12 Metal Musicians Who Survived Near-Death Experiences
Metal and danger are words that come intertwined in our imagination. There’s an element of adrenaline in taking things to an extreme, and no other musical genre has done it better than metal.
That said, experimenting with the unknown and the far-out can’t be done without its toll.
These are a dozen metal musicians who either were dead for some minutes or were very close to death on some occasion.
I don’t mean to be a spoiler for the stories, but they all lived to tell the tale after the incident. Moreover, one of these stories became a timeless hit for one of the biggest metal bands of all time.
1. James Hetfield (Metallica)
James Hetfield is Metallica’s mastermind, lead singer, main composer, and frontman. During a dream tour in 1992 that was co-headlined by Metallica and Guns n Roses, the band was playing Montreal when James forgot where he should be standing. By mistake, he stepped where he didn’t belong and was burned by a meters-long pyro flame. He was lucky only second-degree burns were made to his arms and legs.
2. Al Jourgensen (Ministry)
Al Jourgensen, Ministry’s frontman and founder didn’t face death once, but three times. Yes, his heart stopped twice because of he***n overdoses and once because a stomach ulcer exploded.
If you consider that Al had his first drunk experience when he was eight years old and that he started doing dr**s heavily by age twelve, I’d say this industrial metal legend had a bargain from life.
3. Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe)
Some rockstars tend to forget things they did under the influence, but Nikki Sixx remembers one night very well. I’m talking about December 23rd, 1987, the day he received a shot of adrenaline to the chest to come back from death.
After a long night of partying, a last shot of heroine sent Nikki straight to the other side. He turned cold and blue. He even recounts having an out-of-body experience.
Nikki woke up just hours later at the hospital.
4. Ozzy Osborne
Black Sabbath and Van Halen were on tour. The year was 1978, and these two metal acts dominated not only the scene but the planet. Metal was about to change forever in the eighties and Van Halen would spearhead a new generation of virtuoso players into the future of heavy music.
Black Sabbath was known for being the meanest, darkest, and heaviest band in the early days of metal.
In the dressing rooms, Ozzy was competing against David Lee Roth. The premise? Defining who could take more dr**s before dying. None of them died, but Ozzy was found by the police the next day after the band left, half-dead, and drooling with a big smile for his victory
5. Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age)
Queens of the Stone Age is a band that can take many genres and make them their own. Their charismatic singer, main composer, and guitar player, Josh Homme had a near-death experience in the early 2010s. According to Pitchfork, he was having leg surgery, and the surgeons lost him and brought him back while on the operating table.
Although he was in bed for three months, he described the event as something that gave him a new insight into his life.
6. Slash
It’s not to blow any scoop to say that Slash is one of the biggest guitar players hard rock, metal, and rock gave us. Well, even half-deities like Slash can succumb to some desires. On the 1992 tour with Metallica, the guitarist overdosed on Speedball (a deadly mixture of co**ine and her**n) and ended up on the floor just outside the elevator. Matt Sorum, the band’s drummer called the paramedics, and Slash was dead when they arrived.
With the outstanding work of the professionals, Slash was resuscitated. The guitarist defined it as “It’s just, like, this huge shock of energy and lights, voices and pandemonium, and it’s an unmistakable feeling.”
7. Phil Anselmo (Pantera)
Pantera is a band surrounded by tragedy. Although we all know what happened to Dimebag and his brother, Vinnie Paul, not everybody knows about Phil Anselmo. In his own words, “I, Philip H. Anselmo, immediately after a very successful show in Dallas, injected a lethal dose of heroin into my arm, and died for four to five minutes,”
That was in 1996, and the band continued to tour after that. Anselmo didn’t get clean until 2005.
8. Deep Purple & Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention
“We all came out to Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline
To make records with a mobile
We didn’t have much time
Frank Zappa & the Mothers were at the best place around
But some stupid with a flare gun burned the place to the ground
Smoke on the water, a fire in the sky.”
Those lines come from “Smoke on the Water” , Deep Purple’s biggest hit and one of the most iconic heavy music songs of all time. Well, the lyrics are not only veridic but also quite accurate. The fire in the Montreux Casino injured several fans and destroyed the band’s equipment. The band made it out safe and sound and a new classic was born.
9. Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije (Delain)
Metal shows aren’t afraid of pyrotechnics. On the contrary, the more the merrier. Well, Delain’s bass player got confused on stage and one of the streamer cannons facing the crowd hit him in his lower parts from behind. After bleeding and finishing the show, he rushed to the emergency services where he underwent surgery.
10. Alice Cooper
For years, Alice Cooper’s theatricals have been a quintessential part of his live shows. One of those stunts was hanging himself. Well, in 1987, one night, the rope that was supposed to prevent him from really hanging himself failed and he had to stick his neck up so he would slide out of the rope and fall on the ground.
He nearly broke a bone but from his feet because of the fall, luckily, he moved fast and saved his neck.
11. Ace Frehley (Kiss)
On December 12th, 1976, Kiss was one of the hottest bands on the planet. Well, guitarist Ace Frehley was going down from the top of the stage when he grabbed on the rail to walk the steps and found out he wasn’t properly isolated.
The sudden discharge of 220 volts pushed him backward. This was a good thing because if he was pushed the other way, it would have been metal’s most spectacular fall of all time.
He played the entire show not feeling his hands.
12. Ivan Moody (Five Fingers Death Punch)
Addictions can have a fatal ending, and many can’t make it out on time. Such was almost the case of Ivan Moody who fought his drinking problem for years. He decided to quit by himself and had a seizure on the fourth day of abstinence.
He was pronounced dead and then resuscitated.
He managed to even have an extra-corporeal experience in which he “Was like becoming a part of the universal hum — complete peace.”
That story inspired the video for “The Tragic Truth”.
The Bottom Line
Metal is a musical genre that’s not afraid of extremes. Those who chase the extreme can end up being in the eye of the hurricane. Some became riders of the storm galloping away at a young age, and others live to tell the story.
Each of these metal musicians is proof of the importance of taking good care of yourself while enjoying life to the fullest.
Happy (safe and fun) metal listening!
