Taylor Hawkins/Foo Fighters
Taylor Hawkins May Not Be the Usual Rock Star Dies in Hotel Story
What you also need to know
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(At the time of this writing, the cause of Taylor Hawkins’ Death is Still Being Determined)
On Friday evening, March 25, 2022, Foo Fighter fans around the world were devastated to learn of the passing of beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins when the band released the news on their social media pages.
Paramedics were called to Taylor’s hotel room in Bogota, Colombia, due to chest pains the drummer was experiencing. The band was to set stage at the Festival Estereo Picnic. However, when paramedics arrived, they could not resuscitate Taylor. Fans at the festival waiting for the band to go on stage found out an hour before the show that Foo Fighter Taylor Hawkins had died. The audience was stunned. In honor of the drummer, festival organizers projected an image of Taylor with the words “por siempre” (forever), lit candles, and played Foo Fighter’s music, and fans sang along.
The music industry was stunned as well. Taylor was recognized as one of the best drummers in the world. Friends of the rock star took to Twitter to express their shock and grief. Taylor was known for his easygoing, fun-loving demeanor that matched his laid-back surfer style. The legendary Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac wrote, “When he walked into the room, everyone looked up. When he left the room, everyone was sad.” In an interview on theHoward Stern Show, musician Machine Gun Kelly wanted Taylor’s kids to know how much Their father loved them and how kind he was.
By the next day, news reports started rolling in with headlines, “Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins had 10 pyschoactive substances in his body, toxicology test find.” These reports were preliminary toxicology tests conducted in Colombia and were not conclusive. People reading the news on Twitter interpreted these headlines and retweeted that the Foo Fighter was on psychedelics, not Pyschoactive.
Pyschoactive substances are any substances that alter the mind. So they can include psychedelics such as mushrooms, but psychoactive substances can also include caffeine and alcohol as explained in this article in Very Well Mind. The pyschoactive substances in Taylor’s system listed in the report were marijuana, benzodiazepines (tranquilizers), and opioids.
Gossip magazines reported heroin was on the list because the report included opioids. However, opioids can also include pain killers such as codeine and drugs that help with addiction. Fans of Taylor were asking on social media for people to stop jumping to conclusions and wait for the final report. These classifications are broad, and the tests were inconclusive. Not enough is known at this time.
The world has seen these headlines before. The media has reported them over-and over-again as if they are reporting the same old story. “Celebrity dies from an accidental drug overdose, insert name and type of drug here, news at eleven.”
The headline did not indicate what type of drugs, leaving headline readers to draw their own conclusions. These conclusions ran from heroin, cocaine, alcohol, and for conspiracy theorists, the covid vaccine.
In the past, celebrities have died from partying too much or struggling at home alone, as in the tragic cases of Prince and Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson died from a drug overdose of propofol and benzodiazepines he was reportedly taking due to difficulties with insomnia. While Prince died from a fentanyl overdose, friends thought the singer had overcome. Fentanyl is a highly addictive prescribed pain-killer. Thousands of Americans have been prescribed fentanyl as a pain reliever only to become addicted to their medication. This left them addicts buying hits of fentanyl on the streets. It has become a nationwide epidemic. Fentanyl is also being found mixed with other drugs. Unsuspecting consumers aren’t aware they are purchasing pain killers laced with fentanyl and are overdosing.
In 2001, while the Foo Fighters were touring in London, Taylor landed in the ER from a heroin overdose. He was in a coma for two weeks. Long after he lived to tell the story, Taylor reflected in many interviews that he fell for the image of partying hard rock star lifestyle. The near-death experience nearly took his life and almost tore the band apart. Taylor decided to leave the partying hard rock star life behind. Not long after, he met and married his wife Allison of 17 years. Taylor eventually became a doting father of three kids Oliver (16), Annabelle (12), and Everleigh (8). Taylor wrote the song “Middle Child” for Annabelle on his 2019 album, “Get the Money,” when she asked him to write a song for her after he had written a song for his son. Taylor loved his children and wanted to be a good example and role model to them.
Taylor vowed he was living a clean and healthy lifestyle for his kids. After news reports came out on the list of drugs, people who say they knew Taylor said on Twitter that Taylor had been living a clean life. Roadies on Twitter said the drummer would not have been able to do a soundcheck if he were high.
