No one sets out to become hurtful and use people (most especially those they love most). Rather, it’s a byproduct of the disease od addiction. An unwelcomed one. One that causes the addict much guilt and remorse, which in turn and ironically fuels the addiction. Incidentally, addiction has been recognized as a disease (with genetic roots) by The American Medical Association for decades now, as opposed to a weakness of character, as you and some others have posted.

There is a lot of information about addiction out there. There’s simply no excuse for so much ignorance about it. It would have been nice if you had the ability to write as a fully informed disseminator. One of the most intuitive learning experiences one could have is to attend open 12-Step meetings for the addict in question. In lieu of that, any addict primary program will suffice. If you keep an open mind you will learn the experience of carrying that heavy load in life. No one would choose it as a lifestyle knowing the pain it creates in self and others. And who would they take themselves out of the picture when they just had a baby and got married and were on the verge of realizing their dreams? Your tone makes it sound like anyone who dies from drugs is a merely a transient fool. Wrong! It’s an unfathomable tagedy born by our collective sorrow for the loss of a dynamic soul wrenched from us far too soon. Some respect is in order, addict or not.

While we’re in the neighborhood, let’s visit the worn out comparison between Brad Nowell and Curt Cobain. While they both were addicted to heroin, Curt Cobain committed suicide. With a gun. Brad Nowell did not mean to die. It was a tragic accident. I respect & appreciate Curt Cobain, however he didn’t possess the creativity, humor, effervescence and charm that Bradley Nowell did.

It appears your hostility regarding the dark side of addict’s behavior has clouded your judgement. Bradley Nowell remains an exceedingly valuable creative force. With regard to your dissmissive belittlement of Bradley: “…he was just an evening’s worth of good vibe guitar licks bouncing around the Long Beach party scene.” Let me elucidate a couple if facts about the man. He was educated, well-read and insightful. He was also sensitive, smart and deep, aside from being obviously quite gifted. If you can’t extract that from his music, you either haven’t listened to it, or you aren’t capable of very deep thought or perception (I hazard a guess at the latter).
Bradley Nowell’s accomplishments, his life’s work, his immense talent and unique contribution to music will live on well past your snarky, talentless, mean-spirited, tunnel visioned commentary about something you obviously don’t know much about; namely the very subject you wrote about. Way to go, brainiac.

“The lady (i.e.YOU) doth protest too much, methinks.” (Shakespeare’s Hamlet, act III, scene II). Clever as your “in bed” gag/comparison is, and I do mean that, it’s not original but it is funny, no matter how many times I hear or use it. You speak as one who has a very pronounced opinion of addicts but not much understading of addiction, nor the compassion such an understanding naturally elicits. It would really help not to dismiss you entirely as a reporter and commentator were you not so obviously biased and, worse, uneducated about addiction.

No one sets out to become hurtful and use people (most especially those the love most). Rather, it’s a byproduct of the disease of addiction. An unwelcomed one. One that causes the addict much guilt and remorse, which in turn and ironically fuels the addiction.

There is a lot of information about addiction out there. It would have been nice if you had the ability to write as a fully informed disseminator. One of the most intuitive learning experiences one could have is to attend open 12-Step meetings for the addict in question. In lieu of that, any addict primary program will suffice. If you keep an open mind you will learn the experience of carrying that heavy load in life. No one would choose it as a lifestyle knowing the pain it creates in self and others not to mention death when you just had a baby and got married and were on the verge of realizing your dreams.

That being said, it appears your hostility on this issue has clouded your judgement. Bradley Nowell remains an exceedingly valuable creative force. You attempt to diminish his creative genius when you wrote: “…he was just an evening’s worth of good vibe guitar licks bouncing around the Long Beach party scene.” Let me elucidate a couple if facts about the man. He was educated, well-read and insightful. He was also sensitive, smart and deep, aside from being obviously quite gifted. If you can’t extract that from his music, you either haven’t listened to it, or you aren’t capable of very deep thought or perception (I hazard a guess at the latter).

Bradley Nowell’s accomplishments, his life’s work, his immense talent and unique contribution to music will live on well past your snarky, talentless, mean-spirited, tunnel visioned commentary about something you obviously don’t know much about; namely the very subject you wrote about. Way to go, brainiac.

First: You aren’t famous. You haven’t lived the life of Bradley Nowell or Kurt Cobain, and I know that because I have never heard of you. If you are trying to say that you’ve been caught up in the heroin lifestyle, congratulations, you are somehow still breathing and (barely) typing. The lifestyles of Nowell and Cobain are famous largely because of their musical abilities and output, and also because of how they ended.

Second: People like to tell stories about how selfless Bradley was, and how he would give you what he had, but they never tell about what he was asking for. He desired your attention, which gave him the excuse and the cash to get high until he died. I never met him, so I don’t know if he actually asked his friends or family for cash for smack, but I have known a hell of a lot of people with drug problems, and they ALL need more money, and will ask for it. Usually, it’s for their phone bill or to get their guitar out of pawn for next weekend’s gig. Did he let YOU sleep in his hotel bed?

Third: ‘What I Got’ might have some fairly hippie quality to it as far as love being all important, but listen to the song. It’s just a song, it doesn’t have a lot of real meaning to it, besides just sounding good. Bradley tells the listener to take a small example, and to give all your money to charity. Taking his example, he didn’t give his money to charity, he bought drugs with it, that he presumably didn’t share, which resulted in his death.