Musical Performance Enhancing Drugs

spudmaster34 · #1 02-01-2007, 03:03 PM

I came up with this MMesque thread idea while sitting in class today not paying attention.

If there were drugs that could do to musicians what steroids do to athletes, would you use them? If there were pills that could let you play better, or faster or more in tune, or something like that, and they were not illegal/rediculously expensive, would you use them?

I could come up with some major arguments in both directions:

It wouldn't really be that different than practicing alot, it is just a way to be a better player.

When you do something like that, you really arn't playing, the medicine is.

So, would you use them?

jady · #2 02-01-2007, 03:27 PM

Yes but I would make sure to have a clean roadie to provide urine for the pre-show piss test.

Spoiled Grape · #3 02-01-2007, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jady

Yes but I would make sure to have a clean roadie to provide urine for the pre-show piss test.

Win.

OP: In order to make this a real debate, you have to give the drug a con, or at least describe it more. Does it "think" for you? Does it just help you perform the physical part of playing music?

I wouldn't want anything to do the mental part for me, but sometimes during the 3rd set I start to wish there was a drug to do the physical part.

spudmaster34 · #4 02-01-2007, 03:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoiled Grape

OP: In order to make this a real debate, you have to give the drug a con, or at least describe it more. Does it "think" for you? Does it just help you perform the physical part of playing music?

the con would really be the fact that it is kind of lying to use it. I could record myself playing something rediculously difficult, but played at 1bpm, then speed it up on a computor. If I posted that, it would seem like I was alot beter than I am, but it would be lying to all of you. If you took these drugs, you would kind of be lying to your audience by pretending to be that good, when it is just the drugs making you that way.

Matt Till · #5 02-01-2007, 03:47 PM

Isn't that stuff called LSD?

Steroids shrink your penis and make you go bald... will this happen to me if I take magic music steroid drugs? If so, no thanks.

I get what you're saying, "You won't really earn it." But if you use it to create better music instead of winning contests (ie, most home runs) should we really care? If music (or sports) were approached as an artform instead of a chance to flex your musical muscle (OMG, running through scales at 2093BPM!!), I think it would be cool. But if these were real, all that would happen is we'd see like 4000 Dream Theater tribute bands pop up overnight.

spudmaster34 · #6 02-01-2007, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Till

But if you use it to create better music instead of winning contests

We all like to think of music as an art form rather than a contest, but in reality it is a contest. You compete for the gigs, the albums, the fans. The beter band gets the beter things and makes more money. It is a contest.

Jeremy Crockett · #7 02-01-2007, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spudmaster34

The better band gets the better things and makes more money.

I'm betting that the Monkees made more money than Return to Forever.

a.green.martian · #8 02-01-2007, 07:10 PM

I voted carrots, mostly because it would completely depend on what side-effects I'd be looking at.

tplyons · #9 02-01-2007, 07:28 PM

I do. It's a multivitamin high in B6 & B12.

BassGod · #10 02-01-2007, 08:47 PM

Damnation. I saw the thread title and got excited, thinking it was real. "Finally, some talent" I said to myself.

Graeme

Matt Till · #11 02-01-2007, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spudmaster34

We all like to think of music as an art form rather than a contest, but in reality it is a contest. You compete for the gigs, the albums, the fans. The beter band gets the beter things and makes more money. It is a contest.

No, not really. Unless you enter with the concern of "I'm in this to make money." If that was my thoughts on the subject, I'd join a ****** emo band. Music is only a contest if you make it a contest.

Some people play baseball for the fun/sport of baseball... some enter it to make money/break records. See what I'm saying? It's possible to approach music/sports strictly from an artistic point of view.

markjazzbassist · #12 02-01-2007, 11:47 PM

No. All natural here. The funk's in my fingers and soul, it ain't in no pills or herb.

tplyons · #13 02-02-2007, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markjazzbassist

No. All natural here. The funk's in my fingers and soul, it ain't in no pills or herb.

Unless you're like me, suffer from CTS and need the vitamins to keep my fingers moving. The funk is in the fingers and soul, the Vitamin B keeps 'em going and my mind flowing.

All_¥our_Bass · #14 02-02-2007, 02:17 AM

I voted carrots because even though I like wierd/math/prog concepts, I do aproach music as (strictly) an artform. Many bands that become popular aren't making art, they're making a product.

Not saying this is always the case but I bet music would be way different if it wasn't based around trying to make everyone like your band.