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In the wake of Liam Payne’s tragic death, Bruce Springsteen has called out the music industry for putting “enormous pressures” on young musicians.
Speaking of Payne’s passing in an interview with The Telegraph, Springsteen acknowledged, “That’s not an unusual thing in my business. It’s a normal thing — it’s a business that puts enormous pressures on young people.”
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Continuing, he explained, “Young people don’t have the inner facility or the inner self yet to be able to protect themselves from a lot of the things that come with success and fame. So they get lost in a lot of the difficult and often pain inducing [things]… whether it’s drugs or alcohol to take some of that pressure off.”
Reflecting on his own past, Springsteen added, “I understand that very well — I mean, I’ve had my own wrestling with different things. And Danny [Federici] certainly did. Drugs were not uncommon in the E Street Band, you know?”
The enticing nature of escaping stress with drugs and alcohol, though, is precisely why Springsteen has tried to stay vigilant that neither he nor his bandmates get too deep in the abuse. “There was a boundary,” he said. “I stayed out of your business, but if I was on stage and I saw that you were not your complete self, there was going to be a problem. And so it made a bit of a boundary around that stage, where people had to be relatively sober and at their best. And I always say, one of the things I was proudest of is that if one of my fellas passed on, they passed on of natural causes.”
Continuing, Springsteen and his producer, Jon Landau — who was also present for the interview — mused on the musicians who passed too soon. Landau mentioned icons like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, and Springsteen mentioned Kurt Cobain.
“People continue to fall to it, [but] it’s a death cult,” The Boss said. “It’s a grift, man. That’s a part of the story that suckers some young people in, you know, but it’s that old story. Dying young – good for the record company, but what’s in it for you?”
Payne died on October 16th in Buenos Aires, Argentina after falling from a hotel balcony. The exact circumstances of his death are still unknown, but it appears that he was in possession of drugs and alcohol at the time, and authorities were called to the hotel prior to his death, responding to an “aggressive man” who was “destroying” his room and endangering himself.
Now, Springsteen joins a growing list of celebrities who have lamented the senseless loss, including Payne’s X Factor peer, Katie Waissel, who has called for more “care and support for young artists.”
Meanwhile, Springsteen’s new documentary, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, will premiere later this month on Hulu and Disney+. The Boss will also soon hit the road for tour dates in Canada and Europe (get tickets here).