This is why Rockstars do Drugs w/ Billy Corgan 

I can't believe Bill has been doing his show for so long and hasn't learned to not talk over people.

Imagine how good this show would be if Bill would let AMAZING PEOPLE tell their AMAZING FUCKING STORIES!

If Bill Maher interviewed Bill Maher, it would be two guys each saying 5 or 6 words before the other guy impatiently interrupts because he's convinced whatever he's thinking is way more interesting than what his clone is saying.

Being interviewed by Bill feels like talking to a doctor about your problems, and they're correcting your grammer instead of listening.

Bill destroys every interview.

Is every question Bill asks now rhetorical? Or, does he just enjoy hearing himself talk over his guests? Either way, I’m so glad Bill knows more about being a rockstar than rockstars do. Such a unique perspective.

I'm glad that Billy finally allowed Bill Maher to talk!

Meanwhile, Alice Cooper said that he wasn't "partying" like people imagine; he was drinking because it was boring and depressing to be alone in hotel rooms all day while he was waiting for them to set up the venue. There was also an interview with Harrison Ford where he openly admitted that he only really got to see hotel rooms, and traveling wasn't exciting for him. So it isn't a musician/rocker/rapper thing, it's a famous thing in general.

I was in a band for years from age 18-26. I was wasted 99% of the time, because hanging out with the guys was so much fun and the sitting after feeling after was so low in comparison. I was never big and famous, but we had access too, and some money. Honestly, they were the best times of my life, I lived many through many stories. I still miss the excitement. I’d recommend it, if you can keep control of it enough not to die, that is.

Motley Crue was right. Performing on stage in front of a ton of people is the biggest high ever. Afterwards it’s really hard to just “shut off” so you want to keep the party going.

Yes, let's get pedantic about the fact that paper LSD is technically a liquid, Bill

Mahr cant resist showing how much he knows. LOL.

Bill steps all over the story about LSD. RELAX, BILL.

This Bill guy really likes to hear Bill talk

IDK which is dumber: that Bill thinks 25 hits of LSD will "kill you" or that Billy thinks 2 cupped hands full of liquid LSD is anywhere NEAR 25 hits (try "in the hundreds" unless it was seriously watered down).

"Hold on....let me tell the story...." - priceless

I like that his example of another profession is industrial adhesives. A job where you could literally sniff glue all day.

Bill is clearly a connoisseur of LSD then 😂

I took an Addy and perk one time and started playing the guitar and literally felt like I was playing like Jimi Hendrix and I filmed myself. The next day, yeah I definitely was not Jimi Hendrix lol.

as a "boots on the ground" industrial adhesive manufacturing worker... There are more of us than rock stars, but we're mostly just a bunch of potheads.

One reason why some rock stars started using drugs was to help keep them awake after being on the road for days on end with very little rest. And some to help cope with the pain

in 91 I went with friends to SF that just so happened to be over the weekend for the Bill Graham memorial concert(Golden Gate Park). We went and it didnt take 5 minutes for someone walking around with a glass bottle, an eye dropper, and a bag of sugar cubes to offer us a dose. We didnt want to be rude so...anyway I dont know how we got backstage(a friend said it was a roadie for Tracy Chapman of all people), but there were drugs everywhere. All free. Everything, anything. I work in the LA/Hollywood film industry and there are a LOT of drugs(more so a decade+ ago). Ive been to a lot of concerts and gotten backstage(the first 3 Lollapalooza for instance. Parties with famous actors and musicians) but that concert was on a whole never level.

i love when guys who didnt start smoking pot until they retired and never touched hard drugs in their life think they know what they are talking about when it comes to drugs.... "hey I wonder what happened if i ate this?" smelling salts? realllllll hard stuff bill

I'm seeing Billy everywhere these days..... I LOVE this man. I know it's Cliche....but his music influenced me greatly when I had several personal tragedies in my late teens. God Bless Him.

Bill Maher at 2:15-“you could of died”😂😂 What a rookie

to hide the pain of the reality that 1) you are a puppet of the music industry and 2) you are completely alone when not on stage

I came home after drinking all night and ate a bag of mushrooms my girlfriend got me for my birthday. There were probably about 30 standard portions in the bag and I ate the whole thing before I went to bed. I woke up about 30 minutes later and lost my mind for the next several hours. The closes sensation I could compare it to would be sprinting along the edge of the Grand Canyon on a race-horse while being terrified of heights and not knowing how to ride a horse.

