# "Clean Living" Rock Stars? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 29, 2017, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303 "2017-03-29T19:20:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/41 "2017-03-31T08:31:39Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Nugent supposedly is and has been a teetotaler. > > though his vice was an apparent inability to keep it in his pants. Heck, keeping it in his pants saved him from going to Vietnam. And by “it”, I mean his own feces. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/42 "2017-03-31T12:03:52Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > … > > Several years ago, I saw a documentary about the British band Status Quo. All the guys in the band were laughing about how they USED to drink, party and get high… but now that they were in their 60s and 70s, they were all exercising, drinking nothing stronger than tea, and eating healthy, because their bodies CAN’T go through the abuse they used to take. The guitarists / front men for **Status Quo** - **Parfitt** and **Rossi** - shifted prodigious quantities of cocaine and alcohol. **Rossi** lost his septum from cocaine. **Rick Parfitt** had a quadruple heart bypass operation in 1997 after which he announced he had given up drugs and alcohol for tea… In 2014 he had a heart attack and said he was glad because that finally provided the motivation to give up drugs… In June 2016 he had another heart attack and then retired from touring with the band… On Christmas Eve 2016 Parfitt died. Apparently sepsis from a shoulder injury. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/43 "2017-03-31T12:19:56Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > Cliff Richard. First one to spring to mind. He’s another devout Christian but unlike Pat Boone he has not generally been a sanctimonious dick about it. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/44 "2017-03-31T12:57:38Z")
Hell, you’d be hard pressed to find a squeaky clean COUNTRY music star. I think being famous is hard enough. But being a touring musician is especially difficult. With their very late and anti-social hours, being away from their loved ones for months on end, the sheer boredom of traveling from city to city, followed by insane highs from performing in front of thousands of screaming and adoring (and, in most cases, available for the taking) fans, the innate insecurity that comes with creativity, and the ease of getting drugs and drink…well, it’d take a really strong person to resist the temptations that come come their way. In The Eagles documentary, they talk about trouble they got into as a direct result of partying. At one point they were paying thousands of dollars each week repairing hotel rooms after Joe Walsh’s epic hotel trashings. Then the band got into a rift when Randy Meisner started refusing to sing one of their biggest hits, “Take it to the Limit” because his voice was ravaged from from being up all night partying it up. It seems that they either have a Come to Jesus moment in their life, a la Joe Walsh…or they die. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/45 "2017-03-31T12:59:23Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Whatever one might think of their music, or what else they might do, I said then and would say now that it’s highly unlikely that we’ll pick up a newspaper and read that any of these guys have been found dead with a needle in his arm. I am unconvinced that one’s public persona really says all that much about their habits when the cameras aren’t on. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/46 "2017-03-31T13:09:03Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Alex Lifeson was arrested, along with his son and DIL, in the early 00s for public intoxication and assaulting a police officer, and he apparently still rides the Thailand Express, although he says it’s for medicinal use because he has psoriatic arthritis, which is not a fun disease. > > I’ve seen the band 4 times, and they never played “A Passage to Bangkok” at any of them. 😕 > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnXRwmcKnes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnXRwmcKnes) Do I KNOW Lifeson? No. Can I vouch for him? Of course not. I’m aware of the incident you mention, and I admit, he MAY have been 100% at fault. He may have gotten drunk with his son and assaulted a cop. I wasn’t there so I’m not entitled to an opinion. I’ll only note that Alex tells a very different story, and carried on legal action against the police force in question. He claims he got into a scuffle with an overly violent bouncer who was a moonlighting off duty cop. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/47 "2017-03-31T13:18:26Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > I think being famous is hard enough. But being a touring musician is especially difficult. With their very late and anti-social hours, being away from their loved ones for months on end, the sheer boredom of traveling from city to city, followed by insane highs from performing in front of thousands of screaming and adoring (and, in most cases, available for the taking) fans, the innate insecurity that comes with creativity, and the ease of getting drugs and drink…well, it’d take a really strong person to resist the temptations that come come their way. Agreed, hence the OP. But as you say “it’d take a really strong person”, and perhaps there are tiny number of “really strong people” out there. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/48 "2017-03-31T14:01:23Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > But being a touring musician is especially difficult. With their very late and anti-social hours, being away from their loved ones for months on end, the sheer boredom of traveling from city to city, followed by insane highs from performing in front of thousands of screaming and adoring (and, in most cases, available for the taking) fans, the innate insecurity that comes with creativity, and the ease of getting drugs and drink…well, it’d take a really strong person to resist the temptations that come come their way. And, conversely, the homebodies who aren’t sensation-seekers or risk-takers are less likely to be drawn to the life of a rock star in the first place. I know examples of talented bands/artists that arguably could have had much bigger careers if they hadn’t had families they didn’t want to abandon. ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/49 "2017-03-31T14:13:52Z")
