Musicians who have (or may have?) Asperger's Syndrome.

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Bustduster
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09 Sep 2014, 8:57 am

How about Van Morrison? He certainly seems to be utterly absorbed in his music, and - career-wise - marches to the beat of his own drum regardless of what his audiences or record company expect from him. Judging by interviews I've read, he also seems to be pretty much uninterested in observing even the most basic social niceties, and has been this way throughout his career (rendering it unlikely that he's merely been spoilt by fame). I think he's an even likelier candidate than Bob Dylan.



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13 Sep 2014, 12:56 am

DeformedNostrils wrote:
mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:
Didn't Kurt Cobain have bipolar disorder?


There was something wrong with Cobain that can't be explained by either bipolar or ADHD; which Cobain was diagnosed with and are commonly co-morbid with Asperger's. His drug abuse also is semi-responsible for his behaviour in his later years. As a teenager he was intelligent, but performed poorly at school. He was unpopular and an outcast who was described as socially awkward. As a child he had an imaginary friend who he blamed everything on and eventually addressed his suicide letter to. It's from his early years that the most evidence for him being autistic can be drawn.

Did he actually have Asperger's? We'll never know, but there is enough evidence for it to be thought about.


The more I think about it, the more likely it seems Kurt Cobain may have been an aspie. I remember reading this interpretation of the song "Negative Creep" of of Nirvana's first album Bleach, and apparently it may have been about a girl Kurt Cobain tried to hook up with in high school. As the story goes, Kurt wanted to commit suicide, but he didn't want to die a virgin so he tried hooking up with this one girl everyone referred to as the "ret*d girl". He felt disgusted with himself afterwards, despite not hooking up with her, so that's where the inspiration for the song may have came from.



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13 Sep 2014, 3:11 pm

DeformedNostrils wrote:
Also, John Lennon DID NOT have Asperger's, he had Borderline Personality Disorder and Yoko Ono is obsessed with finding a cure to autism.


I am don't know if he was on the spectrum, he seemed quite comfortable with interviews and worldly but at other times quite naive. Ono herself seems to have more of the stereotypical traits quiet, in her own world, her music discordant.. If it was him or is her that might be the reason she is an Autism Speaks supporter http://www.autismspeaks.org/news/news-i ... ed-nations . That she would hide her's or his would make sense for somebody who hates it enough to want a cure.


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21 Oct 2014, 12:23 pm

So we're just naming musicians we like, then?


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24 Oct 2014, 6:15 am

DeformedNostrils wrote:
I'm posting in this thread for the first time in two months

Pete Townshend said John Entwistle had Asperger's and Roger Daltrey said Keith Moon had autism and savant capabilities. All of them were in the Who.

Daltrey is a curebie, and actually said "Keith was a savant, the most amazing mimic. He could vacuum a character off someone in 10 minutes and he would then become them. Not just a caricature, he'd get inside. It was scary! He may have been a little bit autistic; we didn't know about those things then. There was definitely something different in his head."

Certainly doesn't sound autistic, and if he was then that's somewhat inconsistent with Roger campaigning for a cure for autism - the people who made him famous would never have existed!

wrt. Entwistle, again a musician saying "I think he was a little bit Asperger's" is a lot different from him actually being autistic.

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Michael Jackson obviously had Asperger's. Though people say his childhood was responsible for his eccentricity, it should be noted none of his brothers turned out like him despite being raised in the same environment.

Wasn't Jackson the youngest and the biggest star, as well as the main target of his father's abuse?
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Kurt Cobain had a disturbed childhood, and no social skills at school. He was bullied and developed an obsession with punk rock. Also, depressive disorders are often co-morbid with Asperger's. He stated often how he never fitted in; his personality was erratic before he became a drug addict.

His wife was autistic, I think they'd have put the dots together. Again, "never fitting in" and "depression" and "being bullied" are all common amongst NTs.

Quote:
Also, John Lennon DID NOT have Asperger's, he had Borderline Personality Disorder and Yoko Ono is obsessed with finding a cure to autism.

I don't think Yoko is obsessed, she's just a patron of Autism Speaks.

I'm also not sure that diagnosis of BPD is accurate. BPD is pervasive and lifelong. Lennon had many periods of emotional stability where he didn't act impulsively, particularly the last five years of his life.



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24 Oct 2014, 10:25 am

It's hard to tell if somebody's autistic if you don't have daily contact with that person.



