On his blog, “You And What Army,” Michael Azerrad lays to rest the drug rumors regarding the death of the man behind Morphine, Mark Sandman.

Morphine singer-bassist Mark Sandman died of cardiac arrest onstage in Palestrina, Italy, on July 3, 1999.  And that’s pretty much everything almost anybody knows about the circumstances of his death.  None of the accounts of the incident ever explained how such a thing could have happened to a vital 46-year-old man.  And so rumors started.

In light of the fact that there wasn’t any official word on why it happened, and the band, friends and family were too grief-stricken to talk, any explanation seemed to be fair game.  Maybe it was because Sandman was a rock musician, maybe because of his preternaturally laconic manner, maybe it was simply because his band was called Morphine, but some people jumped to the conclusion that drugs were involved.  If so, cocaine would be a good guess — too much and it stops your heart. Many musicians have died of cocaine-related heart attacks: the Pretenders’ James Honeyman-Scott, soul giant David Ruffin, Quiet Riot singer Kevin DuBrow, the Who’s bassist John Entwistle, and on and on. You could probably throw in comedians Chris Farley and Mitch Hedberg too.  It was an educated guess, but it was only that — a guess.

In the course of reviewing the upcoming documentary, Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story, I noted that the otherwise fine film doesn’t answer the most basic question surrounding Sandman’s demise, namely, why did it happen?  A work of long-form journalism about a man’s life should surely be a little more illuminating about his death.  It didn’t address, much less refute, the rumors.  I’ve since been in touch with Sandman’s former girlfriend Sabine Hrechdakian, who’s a friend of mine, and his former bandmate Dana Colley.  They’re keen to set the record straight, so I offered to tell their story.”

Read the entire story by clicking here.

On a personal note, Mark and I came to know each other back in the eighties and while I shared an occasional drink with him I never saw or knew of Mark doing drugs. I’d always hoped his sudden death wasn’t drug-related. Azerrad makes a compelling case that it was not.
 
Via YAWA
 
Previously on DM: Mark Sandman’s Cure For Pain

 
During my days of running a music venue in Manhattan, I had the pleasure of booking Boston band Treat Her Right, a hugely talented group that in retrospect was ahead of its time. Lo-fi, jazzy, bluesy, unhinged and punky, THR created music that oozed a kind of gritty sexuality.

Mark Sandman was in Treat Her Right and over the two years in the 1980’s that I spent time with Mark, I came to know him rather well. Mark was an avid reader of the beats, Bukowski, John Fante and harboiled writers like Raymond Chandler and Jim Thompson, the dark stuff. He also dug badass surrealists like Artaud and Rimbaud. It showed in the lyrics of his songs, which were miniature narratives of the darker side of modern life, fever dreams populated by broken-hearted lovers, alcohol and drugs. In his noirish tales of romance gone bad and the wreckage left in the wake of lives lived on the edge, the evil ways of the world were shot thru with glimmerings of sweet sex and black humor that gave one the sense that all was not hopeless. He could be very tender.

With his band Morphine, Mark continued to create a body of work that was remarkable in its musical and lyrical integrity. Sandman was a writer as gifted as those he admired. He was just hitting his stride as an artist of significant magnitude when he died of a heart attack at the very young age of 46. The night I learned of his death, I went to my bar and sat on a stool that Mark had sat on many years ago and I had a drink in his memory, a good Scotch…straight up. I recalled the way Mark talked, which was like he sang, deep and soulful, and what he said always mattered. Even his small talk was big. Words were a way out of the dark for Mark and his music was a cure for pain.

Cure For Pain a documentary on Mark and his music has been completed and will soon be released. I’m looking forward to it and so should you.
 

 
Here’s some raw video of Mark being interviewed:
 

 
Check out a very cool Treat Her Right video after the jump…