“What is with these musicians dying so young?”
Very hard lifestyles for many. Setting aside pervasive if not quite universal drug and alcohol abuse, long hours, bad food, irregular lodging, high stress, lots of travel. I think many even in ‘retirement’ tend to push the limits. God bless ‘em, but they have opted for a tough road in many ways.
Robbie Robertson put it well when Scorcese asked him why they were hanging it up after 16 years on the road. “you can only push your luck so far.”
It’s a very, very hard life.
I can think of one drug that is the worst on the human body: Cocaine. It does worse damage than alcohol and tobacco combined. If the medical profession were to raise the alarm on this insidious poison, there would be more people living longer, happier lives.