What took place to the hell-raising rock stars of the ’70s?

Ozzy Osbourne

With a label like the “Prince of Darkness”, it’s not a surprise that Ozzy tops this list. He as soon as declared to have actually taken acid every day for a year, simply “to see what would occur”, and Mötley Crüe rocker Nikki Sixx swore he saw him snort a line of ants as soon as. Throughout his time in Black Sabbath, he apparently had actually drug flown in on a personal airplane due to his heavy dependency to the drug. The band kicked him out in 1979 for partying too hard, which not did anything to stop his wild methods. Other tales of Ozzy’s outrageous shenanigans consist of biting the avoid a live bat on phase (he believed it was a toy), doing an erotic dance on a dining establishment table at a conference with CBS Records executives, and urinating on the Alamo Cenotaph in Texas.

© Getty

The rocker gradually started to settle after he invited his more youthful kids, Aimee, Kelly, and Jack with his spouse, Sharon Osbourne. He even rebranded himself as an adorable, if not eccentric, married man with the Emmy-winning MTV truth series The Osbournes. Ozzy likewise fought a series of health problems starting in 2003 when he suffered a near-fatal quad bike crash at his English estate, breaking several ribs, vertebrae, and his left collarbone. He remained in a coma for 8 days after the mishap, and it left him with long-lasting health problems. The dad of 6 exposed in 2020 that he had actually been coping with Parkinson’s illness for several years, and continued to go through several surgical treatments before his death in July 2025, which came simply weeks after carrying out a victorious goodbye program for a crowd of 40,000.

© Getty

He exposed to The Guardian 2 months prior to his passing that he was sober and not thinking about heading out any longer. “I do not smoke dope or do any of the rock star way of life any longer,” he stated. “I’m sort of like a homebody. I never ever head out. I never ever hang out in bars– I do not consume.” Ozzy’s death was grieved by millions worldwide, as homages streamed in from legends like Rod Stewart and Elton John. As a member of Gen Z, I was presented to Ozzy through his truth television program, and found out about his shenanigans through the grapevine (the bat story is a doozy!). I never ever understood the complete level of Ozzy’s effective tradition up until his death, when I pertained to understand that he formed the music market in methods most might just imagine.

© Anadolu through Getty Images

© Anadolu through Getty Images

Keith Richards

© Getty Images

While everybody understands Keith Richards as the hard-partying guitar player of the Rolling Stones, numerous can’t think that he is still alive versus all chances after years of debauchery. Remaining in among the most renowned rock bands in history includes its own vices, all of which Keith enjoyed. The stories outlined him are famous: he enjoyed drug after every tune that the Stones carried out on their 1975 United States trip, he as soon as remained awake for 9 days directly, and shockingly snorted his dad’s ashes in 2002, declaring that he “could not withstand”. It’s clear that Keith’s rock star way of life withstood well past the ’70s, if this story is anything to pass. The icon ultimately decreased in his midlife, informing The Irish Independent that drugs were just “not intriguing” any longer.

© Corbis/VCG through Getty Images

” They are extremely institutionalised and boring. And anyhow, I have actually done ’em all,” he quipped, including that he wasn’t off “all of this things” however was working towards sobriety. Talking to The Telegraph in 2023, the dad of 5 described his sobriety journey in more information. “The cigarettes I quit in 2019, I have not touched them because,” he stated. “I quit heroin in 1978. I quit drug in 2006. I still like a beverage periodically– due to the fact that I’m not going to paradise whenever quickly– however apart from that, I’m attempting to take pleasure in being directly. It’s a special experience for me.” Keith is still visiting with the Stones at 81 years of ages and reveals no indication of stopping. Truthfully, the reality that he can even stand today after taking compounds his entire life definitely counts as a medical wonder. If not, then I do not understand what does.

