Are people just intoxicated all the time?

[JazznFunk]

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.

Some people create great music despite the substance in question for sure. The point of no return though is when you can't create WITHOUT whatever substance it may be. Charlie Parker was a prime example. He'd struggle until he copped some heroin, then came back and tore the roof off the joint.

 

[wboyd68]

I have been a consistent user of cannabis for 44 years and I've always found it to be a life enhancing experience. From 2002-2010 I drank way too much on stage and that was a problem. Now I limit myself to no more than a beer per set and I am playing my best ever. I've never been high enough to like crappy music.

 

[MrAB4003]

I quit smoking weed at 29 and it has changed my life for the better! I wrote and recorded my first two albums practically under the influence of weed. The first one is really rough and the second one is rough by my current standards. However, I wrote and recorded my last two albums completely sober. Being sober has let me pay attention to the little details of each song better, including mixing, production, and making sure each instrument is flawless.

The only positive things that came from me smoking weed were learning about myself and my love of doom metal! I now listen to doom metal sober as "heavy, but chill" music.

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

Probably not. People in general are smoking and drinking a lot less than they were even 20 years ago - let alone 50+ years ago. But those are taking drugs now are more intoxicated because the drugs themselves are stronger than they used to be. Weed is a great example of this.

 

[BassicJazzy]

People in general are smoking and drinking a lot less than they were even 20 years ago - let alone 50+ years ago. But those are taking drugs now are more intoxicated because the drugs themselves are stronger than they used to be. Weed is a great example of this.

I'm almost 72 now. I remember when I was about 14 going on a golf weekend outing with my father and a group of perhaps 8 -10 business friends, most of who were either clients or suppliers of his business. We went to the Greenbrier in WVA. My dad rented a large suite and set up a bar at one end by a large round table. As soon as the group returned from the golf course they went to that table and began drinking and playing poker or gin rummy. The drinking and cards continued throughout the evening even after I went to bed in the next room. The next day, they'd get up, hit the course, return to the table thereafter. There were about 20 bottles of booze when we started and they were all empty by the end of the weekend.

This was typical business trip practice back then. Constant drinking and gambling. It's how business was done, at least in many industries.

I also remember a girlfriend when I was in my mid 20's, visiting her family house, and her father returned from an out of town meeting, unpacked his suitcase and took out about 4 bottles of booze. He was a Bishop, in charge of a tri-state region in the midwest. Pretty good drinking in that church.

They didn't do drugs back then but they drank and smoked like you would never believe.

And you hit the nail on the head about weed these days. Yikes! But most auto accidents still seem to be alcohol or opioid-related, not weed.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

 

[ra0ulduke]

We had a very similar discussion here just recently. This topic is so complex that it cannot be adequately addressed with blanket answers.

 

[sleddogn]

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 was surprised to see a documentary about the drive thru soda stores in utah. It's a thing, and quite insane. Literally having gallon jugs they fill daily.

 

[BassicJazzy]

I was surprised to see a documentary about the drive thru soda stores in utah. It's a thing, and quite insane. Literally having gallon jugs they fill daily.

The meth might be better for you than that stuff, at least at those quantities?

Remember the science experiment in high school where you put a chicken bone in cola overnight, and the next day it bent like rubber?

 

[sleddogn]

In 7th grade health class, we had a tooth in a coke bottle to watch...was kinda gross, but i stilled loved a cold coke, lol

 

[BassicJazzy]

In 7th grade health class, we had a tooth in a coke bottle to watch...was kinda gross, but i stilled loved a cold coke, lol

Best meal I ever had was a thin frozen burger Pattie cooked over campfire served on Wonderbread bun with a 16oz ice cold Pepsi on camping trip in 7th grade.

No "fine dining" meal ever equaled the exquisite taste of that simple one.

 

[rickdog]

All that to say this... I have to be high to listen to the Grateful Dead. Phil Lesh (RIP my brother) couldn't find a down beat if it kicked him in the chest. That's his playing style and what made him so unique, but it drives me CRAZY.

