Skip to main content

Drugs & Music

 When I got into rock and roll in High School some of my classmates, teachers and even family members assumed I did drugs. I listened to classic rock, wore beads, tye dye shirts...but I didn't do any drugs. I found that to be a funny stereotype "because I like rock and roll I must also do drugs." I understood the whole "sex, drugs & rock n roll" thing, but rock and roll was my drug. In High School I was (like every teenager) going through tough times. I had plenty of opportunities to smoke pot, drink or do other drugs...but I simply wasn't interested. Rock and roll did all those things that I would imagine was like being on drugs.

 I was calm, happy, relaxed, and taken to another place. When I was a teen I was pretty straight edge and just didn't have room in my life for trying drugs. My mother already assumed I was doing everything bad so I didn't want to give her any reasons to think I was a bad kid. I was definitely not a bad kid, I sat alone often in the shade sketching dragons and Wookiees. I didn't date 'till I was 17, never snuck out of class; I was actually a really chill mature kid. It wasn't until I was 21 that I tried alcohol and marijuana. Drinking was fun, I later went to bar tending school and had a blast learning mixology.

 I tried marijuana for the first time in what I think is the best way. I was at home with a friend I trusted, and we had music playing. It was with that joint that I realized a lot of what I was told about drugs growing up in white suburbia was a lie. While I'm glad I didn't try drugs or alcohol until I was an adult, I found that it wasn't that big of a deal. All that "DARE" crap I was raised with suddenly became a joke. In my mid twenties, I came down with a mystery stomach problem, and medical marijuana was all I had for years to help my pain. So marijuana is more than just a drug for recreational purposes.

 I wont sit here and lie to you: drugs and alcohol do change the music experience. But you don't need drugs to get high. And you don't need drugs to create music. Steven Tyler once said "Rock and roll is the ultimate drug" and I happen to subscribe to that belief. Even now when I go to live concerts I rarely drink or smoke because I want to experience the raw natural high that is music. And being so drunk you get sick or forget concert details is no bueno.

 As an open pot smoker, even I resent the constant association between music and drugs. Music IS drugs. No doubt people like John Lennon and Paul McCartney were inspired by pot and acid (etc) when it came to creating music. Regardless though, those two men were talented singers, songwriters and musicians. This is just my two cents, I would never tell anybody what to do or how to live their life. But I would suggest whenever you choose to smoke pot or try drugs for the first time....YOU be ready (IF you are interested at all). Give it some thought and don't just give in to peer pressure. I think I've had a good experience because I waited until I was ready and did it on my own terms.
Labels:

Comments

Madison Frazier said…
I used to be hooked on speed when I was about 14. I also uses to drink when I was 11. I don't anymore. Haven't done any other drugs. Music really is a drug, and a healthy one too!
November 20, 2013 at 9:49 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The album art of Tommy by Mike McInnerney

 People often ask me what my favorite album is. Without much thought I am able to answer them. The Who's 1969 album "Tommy" is my favorite record of all time. The album artwork also happens to be my favorite. Recently I was thinking about the album and how it affected me in my life. I decided to look up the Tommy album art and was surprised that I was unable to find any of it. I could find the cover, but never all the album art inside. The Tommy CD comes with a booklet with lyrics and a series of different illustrations. But they weren't on the internet.   So this blog will be changing that! I just took out my CD booklet and scanned all the artwork. There are two versions of the cover, one featuring small images of their faces inserted into the gaps in the central sphere. The other is just the original work. Executives at The Who's record label insisted on having the band members pictured on the cover, so that's why there are two covers. Pete Tow...
1 comment
Read more

The Duck Walk

 In honor of Angus Young's birthday today I've posted a little bit about his famous stage moves which he channeled from Chuck Berry. Angus, of course had his own more erratic spin on the dance move and made it his own. Check out the difference... "A one-legged hop routine, and the "duck walk", which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk." I love this guy's "Duck walk tutorial". "Just follow these easy steps...literally."
Post a Comment
Read more

[REVISED] Eddie Vedder's voice, the most emulated voice in music history?

  Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder has one of the most distinct and emulated voices in contemporary rock music. I feel like I spent the entire 90's hearing alternative bands copying Eddie's singing style. Just to show you how many artists have been said to sound like Eddie Vedder throughout time; Creed's Scott Stapp, Fuel's Brett Scallions, The Stone Temple Pilot's Scott Weiland, The Calling's Alex Band, Soundgarden's Chris Cornell, Lifehouse's Jason Wade, and some say Nickelback's Chad Kroeger have a similar sounding voice (don't shoot the messenger). And probably more than I can remember.  When I continued to look into this stream of vocals that sounded the same, I came upon a quite obvious realization. Whether they know it or not, they are actually emulating Jim Morrison. It also makes sense that Eddie later played with the remaining Doors members and inducted them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This singing style wasn't just ho...
1 comment
Read more