Musicians who have (or may have?) Asperger's Syndrome.

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Gary Numan is actually how I found out about AS. I read an article where he talked about it and thought "wow, that sounds like all the stuff I deal with." From there I just started researching it.

Now his lyrics take on a whole new meaning for me. "Cars" was always my least favorite of his songs, but now I realize that "cars" is just a metaphor. About half the songs on the Pleasure Principle are about social isolation.

"Me, I Disconnect from You" from Replicas. I guess that one is kinda self explanatory.

Just find it kinda fascinating that he wrote these songs before he knew about AS, and I related to them before I knew about it.

Also I think Nick Drake may have had AS. He rarely performed live, and became more and more withdrawn, to the point that he barely even spoke to his parents. I've read a bio about him and there may have been more to it than that.

Anyway, feel like im just rambling here, almost deleted this, oh well.

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Matt Bellamy (muse) I have been observing him for a while in everything he has done interviews etc. what people who have worked with him say and I believe that he probably has AS or ADHD. not saying he has anything for certain but I would not be surprised at all if he does.

Surprised that no one here has mentioned J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. To me he comes off as the ultimate Asperger's posterchild- VERY monotone voice, flattened affect, not a lot of eye contact, kind of lives off in his own little world, etc. There's a book I own on the 80s American underground called Our Band Could Be Your Life that has a chapter in it on Dinosaur Jr, and one of the things they mentioned was how during J's college years he would always sit around by himself in the cafeteria making sculptures out of his food. Sounds like definite Aspie behavior to me, and I'm pretty sure there were other things they mentioned that had me wondering as well. I know he's straight edge which would rule out drugs, so there's gotta be at least something going on there.

Watch this and you'll see what I mean:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yq3mKEJsltI[/youtube]

Another one I've always wondered about is Greg Ginn of Black Flag, who if memory recalls from reading Our Band Could Be Your Life was obsessed with ham radios as a kid and had a business selling ham radio parts. The general consensus among the people interviewed about him in the book was that he was kind of aloof and distant and a tough guy to read. I've also seen a couple interviews of him and he seemed a bit stiff and awkward and unsure of what to do with himself. Just my impression...

[insert names of favorite dead musicians/ composers here]

[insert persuasive argument that listed names are aspies based on theoretical, non-empirical evidence]

[bask in the warm, beautiful belief that my favorite musicians/ composers are neurologically similar to myself]

There are 25 responses to this, but I wonder if anyone mentioned Ladyhawke. She has not only admitted to having Asperger's, but wrote a few songs about it on her second album.

it wouldn't surprise me at all if Elliott Smith had Asperger's syndrome

It's a well-known fact that Gary Numan is an aspie. I'm having trouble thinking of any others though. It just doesn't seem that being a popular musician is something that would be conducive to having Aspergers. I know that a lot of rock stars hate the massive amounts of attention they receive and become reclusive as a result, though I could see this happening to virtually anyone who has thousands of screaming fans.

Thinking about it now, Maynard James Keenan may be an aspie, and Micheal Jackson may have been as well.

Does anyone have a list of musicians who have been confirmed to have AS/HFA, or at least have self-diagnosed? I would love to see it.

Nobody was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 1967--you could count on that!

I don't believe the diagnosis existed until 1994.

Asperger's work was only known in exclusive academic-psychological circles until about the 1980s.

Perhaps Courtney Love was diagnosed with something like "Minimal Brain Dysfunction" or "brain injury," as I was in the early 1960s.