Drugs and Rock and Roll

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Drugs and Rock and Roll

Beginning with the late 1960’s counterculture in San Francisco, music and drugs will forever be inter-linked. Hippie bands such as the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, and Phish are associated with marijuana, mushrooms, and LSD. Modern electronic “rave” , or club music is associated with MDMA or Ecstasy. When one thinks of rock and roll, sex and drugs immediately come to mind. While the use of drugs is not essential for the creation or performance of all new music, it was certainly in important factor for the counterculture music of the late 1960’s. While some of the most important and influential music was made with the help of psychoactive drugs, it was often to the detriment of the artist. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and countless other tremendously talented artists had their lives cut short due to drug use. Drugs were most often good for the music, but deadly for the music makers.

The general mindset of the 1960’s San Francisco scene is well summarized by Reebee Garafalo in his book Rockin’ Out: Popular Music in the USA when he states: “For the counterculture, the focus on mind-expanding drugs seemed to offer the possibility of greater self-awareness and consciousness, which would in turn lead to a world without war, competition, or regimentation.” The concept of expanding the mind in order to achieve a peaceful, utopian world naturally lends itself to the consumption of drugs. The image of half naked, marijuana smoking hippies dancing around in the park comes to mind when one thinks of the late 60’s Haight-Ashbury scene. Drugs help tremendously in creating an altered state, making one oblivious to the outside world. A great deal of the music was preaching peace, love,...

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...f her walking around on stage with a bottle of whisky, constantly taking swigs. Janis sums up the mindset of many in her song “Get it While You Can” when she sings, “...but then who cares, baby......cause we may not be here tomorrow.” It is a tragedy that she was taken from us so early in her career because of this mindset. Sadly this was to be the fate of many great musicians of the time. Drugs have and probably always will be connected in some way to the creation and consumption of music. While many musicians have paid the price of the use and/or abuse of drugs, the music that they have left behind is priceless.

Bibliography:

Bibliography

1. Garafalo, R. Rockin’ Out: Popular Music in the USA. Boston:

Allyn and Bacon, 1997. 217-237

2. Personal knowledge on the subject, and my collection of various

music from the time period.

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