Fans of Taylor Hawkins believe the drummer and are holding onto hope that he died of natural causes, not a drug overdose, asking people to hold off on judgment until further autopsy reports are confirmed.
What has not been released are the amounts of each drug. Taylor may have not taken all of the drugs at once, as headlines make it appear. Some drugs can last for 6 weeks in the body.
The list of drugs reportedly in Taylor’s system included: opioids, benzodiazepines (tranquilizers), tricyclic antidepressants, and THC.
Opioids can include heroin, but they can also include codeine (a well-known popular pain reliever). They can also include drugs to help manage addiction. We don’t know what the final autopsy report will conclude. Until then, we need to exercise some patience and not assume we know the outcome.
Mainstream media is still uneducated about reporting drug overdose and addiction. And spread their lack of awareness, influencing millions of people. Taylor’s story may have started out as the party hard rocker, but Taylor’s story may be the one of a father and human trying to do the best he can. It seems unfair to pigeonhole him into a category he worked so hard to stay away from for over 20 years for his family. Thinking you know how it ended doesn’t make you any smarter. What makes us smarter is being compassionate open minded human beings.
Dr. Laura Gray, a psychiatrist, brings another perspective to the story. Dr. Gray shared Taylor’s last interview with Rolling Strone on Twitter, in which he states, “Oh, yeah. I have major stage fright, major, major, major. Like today is like, I’m in hell right now.” Dr. Gray explains, “People don’t just abuse drugs to get high.” You can listen to the interview as a podcast here.
In the interview, the interviewer mentions that Eddie Van Halen substance abuse was due to performance anxiety. Later they talk about weed affecting your perception. Taylor said, he made that mistake in high school. “You don’t want that onstage. I don’t know motherfuckers who can. Some people do, and more power to them. But fuck that shit. So yeah, I’m petrified right now,” Taylor said. Taylor also mentions his doctor saying he has a large heart but said, it’s like an athlete’s heart.
Taylor has said in interview his stage fright was so bad at times he thought of quitting the band. And there were enough meds on that list to reduce anxiety to substantiate his story.
While the media likes to portray the “yet again another celebrity dies of an accidental drug overdose” story. It doesn’t tell the root cause of addiction. Addiction is a symptom of another issue. For many Americans it’s relief from physical pain, in Taylor Hawkins it may have been to be free of anxiety.
Even if Taylor’s report comes back that it was an overdose from the combination of medications he was taking. It’s time for more emotionally intelligent and trauma-informed reporting and try to begin understanding what lies beneath could be a debilitating condition, a mental health issue, or trauma, and not add more insensitivity to someone’s pain or trauma.
A better headline that would be more sensitive to Taylor, his family, and loved ones would have been, “Preliminary tests find traces of prescription drugs to treat anxiety and depression among the drugs found in Hawkins’ system. Heart failure is not ruled out. Investigation Still Pending.”
A few fans wrote on Twitter asking why are we getting this news from Colombia officials. Why aren’t these reports kept private until the family releases a statement?
There was a time in America when we used to publicly hang people. Thousands of townspeople came to watch. Most of us would be horrified at the inhumanity of a public hanging conducted today.
Maybe as we continue to evolve and become a more conscious society, gossip mongers will stop their insatiable appetite to know every detail of someone else’s life and live their own life. And learn to respect the privacy of others. Maybe laws can be passed to protect celebrities to prevent paparazzi being able to follow them everywhere and report anything. If such laws were in affect, Princess Diana would be alive today. Perhaps we will look back someday at how vulgar cheap journalism and gossip is?
Taylor signed up to be a great musician, and he gave that to us in spades. He kept his commitment to his fans in every record and at every performance. True fans don’t need anything more than the interviews he gave to the media. Taylor was a private man with his family, and real fans respect that.
Taylor’s life may have ended too soon, but may we get into the habit of remembering not how Taylor’s life ended but how he lived and loved. As a great artist, great friend, and a man who loved his family. And the joy, fun, and love he, Dave Grohl, and the Foo Fighters brought to rock ‘n roll will live on forever. Por siempre. Forever Taylor.
Kat OM is the author of Resilient Love: Turn Your Wounds into Your Wings, blogger, and Mindfulness Resilience Coach. Kat helps her readers and clients find healing, empowerment, and resilience through mindful tools and practices. You can find Kat OM at: KatOMLife.com | IG: kat.om.transform.your.life | FB: katOM30
