There’s nothing quite like the addition of some substances to break up the often-mundane album promo cycle, so here’s an assortment of some of the best drug-addled interviews from rock stars of all time, from RHCP to Bowie.
Stay safe people, and enjoy.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Kicking things off are of course Flea and Anthony of RHCP, who here delve into their “influences” – although probably not the influences at work here. At least they’re very engaged in the interview, and waste no time answering any of the questions, which is a lot more than we can say for some of the bands on this list.
James Brown
One of the all-time greats as far as truly insane interviews are concerned, as an incredible performer delivers some rather unfortunate views. Considering the interview took place after Brown was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife with a lead pipe and shooting a gun at her car – while she was in it – it’s safe to say that Brown wasn’t in the best place.
Ace Frehley
‘The Space Ace’ wasn’t so much spaced out here as just obnoxiously drunk. The altogether-serious (at least for people wearing platform heels and face paint) Paul and Gene try in vain to deliver a standard promo, while Ace completely takes the piss, bringing the promo down in flames. It’s easy to see why promo-hounds Paul and Gene ended up basically turning KISS into a duo with interchangeable members on the side.
David Bowie
An infamous famous example of the legendary Bowie at his wacked-out best, the allegedly coked-up superstar definitely maintains his freaky aura for Dick Cavett, giving a very disjointed interview and clutching onto his cane like his life depends on it. He later expressed amazement at living through his long period of drug abuse, and it’s easy to see why.
Tom Waits
This one is an absolute classic, and it’s been noted several times that Tom Waits’ speech here is remarkably similar to Heath Ledger’s take on The Joker decades later. “Just let me get comfortable here,” he growls, but is seemingly unable to do so at any point throughout the chat. “I feel like I’m at my granmother’s…” he tells us, but we’ve certainly never been this loose when visiting our grans. Thankfully, Don Lane manages to keep things ticking over for an appreciative audience.
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Ozzy Osbourne
Er, sorry Ozzy, could you repeat that? Here, the most hardcore of the hardcore tells us all about how he’s cleaned up – while struggling to move his mouth at all. While Ozzy always seems a bit befuddled these days, we’re happy to chalk some of the speech struggles up to a Birmingham accent. A very, very thick one.
Mayhem
In the words of the interviewer, “Warning: this one gets a little weird” – although it’s in good company on this list. The incredibly drunk Norwegians break into an extremely passionate and curse-laden diatribe, without really managing to make any sort of point at all, leaving the interviewer to just sigh and scratch his head.
Mark McGrath
Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath was either just really, really excited to be a dad here, or – as most of the comments would suggest – he appears to be “tweaking so hard”. All on the national talk show The Wendy Williams Show, no less. Not since Tom Cruise turned Oprah’s couch into a jumping castle has daytime TV seen so much enthusiasm. We’ll just call it a sugar rush.