John Bonham

© Redferns

Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham– or “Bonzo” to his buddies– was as commemorated for his relentless drumming when it comes to his damaging streak. Passionately kept in mind as a “friendly, huggable chap”, as explained by his pal, fellow artist Bev Bevan, he slipped into alcohol addiction as the band’s popularity grew. “Sadly, the beverage simply got excessive for him,” Bev stated in a 1980 interview. “He exaggerated it and might end up being rather aggressive. He resembled Keith Moon. They felt they needed to measure up to their track records.” And measure up to it he did. Among John’s most well-known exploits was when he rode through a hotel lobby two times on the back of a motorbike, triggering abject turmoil. He duplicated the stunt numerous times in numerous other hotels.

© WireImage

In September 1980, simply as the band gotten ready for a United States trip, John taken in around 40 shots of vodka throughout a marathon session. Close on his side by an assistant, he later on rolled onto his back and choked, passing away from lung goal at simply 32. “It was simply at the point where we had actually all returned together once again,” stated his bandmate, John Paul Jones. “We had high hopes it was all coming right.

© Redferns

” Bonzo had actually been getting a bit irregular, and he wasn’t in great shape. There were some great minutes, however then he began on the vodka. I believe he had actually been consuming due to the fact that there were some issues in his individual life. However he passed away due to the fact that of a mishap.” Led Zeppelin dissolved soon after his unfortunate death, sharing that they just could not go on without him and his crackling energy. For somebody with such an explosive life, the peaceful ending of it feels practically terrible, like a burning star just blinking out of presence.

Steven Tyler

© Getty

The Aerosmith star was so well-known for his partying manner ins which he made a memorable label. Steven and his bandmate, Joe Perry, were called the “Harmful Twins” thanks to their wild methods and stunning drug abuse. The name hardly justifies their shenanigans. In his bio, the ‘Dream On’ vocalist approximated that he invested over $6 million on drugs throughout his profession, and even had a “drug roadie” who would provide the band on trip. Their intake was so heavy that they would often forget their own tunes. Steven exposed that they would hear them on the radio, believing that they wish to cover the tracks, just to understand that they were Aerosmith’s own tunes.

© Getty

” Our companied believe that the roadway to knowledge was through excess,” Steven later on informed GQ. “However it got actually bad in the ’80s … What occurs with utilizing is: It operates in the start, however it does not operate in completion. It takes you down. There’s absolutely nothing however prison, madness, or death.” The dad of 4 has actually remained in and out of rehabilitation for years, and remembered an intervention that set him on the straight and narrow at a critical time for the band. “There was a minute in 1988 where management and the band pulled an intervention on me,” he remembered in an interview with Haute Living. “They believed, ‘Get the diva sober, and all our issues would be over.’ I am grateful and owe a thanks to them for my sobriety.” Would Aerosmith have endured the ’80s without that minute? I’ll let you choose.

© Getty

After years on the roadway together, Aerosmith was required to stop visiting for great in 2024 when Steven completely hurt his singing chords at a show. “He has actually invested months relentlessly dealing with getting his voice to where it was before his injury,” a declaration from the band read. “We have actually seen him having a hard time in spite of having the very best medical group by his side. Regretfully, it is clear that a complete healing from his singing injury is not possible.” We have actually made a heartbreaking and hard, however essential, choice– as a band of bros– to retire from the visiting phase. It has actually been the honour of our lives to have our music enter into yours. In every club, on every enormous trip, and at minutes grand and personal, you have actually provided us a location in the soundtrack of your lives.” It’s clear from their last declaration that Steven and the band were not all set to quit their long-lasting love of carrying out, even after more than 50 years together.

Keith Moon

© Getty

No study of rock ‘n’ roll chaos would be total without Keith Moon– seriously, simply ask my father, who would gladly invest hours stating his outrageous exploits. Keith was the drummer for The Who and even made himself the label “Moon the Crazy”, which I believe promotes itself. He was well-known for trashing hotel spaces and triggered countless pounds’ worth of damage for many years. Not just did he enjoy to celebration, he likewise liked pulling tricks. Keith would put dynamites in his own drum sets and those of his buddies, and even exploded his instrument throughout an efficiency on The Smothers Brothers Funny Program in 1967. He sliced his arm with a sign while doing so and triggered long-term hearing damage to his bandmate, Pete Townshend.

