The hardest thing Joe Walsh ever had to do: “An awful lot of my buddies died”
Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh has lived in the fast lane and played up to the rock ‘n’ roll stereotype. For many years, he was always the last to leave the party, which, somewhat miraculously, didn’t negatively impact his career. Walsh didn’t fit the bill of a stereotypical addict, but at one stage, he knew his behaviour could no longer continue.
While the music industry is becoming a healthier place, in Walsh’s heyday, hedonism was an unavoidable part of the job description. For many touring artists, it remains easier to get alcohol than it is a warm meal, and many musicians find themselves slipping into cycles of dependency. Tragically, there have been countless casualties and talented artists who have been robbed of their lives due to addiction.
Thankfully, Walsh was able to spot that he’d developed a problem and managed to clean up his act before it was too late. However, it was far from an easy road, and despite facing many challenges in his life, none have been more difficult than his journey to sobriety.
With Walsh, unlike some, it wasn’t as simple as turning off a switch and never touching another drop of alcohol or substance again. Looking back on his darkest hour, he told Billboard in 2018: “My higher power became vodka and cocaine. I burned all the bridges. Nobody wanted to work with me. I was angry. … I turned into this godless, hateful thing.”
He first began drinking to help him with stage fright, and the idea of performing stone-cold sober was a terrifying proposition. However, in 1993, Walsh finally entered recovery after years of contemplation and has been sober since.
In Walsh’s head, his ability to perform and write music was intrinsically linked to intoxication, which left him believing his sobriety would put the curtains up on his career. Bravely, after being sober for close to 20 years, Walsh addressed his battle with addiction on the tender solo track ‘One Day At A Time’ in 2012.
Speaking to Rolling Stone about the deeply personal song, Walsh admitted: “For a long time my alcoholism and use of drugs was manageable. By that I mean I would hang out with people and they would say, ‘Well, you’re not so bad!’ But you know, it is a disease and the last two or three years of [my addiction] were terrifying.”
“It gets bad beyond your wildest imagination and then you crash and burn and then it gets worse than that. An awful lot of my buddies died before they hit bottom. I hit bottom before I died,” he added.
Walsh earnestly continued: “Getting sober was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Because alcohol had convinced me that I couldn’t do anything without it. And they say ‘one day at a time,’ but really it’s one thing at a time. You start with not knowing how to do anything sober and you just build up your toolbox.”
The title of ‘One Day At A Time’ is a mantra that Walsh learned in Alcoholics Anonymous, and if he didn’t live by this rule, the musician would likely not be here today. While he’s crafted many more well-known songs than this one, few are more important.
