Frank Zappa’s childhood exposure to mustard gas, David Crosby’s Texas prison sentence,
and Brian Wilson’s lifelong mental health struggles. That's just the beginning. Keep
watching to hear more of the most tragic stories from ‘60s rock legends.
On December 6th, 1969, the Rolling Stones performed at the Altamont Speedway in California.
The festival was a challenge from the start, as the crowds were becoming increasingly difficult
to control. It wasn't helped that security was being provided by the notorious Hells
Angels bike club. Several fights occurred before the Rolling Stones performed, and at
one point security knocked out Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane. Soon after, the Grateful
Dead refused to play, even though the band's manager was the one who had urged the festival's
organizers to use the Hells Angels in the first place.
When Mick Jagger walked from the Stones' helicopter to the stage, a concertgoer punched him. He
unsuccessfully tried to calm the audience, and the bikers allegedly didn't like his flashy
dance moves. These factors and others created a dismal mood, and by their third song, "Sympathy
for the Devil," the Stones were still having trouble engaging with the crowd.
"There's so many of you. Just be cool down the front, don't push around."
Then, a concertgoer named Meredith Hunter took out a gun after trying and failing to
get on stage. One of the Hells Angels stabbed him, and the rest beat him to death — all
while the band remained unaware of what was happening.
Afterwards, Jagger distanced himself from the bikers, saying he would never partner
with them again. The Hells Angels were infuriated too, because they believed Jagger had sold
them out. They even hatched a plot to kill him in revenge, which was only foiled after
the would-be assassins' boat was hit by stormy weather. Jagger was unaware of the plot as
the FBI wasn't forthcoming about the information until many years later.
In 1976, Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones had one of the worst years of his life. That's
when his 2-month-old son Tara Jo Jo Gunne died in Geneva, Switzerland, of sudden infant
death syndrome. Richards later told the BBC that he was only able to make it through the
pain because the band was performing in Paris, France, that same night. He revealed:
"I thought, 'I'm going to go mad unless I do this show tonight.'"
Some may think it odd that he decided to perform at all, but for Richards it acted as a form
of self-preservation and a way for him to block out his emotions. He said:
"It was a rough, rough thing. And I had a feeling, 'I must go on stage now and I'll
worry and grieve and think about all this after the show.'"
Jagger added that if he didn't perform, there was a good chance that he would have attempted
to take his own life. Richards and model Anita Pallenberg had three children together, and
Tara was the youngest. The couple stayed together for 12 years but never tied the knot, and
they split up in 1979.
Guitarist and frontman Syd Barrett was one of the founding members of Pink Floyd. He
began experimenting with LSD in 1965 and eventually had a difficult time staying in tune with
reality. When David Gilmour saw him at a recording studio in 1967, he was shocked by how much
the guitarist had changed since their previous meeting. Gilmour later remembered:
"Syd didn't seem to recognize me and just stared back."
Barrett's behavior caused the band to cancel gigs, before they eventually replaced him
with Gilmour in 1968. Some believe Barrett had schizophrenia, which may have been caused
by heavy drug use as well as stress from his work. Fellow band member Roger Waters, friends,
and others noted that Barrett often had "odd thoughts." Years later, Waters explained:
"If you were in the position of being an incipient schizophrenic like he was, any hallucinogens
are a very bad thing."
Barrett generally exhibited strange behavior, delusions, visions, and more. He also suffered
from diabetes as he got older, which commonly occurs in people with schizophrenia as a result
of certain antipsychotic medications. After leaving Pink Floyd, Barrett withdrew from
the public eye and died in 2006 at the age of 60.
Keith Moon was the drummer of The Who until his death in 1978, due to an accidental drug
overdose. But it was an incident eight years earlier that left an indelible mark on the
musician's life. On January 4th, 1970, Moon, his wife, and some friends went to a pub in
Hatfield, England. The pub was frequented by working-class locals who didn't appreciate
Moon's lavish tastes, including his Bentley and love of brandy. When the pub closed, the
crowd showed its displeasure by trying to prevent Moon and his party from leaving in
their vehicle.
Pubgoers started rocking Moon's Bentley, prompting his driver, friend, and bodyguard Neil Boland
to get out of the vehicle and confront the crowd, which included a number of skinheads.
Moon then tried to drive himself and his friends away from the pub. In the process, Boland
got stuck under the Bentley and was killed after being dragged down the street. Police
charged Moon with Boland's death, drunk driving, driving without a license, and driving without
insurance. Although the incident was later ruled to have been an accident, Boland's death
affected Moon for the rest of his life.
Janis Joplin was a force to be reckoned with in the 1960s. She was known for tunes such
as "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)," "Maybe," and "Piece of My Heart" and performed at Woodstock
in 1969. Unfortunately, just a year later she died as a result of her drug and alcohol
addiction. Joplin liked drinking and taking methamphetamine and heroin. She had periods
when she was sober, but the allure of getting high was often too hard for her to resist.
On October 4th, 1970, she missed a recording session in Los Angeles, and her manager decided
to see if she was still at her hotel. He found her dead on the floor of her room.