When I was in my band playing in Hollywood, I realized to Billy's first point, that there is a lot of down time, a lot of time to waste that the draw or allure to drugs and alcohol was an easy time waster before you even get into the effects of it all. After that you crave to keep that feeling and it's all over. I was lucky enough to exercise some restraint but the allure was all too easy.

Lol Maher's comment on LSD. "You couldve died from the acid!"

I love that the comment section of Bill's own podcast is full of people pointing out how he won't shut up, even when a rockstar is telling him first-hand stories about drugs. His pomposity knows no bounds.

Bill was supposed to talk about rockstars doing drugs but instead told his friends own stories

Billy is a guy who comfortable in his own skin and he’s not afraid to make fun of himself. That’s awesome

Imagine being exhausted for months on end, performing the same songs, over and over, in town after town, for audiences who cannot see you as a person. It is very, very depressing. The money fuels others to bring you drugs to dull your pain... so you can bring in more money.

when I was in college in Greece, this guy I knew actually brought some poppers back from the UK. So one day while we were hanging out in between classes, he comes to me he says, hey man try this…I had no idea what it was but I thought what the hell, I’ll give it a try. so I take just one small sniff. Next thing I know my mouth just opens wide and I’m laughing like an idiot for absolutely no reason for about a minute or two straight. After an hour I go to class and as I’m sitting down I start to laugh again for 10-15 mins. It was so weird and intense I still remember it like it was yesterday. I’m telling you those poppers are no joke…

I guess that another reason they do them is that they're fun -at first -and they help you deal with the profound social disconnect that's a consequence of having very few people that you can relate to your stardom, or even make lasting friendships with -because everyone wants to screw you, physically or metaphorically. Then there's the grinding physical load. I think "the road" kills people.

I think Bill is too accustomed to his HBO show where he's either giving a monolog or the moderator of multiple guests. He doesn't know how to do have a one on one conversation with a person where he actually lets them talk for more than ten seconds without always interrupting and bringing the focus back to him.

I think part of it is people who become musicians are excitement seekers and risk takers by their nature or they would have taken up a safe, stable profession like accounting.

1. Musicians are artists, and drugs have always been used as a means of enhancing creativity. 2. Concerts are just parties, and people tend to drink/use drugs at parties, performers or otherwise. 3. Self-fulling prophecy. Drugs/alcohol are strongly associated with the culture of being a stage performer. To a degree, performers probably do feel like it's just what expected of them. 4. As Maher alluded to, people are likely offering them stuff, everywhere they go, as a means of gaining their favor. 5. To deal with the unique stress of being famous.

I remember doing poppers! It was sold in a machine in a club. 😂😂

If you meet a person in a situation where they are fairly young and have the time to drugs and enough money to either do a lot of drugs without consequences, there’s a good chance they do a lot of drugs. Likewise if you meet a poor person who has time and doesn’t see their lives getting better even if they were sober and dedicated 100% of the time, there’s a good chance that they abuse drugs. It’s also pretty common in the middle class actually. New theory, people abuse drugs in every profession but no one cares unless it’s a celebrity that is getting destroyed by them

The other side of the coin is that all sorts of people from all walks of life are ending up dead from drugs. When I scan the obituaries in the local paper and see that someone between say 20 and 50 years old "died at home", chances are high that it was an overdose. The musician and drug use is likely true but it would be interesting to see some statistics of drug deaths among musicians and the population in general.

Bassist form queens of the stone age says there's no better feeling than playing live and that's why people that take drugs is to replace that feeling it off stage. I have played in front of people and the feeling is truly amazing

I'm not a rock star, just a regular person. I've taken shit off people that I just met many times, when I was young.

I always thought that the drugs start with just trying to deal with playing on stage. I was in a band in high school and I would get so nervous that I could barely play my instrument. With hundreds and sometimes a couple thousand ppl and all their energy coming directly at you, it was like sensory overload. I started smoking pot and it worked like magic. On the other hand are lead singer was just the opposite. He was an extreme personality, didn’t know what the word nervous even meant.

