It’s been 18 years since Travis Barker and Adam Goldstein walked away as the only survivors of a small plane crash in South Carolina, with the DJ, known as DJ AM, dying less than a year later from a drug overdose. The Blink 182 drummer has been speaking about the tragedy again lately, with a new documentary Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear hitting the 2026 movie calendar, and it’s simply heartbreaking to hear the pain he feels over losing his friend.
On September 19, 2008, Travis Barker, DJ AM and two friends — Barker’s assistant Lil Chris Baker and his security guard Charles “Che” Still — were on their way home from a show when their plane crashed on takeoff, killing Lil Chris, Che and both pilots. More than half of Barker’s body was burned, and he underwent dozens of surgeries in a long and painful recovery. It’s gutting to hear Barker recall how he and Adam Goldstein struggled, as he said on Anderson Cooper’s All There Is podcast:
It’s sort of like a wound that almost never heals. After my accident I had a lot of survivor’s guilt with my two friends and the pilots that passed. It was killing me, you know? My kids were so important to me. That was my rock. Just waking up and being as strong as I possibly could for them. And AM was suffering, because he wasn’t waking up with kids. He just went back to work.
Less than a year later — on August 28, 2009 — Adam Goldstein died of a drug overdose, taking away the only person who could relate to what Travis Barker had been through. The drummer said:
He was the only person. It was kind of hard to have anyone be able to relate. AM was sober for 15 years, and he was just so strong. I get to New York, I’m in a session, my drum tech comes and brings a computer. It’s like a TMZ article, and it’s like, ‘DJ AM passes away,’ and I was, like, I couldn’t believe it.
Travis Barker broke down in tears as he recalled finding out about yet another of his friends passing away. I can’t imagine the pain of losing so many people, especially the one person who understood Barker’s trauma. He continued:
I thought he was bulletproof, and now I’m the only survivor.
On the Louder Than Fear documentary, which is available to stream with a Hulu subscription, Travis Barker said it was “beyond difficult” to relate to anyone after he lost DJ AM. He said he poured all of his energy into being with his kids, Landon and Alabama Barker and Atiana De La Hoya.
While the Blink 182 rocker has since been able to get back on a plane, thanks to his wife Kourtney Kardashian, he and his children still struggle with a fear of flying. Travis Barker’s recovery, physically and emotionally, from the 2008 plane crash and DJ AM’s passing a year later are astounding, but this interview is a gut-wrenching reminder that those events will always live within him.
