Add to favorites Examiner Bio

Why rock superstars self-destruct

Perhaps there’s a corner in Rock and Roll Heaven for the tormented superstars who lived too hard and died too soon. Sadly, Michael Jackson has joined an elite club whose membership includes Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison. The similarities are quite striking.

 

Our rock legends shared a deep rooted inner pain, an insatiable appetite for pleasure, and an inability to get their lives straight. Each was surrounded by adoring fans yet never felt the genuine love they so desperately craved. And perhaps most significant, each turned to drugs to numb their pain and became a victim of their own excesses. Time and time again, millions have asked: What were they thinking? Why would a person who had everything, throw their life away? Unfortunately, emotional voids can’t be filled by material things and drugs. Yet, these rock legends indulged themselves more and more and got less and less back. Their tragic endings speak volumes for the dangers of emptiness, excesses, reckless experimentation, and self-medication.

 

The message to all of us, particularly youth: Be careful, if you lose yourself, you’ll have trouble finding your way back. And if you’ve never found yourself, it’s not too late to begin the journey. Indeed, if there’s a path to happiness, it probably lies imbedded in the comfort of relationships and the meaning one finds in their life. So, the next time you envy “a great one”, remind yourself that you may be better off than you think. As Janis Joplin once said: “Don’t compromise yourself. It’s all you got.” If only she had followed her own advice.