© Getty

Keith likewise liked to drive around London in his Rolls-Royce, utilizing the inbuilt PA system to make phony public security statements about inbound tidal bores or toxic snakes bearing down the location. You can not make this things up, folks. The eccentric star notoriously knocked his front teeth out at his 21st birthday celebration in Flint, Michigan, and drove his vehicle into a hotel swimming pool, according to legend. It’s safe to state The Who were not welcomed back to the Midwestern city after that. Like others on this list, Keith’s light stressed out too rapidly, and his self-destructive behaviour overtook him in 1978 when he overdosed on prescription tablets that were in fact implied to assist him sober up. He was simply 32 years of ages at the time, and broke the hearts of his bandmates irrevocably. The world lost among its biggest drummers, and The Who lost their friend.

Iggy Pop

© Getty

Nobody epitomised the punk period rather like Iggy, whose onstage shenanigans frequently took an unsafe turn– the star even prompted riots at his programs. The stories about his wild methods are relatively limitless; on one event in 1973, he defecated onstage and tossed it into the crowd, while another time he motivated a bicycle rider gang to come and battle him at a program (they didn’t, however the audience sure attempted to). Iggy’s band, The Stooges, had actually tape-recorded their live album Metal K.O. that night amidst the rioting crowd, with critic Lester Bangs composing, “No one gets eliminated, however Metallic K.O. is the only rock album I understand where you can in fact hear tossed beer bottles breaking versus guitar strings.”

© Getty

The frontman– who has actually been credited with developing the phase dive– frequently went too far with his shenanigans, even hurting himself on function and screaming insults at audiences. Iggy then invested a long time with David Bowie in Berlin in the ’80s, before handling to outlast numerous of his self-destructive peers versus all chances. He continued to launch seriously well-known albums after leaving The Stooges and went on to get the Life time Accomplishment Award in 2020 at the Grammys. He is still carrying out now, aged 78, in some way outlasting his own misconception to securely seal himself as the Godfather of Punk. Nowadays, Iggy is sober and takes pleasure in practicing Chinese mind-body-spirit workout qigong in his extra time. Honestly, I remain in shock at the method Iggy turned his life around to get the regard of millions worldwide– evidence that sobriety can do a lot for an individual.

Mick Jagger

© Getty

Like his Stones bandmate and partner in criminal activity, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger was a wild kid in the ’60s and ’70s. The frontman infamously urinated on the wall of a fuel station in 1965, purchased a Hampshire nation estate while high as a kite on LSD, and partied for 6 months directly in the French countryside with his bandmates, where they made music and prevented paying taxes. Mick was likewise detained in 1967 together with Keith and charged with having amphetamines. It appears that this guy has enough insane stories to fill 100 memoirs. Whatever altered when he satisfied Jerry Hall in the late ’70s, with the design declaring in her narrative that she informed him to get tidy or their love was ended up. He stopped taking drugs from that point onwards, however continued to consume periodically.

© Getty

” I constantly believe it’s much better not to take drugs or beverage or anything,” he informed Larry King. “That’s not stating I have actually never ever done it due to the fact that I have. However I sort of discovered, after a while … taking drugs on a leisure level is something. However taking them while you’re dealing with a phase … I do not believe it was that excellent. “It’s the control element,” he included. “And the important things about being on phase is you actually wish to feel that you’re sort of in control a lot, I believe, due to the fact that … it’s not a location where you wish to run out control.” Mick remains in unbelievable shape for an 82-year-old, and has actually looked after his health for years with an extensive workout program of yoga, swimming, biking, dancing, and resistance training, in addition to adhering to a natural diet plan. Like Keith, Mick prepares to stop visiting and carrying out just when he dies, which might remain in another 82 years, considering he remains in the very best shape of his life.