Best to Ever Do It

 Legendary D.J. dies of an Overdose

By: Dean Pizarro

            On August 28 th, 2009, Philadelphia-born Adam Goldstein--otherwise known as the legendary disc jockey D.J. AM -- died of a Oxycontin overdose in his New York City apartment at 5:20 a.m. He recently gained headlines along with friend/collaborator/Blink-182 drummer, Travis Barker, after surviving a Learjet plane crash in West Columbia, South Carolina, while they were heading to Los Angeles for a performance. Travis and AM were the only surviving people on the plane, leaving four dead, including 2 who were friends of theirs.

Growing up in Pennsylvania, D.J. AM – then Adam Goldstein, went through an abusive household, due to his father, who was struggling with both an alcohol and heroin addiction. He would later be sent to jail for armed robbery, before dying of AIDS.

When his father was arrested, Adam started to develop a crack-cocaine addiction of his own. While still performing for parties and clubs, according to his mother, he would smoke an incredible, sometimes lethal amount. Adam realized it was serious when he tried to attempt suicide in 1997, but failed due to the failure of the gun going off. His mother later sent him to rehab, and AA meetings.

While sobering up, he started to build a following with his mixtapes. Combining rock with rap with house/dance music, he made a killing off of his tapes and later released the first out of only two, the “Fix Your Face Vol. 1” tape. Brilliantly combining songs from artists such as; Oasis and Michael Jackson, Foo Fighters and Prince, all while still putting the house/dance music together. He also became a fixture in the Hollywood/ Los Angeles club circuit.

D.J. AM became a household name in the club scene and the music scene in the 2000’s, while both producing songs for the likes of Will Smith, Madonna, and Papa Roach. He also dee-jayed concerts for Jay-Z and countless events for Hollywood stars like Leonard DiCaprio, Jim Carrey and Ashton Kutcher. He was also seen on the 2008 MTV Music Awards with Travis Barker as the house band, with AM putting on hit records and Travis pounding away at the drums to provide for the beat.

 Eventually he started to develop a long-term relationship with actress Nicole Richie, and soon after proposed to her, before calling it off in 2006. Then he would later hook up with Mandy Moore and remained close to her until his untimely death.

Then on February of 2009, AM and Travis Barker along with two close friends boarded a Learjet headed to Los Angeles after a performance at a university in South Carolina. Reportedly, the tire of one of the plane’s wheels blew out while on the runway and then skidded and crashed onto the edge of a South Carolina highway. Both Travis and AM suffered 2 nd to 3 rd degree burns. They were later hauled off to a hospital in Augusta, Georgia.

After months of rehabilitation, Travis and AM decided to form a duo called TRV$DJAM, and made the now-classic tape, and second installment to the “Fix Your Face” series. With Travis performing the backbeat to the records, AM used records from artists such as The White Stripes, Metallica, Queen, +44 and even early 90’s R&B trio Bell-Biv-Devoe.

While on the wave of success of “Fix Your Face Vol. 2”, D.J. AM started getting back into his drug habit, only this time with prescription pills given to him for his post-traumatic stress disorder, and pains from his scarred body, due to the plane crash. On August 25 th he bought an apartment in Manhattan where he could live for the time being. Three days later, police found him laid out on his bed, with a crack pipe under his body, and two empty bottles of Oxycontin. Autopsy searched him and stated that he had died of an overdose, due to him consuming 9-12 pills, including one lodged in his throat.

Reactions and mourning of his death rang loud in the Hollywood community. Everyone from Diddy, to Lindsay Lohan responded via Twitter and other publications. He still remains a huge fixture both on the club and music scene alike, and also a sad example of drug abuse.