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 Janis
Joplin The
raspy-voiced Texan brought white blues to the
hippy masses in the late 60s. Sadly, heroin addiction
brought her to her knees at age 27. She died of
an overdose in 1970.
 Jim
Morrison The Doors frontman was the original
poet-rocker. His bohemian lifestyle included lots
of drugs and booze and lots of sex. Like his erstwhile
lover Janis Joplin, he died at 27, in 1971 in
a Paris bathtub. His cause of death was never
officially determined, but is widely attributed
to heroin overdose.
 Elvis
Presley The King was so much with us, it's
easy to forget he was only 42 when he died in
1977. Presley had a long history of drug and fried-peanut-butter-sandwich
abuse; his official cause of death was heart attack.
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 Sid
Vicious It seems a misnomer to call him a rock
star (he could barely play his bass), but the Sex
Pistols icon fits the bill in every other sense.
Four months after allegedly stabbing his girlfriend
Nancy Spungen to death, Vicious died of a heroin
overdose in 1979. He was only 22.
 John
Bonham Led Zeppelin's drummer was rock's loudest
drummer and one of its hardest living. In 1980
after a long night of rehearsing and boozing,
he was found dead of asphyxiation from vomit.
He was 32. Led Zeppelin disbanded soon after.
 Kurt
Cobain Nirvana's debut heralded the rebirth
of punk in 1990. Four years later the band's iconic
leader was dead, at 27. In his suicide note, Cobain
— who was long addicted to heroin —
quoted the Neil Young lyric (ironically written
about the Sex Pistols) "it's better to burn out
than to fade away." — Gillian Woodford
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