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Sad news regarding "The Ox"

#41
Originally posted by the-lizard-king
Why would any of you be shocked by this news? When I heard that he had died, drugs were the first thing that jumped into my head. Even if drugs were not in his sytem, his death would still have been drug related because of years of doing them.
Jim
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Years of doing them? Entwistle? By all accounts, John was a drinker. A major drinker. But not a drug user. That was Townshend's area and, even then, not until later in life.

As Moon once said, the Who didn't kick in until they "stopped f*cking with chemicals and got on the grape." The Who were a drinking band.

In fact, I suspect John's involvement with cocaine was fairly recent, and probably because he discovered that cocaine will allow you to ingest more alcohol.

Either way, it's a real loss.
 
#42
Originally posted by SMASH
>>> I, for one, was stunned...I always knew John to be a prodigious drinker, but I didn't think he bothered with drugs. Now it turns out it's what killed him.


Is this really news to people? John ingested *massive* amounts of coke and had done so for years and years and years for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. EDIT : I say this based on many anecdotes over the years by those who worked with The Who (see the Aerosmith biography, among many others), and by anecdotes of someone who lived in his house when recording one of his solo albums.

Funny thing I read on TheWho.net was an interview with a 12-year-old girl at a recent Who show. She was asked what someone so young found to like in the band, to which she replied that to her they represented "good, honest, drug-free fun." Oh, to be so naive again !

What he, or anyone, does with their body and their free time is their own business. GOD BLESS YOU ALWAYS JOHN ENTWISTLE !!!
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Those anecdotes may exist, but they're certainly not widespread. I, not being an Aerosmith fan, would've never come across this book. And, being a self-professed Who fanatic for 2 decades, I was surprised to hear Entwistle was doing coke!

One reason that I find it hard to believe is because the rampant drug usage among Pete and Keith were certainly well enough publicized that if John was involved, there was no reason to exclude those stories, as well. In addition, because John's drinking binges were well documented, it further supported the notion that he was a drinker, not a drug user.

Obviously, that's not the case, however.

I still stand by my previous statement that any 57-year old man who knowingly suffers from a heart condition should not be using cocaine (or other drugs), lest he deserve the consequences he suffers.

I still adore his contribution to the bass guitar world and study his lines incessantly, but lost all respect for him as a person!
 
#44
i have something semi-related..

i was at the who's show at msg last night.. pino palladino is doing a great job. He's not moving around much; his performance showed that he knows full well where he is and what he's doing.

they turned the spotlight to him a bit during my generation, which he played well.. although their encore was boris the spider, which was a bit unsettling. It was obvious that it was pete townshend doing boris the spider, and not john entwistle doing boris the spider.
 
#45
My girlfriend and I converse about this topic quite often: What is it that causes musicians to do drugs, or more specifically, why do they choose to do these drugs to the point of death? It seems like such a waste of life and talent when you here about people like Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, John Entwhistle, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, etc. What is the big attraction?

:confused:

:(
 
#46
>I still adore his contribution to the bass guitar world and study his lines incessantly, but lost all respect for him as a person!

---
So, he was respectable when he was only an alcoholic?

I love his music too, but a drug is a drug.
 
#47
Originally posted by Steve Holroyd


Years of doing them? Entwistle? By all accounts, John was a drinker. A major drinker. But not a drug user. That was Townshend's area and, even then, not until later in life.

As Moon once said, the Who didn't kick in until they "stopped f*cking with chemicals and got on the grape." The Who were a drinking band.

In fact, I suspect John's involvement with cocaine was fairly recent, and probably because he discovered that cocaine will allow you to ingest more alcohol.

Either way, it's a real loss.
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I dont really see the difference between years of drug abuse and years of alcohol abuse. Its still drug abuse. And it has the same results.
Anyhow, the music sure is good to drink with!
Jim
 
#48
regardless of who it is or how talented they are, if a person does drugs, obviously they want to die soon. Now someone willing to do drugs who has a heart condition is plain stupid. That or too arrogant to think that the drugs will hurt them. Everyone notices the relationship between (most) musicians and drugs but a lot of people don't include death in that connection. (drugs=death) + (rock star=drugs) therefore (rock star=drugs=death). If you're a huge rock star, you still know deep down that doing drugs WILL KILL YOU, but the big stars ignore that. It's wrong to say someone DESERVES to die but if you have a heart condition AND you're doing drugs, whats to expect will happen? It's just stupid.
 
#51
Originally posted by RIZ
Personally, In light of what happened to John I don't think any less of him in any regard.

I don't pass judgement on his personal habits either, I am just sad he's gone, but that is perhaps a selfish expression in itself.

Great idea: go and watch the "buzzard cam" in "Drowned" on the "Royal Albert Hall Concert" video.:D
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You would mean 5:15, perchance?:D
 
#52
Shame on any of you for thinking less of John because he wasn't an angel. He was only hurting himself, and nobody else.

Here's something for you sanctimonious holy-rollers to consider (some of which has been said). If you think less of John because he shortened his life via cocaine use, then:

You will have to think less of any musician who uses alcohol, because alcohol is one of the most dangerous drugs known.

You will have to think less of anyone who uses tobacco.

You will have to think less of anyone who is either overweight or underweight.

Hell, we can add activities such as skydiving and hang gliding and rock climbing to the list, because they are also dangerous.

Finally, let's add just one more to the list: promiscuity.



So, when all is said and done, how many heroes will remain? Not very many... and it's gonna be pretty difficult to prove that the ones left standing truly have no bad habits.
 
#53
P.S. These figures are from ~1990 (I'm sure they haven't changed much, proportionally):

Deaths in the USA as a direct result of:
Tobacco: 300,000 per year
Alcohol: 100,000 per year
Illegal drugs: 5,000 per year

I'm not trying to say that illegal drug use is less dangerous, my point is merely that no one should base his sermonizing on what the government (as an agent of big business) has decided is legal or not.
 

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