Why Slash Was Once Given Six Weeks To Live
Ready for a stunning revelation? Make sure you're sitting down, not operating heavy machinery, and preferably barefoot because this news would knock your socks off so fast you'd suffer third-degree friction burns. Okay, you ready? Sometimes famous musicians abuse drugs. These ain't your grandma's pot brownies we're talking about — those were baked with love and a hint of vanilla. We're talking about kookiness-inducing narcotics that fry your brain like an egg in 1980s anti-drug PSA.
There have been some epic tales of drug use over the years. Professional Charlie Murphy slapper and cocaine enthusiast Rick James accidentally set himself on fire. He also powdered the insides of his nose using Steven Tyler's bowie knife, and got tricked into taking LSD by Jim Morrison. And legend has it that Keith Richards is secretly a pile of sentient narcotics masquerading as a person. Unfortunately, in the sage words of Mr. Mackey from South Park, "Drugs are bad, MMkay." Or at least some of them do bad things to your body. Drugs were so bad for Guns N Roses guitarist Slash that he was once warned that he only had about a month and a half left to live.
Slash my heart and hope not to die
In 2015, Louder Sound looked back on some of Slash's recollections about drugs and other topics. He said fellow Guns N Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin introduced him to heroin. "I've never really had a lot of common sense," Slash recalled. "It wasn't as though I was trying to impress anybody." He just wanted "the experience." And boy did Guns N' Roses gain a lot of experience with drugs. Yahoo News writes Stradlin once fell into a 96-hour coma and "drummer Steven Adler reportedly suffered 28 overdoses, along with two heart attacks and a stroke." Acute alcohol-induced pancreatitis nearly killed bassist Duff McKagan.
But as Axl Rose famously sang, "Nothing lasts forever, and we both know hearts can change." Heavy drug use changed Slash's heart so much that he risked going out like a candle in the cold November rain. He was diagnosed with a type of congenital heart failure called cardiomyopathy. According to Slash he received a dire warning: he only had between six days and six weeks to live. However, his ticker kept on kicking, thanks to a defibrillator and physical therapy. Thankfully, he later decided to kick his drug habit.