# Famous rock musicians who do not use alcohol or drugs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2013, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225 "2013-09-19T13:28:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/41 "2013-09-20T04:44:39Z")
I’d imagine Yusuf Islam is pretty clean and sober. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/42 "2013-09-20T06:49:55Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > I don’t know about alcohol but the members of Pink Floyd always claim they never do any kind of drugs. And that’s an absurd claim for them to make, no matter how many times they make it. You can see Gilmour holding a bong in _Live at Pompeii_, iirc. What’s loaded in it, harmless tobacco? ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/43 "2013-09-20T10:40:47Z")
I was reading a bunch of rock autobiographies earlier this year, and either Ozzy or Keith Richards talked about Zappa. if I had to pick one, I think it was Ozzy, but I can’t swear to it. Anyway, he was talking about how some of Frank’s band would come around and ask him for something on the sly. They said something like, “Don’t tell Frank, he wouldn’t approve.” Later on, Frank talked to him alone and asked him for something (some drug: I’m not sure it was ever specified TBH) and Frank said, “Don’t tell the guys, they wouldn’t approve.” ---
**Author:** ![Apocalypso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Apocalypso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apocalypso)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/44 "2013-09-20T12:22:09Z")
> [@scabpicker](#): > > And that’s an absurd claim for them to make, no matter how many times they make it. You can see Gilmour holding a bong in _Live at Pompeii_, iirc. What’s loaded in it, harmless tobacco? He was? I don’t remember that! I lost my copy of Live at Pompeii a long time ago, but it is on youtube. Was it during one of the interviews or the songs? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/45 "2013-09-20T13:04:05Z")
I have a friend who at the time was a great sax player. He got an audition for Zappa and did very well. He was told that FZ was Zero-Tolerance for drugs if he wanted the gig. Ultimately, his parents gave him an ultimatum. He could be a professional musician and more power to him and he’d be on his own. Or he could go on as he planned for a BS in Engineering and as planned, parents would pay for it. He went on to school instead. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/46 "2013-09-20T14:28:03Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > He was? I don’t remember that! I lost my copy of Live at Pompeii a long time ago, but it is on youtube. Was it during one of the interviews or the songs? It’s during one of the clips in the studio in the movie. It’s been quite some time since I’ve seen it as well. I’ll give the original 1 hour version a watch and see if I can spot it again. It’s very short. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/47 "2013-09-20T17:58:34Z")
Well, it’s not in the 1 hour version of _Live at Pompeii_ I just watched on Youtube, but there’s a bunch of different edits of that movie, and there’s no telling which one I watched 20 years ago. Plus, I could be misremembering what movie it is. The person who watched it with me then had lots of bootlegged Pink Floyd videos, and I saw several with footage from that time period through his collection. As I recall the scene, it’s actually studio footage of them recording part of _Dark Side of the Moon_, and it’s near a scene of one of them working at a Moog. I remember that scene because it’s the first time I had any idea how they made the arpeggiated sounds in “On the Run”. I remember the bong scene because back then it really was pretty rare to see a prominent musician on film with an obvious piece of paraphernalia, even members of psychedelic bands. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/48 "2013-09-20T18:43:36Z")
Isn’t one of the reasons Lowell George left Zappa’s band to form Little Feat because of Zappa’s no drugs stance? I’ve heard different stories - that it had to do with George’s drug use directly, or because of the drug references in his songs (like “Willin’”). ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/49 "2013-09-20T19:24:36Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > [Randy Bachman](http://www.examiner.com/article/randy-bachman-tells-how-he-managed-to-stay-clean-and-sober-the-music-business) is another one. I was actually going to mention him. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/50 "2013-09-20T19:50:34Z")
I think Roger Daltrey of The Who has abstained from drugs, but not sure about alcohol. I remember a quote from him saying something like “someone in the group had to keep their head”. Hanging out with Keith Moon might have been part of it. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/51 "2013-09-20T20:10:36Z")
> [@August\_West](#): > > I think Roger Daltrey of The Who has abstained from drugs, but not sure about alcohol. I remember a quote from him saying something like “someone in the group had to keep their head”. Hanging out with Keith Moon might have been part of it. …and John Entwistle died of hookers and blow, and Pete wasn’t quite right on a number of levels while delivering brilliant songs. If he was largely clean, you could see why he needed to hold on to _something_. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/52 "2013-09-20T20:55:49Z")
