As a (somewhat incompetent) musician, I find this 3-part article interesting and thought-provoking (and they include helpful charts and graphs!), though I agree that they raise almost as many questions as they attempt to answer:
Stairway to hell: life and death in the pop music industryhttps://theconversat...music-industry-32735The rock scene is a volatile mix of glamour, instant wealth, risk-taking, rebellion and psychological distress accompanied by taken-for-granted assumptions that pop musicians will live dangerously, abuse substances and die early.
The 27 Club is a myth: 56 is the bum note for musicianshttps://theconversat...-for-musicians-33586What do Otis Redding, Gram Parsons, Nick Drake, Jimmy McCulloch, James Ramey (aka Baby Huey), Bryan Osper, and Jon Guthrie have in common?
What about Tim Buckley, Gregory Herbert, Zenon de Fleur, Nick Babeu, Shannon Hoon, Beverly Kenney, and Bobby Bloom?
And Alan Wilson, Jesse Belvin, Rudy Lewis, Gary Thain, Kristen Pfaff, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Pete de Freitas, Raymond “Freaky Tah” Rogers, Helmut Köllen, and Linda Jones?
They are all dead pop musicians.
Music to die for: how genre affects popular musicians' life expectancyhttps://theconversat...ife-expectancy-36660These figures likely represent a combination of factors inherent in the popular music industry (such as the ubiquitous presence of alcohol and other substances of addiction, irregular hours, touring, high levels of stress, performance anxiety) and the vulnerability that many young musicians bring with them into their profession from adverse childhood experiences.
