Substance Abuse and Performers: A Dangerous Duet
Samuel Schradin
The crunch of an empty beer can under my shoe is the only thing that broke up the ringing in my ears. On July 23rd, 2023, my band, Shallow Green, headlined at the historic House of Independents in Asbury Park for our album debut show. As I walked back to the green room to prepare for our closing set, I could not help but be completely distracted by my upcoming performance, and not much could have pulled me from my current headspace. However, a crunch, a lift of the leg, and a look down would make me think back. What felt like an ocean of emptied beer cans was, in reality, a few twelve packs, but nonetheless, still littered the floor of the green room.
Figure 1: Shallow Green performing at the House of Independents in Asbury Park, New Jersey
I thought back to placing my belongings in the green room, and seeing what looked to be miniature palettes of alcohol stocked for the three performing bands. Our two opening bands hadn’t arrived long before they started playing, and half the palettes were now emptied. I thought that this was strange. How did they drink this much in such a short time? Why would anyone who wanted to put on a good show get so heavily intoxicated beforehand? Attributing these escapades to a one-off habit of the bands we hired, I thought nothing of it until memories of Shallow Green’s Nashville tour earlier that same year flashed through my mind. Two, maybe three, emptied cans or cups stationed near a band member on about half the stages in Nashville immediately raised a red flag.
These incidents have led me to consider the reasons for elevated substance abuse and addiction within the music industry. Performers such as Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and John Bonham are popular anecdotes of the “rock and roll” lifestyle that society has accepted as gospel for musicians. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll: a cornerstone to the explanation of the dangerous duet between substances and performers. However, a much larger cultural trend within the industry as a whole shows that not just the most famous musicians are affected. According to the American Addiction Center, “between both illicit drug use and heavy alcohol consumption, total substance use disorders reported at 12.9% for the industry, the 3rd highest of all industries included within the study,” [1]. Musicians, small and large, have been infected by the parasite of addiction at consistently elevated rates as opposed to other professions.
Shockingly, this is roughly the extent to the “scientific” research done on this topic. There are almost no answers other than “lifestyle and peer pressure;” a gross oversimplification to this issue. To ameliorate this lack of information, I interviewed one of the most prolific and skilled thrash metal bassists of all time, David Ellefson.
Figure 2: David Ellefson performing with Megadeth
David Ellefson was the bassist of the metal band Megadeth from 1983 to 2002, and again from 2010 to 2021. Megadeth, considered one of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands in the late 80’s and 90’s alongside Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer, has earned 12 Grammy nominations, winning one in 2017, and sold over 50 million records worldwide. With success came strife however, and substance abuse plagued most of the members of Megadeth, Mr. Ellefson included.
Mr. Ellefson and I sat down on a zoom call to talk about his journey, both musical and through life. His love of music was obvious, and we began to talk shop about the instruments I had displayed in my room. After some light back and forth, I began to ask about Mr. Ellefson’s experience with substances, and what he’s seen in his long tenure in the music industry. Mr Ellefson said, “...for me, drugs and alcohol touched my lips at age fifteen. I didn’t have problems, I wasn’t upset, I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t depressed, I just went along with my brother and a couple buddies. They were older, and passing it around and the minute it touched my lips it did a magical thing for me.”
He went on to say that once he “unplugged the jug” it became a normal part of his life. The genesis of Mr. Ellefson’s substance issues correlates with other concurrent statistics of adolescent addiction. About 75 percent of high school students have tried addictive substances, with roughly 12 percent meeting the clinical criteria for addiction. 90 percent of those in this category started using substances before the age of 18 [2]. According to the National Institute of Health, “teens are especially vulnerable to possible addiction because their brains are not yet fully developed… Pleasure circuits in adolescent brains also operate in overdrive, making drug and alcohol use even more rewarding and enticing,” [3].
In a similar fashion, musicians can often feel a rush of dopamine and adrenaline when performing. Music, whether being listened to or performed, has an interesting property to activate certain areas of the human brain. According to Pfizer, “Listening to (or making) music increases blood flow to brain regions that generate and control emotions. The limbic system, which is involved in processing emotions and controlling memory, ‘lights’ up when our ears perceive music.” [4]. As shown in figure 3, the brain's increased activity in response to auditory and performative stimuli can be found in the amygdala, hippocampus, brain stem, auditory cortex, and the prefrontal cortex. During our talk, Mr. Ellefson commented on this fact, saying, “there is a dopamine hit that happens when you're performing, and if you’re of the propensity to use outside substances, once you walk off the stage it's sorta like ‘hey, how do we keep that going?’ Where's the next thing, a drink, a snort of some chemical or powder, a pill, whatever that may be. It's there, it's available, and it’s socially acceptable.” Comparing the healthy brain to the one seen in figure 4, it becomes evident that substances, like heroin, that target the limbic system
Figure 3: Sober brain activity in response to performative stimuli Figure 4: Brain activity in response to performative stimuli on heroin
Figure 5: Brain activity in response to performative stimuli on cocaine Figure 6: Brain activity in response to performative stimuli on alcohol
(the amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus) and brainstem would be the most sought after by musicians. The amygdala, the control center for feelings of anxiety and stress, is muted by opioids and other depressants. The decrease in stress and anxiety and increase in dopamine levels correlates directly to the feelings of satisfaction and accomplishment supplied by a successful performance.
