Are people just intoxicated all the time?

[antfarm]

 

[matthewbrown]

Yeah, make sure you call out guys specifically. Nice work!

It gladdens my heart that Coltrane sobered up. The world is a better place when people can turn their lives around.

 

[Jogobass]

Speaking from experience, substance use is connected to wanting to escape from whatever ails them in the moment. Unfortunately some substances cause ailments, for which it is then needed to use more of it. I have had my bouts with alcohol and weed. But what really helped me was getting back to playing with a band. I don't show up drunk or stoned at rehearsals and gigs. I wouldn't feel safe doing that. What if something goes wrong musically? Then the fingers will be pointed at me. But after the rehearsal I like to get intoxicated and listen to the great music we played.

Like with anything in life, moderation is key. And having something to live for is the next best thing because it prevents the need to add something to an otherwise empty life. Most people with addiction need purpose. And a life that they don't have to escape from. If you need to get drunk every weekend you may have to look at the job you have. Because something you do every day shouldn't be something that you need to recover from in the weekends.

(I am using You in the general sense, not aimed at anyone in this thread)

 

[KevInDaBassment]

ah yes, that famously culturally out-of-touch group, youth

Up to date on or driving what's popular? Yeah, they most certainly are, but "popular" doesn't always mean "good" (or bad either). Just like heart disease is common, but not normal.

There's a reason many folks (self included) look back on their previous musical tastes and want to cringe. I would sooner take a punch to the face than sing anything that came out of Fred Durst's mouth in Limp Bizkit today (Mad respect for the musicians in the band though). That and wanting the Ibanez K5 are things I must shoulder the blame for supporting

 

[Iristone]

(1) the most common or well-known music of an era is often not the same as the best;
(2) it's never a good idea to drink alcohol or take drugs recreationally.

 

[DaveMFM]

I was gonna write good songs, but then I got high.
They'd make people want to sing along, but then I got high.
Now everything I write sounds wrong, because i got high, because I got high, because I got high.

If anyone here has not looked at the recent Afroman legal saga, you're in for a treat. The courtroom videos are superb.

 

[iqi616]

IMHO the ratio of crap to quality is fairly constant through the decades
It's the longevity of quality that creates the impression of "less good music now"

This ^^^^

Personal taste is heavily involved. We tend to remember "our" music and forget the rest. For example, I paid very little attention to heavy rock or prog rock in the late 70s - there was so much great new music coming along in the UK and that stuff seemed so dated. Of the rockers, only Queen, Pink Floyd, and Motorhead seemed to have kept their finger on the pulse.

Of course, now I can go back and cherry-pick the good stuff from those other genres and ignore all the songs that only true fans could love!

 

[mambo4]

I recently confirmed that certain intoxicants diminish my skills as a bassist.
It was fun but it was less-than-good.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I like Fall Out Boy and couldn't tell you the last time I had a beer.

 

[BassicJazzy]

The phrase 'correlation does not imply causation' comes to mind here. I know people who are stone sober all the time who have horrible taste in music in terms of what they listen to. I also know people who play badly while sober... and even worse when they drink or use other substances. Then there are people who play brilliantly who never touched anything... Frank Zappa comes to mind. In short - it's impossible to make a blanket statement like that. There's TONS of nuance to be considered.

Brad Mehldau, one of the most innovative and unique pianists in modern jazz, was a barely functional heroin junkie when he was making some of his most celebrated records in the mid 90s.... and he played on a lot of other peoples' records while deep in his heroin phase as well. I would have never known it at the time. Brad later detailed that journey in his memoir he published a few years ago. His drug abuse stemmed from emotional trauma and crushing self esteem issues, and not even the height of world tours with some of the best jazz players around filled that void.

So no - not everyone is walking around stoned, drunk, or high all the time. Alcohol sales are at their lowest point in decades. Cannabis use is definitely up, because it's used for a lot of purposes other than just getting high. That said, we are in a very volatile time where unemployment is rising due to AI killing off jobs on all levels, income inequality is increasing homelessness and homes are out of reach for many new homebuyers, people are drowning in debt trying to keep up, rent is through the roof, and almost every consumer safety net and protection is being eroded, and health care is virtually unobtainable outside of full time employment (the biggest scam ever). So yeah.... people might just be a little stressed and are self-soothing on some levels. Welcome to America.

Getting back OT --> Speaking only for myself, I have never heard any recording from the days when I used to drink that makes me believe alcohol makes anyone play better. I listen back to gigs from 15-20 years ago with certain bands and remember how many beers in I would be, and I can definitely tell on the recording. I was always the most sober one on stage, and major mistakes were rare, but it was the little things with feel and execution that I know would have been better had I been sober. There were also bands I played with, especially in sub situations, where I would never drink. There's one record I made in early 2021 as we were coming out of COVID that I can't listen to because I instantly remember how hung over I was for 2 of the 3 sessions. Would someone notice listening to it? Probably not. The playing isn't bad... but I know it could have been better. Stuff like that.

