Sex, Drugs, Rock . . . and AIDS : Some Rockers Opt for Change in Lifestyle

Less than three weeks after basketball superstar Magic Johnson shocked the world by announcing he had contracted the virus that causes AIDS, the specter of the disease has hit the rock-music community.

Even before the death Sunday of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, however, music figures were reassessing their lifestyles in a field that long took pride in the slogan “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll.”

“For Freddie Mercury (to get AIDS), well, it can happen to me,” said veteran rock star Ozzy Osbourne. “I don’t (mess) around at all, but in the past I have. We all have. It haunts me.”

It’s too early to tell whether this soul searching will have an impact on rock music that has tended to glorify “fast-lane” excesses, much of which is aimed at the sexually awakening teen audience that AIDS activists are desperately trying to reach with information about the causes and consequences of the disease.

But it’s clear that many performers are taking a close look at their own behavior and, in some cases, their responsibility in spreading AIDS-awareness messages to their fans.

Osbourne said that despite the publicity given to AIDS, there are still a lot of willing groupies on the road, eager to engage in all types of sexual activity with musicians. Kasey Smith, keyboardist for the New York-based group Danger Danger, currently on a U.S. concert tour, confirms that.

“From what I see, the groupies don’t care (about AIDS) one way or another,” said Smith, 30. “They’re still star-struck. Maybe there are less of them now, but the ones that are there are in full force, and they’re ready to play. . . . They don’t ride on the bus, but they come on the bus in droves, and they’re always around the hotels. I try to stay clear of that.”

Cliff Burnstein, who manages hard-rock bands Metallica, Tesla and Queensryche, said his clients have all taken the subject very seriously in discussions over the past few years, but that recent news has galvanized their fears.

“Magic plus Freddie--it’s very stark to get that at one time,” he said. “Everybody is wary, people are afraid. (Still) they might not want to talk about it. For the last 25 years drugs and alcohol . . . have been the most high-profile hard-rock way to go. . . . Everybody’s aware of AIDS, but would rather not think about it.”

Many are thinking about it, though.

“We’re only human,” said Howie Epstein, bassist in Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. “Sometimes you get weak. Sometimes on the road I’m lonely and don’t feel like going back to the hotel by myself, and you go, ‘Well, OK.’ But it’s too scary. . . . I’d be so paranoid, the thought in the back of my head of sitting up at night and going, ‘Hmmmm. I wonder. . . .’ ”

But for many, there is no rock ‘n’ roll without promiscuity. Tonight, the Hollywood club the Cathouse, which owner Riki Rachtman proudly notes has been called “the sleaziest club in the world,” will celebrate its fifth anniversary with a concert/party at the Hollywood Palladium. The death of Mercury will certainly be a hot topic at the event. But Rachtman, who also hosts MTV’s “Headbanger’s Ball” hard-rock showcase, believes it might take something even closer to home to get people to change their lifestyles.

“There is definitely a lot of unsafe sex and (drug) needles in the Hollywood rock scene,” he said. “And the community is so small that a lot of guys have slept with a lot of girls that have slept with a lot of guys. If you find a girl who hasn’t slept with the singer of at least three bands, keep her. I haven’t found her.”

As for himself, Rachtman said that he recently returned to the “single” life and has had to consider his actions in the shadow of AIDS.

“I love a wild lifestyle, and I love women,” he said. “But you got to think about it.”

Where the AIDS fight gained an active spokesman in Magic Johnson, it did not in Mercury, who went public only hours before his death. His role in the battle may be more akin to that of actor Brad Davis, who wrote a letter that was circulated after his death speaking of the fear of risking his career and reputation should his condition have been made public.

But will his death spur someone else in the pop music world to step forward to be a music Magic? Or will fear keep rockers silent?

Even someone as widely loved as Johnson has been the subject of backlash after his revelation that he had been promiscuous. And some initial reactions to Mercury’s death already show what is at stake.

“I have the greatest admiration and a lot of affection for (Mercury),” London’s Sun newspaper quoted Phil Collins as saying. However, he added “But if you go around leading a pretty much promiscuous life as he did, then you always run the risk of AIDS.”

Before Mercury, the best-known pop musician to die from AIDS was B-52’s guitarist Ricky Wilson, who died in 1985, though AIDS was not acknowledged publicly as the cause until a year later.

“I think there’s fear among rock artists who have so much invested in their image of being identified with AIDS or as gay,” said Kate Pierson of the B-52’s. “It’s like the mask of red death. A lot of people would like to run up a hill and lock themselves in and when they see someone sick they want to run away. But what we need is compassion and that needs to come from everybody. And if people haven’t really gotten the picture now, I don’t think it should take celebrities dying to bring it home.”

Robert Ledwon, director of special events at the Hollywood office of the American Foundation for AIDS Research said that a public figure such as Mercury acknowledging having AIDS helps bring awareness and prevention. But he cautioned against “McCarthyism” in any attempts to identify other celebrities with the disease.

“I hope every time (a public figure) gets sick the press and public won’t jump on the bandwagon,” he said. “If someone wants to do what Mr. Johnson did and come out, it’s important, and you’ll see more people doing it. . . . But you can’t go ‘outing’ people with a terminal illness. We have to respect their rights.”

In the meantime, though, many concerned rockers are evaluating what they can do to spread the word about the danger of AIDS.

Danger Danger, which still sings about the pursuit of sex, has begun to include a safe-sex message in its concerts.

“When we do little raps between songs and talk about sex we always throw in, ‘Put a helmet on your little soldier,’ ” said Smith. “ ‘None of us go on without our stage clothes, so you shouldn’t either.’ If it only reaches a few people a night, then that’s a few more who are thinking about it.”

Osbourne is planning to put boxes for donations to AIDS research in the lobbies of his concerts. He is investigating the possibility of including condoms in his concert programs.

“Once upon a time everyone (in rock) was getting syphilis, but they can cure that. Get this and you’re dead,” said Osbourne. “I sound like a prude, but it scares the life out of me. We’re all going to die, but if I had the choice of deaths, that wouldn’t be at the top of my list.”