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Originally Posted by mzero
i see what you are saying sk, interms of the horror they endured that's the ranking. i can't watch 'you're gonna miss me' -its just too much. syd is an interesting case in that he walked away from music completely and lived a fairly normal and apparently content life for decades, whereas the others struggled for the rest of their lives....
in terms of talent lost i'd put roky Erickson at the bottom of this list - good singer interesting writer but not even close to peter who was a great singer, a better writer and who had few real peers as a player. or even skip spence who could play almost anything and wrote some great songs before mental illness set in
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My rankings were about drug abuse vs. talent. Roky Erickson claimed to dose LSD/acid over 300 times before he was admitted to a state mental hospital in Texas in 1968.
To say Syd Barrett completely walked away is not the story members of Pink Floyd tell. Richard Wright (RIP) just before his death, tells the story that he went with Syd to see the doctors at the time, and they told him that Syd suffered serious brain damage. When Syd toured the US with Pink Floyd in '67, he completely "zoned out", onstage, live. A few years later in 1975, Syd Barrett went to see Pink Floyd record "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" at Abbey Road studios. By this point, Syd was overweight, and unrecognizable. Syd would jump up and down while brushing his teeth, during those recording sessions. Does this remind you of Peter Green's mental illness?
Three years later Peter Green played his last concert with FM in London at the Roundhouse (4/70). There will never be a better "Black Magic Woman" solo captured on tape again.
Peter Green's decent into madness was gradual, and didn't emerge until well after Green quit the music business (mid-70's).
As for Skip Spence, LSD made him psychotic! He went crazy in a hotel (with Moby Grape), carrying a Fire Axe.