Pick a Day

Music History Events: Drug-Related

April 23, 1991 Johnny Thunders of The Heartbreakers and New York Dolls dies from a drug overdose at age 38.

November 22, 1990 Two members of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, Ruben Gomez (16) and Sergio Gonzalez (18), are arrested for possession of marijuana at Miami International Airport and fired from the group. This does little to change the band dynamic, as Menudo regularly brings in younger members as others age out.

September 8, 1989 Rapper Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five dies at age 28 from a crack cocaine addiction.

June 25, 1988 Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak dies of a drug overdose at age 26.

November 21, 1987 Eric Clapton checks into the Hazelden rehab center for the second time. This time it takes and he finally gets sober after decades of drug and alcohol abuse. In 1998, he starts his own treatment center in Antiqua called Crossroads.

December 12, 1985 After missing a bond revocation hearing in November, David Crosby turns himself in to the FBI and begins serving time for drug and firearms possession. Crosby considered fleeing the country to avoid jail time, but decided to bite the bullet and serve his sentence.

August 16, 1985 Red Hot Chili Peppers release the cocaine-fueled funk album Freaky Styley, produced by Parliament-Funkadelic founder George Clinton, and welcome back guitarist Hillel Slovak.More

August 20, 1981 Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott appears at Kingston Crown Court where he is fined £200 for possessing cocaine.

November 23, 1979 Having retreated from the public eye after the commercial failures of her first two albums, folk singer Judee Sill dies of a drug overdose at age 35.

November 3, 1979 Days before his 18th birthday, teen idol Leif Garrett, under the influence of drugs and alcohol, crashes his mother's Porsche 914 en route to buy cocaine. He escapes serious injury but his best friend, Roland Winkler, is left a paraplegic.

March 21, 1978 Carole King's third husband, Rick Evers, dies of a drug overdose after working on Carole's album Welcome Home, which was released two months later. Evers had co-writing credits on three songs from the album and appears on the cover with King.

December 8, 1975 Gary Thain, bassist for Uriah Heep, dies of respiratory failure after a heroin overdose in Norwood Green, London, at age 27.

December 8, 1969 Testifying at his trial for possesion of hashish and heroin in the Toronto Supreme Court, Jimi Hendrix claims that he has now "outgrown" drugs. The jury finds him not guilty after eight hours of deliberations.

June 22, 1969 After a long battle with drug and alcohol abuse, Judy Garland dies of an overdose at age 47.

June 2, 1969 Jazz bassist Albert Stinson dies from a drug overdose at 24.

August 21, 1966 Jim Morrison is a no-show for The Doors set at the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles. They play the first set without him, then get him at his apartment, where he is tripping on acid. When they play "The End," he improvises Oedipal lyrics: Father... I want to kill you Mother... I want to f--k you This gets them fired, but provides the final lyric that goes into the song when they record it for their first album.

January 19, 1966 The documentary A Boy Called Donovan airs on British TV. The film follows the singer Donovan as he goes to parties and makes music. In one scene, one of his associates is seen smoking marijuana, which is kind of shocking. This makes Donovan a target for the London drug squad, who make him their first high-profile bust when they arrest him in June for possession of marijuana. Members of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones are later victims.

December 29, 1965 The Sir Douglas Quintet are busted for marijuana possession in Corpus Christi, Texas. They get probation when they appear in court with short hair, wearing suits. "I'm glad you cut your hair," the judge tells them. "I saw your pictures in the paper when you were arrested and I don't go for that stuff."