10 Rock Stars That Almost Died On The Road

Rock and roll has never been known as the safest occupation in the world. The idea of going all around the world and just seeing if your body is able to handle the pressure is bad enough, and factoring in the amount of drugs and alcohol that you fill your spare time with certainly doesn’t help matters. Any rock star can find themselves in bad shape though, but these musicians seem to be flirting with the other side whenever they went on the road.

For all of the fun that comes with putting on a live show, every one of the tours that these acts went on had the potential to turn lethal at any moment. From faulty mechanics to the hectic life bringing them to the brink of destruction, every one of these musicians have some pretty bad memories, and more often also have the scars to show for all of their hard work.

Then again, some of those scars could be self-inflicted as well, and most of these guys weren’t taking proper care of themselves on tour, putting their entire nervous system through the ringer and barely being able to stand up straight half the time. The mantra of this lifestyle might be about sex, drugs, and rock and roll, but if you don’t use all of those in moderation, things were bound to spiral out of control really quickly.

From the moment that Tom Petty burst onto the music scene, he was never known to be the most dangerous rocker to ever hit the scene or everything. The sound of the Heartbreakers has always been more in line with traditional dad rock, and Petty was more than happy to serve up the classic rock and roll sound that his fans expected of him. Everyone gets into hijinx though, and Petty awoke one morning on a day off from touring surrounded by flames.

As the tour for Southern Accents was starting to wind down, two legs of the tour gave the Heartbreakers some downtime, with Petty crashing at his house in California with his family. Once the morning came though, Petty's house had caught on fire, with everyone in his family having to escape with nothing but their pajamas, as the rest of the band were showing up later that day for a barbecue. You can easily chalk it up to crossed wires, but Petty actually had a bounty on his head with this one.

After surveying the grounds, Petty was a victim of arson, with someone going around the house with lighter fluid beforehand and setting the house on fire in an attempt to kill him. Petty stuck to his guns about not backing down though, soldiering on and taking the rest of his family out on tour with him as they figured out how to find a better place to live. There's always the fear that comes after you survive assassination, but if you give in to that kind of fear, that means they win.