Do the Demons Make the Man?

In the past few weeks, addiction seems to be a recurring theme in my life.  Between the show I'm binge watching for January and a death in a close friend's family, it seems to keep popping up.  Most notably in my conscious though is the oral biography of Warren Zevon that I just finished.  Warren Zevon is an artist who was on the periphery of my consciousness for a long time, but I've recently gotten more into his work.  His music is literate and heartfelt and often heartbreaking.  Reading about his life, the songs take on even more meaning.  Warren Zevon was an alcoholic.  I mean a real deal, can't stop, hurt everyone you love alcoholic.  When he got clean, his eccentricities took over.  He was OCD and generally kind of an asshole.  But in the end, he wrote and performed some great music.  His peers and friends held him in high regard, even knowing his issues as a person.

So how did his demons, both with addiction and mental issues, shape the music he wrote?  Would he have had the vision to create such great songs if he was just a normal, run of the mill guy?  I've been kicking this around in my head and I can't see how his trials and tribulations couldn't have contributed to the man and his music.  While it must have hurt both himself and those around him, Warren Zevon wouldn't have been Warren Zevon if he didn't struggle with what he did and put those around him through the tribulations he did.  He was undoubtedly a smart person, maybe a genius.  How can a genius deal with the real world and rest of us, knowing how much more is inside him?  Some find the way, but some don't.  You can't excuse some excesses, but in the end, we have to be grateful for what we got out of the deal.  The world would be a lesser place without Muhammad's Radio.