How Keith Richards and Eric Clapton's 1970s Heroin Addictions Compared — and How Their Bands Coped

Both Keith Richards and Eric Clapton spent most of the 1970s deep in heroin addiction, but their paths diverged sharply on the legal front. Richards’s 1977 arrest in Toronto for heroin possession threatened him with life in prison, forcing him to kick the habit largely to stay out of jail. Clapton never faced that kind of public crash — his addiction was quieter, more internal, but arguably just as destructive to his health and output.

The Rolling Stones accommodated Richards by working around his unreliability. During sessions for Black and Blue and Some Girls, the band would record basic tracks without him, and he’d show up to lay down guitar parts when he was somewhat functional. They even built a portable studio at his house in Jamaica and later at his estate in England to keep him involved. Mick Jagger took more control of songwriting, but the band