonymous with excess in everything — more than some exaggeration or cliché, a lot of arena rock idols really lived that life, thus creating something to aspire to for the next generation of wannabe rock stars. Their exploits became the stuff of rumor, legend, and coroners' reports — because the danger in partying is the temptation to party too hard. Here are some rock stars who took the rock 'n' roll lifestyle a little far.

This may shock you, but most bands don't stay together in their original form forever. You see, rock musicians tend to have egos that are a touch inflated compared to us mortals, and the fact that they make their money looking cool and getting underwear thrown at them has a way of making many of them think the good times will keep rolling forever, with or without their bandmates.

As any musician will tell you, a musical instrument is almost like a living thing. Over time, it takes on a personality synthesized from imperfections, wear and tear, and custom touches added by the musician. It's little wonder that some of the highest-paid and most famous guitarists in the world have fixated on specific guitars that gave them a sound or a "feel" they couldn't get with any other instrument. It's a mystical connection.

It's pretty easy for a rumor to become fact in the public eye, especially if that rumor involves somebody famous—like a classic rock star—and it might have been even easier before the internet, when we had the good folks at Snopes to help us debunk the bad stuff. Think about it, and it's easy to understand why so many false facts about your parents' favorite rockers persist. All the following stories have one thing in common: none are the slightest bit true.

We expect our rock gods to play fast and loose in life, doing things that would kill the rest of us ten times over. Maybe it shouldn't come as a shock when they go a bit too far. When late nights turn into early mornings and rock concerts turn into drug-fueled orgies, the bad choices tend to start flying. Here are just a few of the crazy things these golden gods have done in their darkest moments, and hoped you would forget about.