Joplin died of a heroin overdose that was likely exacerbated by alcoholism. Many believe
the heroin she used was stronger than usual, since other people that used the same dealer
also overdosed in the same time period. Joplin was 27 years old, and her death occurred just
weeks after Jimi Hendrix died at the same age. In 1971, Joplin's posthumous album Pearl
was released, including the last song she recorded, "Mercedes-Benz." It was the best-selling
album of her career.
Singer Roy Orbison had nine top 10 hits between 1960 and 1965. He wasn't your typical rock
star either, with his thick eyeglasses and songs focusing on heartache.
Part of that heartache undoubtedly came from his on-off wife Claudette Frady Orbison. The
Orbisons wed in 1957, but Claudette had an affair in 1963; they divorced soon after,
but reunited and wed for a second time in 1965.
Claudette was often around motorcycles as a child, and it was reportedly Elvis Presley
who got Roy interested in them. In 1966, only a year after they remarried, Claudette died
in a motorcycle crash in Old Hickory, Tennessee. Roy was riding in front of Claudette on a
different motorcycle when the accident occurred.
Two months later, Roy's song "'Too Soon to Know" hit number three on the British charts,
featuring lyrics that alluded to Claudette's death. Roy's loss would be compounded in 1968,
too, when his two oldest sons with Claudette died in a house fire.
When it came to his music, the unconventional and inventive rocker Frank Zappa wasn't confined
by mere genres, and despite dying relatively young he managed to carry out a wildly successful
and fascinating 30-year career. Zappa's father was an Italian immigrant, chemist, and mathematician
who worked as a contractor for the defense industry. Growing up, Zappa was exposed to
mustard gas and other chemicals, which could have been linked to his poor health over the
years. This included radium pellets, which a doctor used to treat a young Zappa's sinusitis.
He also dealt with asthma and a number of other ear, nose and throat maladies.
After coping with urinary problems for several years, the musician was diagnosed with prostate
cancer in 1990. Unfortunately, the cancer had been in his body for several years, and
doctors discovered the problem in its late stages, so there was no operable solution.
He spent the last couple of years of his life working on the orchestral album The Yellow
Shark. In his final interview, he said he had good days and bad days but smoked cigarettes
the entire time, claiming:
"To me, a cigarette is food. Tobacco is my favorite vegetable."
Zappa died in Los Angeles at the age of 52.
Singer and songwriter David Crosby is known for being a part of the iconic rock bands
The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Like many of his contemporaries, he also drank
a lot of alcohol and took a lot of drugs during his younger years. An incident in the early
‘80s at a nightclub sent Crosby to a Texas prison for a weapons charge and drug possession.
Three years later, he was arrested in California and charged with a DUI, hit and run, possession
of a concealed weapon, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The silver lining was that serving time behind bars helped Crosby battle his drug addiction.
He revealed in 2019:
"I had tried going into treatment and it didn't work. I went into prison, and it worked. It
was a s ---y way to do it."
Unfortunately, at one point Crosby was diagnosed with Hepatitis C, which can be contracted
by sharing needles. In 1994, fellow musician Phil Collins paid for a liver transplant for
Crosby. This sparked a controversy in the media, however, when critics suggested that
he had received his donor liver quickly because he was rich and famous; his operation also
led to a debate over whether ex-addicts should be eligible for organ transplants in the first
place.
Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia died in a California drug treatment center in 1995,
at the age of 53. Arguably the most prominent jam band of the 1960s, the Grateful Dead combined
blues, rock, country, and a number of other genres of music, and fans were unsurprisingly
distraught by his passing at such a relatively young age. However, years of excessive drug
use eventually took their toll on the musician's health. In addition to being addicted to cocaine
and heroin, Garcia also had diabetes, and three years prior to his death, he had collapsed
after a performance in California.
According to a spokesman, Garcia checked himself into rehab because he recognized that he had
a problem with his health. Former bandmate and drummer Mickey Hart later told Rolling
Stone that Garcia was sick from all the abuse his body had endured over the years — causing
his heart to simply give out.
During the 1960s, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was plagued by excessive substance use
and mental health issues; problems that would take years to control. In 1964, the singer/songwriter
had a nervous breakdown, and he used drugs, including cocaine, marijuana and LSD, to battle
his subsequent depression.
In 1965, Wilson began to experience auditory hallucinations, and soon after displayed paranoid
and antisocial tendencies.
"Do you think the source of the problems you had was the psychedelic drugs?"
"Yes."
"Yeah?"
"The psychedelic drugs messed my life up."
Doctors eventually diagnosed him with schizoaffective disorder. He later told Ability magazine that
the voices in his head were derogatory and discouraging, saying:
"I have to be strong enough to say to them, 'Hey, would you quit stalking me? [...] Don't
talk to me — leave me alone!'"
Medication has helped Wilson through his recovery, as has his second wife, Melinda. She helped
him find the right doctors and created a loving family environment for the musician. Still,
it's not always easy for Wilson to keep it together, and even today some days are better
than others. He revealed in 2019:
"There were times when it was unbearable but with doctors and medications I have been able
to live a wonderful, healthy, and productive life with support from my family, friends,
and fans who have helped me through this journey."
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741,
call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.