Billy Joel is revealing he tried heroin in the ‘70s during an interview with Howard Stern at New York City’s The Cutting Room as part of the Billy Joel Town Hall event.
The event featured covers of his songs by artists such as Tony Bennett and Melissa Etheridge. He spoke to Stern about some personal topics though, such as experimenting with drugs.
“This was back in the late ’70s I think. We were in Amsterdam, and there was all this stuff going on, so I said, ‘Let me see what this is like,’ ” he explained, Rolling Stone reports.
He added that he discovered quickly that he didn’t like it and he even got “sick” from it.
“It got me so high I didn't know how to deal with it. You just get way out, just go to another place, and you're into the blues. All you want to hear is the blues. You start drooling, and you get sick,” he said.
Fox News reports the episode inspired his song “Scandinavian Skies” from 1982, which includes lyrics like “sins of Amsterdam.”
Also during the event, Joel talked about going to Woodstock when he was 20. He specifically went there to see Jimi Hendrix but soon found out how “primitive” it was.
“I was 20. I stayed for about a day and a half," he said. "I wanted to see Hendrix, but then I needed to use the bathroom facilities, and the [toilets] were pretty primitive. I think you had to do acid to stay there for three days. [And] I didn't get laid."