- [Narrator] The rockstar lifestyle:
cars, boats, mansions, and travel,
a life of potential riches and access to opportunities,
but also a life of parties,
perhaps with access to drugs and alcohol,
filled with opportunities for reckless behaviors
and exposure to eccentric if not dangerous characters
who might be jealous of your friends and your riches.
So is the rockstar lifestyle really bad for your health?
Unsurprisingly, based on a few studies, the answer is yes.
Popular musicians, specifically male musicians,
have shorter life expectancies
in comparison to the general population.
And while the results of the study
may be relatively unsurprising,
the data is still interesting.
In one study,
6,337 popular male musician deaths
between 1950 and 2015 were analyzed.
These male musicians were placed in one of 12 genres
and deaths were classified in a number of categories,
including drug overdose, homicide, suicide,
cancer, and liver-related deaths.
The tracked musician deaths were then compared
to reported deaths in similar demographics
among the general population.
What did they find?
2,017 of the deceased musicians
were classified in the genre of rock.
The most common cause of death for these rock stars
was accidental death, including overdoses.
There were 521 accidental deaths,
but based on the general population,
the expected number of accidental deaths for this group
should've been 296.
So rock musicians had double the accidental death rate.
Metal musicians were twice as likely to commit suicide
versus the general population.
There were 810 metal musician deaths.
16.9% or 137 deaths
were classified as suicides.
The expected suicide number for this group was 68.
So metal musicians committed suicide
at twice the expected rate.
And the expected number of homicides
for the 323 rap and hip-hop artist deaths was 27,
but the reported number of rap and hip-hop artist homicides
was a whopping 156.
Being a rap or hip-hop artist
increased your chance of death via homicide by 5.8 times.
Interestingly, when it came to overall violent death rates,
country music artists had the largest margin
between their actual and expected deaths.
Of the 304 country deaths,
the expected number of violent deaths was 59.
The actual number of violent deaths was 109,
84.7% higher than what was expected
for this demographic.
But as any good statistician will tell you,
remember, correlation does not necessarily prove causation.
Maybe being a rockstar isn't what kills you.
Perhaps the life struggles that challenge music artists
both increase their mortality rates
and influence their creativity and musical passion.