I don’t know that Bob Seger _never_ used drugs or alcohol, but he never consumed either to the point where they became a problem. He always claimed to be scared straight by watching his father ruin his life with alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/53 "2013-09-20T21:13:16Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > …and John Entwistle died of hookers and blow, and Pete wasn’t quite right on a number of levels while delivering brilliant songs. If he was largely clean, you could see why he needed to hold on to _something_. Townshend has admitted to being an alcoholic and was known to down a bottle of Jack Daniels while on stage. He quit drinking altogether about 20 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/54 "2013-09-21T16:40:21Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Townshend has admitted to being an alcoholic and was known to down a bottle of Jack Daniels while on stage. He quit drinking altogether about 20 years ago. The solo album Empty Glass is dedicated to Remy Martin, thanking them for saving his life by making it “so bloody expensive.” ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/55 "2013-09-21T19:10:35Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I’d imagine Yusuf Islam is pretty clean and sober. Likewise (and for the same reason) Richard Thompson. ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/56 "2013-09-21T21:31:48Z")
TMBG. Off the top of my head, one of the Johns has been in rehab and the other has always eschewed anything stronger than caffeine. ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/57 "2013-09-21T22:42:11Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Townshend has admitted to being an alcoholic and was known to down a bottle of Jack Daniels while on stage. He quit drinking altogether about 20 years ago. I bet he’s super dehydrated by now. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/58 "2013-09-21T23:07:22Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > AFAIK, Gene Simmons of Kiss is, and always has been a completely sober dude, as hard as that might be to believe for people unfamiliar with his personality. He said, “Someone told me your dick stays limp when you’re drunk. I thought, ‘What a horrible thing!’” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/59 "2013-09-21T23:13:55Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > I saw someone interview Zappa- Dick Cavett, possibly? – asked Frank why he named his first two children Dweezil and Moon Unit. Ever so cool, hip, and oh-so-above it all, Frank’s dismissive shrug of an answer was: “I felt like it.” And then he had Ahmed Rodin and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen. None of his children, BTW, have changed their names. Lots of R.E.M. fans have a hard time believing that any of them have done any drugs other than alcohol or marijuana, but between all four of them, there’s probably nothing they haven’t at least tried, and that’s not even because of what they did for a living up until 2 years ago today (and late 1997 in the case of Bill Berry) but because they were college students in the late 1970s. I’m not aware of any of them being addicted to anything, although Michael Stipe said a few years ago that he had an eating disorder for a while in the early part of the band’s career. AFAIK, he’s never publicly stated exactly how it manifested. It’s well known that he had a mental breakdown in 1985, and I’m sure drugs were a major catalyst. Their shows in the mid 1980s were very erratic in quality, probably for the same reason. I’ve always gotten the impression that U2 hasn’t been big for hard drugs, either. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225/60 "2013-09-21T23:16:48Z")
> [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](#): > > I was reading a bunch of rock autobiographies earlier this year, and either Ozzy or Keith Richards talked about Zappa. if I had to pick one, I think it was Ozzy, but I can’t swear to it. Anyway, he was talking about how some of Frank’s band would come around and ask him for something on the sly. They said something like, “Don’t tell Frank, he wouldn’t approve.” Later on, Frank talked to him alone and asked him for something (some drug: I’m not sure it was ever specified TBH) and Frank said, “Don’t tell the guys, they wouldn’t approve.” I’m pretty sure it was the Ozzy autobiography. Ozzy also told about sharing a studio with Yes while they were recording “Tales From Topographic Oceans”, and found out some of them liked to toke up once in a while, which was surprising to him because they publicly talked about how they were health-conscious vegetarians (except for Rick Wakeman, who ate meat and drank enough booze to make up for it). He offered them some of his own, and the ones who partook had to cancel their sessions for the rest of the day because it was a lot stronger than the ditchweed they were used to smoking. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-rock-musicians-who-do-not-use-alcohol-or-drugs/669225.md?page=4)