Sex, drugs 'n rock'n'roll' are synonymous with the music industry and the lifestyle it dictates to all who work within it.
Seemingly, each musician addict had their own drug of choice. Here are just some of the musicians who made drugs famous: Charlie Parker (heroin and alcohol), Elvis Presley (pain killers/downers), the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards (heroin), Marianne Faithful (morphine), Jimi Hendrix (a bit of everything), James Brown (PCP aka angel dust), Sting (cocaine), Kurt Cobain (heroin), Whitney Houston (crack cocaine) and Courtney Love (pain killers/downers).
In South Africa, we have had our share of junkies in the music industry.
Our prime example is Brenda Fassie whose appetite for destruction knew no bounds. Drugs claimed her life at the tender age of 39.
Stars like Mandoza, Kabelo, Lundi, Springbok Nude Girls guitarist Theo Crous and Hugh Masekela have all been to rehab. However, it is common knowledge within the entertainment industry that drug usage is widespread.
Crous has been clean for nearly two years: "The problem is that at the gigs almost everybody around you uses it. So it becomes the norm. However what the drug users don't see is that when the drug abuser goes home, he continues to use the drugs and the alcohol."
"And now that I don't do drugs and alcohol I find it difficult to be at party or gig environment."
Rob McLennan of the now defunct No Friends of Harry concurs. The Harries, as they were affectionately known by their fans, were one of the top rock bands in South Africa for 12 years.
Says McLennan: "It's easy for musicians to get into the drug routine. First of all when you're famous, there is an abdication of responsibility. We are always pampered. Secondly, people always want to hang around the famous and their easy way in is to offer free drugs."
"Then, of course, there are the extreme highs and lows to deal with. One night you may walk off the stage after a big gig and feel brilliant and get to party with the cool people. The next night it's a bad gig and you use that excuse to drown your sorrows."
"No one is going to try to impress you by offering you a line of coke if you're head of an accounting firm. But the artist is at the top of the social pyramid!"
Kabelo echoes similar sentiments speaking about his lifestyle pre - and post rehab: "I used to move with a crew. But now that I'm clean I am a loner."
Bra Hugh, however, has a different take on the issue.
"Musicians are perceived as having a problem with drugs and alcohol because they are always in the spotlight whereas South Africa is an addictive society. Musicians are the scapegoats for South Africa."
"The sad thing is that we are a nation in denial," he claims. "I don't believe there is one family in this country that is not affected by alcoholism, drug addiction or HIV and Aids. And we hide all of this. Until we accept that we are one of the most addictive societies in the world nothing will be done. We are right up there with Russia."
"Everyone does it, from the top echelons of our society - and I'm talking politicians to business people. Excessive drinking is considered cool. But it's all done surreptitiously."
Bra Hugh believes it all began in the bad old days when black people were not allowed to buy alcohol.
"It became a form of protest during the prohibition days and then became entrenched in black society. Not that alcohol doesn't play a big part in white society."
"Also in every society where there is conflict there is a high incidence of substance abuse. And why should we be any different?"
"By the time I became a musician I was already an alcoholic. It was just a matter of time before I got into drugs."
Masekela speaks of the loneliness that occurs when you reach rock bottom as a substance abuser. He lost everything before he climbed back up again. After rehab he started the Musicians and Artists Programme of South Africa, which will hopefully save artists going down a similar root to Bra Hugh.
However, while substance abuse and the rock'n'roll lifestyle still go hand in hand, other sectors of South African society may be dancing to a similar beat.