Bill clearly doesn’t understand anything his guests ever say Jesus

Only Bill Maher would drink an *inhalant* like amyl nitrate. Seriously, that's like saying "instead of sniffing glue, I almost ate glue".

Billy Corgan is the top dog of rock stars presently.

Doc Ellis pitched a no hitter on LSD in the All Star Game in 71'. That must have been a great show.

Just next level ironic that Bill is sitting there stoned drunk talking about why people do drugs 🤔

Remember the first time I got puddled. Phish lakewood 99 if memory serves

The real reason they want to get high is because they are always "on" so much. When they finally get a break/time off they just want to "check out" from it all. It's a way to shut it all off.

There's also the creative side. Most of them couldn't even come up with anything if they weren't high or drunk. They're really not that creative without "help"

Creatives have a tendency to be mental, but musicians are a whole special category of mental. Just combine that with everything Billy said.

If I wanted to listen to Bill with guests, I’d listen to Bill without guests (alone).

Disposable income and too much free time. These two items go hand in hand. It is almost impossible to OD on LSD. Now it can leave your mind in shackles.

When i first seen "This is why Rockstar do drugs w/billy corgan" I thought "How the hell did he do drugs with Jimmy-Janice & Amy winehouse?

Another reason for drug consumption among working musicians, and probably the entertainment industry in general, is because outside of the actual performance, that life is incredibly boring. Ninety-nine percent of your time is spent either in a van, in a strange hotel trying to sleep, waiting at the club between your sound check and your set time, and then waiting around after your set to get paid. It’s a lot of time to fill and there is almost always someone in every city eager to get you drugs and party.

Bill the only guy who can interview a famous person and make the interview about him. SMH…

Bill hates it when he has to stop talking. Bill, just let him finish his damn story. And no, acid is not "always liquid".

Not being a slave to the socially acceptable 9-5 mindset helps enormously. Peace.

His first comment is correct, you get so high after a great gig that you want to continue that feeling after the gig, FTW!

Another possibility for heavy drug use is that these performers can, at times, work under tremendous pressure. The entertainment industry has a whole can be brutal. Imagine being a musician working after getting 3 hours sleep the night before and unforgiving producers are raising their voices at you, "C'mon, Man. It's all on you! We're all waiting on you!" Hell, I can imagine wanting stimulants to wake up during the day or wanting relaxants to fall asleep at night. That's my theory. My 2 cents.

If I had to sing the same song every night, I'd do drugs, too.

For a "rockstar" Billy sounds like an underage narc when discussing acid. It's endearing.

Imagine how unshocked Billy Corgan was when he heard about the interviewer's experience with popper

I feel that most artists live in this illusion that they need pain to create things they find beautiful, therefore they need situations and substances to take them out of reality

About two decades ago my best friend at the time was getting some amazing liquid Sid. I lived in SO, UT. He lived in Northern UT. My ex, and I arrived at his house. When he opened his door, he was like “stick out your tongue,” so I did. He then took out a lil bottle of breath freshener which was actually acid. He then squirted some in my mouth. THANK GOD IT WAS SOME OF THE GOOD STUFF. I’d always bring Molly with us, and dude always had the best Sid. Those were some fun times. There is no way in hell I’d touch any hard shit like that these days. Oh, to be young, and dumb.

“LSD is always liquid”… like when a mother in law says a stupid thing and she thinks it was brilliant, but yet it’s imposible to tell her to shut up and don’t interrupt !

Two things above all else…availability/normalcy and pressure. The intrusive thought of “YOU’RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR LAST PERFORMANCE…THE SHOW MUST GO ON” is a lot easier to manage, especially over the long haul, if you have some chemical invincibility running through your veins. Artists are sensitive people, man…it doesn’t take much to push a sensitive soul into the arms of some drug or another. When you pair that with a high pressure industry, the math becomes pretty obvious. EDIT: LOL! Maher: there was this thing, I guess you call em poppers now Billy: Amyl Nitrate… *pulls out a chart with the chemical composition*

"I guess it was what they now call poppers." Bill they've been calling them poppers since the 80's, man...