I quit drinking on gigs years before I quit drinking altogether. It's been 4.5 years since I gave it up totally and I don't regret it.

Back in college and for many years thereafter I only went to concerts if I had weed. I considered it a mandatory part of the experience. Smoking or drinking and playing did not work for me, ever, I could not remember my lines. I quit weed about 20 years ago, it just stopped being enjoyable, made me more tense rather than relaxed. I quit drinking hard liquor same time, switched to beer, and I these days only drink a couple beers on Sunday. Rest of the time I'm sober. I find that when I pick up the bass after even one beer my playing is not as tight, though I might enjoy it a little more. After two beers I get sloppy and it isn't enjoyable. That's time to enjoy some sports, or listen to some music.

I'm not passing judgement on anyone else, whatever works for you, do it. I'm old and have had to make adjustments. Plus, as Weird Al puts it "I already smoked all the weed and drank all the booze I needed for one lifetime."

 

[BassicJazzy]

I've known a number of Mormons.
I thought Mormons were all straight laced and Pepsi or coffee was a hard drug in their eyes.

I learned from them that meth is big in the Mormon community because it makes them busy workers
I've known lawyer who shoot up H, doctors who party, I've had several dentists offer me large bottle of nitrous.
I used to have a dealer who supplied cops and the D.A. office
Muslims say it's against their religion to use drugs, but chew khat.

Yes, everyone gets intoxicated. It's just a matter of what they use.

I had a girlfriend back in late 90's whose sister had been a heroin addict, and when she told me I expressed shock, because she seemed completely normal, was beautiful, had a great job, and was married to a doctor. Her reaction to my expressed shock was immediate anger, and I got a severe dressing down, verbal lashing. She said "you know nothing, do you know how many people are completely functional heroin addicts, and you pass them on the street in their business suits!" Nothing I ever did or said made her as mad. I had no idea, only thought of the junkies I see lying in the street.

 

[JazznFunk]

I had a girlfriend back in late 90's whose sister had been a heroin addict, and when she told me I expressed shock, because she seemed completely normal, was beautiful, had a great job, and was married to a doctor. Her reaction to my expressed shock was immediate anger, and I got a severe dressing down, verbal lashing. She said "you know nothing, do you know how many people are completely functional heroin addicts, and you pass them on the street in their business suits!" Nothing I ever did or said made her as mad. I had no idea, only thought of the junkies I see lying in the street.

You highlighted a very important point about perception and messaging as it pertains to drug use. The really ironic thing is that drug use is often demonized and labeled as a problem for people who are low-income, lazy, often are minorities, etc. 'Those people are the problem. They should just pick themselves up by their bootstraps, get clean, and stop being a burden on society.' You get the picture.

The reality is that some of the heaviest drug users are the wealthy... and they can afford the best drugs. Some of the worst cocaine and hard drug users I've encountered were people who were financially very well-off. It's part of the hypocrisy of how anti-drug laws and messaging are created and passed, because it often ignores and bypasses the drug abuse by some of the very people who often champion and help create those laws. 'Rules for thee but none for me' sorts of things.

 

[BassicJazzy]

Are people more intoxicated now thatn the era of Studio 54 or the Summer of 69?

If you focus non the people around the music scene, perhaps. Studio 54 was the elite, people with lots of $$$. Fancy designer drugs, MDA (pre-Ecstacy), coke, lots of booze, probably heroin. Summer of 69 was weak weed, ludes, acid, cheap wine, heroin.

Now, we have everything. Legal super-weed, fentanyl, meth, yikes!

 

[JazznFunk]

Now, we have everything. Legal super-weed, fentanyl, meth, yikes!

To be fair, none of those are actually legal, except for certain strains of marijuana, sold in State licensed dispensaries.

 

[lordradish]

I thought that all the music that was made after you graduate high school sucks. At least that's what I keep hearing.

That explains the crazy idea that 65 year old men somehow think Kiss is still cool.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Using drugs and drink may or may not make musicians play or sound better or worse.
But... It definitely makes musicians a pain in the @$$ to be in a band with.

 

[ColinR]

Intoxication is a waste of life. I have been fortunate to never have been dependent on it, not even close. I have been around many though who were and never was it a help, it was always a destroyer.

 

[Michedelic]

Intoxication is a waste of life. I have been fortunate to never have been dependent on it, not even close. I have been around many though who were and never was it a help, it was always a destroyer.

You don't have to be dependent on it, or overdo it, to enjoy it. There are also those who are intoxicated by other things, like power/authority.

 

[RichardW]

there are plenty of great musicians who were addicts or alcoholics and produced great music (I'm thinking of the famous story of James Jamerson laying down drunk on the floor and recording his line for What's Going On), but their disease always gets them in the end (unless they get sober).

I've never played a gig drunk or stoned. Once or twice tried playing or jamming after a couple of tokes. I was useless. No thanks.

 

[sean_on_bass]

Define good music? Until you can do that it would be hard to really answer the original question.