Dando: 'Drugs Good For Music'

American rocker Evan Dando became a drug addict because his childhood heroes were drug users and he wanted to emulate them.

The Lemonheads frontman, who became addicted to crack and heroin during the band's heyday in the 1990s, grew up believing drugs were the only way to find inspiration and has no regrets over his hedonistic excesses.

He says, "I don't regret any of the drugs I've taken.

"I don't endorse them, though. If you do them, make sure you do something creative or productive - 99 per cent of drug-taking is useless, but that one per cent...

"For me, almost all the people I really loved - (Samuel Taylor) COLERIDGE, (W B) YEATS, (JOHN) COLTRANE, Miles Davis, James Brown, even Andy Warhol, although he was more of a drinker - took drugs, so by the time I was ten I knew I'd be taking them just to see if they would work any magic on me."