Backstaged: The Devil In Metal, brought to you by Diversion Podcasts and hosted by bestselling author and music journalist Jon Wiederhorn, is a 12-episode podcast that offers a one-of-a-kind journey through the history and culture of heavy metal. The podcast explores elements of darkness and extremism in the music and, examines how a generation of rebellious rockers took the phrase “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” to an entirely new level.

Backstaged Episode 6: Heroin - Absolute Evil Vol.2 delved deeper into the topic of heroin abuse in metal as host Jon Wiederhorn sits down with some of the biggest names in metal to discuss the various motivations that lead artists to abusing heroin at the height of their powers and their insane stories of stupidity and survival.  

Sample stories include Ministry’s drug-fueled visit with writer and spoken-word performer William S. Burroughs, as well as Guns N’ Roses’ failed attempt to smuggle heroin onto a flight to Tokyo which lead to two near-overdoses. 

An excerpt, detailing how Pantera vocalist Philip Anselmo turned to heroin to cope with the pain of a ruptured disc in his back while on tour, has been transcribed as follows:

Anselmo:  “Far Beyond Driven came out and it was number one. There was some point previous to that on tour where I ruptured a disc in my lower back and man… talk about Superman getting his cape ripped off of him. It felt very humbling. I felt vulnerable. For the first time in a long time, I didn't know what to do. When Far Beyond Driven came out, I had mixed emotions because I was in a lot of pain, and I knew there would be an ensuing world tour. For me to feel vulnerable, I was like a caged animal and damaged goods. That was the start of my freefall, because I was in a lot of pain. I felt cornered and pain killers, muscle relaxers, and anything I could get my hands on as long as it numbed that knife felt in my spine in the center of my body before I had to go out there and go ape-sh*t for the kids I would do it.” 

Another excerpt, from Jane’s Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, describing how he and bassist Eric Avery nearly missed the band’s first headlining show at Madison Square Garden has also been transcribed:

Navarro:  “It was the biggest show of our lives  at that time… Jane’s Addiction playing Madison Square Garden was a f*cking big deal because alternative bands didn't fill places like that back then. So of course Eric [Avery] and I needed to get good and high before the show so we took a cab to Alphabet City which at that time was really dangerous. That's where you would score heroin and get street drugs… So we scored dope and we do it and kinda nod out for a little while and we come to and I’m like ‘bro, we got a show tonight’ and it’s 20-minutes before start time and we’re nodded out in Alphabet City.  There's no cell phones, no computers, nobody knows where we are and all we know is 20-minutes from the biggest show of our lives. So we find a cab, get to Madison Square Garden and nobody would let us in!”  

"Back then we just looked like punks and nobody would let us in… So we went around the back and talk our way down to this gate and we’re f*cking loaded and everyone is freaking out. The circus is in town during this time and when they have other events they put all the circus sh*t down below. So we’re running down underneath Madison Square Garden, at this point we’re 15-minutes late and so high and nobody knows where we are and we realize and we’re running by Tigers, and elephants, all the cages of the circus animals down there.  There’s wild animals screaming and clawing at their cages at us and we thought we were gonna die. It was the most surreal thing going from street-junky high gutter-hype life, to being all of a sudden surrounded by wild animals that we didn't know were there. And so, to wrap it up, we end up making the show, we end up playing and don’t remember a single thing except everything preceding it.”   

Listen to Backstaged Episode 6: Heroin - Absolute Evil Vol.2 now at this location.