Sad story.

It is easy to say it's self inflicted, but it is seldom that simple. It's easy to blame temptation, but the Rolling Stones, Motörhead and many many others have made more money, and probably faced (and given into) more temptation, and they still put on a good show every time. It is easy to blame exploitation, but you let yourself become vulnerable to exploitation. It's easy to blame the drink, but all the drink does is sit there in a bottle until someone decides to drink it.

I've had dealings with alcoholics, and you cannot cure them by meaning well, and if you try to help them, they try to drag you into their world. Whether or not it is a "disease" or "condition" is semantics as far as I'm concerned. It is an unpleasant and destructive phenomenon, whatever you choose to call it.

I've been to gigs where the performer has been too drunk to put on a show. It is simply unacceptable.