Maher is trying to establish that he is the expert on LSD.

Being in a band with Billy Coogan and his ego would drive most people to drugs.

By reading the title I thought every rockstar is doing drugs with Billy Corgan 😅

When bought in the bottle, it was called Rush.

Bill Mahar is trying to tell a 90's alternative rock icon that you shouldn't take more than a hit of Acid

Robbie Robertson said...The road is simply an impossible way to live.

They skipped the most obvious reason which is that artist of all types often struggle with trying to coax out and sustain moments of inspiration and epiphany, and these are very slippery things to pin down (drugs can sort of simulate these states, however the longer you do this the less effective it is and you ended up chasing an ever receding creative state of mind).

also, what is bill talking about "if you drank acid, you'd die"? no one has ever died from acid

I've been a longtime fan of Bill Maher's TV programs, especially since he began his HBO show. But most of these Club Random podcasts are just grueling to watch. It is clear that unless scripted by a team of writers, Maher can't grasp basic topics, cannot communicate effectively as a person, and has no connection to the lives of the average American. The thing is, Bill, I'm sure that some members of the industrial adhesive industry do a ton of drugs...you just don't know any common people like that.

Isn’t it amazing how people can talk so freely about how they did weed now, when we all know it was all bullshit from the beginning to be illegal in the first place?

I let a random stranger drop a hit of acid in my eye at a Grateful Dead show, that was not smart but worked out for me 😊

Thats insane. Like this is common sense, how is this even a question? Stand up comedians do the same thing. Chasing the high of being on stage, offstage.

Billy seems like someone who's never done drugs in his entire life.

it's funny that guests actually think Bill is interested in hearing their voices. i want to go on the show and any time Bill asks me a question i'd just ask, "what do you think." and then smoke all his cannabis.

This is bill basically asking a question and then answering it the way he wants it to be answered

You can't overdose on LSD though

Because they don’t have to wake up until noon.

I think Bill was better when he was not high.

Never realized that Billy looks physically huge compared to Bill 😮

Bill apparently hasn't done much lsd, or at least the research on it. 😒

I thought it might have to do with the fact that creative sensitive people (which a lot of musicians are) can more easily get overwhelmed by their emotions because they’re so intense. So you’ll do anything you can to get away from those turbulent emotions, which alcohol and drugs do for you temporarily. The problem is that it becomes a vicious cycle which leads to addiction.

I used to smash pumpkins waiting for Myers on Halloween 🎃

The stuff you pop are called poppers and are Amyl Nitrate. This is prescribed to heart patients, as it dilates the blood flow. That stuff in the little bottle is called LockerRoom. It is Butyl Nitrate and was used as an air freshener.

Fuck yeah, that's what happened to me the first time I took LSD. I got puddled. Changed my life.

Poor rock stars, a lot of money but unhappy... I'm so sad for them😢😢😢

I've always said, if you experienced the 80's, and are still here to laugh about it, you survived, and were lucky af ~ because we were stupid, invincible and never expected we'd see 35 because that was like the age of growing old in downhill misery. But that's how it was in that time because we were idiots. I certainly got lucky more than I was smart and a lot of my friends are dead now, some for a long time because they sank like a rock. I wont say we licked up liquid LSD from a stranger, but one of my dudes certainly would have stepped up and smashed the fk out of whatever someone might have. Fk, we would buy blotter squares in the bathroom at concerts that were packed from absolute strangers and there was a line to hand him money for who knows what - Always turned out to be good blotter for me but yeah, we didn't have shit like today that would kill you. Seriously, at a Floyd concert, dude is in a barstool by the bathroom door, peeling off squares to everyone like he was the guy at the ticket taker at the turnstiles when you went into the arena.... and at the concert the whole place smelled like a pot bonfire. Every concert, always the same - that's just the way it was, and security didn't care as long as you didn't fk with people. Half of them were hittin the shit anyway.

@2:13 Bill Maher thinks getting puddled with 20 hits will kill you. Ha ha.

The industrial adhesive industry is sniffing glue all day, Bill....

Newsflash Bill: you're not the most interesting guy in the room.

The worst one was when he had Aaron Rodgers on. Aaron couldn't get one word in.