Li Bai was known for 1) being brilliantly creative while drunk 2) pissing off government officials while drunk and 3) drowning because he was so damn drunk. He is, incidentally, also the most famous and celebrated poet in Chinese history, his fame roughly on par with Mozart or Beethoven for European classical music.
Jimi Hendrix pushed back all kinds of barriers by being a tremendously successful black American guitarist, and then died from asphyxiation while choking on his own drunken vomit. If that doesn’t win you a drunk prize, I don’t know what does.
I associate Hendrix more with LSD and barbituates more than alcohol but he was a rock star so what do you expect. I never really thought of it as barrier breaking that he was a successful African American guitarist, interesting to think of it that way. I always considered him barrier breaking in the manner he played his instrument. He was practically a master of his craft, albiet a sloppy and intoxicated one. There’s always the question of where he could have gone with that talent.
Well, he couldn’t get a break in Manhattan, so he got signed away by a UK producer to make his debut in UK. He becomes famous in the UK, returns to the States, and <i>then</i> he’s instantly popular. So why couldn’t a poor black musician get recognition in Manhattan, but enjoy instant success in London? Maybe it was just bad luck, but it doesn’t look like he was unsuccessful at the time due to a lack of talent.
I was saying that Churchill’s drunken heroism is even more glorious in light of the evidence that Hitler seemed to be dry. Although that is perhaps just another aspect of the faux-ascetic image he fostered for himself. As for Mao, I believe he was literally a chain-smoker 24 hours a day, whatever you think of his accomplishments, which were grand, however much one may disagree with him. And what does anyone have against Ataturk?
Edgar Allen Poe essentially invented the modern genre of mystery, and opened our eyes to science fiction and horror.
That was basically my point. Whatever the bizarre cognitive phenomenon Poe caused for the French must validate his existence, but I can only think of him as analogous to The Cure for jr. high school students.
Actually, by the 1960s, poor black musicians had a pretty good record in Manhattan.
This drunk guy competed with dolphins to eat raw fish and lived to tell the tale! Clearly better than a minor Li Bai/Po/choosearomanisationsystemalready poet who couldn’t even find the moon on a river.
This was one of the most popular ways for rock stars to die. Especially mixed with drugs.
I am well aware of Mao’s apparent atrocities or what have you. I am also one of the furthest things possible from a Communist. However, his acheivements are of a mind-boggling magnitude and he was a massive smoker. That’s all.
ANthony Hopkins once got so drunk he believed himself to be John the Baptist
Hopkins’ Tequila Hallucinations
Sir Anthony Hopkins became so hooked on alcohol he suffered severe hallucinations. The Oscar winner has been clean and sober for 30 years after battling alcoholism. During darker times, in the early 1970s, Hopkins developed a particular penchant for strong Mexican spirit tequila - which stirred up strange side-effects. He says, “I was really sort of on a prolonged acid trip. I saw things and had peculiar quasi-religious experiences. I thought I was John The Baptist, and I would talk to the sea at Malibu and the sea would talk back to me. It was weird.”