Are we counting pop stars? If so, there’s Donny and Marie Osmond. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/50 "2017-03-31T14:37:33Z")
Gene Simmons is the first that comes to mind and he has no problem talking about it _ad nauseum_ (literally). Similarly, Paul Stanley, which is why their partnership has endured so long. Ted Nugent used to go on huge rants about drugs and alcohol… especially if he saw (or smelled) anyone high or drunk at his shows. Frank Zappa - I remember being absolutely stunned that anyone clean and sober could write like that. Surprisingly, Roger Waters was not really into drugs or alcohol. Zack de la Rocha - dabbled in drugs before RATM but abstains now. FYI, the straight edge lifestyle is becoming more and more popular outside its punk rock subgenre. The [Wikipedia list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_who_follow_a_straight_edge_lifestyle) includes some mentioned here and others. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/51 "2017-03-31T14:44:15Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Their violinist lost an eye somewhere along the line Guitarist [Rich Williams](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Williams), actually. He lost the eye in a fireworks accident in his youth; he wore a prosthetic eye during the band’s heyday in the 1970s, but now wears an eyepatch instead. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/52 "2017-03-31T16:23:05Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Nugent supposedly is and has been a teetotaler. > > though his vice was an apparent inability to keep it in his pants. I think the bigger (and potentially more literal) vice was the age of the girls whose pants he was trying to keep it in. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/53 "2017-04-01T02:22:18Z")
> [@PunditLisa](#): > > Hell, you’d be hard pressed to find a squeaky clean COUNTRY music star. I think being famous is hard enough. But being a touring musician is especially difficult. With their very late and anti-social hours, being away from their loved ones for months on end, the sheer boredom of traveling from city to city, followed by insane highs from performing in front of thousands of screaming and adoring (and, in most cases, available for the taking) fans, the innate insecurity that comes with creativity, and the ease of getting drugs and drink…well, it’d take a really strong person to resist the temptations that come come their way. All the country music performers who have died from alcohol and drug use are proof of this. Ca. 1990, with 3 kids in college, my dad moonlighted for a while as a security guard at a civic auditorium, and after working at a number of shows of all types, he told my mom, “I cannot believe I had a problem with the kids going to rock concerts. I sure am glad they weren’t country music fans.” :eek: I’ve heard that quite a few gospel, CCM, etc. artists aren’t as squeaky-clean as one would believe either. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/54 "2017-04-01T02:24:45Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > And, conversely, the homebodies who aren’t sensation-seekers or risk-takers are less likely to be drawn to the life of a rock star in the first place. > > I know examples of talented bands/artists that arguably could have had much bigger careers if they hadn’t had families they didn’t want to abandon. And likewise, I can think of several entertainers, and other prominent people like politicians who have publicly stated that they did not have children because they felt a child needed the kind of parent that their careers would not allow them to be. ETA: Both men and women. ---
**Author:** ![moes\_lotion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@moes\_lotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moes_lotion)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2017, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/55 "2017-04-01T06:26:25Z")
Don’t know how well Randy Bachman (The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive) qualifies as a rock star, but he has been quoted as having never used either drugs or alcohol due to his life-long adherence to his Mormon faith. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2017, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303/56 "2017-04-02T03:41:22Z")
> [@moes\_lotion](#): > > Don’t know how well Randy Bachman (The Guess Who, Bachman Turner Overdrive) qualifies as a rock star, but he has been quoted as having never used either drugs or alcohol due to his life-long adherence to his Mormon faith. I would say that being a member of two of the biggest bands of the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s would qualify him as a rock star, regardless of his offstage behavior. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clean-living-rock-stars/783303.md?page=2)