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26 Oct 2014, 12:49 pm

Going though my ipod, here is a list of other musicians I suspect may be autistic:

Alanis Morissette
Rufus Wainwright
Fiona Apple
Adele
The Beatles
Stevie Wonder
The Original Broadway Cast of Wicked
The Jackson 5
Avril Lavigne
Kelly Clarkson
Bob Dylan
Ella Fitzgerald
Diana Ross and the Supremes
American Idol season 4
Taylor Swift
Justin Bieber
Bruce Springsteen
Rebecca Black
Unknown Artist
Billy Idol
Oasis
The Shirelles
Joni Mitchell
Damien Rice
India.Arie
Various Artists
The Pussycat Dolls
Placido Domingo
Labrinth featuring Emile Sande
Lady Gaga
Kris Kristofferson


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Last edited by MadHatterMatador on 26 Oct 2014, 3:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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26 Oct 2014, 2:36 pm

MadHatterMatador wrote:
Going though my ipod, here is a list of other musicians I suspect may be autistic:

Alanis Morissette
Rufus Wainright
Fiona Apple
Adele
The Beatles
Stevie Wonder
The Original Broadway Cast of Wicked
The Jackson 5
Avril Lavigne
Kelly Clarkson
Bob Dylan
Ella Fitzgerald
Diana Ross and the Supremes
American Idol season 4
Taylor Swift
Justin Bieber
Bruce Springsteen
Rebecca Black
Unknown Artist
Billy Idol
Oasis
The Shirelles
Joni Mitchell
Damien Rice
India.Arie
The Pussycat Dolls
Placido Domingo
Labrinth featuring Emile Sande
Lady Gaga
Kris Kristofferson


Only Lady Gaga and Bob Dylan are likely candidates. The Pussycat Dolls, Rebecca Black, Justin Bieber, and several others are as neurotypical as it's possible to get.


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26 Oct 2014, 5:25 pm

Kurgan wrote:
MadHatterMatador wrote:
Going though my ipod, here is a list of other musicians I suspect may be autistic:

Alanis Morissette
Rufus Wainright
Fiona Apple
Adele
The Beatles
Stevie Wonder
The Original Broadway Cast of Wicked
The Jackson 5
Avril Lavigne
Kelly Clarkson
Bob Dylan
Ella Fitzgerald
Diana Ross and the Supremes
American Idol season 4
Taylor Swift
Justin Bieber
Bruce Springsteen
Rebecca Black
Unknown Artist
Billy Idol
Oasis
The Shirelles
Joni Mitchell
Damien Rice
India.Arie
The Pussycat Dolls
Placido Domingo
Labrinth featuring Emile Sande
Lady Gaga
Kris Kristofferson


Only Lady Gaga and Bob Dylan are likely candidates. The Pussycat Dolls, Rebecca Black, Justin Bieber, and several others are as neurotypical as it's possible to get.


I was just kind of making fun of the over-diagnoses in this thread. I think the only ones who have that many traits of ASD are Bob Dylan, Fiona Apple, and Taylor Swift, but even with them, I wouldn't go as far to say that they have it.


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18 Mar 2015, 10:27 pm

Josh Morgan - Drummer British Indie Rock act The Subways
NME 15 February 2015

I hope like Susan Boyle and Ladyhawke he will find coping strategies


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18 Mar 2015, 11:01 pm

Being autistic and being in the music industry don't seem conducive to one another, but I've done a lot of research on Kurt Cobain's personal life, and much of it has resonated with me. He was a guy who simply wanted to be a punk rocker, and he stuck out like a sore thumb in his ultra-conservative hometown, but when he got down to making music, he ended up being exploited by the music industry. I love his music, but I hate what the record industry did to him.



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19 Mar 2015, 4:08 pm

I also think Kurt Cobain was somewhat autistic, so were George Harrison and Syd Barrett.

Amongst living musicians I'm sure John Frusciante and Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) are too.



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19 Mar 2015, 4:47 pm

30400v wrote:
I also think Kurt Cobain was somewhat autistic, so were George Harrison and Syd Barrett.

Amongst living musicians I'm sure John Frusciante and Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) are too.


Poor old Syd (RIP) started out normal enough. It was the drugs that got him.

I still like him and listen to his wacky music from time to time. Still got his albums.


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30400v
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19 Mar 2015, 4:58 pm

Maybe he appeared "normal" until he couldn't anymore.



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19 Mar 2015, 5:26 pm

30400v wrote:
Maybe he appeared "normal" until he couldn't anymore.


Perhaps so. I'd like to think he was one of us.


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20 Mar 2015, 12:47 am

30400v wrote:
I also think Kurt Cobain was somewhat autistic, so were George Harrison and Syd Barrett.

Amongst living musicians I'm sure John Frusciante and Richard D. James (Aphex Twin) are too.


I think Kurt Cobain might still be alive today if he were diagnosed autistic and he pursued therapy. That said, he did run away from rehab shortly before his death, so therapy may not have helped. :(

It's funny you mention that, because I've been listening to a lot of Aphex Twin lately. Richard D. James doesn't exactly strike me as being an aspie, though he's definitely a bit eccentric. :P I'd also say he's an underrated musical genius, probably just as talented as, if not moreso, than Trent Reznor.