1. Ringo Starr - Ringo started out with booze in the early 60s like everyone around him, since marijuana, cocaine, LSD, etc. were mostly unavailable and unknown then in England's rock culture . Although Ringo was in a band that became associated for a time with hallucinogenics, it's hard to imagine that this down-to-earth drummer really wanted to be taking any trips in his head, and he soon returned to booze. He drank heavily until the 80s, when after another blackout he checked into detox, as did his wife. Both Ringo and spouse have remained alcohol-free to this day.

2. Pete Townshend - Townshend went to an alcoholic support group in the late 70s, but he went to ask them to help out his drummer and friend, Keith Moon. They came back and told him that Moon wasn't the one with the problem, it was him. Townshend denied it, even though he had written an autobiographical song in 1975 called "However Much I Booze." He took to daily rowing exercises so he could continue to consume his bottles of brandy, his doctor telling him that the exercise was the only thing keeping him alive. His drinking nearly killed him in 1981 in France, where he had gone to help out on an Elton John record, and Townshend finally gave up alcohol. Looks like will now really will get old before he dies, which is as it should be.

3. Warren Zevon - Zevon was drinking heavily from his earliest days as a recording act, often drunk in the studio and falling apart on tour. A 1981 interview with Rolling Stone depicted him as a man with a serious drinking problem. He went into detox in the mid-80s and recorded a song about it in 1987 called "Detox Mansion." At least he got a song out of it.