Mr. Ellefson’s comment also brings up an interesting idea of biological and social balance. This idea is referred to as the Biopsychosocial Model. According to Physiopedia, this model, “was first conceptualized by George Engel in 1977, suggesting that to understand a person's medical condition it is not simply the biological factors to consider, but also the psychological and social factors,” [5]. The “rock and roll” lifestyle can be better explained through this perspective. The brain is used to producing and regulating chemicals due to the stimuli it receives. Dramatic changes and sudden shifts can often cause regulatory systems, such as the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, to malfunction. In the context of a musician’s experience, performing for thousands of people chanting and screaming your name is going to make pouring a cup of coffee the next morning even more dull than it actually is. This lack of stimulation can lead to musicians needing outside coping mechanisms like substances.
Figure 7: The characteristics of the biopsychosocial model [5]
Another perspective of the biopsychosocial model can be seen from the perspective of a repetitive musical lifestyle. Some performers on Broadway in Nashville, or even just smaller bands in general, will often need outside stimulus to find joy in the grind. Consuming alcohol or other depressants will, as shown in figure 6, dull the brain entirely, and relegate the limbic system and prefrontal cortex to a snail's pace for processing performative and auditory stimuli. According to The Surgeon General, “When alcohol is consumed it interacts with several neurotransmitter systems in the brain, including the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, glutamate, and others that produce euphoria as well as the sedating, motor impairing, and anxiety-reducing effects of alcohol intoxication” [6]. Many smaller musicians, those who need to get through a four hour show of playing repetitive covers, or performers with high levels of stress and anxiety, will often turn to alcohol because of its accessibility and ease of use. To be completely transparent, I completely understand why performers do this. Playing a four hour cover show can feel agonizing. Looking out into the crowd after finishing a song, and seeing that no one really cared, can feel disheartening and depressing. It's tough to feel normal and happy about what you’re performing in this state.
These low emotional dips and imbalances are the symptoms that substance abusers deal with as their addiction progresses. When talking about dealing with these imbalances, Mr. Ellefson said, “there's a song on Rust in Peace called The Poison is the Cure. It's because the poison, heroin, becomes the cure. You stop taking it and your body craves it. You have to take more to feel normal. Heroin addicts aren’t playing anymore because they're high, they’re playing to feel normal.” Long term addiction in performers can have even more disastrous outcomes as a result of this. Repeated use of addictive substances will cause severe, irreparable damage to the prefrontal cortex and limbic system. Conditions such as alcohol-related brain damage, and anhedonia, the inability to experience pleasure as a result of substance abuse, can compound addictive tendencies and make recovery nearly impossible.
The social aspect of musicianship and the performer’s lifestyle is another compounding issue on the road to recovery for young musicians. The culture surrounding musicians and substance abuse seems to be one that is often glorified. Music is held on a pedestal of perfection, constantly driven by those who come before it. Mr. Ellefson commented that people will do whatever it takes to get to the top of their game. He said, “Music, it's a spirit… all we really are as musicians is to be antennas and be open to it. Now, when we start using heroin, when we start using alcohol, or cocaine, or whatever choice of drug it may be, we feel like we’re decreasing the limitations… I went through that when I was in my heroin phase. Suddenly, I felt like I could play better, create better, and maybe I could in those early days.”
Figure 8: The Rust In Peace Record, released in 1990 by Megadeth
This idea of substances elevating performance is a sentiment shared by others in the music industry, namely the jazz community. Fortunately, this sentiment is completely misguided and false. Mr. Ellefson went on to comment about this in regards to one of Megadeth’s most popular records, Rust in Peace. “We wrote the Rust in Peace record in that dark addiction cycle. Fortunately we sobered up to record it clear headed.” Rust in Peace contains some of Megadeth's greatest technical playing, featuring tracks such as Tornado of Souls that have completely redefined the thrash metal genre as a whole. Mr. Ellefson said this record stands out to him because it was written in such a dark time of his life, yet recorded in the beginning of what he refers to as his “permanent sobriety”. It stands as a triumph for Megadeth, and represents a beacon of musicianship for those who are struggling with addiction to strive for.
A change needs to be made in our society to help those musicians who are struggling with substance abuse. The glorification of addiction in media, and the cult of personalities that develop as a result of fame only fuel the fire of addiction in performers. More education and mainstream focus needs to be developed to properly educate performers everywhere how to properly balance their lifestyle and health. Mr. Ellefson and I finished our interview talking about our purpose as musicians and people. Mr. Ellefson said that we were put on this Earth to create, and I couldn’t agree more. Spreading the joy of music shouldn’t come at the cost of addiction, it should be the culmination of the dedication and passion of people coming together. Mr. Ellefson shares this sentiment, and as he approaches 35 years of sobriety, continuing to create and perform music for his fans all over the world. As we were wrapping up, he said to me, “I remember having this thought that came to me. I had my bass in my hand and was just going, ‘My fingers hurt, do I even want to be doing this anymore, maybe I was better doing this when I was an addict, and this thought immediately came to me, which I credit to be divine. It was: I got into playing music long before I ever got into drugs and alcohol. The drugs and alcohol just got in the way. Keep going, keep pushing, get to the other side. The best is yet to come.”
References
[1]https://americanaddictioncenters.org/entertainers/addiction-among-artists
[3] https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2015/10/biology-addiction
[5]https://www.physio-pedia.com/Biopsychosocial_Model
[6]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK424849/
Thank you to Mr. David Ellefson for his time, transparency, and wisdom for this piece
12/10/24
HST 401
Professor John Horgan
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