Haha, Phil always knew where the down beat was... just sometimes he set it free for someone else to play.

According to Phil's book Searching for the Sound, in their early days the Dead would trip out all weekend, then rehearse all day all week like it was their day job. Not saying it would work for everyone (it didn't create the talent the members brought to the band, just shaped it), but it sure worked for them.

To really get the Greatful Dead it helps to at least have tried acid. Umm, that's what some people have told me

 

[stubborne]

From my favorite song:

"See, I think drugs have done some good things for us, I really do"
"And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor"
"Go home tonight and take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your CDs and burn 'em"
"'Cause you know what? The musicians who've made all that great music"
"That's enhanced your lives throughout the years?"
"Real shaging high on drugs"

Bill Hicks

 

[FightMilk]

I will say, nicotine is a hell of a drug. I used to smoke cigs decades ago but quit. started smoking little cigars about a year ago. Ended up smoking them just as fast as cigs. Just quit them and started vaping to ease the quitting process. I did the same thing a long time ago and it works pretty well. I never intended to keep vaping, it's just a tool to quit the cigs and cigars. So I've been vaping this new pod thing I got all day Friday at work. Come home, keep vaping it with some drinks. I ended up getting Nic sick poisoning and threw up all night. A small sip of water, I'd throw up. Couldn't keep anything down. Very dizzy, clammy skin, heart racing. Thought I was gonna die. I had NO IDEA I could get that sick from a vape. *** screw this. Withdrawal symptoms ain't that bad. Glad I went through that so I wont ever touch nicotine ever again.

 

[BassicJazzy]

I will say, nicotine is a hell of a drug. I used to smoke cigs decades ago but quit. started smoking little cigars about a year ago. Ended up smoking them just as fast as cigs. Just quit them and started vaping to ease the quitting process. I did the same thing a long time ago and it works pretty well. I never intended to keep vaping, it's just a tool to quit the cigs and cigars. So I've been vaping this new pod thing I got all day Friday at work. Come home, keep vaping it with some drinks. I ended up getting Nic sick poisoning and threw up all night. A small sip of water, I'd throw up. Couldn't keep anything down. Very dizzy, clammy skin, heart racing. Thought I was gonna die. I had NO IDEA I could get that sick from a vape. *** screw this. Withdrawal symptoms ain't that bad. Glad I went through that so I wont ever touch nicotine ever again.

About 20 years ago I had a digital Xray of my chest and my Dr pointed out the little white specks that he said were calcium, from smoking. I'd smoked for barely 10 years, was up to a pack a day at the end. When I saw those specks, I never touched another cigarette. All I can say is it's far easier to just quit 100% than to try to ease off, or substitute other forms of nicotine. All my friends who did that had a much longer withdrawal than I did. Mine was over in about a week.

 

[BassicJazzy]

I should add to the above that in my dreams I still occasionally smoke, drink booze, smoke pot, but so far it hasn't affected my health in the waking world.

Or, is this the dream world? Sometimes I wonder.

 

[sleddogn]

I was a pack a day smoker from age 17 to 26. Last year of smoking, i was 1 cig a day. Would smoke it half way in morning with coffee, then go to work with no cigs during day. In evening, i'd smoke 2nd half after dinner. Finally ditched the 1 a day after visiting a family member in hospital, and realizing how damaging it was.

 

[5StringBlues]

Ever since I lost one of my lungs, I cut my smoking in half.

 

[Paul New]

A lot of my favorite music was recorded by junkies. I would go so far as to say that I'm not sure bop, including the hard and west coast versions, would have even happened without heroin.

As for myself, I suddenly needed a job really badly and was lucky to drift into one that enforced sobriety with constant testing.

 

[MegaSwing]

Being cognitively altered never made anybody a better player or writer. However, it can make one sound more interesting to oneself.

 

[MegaSwing]

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

Dennis Miller once said that if there were no such thing as drugs, people would just spin themselves around in a circle until we throw up.