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Drug usage among musicians

#21
stratovani said:
I went out for lunch with my wife today, and the conversation came around to the music we used to listen to when we were kids. She remarked that a lot of great musicians died of drug and alcohol abuse back then, yet it doesn't seem to be the case today. I told her that it's because the music culture was different back then, a musician was almost expected to do drugs and drink to excess. Today's mentality is different, there's so much more at stake for musicians than ever before. I told her the last young musician I can remember who died at a young age was Kurt Cobain, who died at the age of 27 (suicide) almost 20 years ago.

So what do you think? More drug use today as opposed to years ago, less, or about the same?
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i don't know about more or less,but t mind expanding forays into psychedelia of decades past have been replaced with mind numbing,highly addictive bummers of the cocaine,crank,opiate variety.....

i can't say that the mind expanding stuff did much for anyone's playing abilities,but i do think that it was a time where exploration was encouraged and there was an ocean of new ideas to discover.....so much has been done now that finding a new idea is extremely rare.....
 
#22
HunterBrodt said:
Ive never understood why people cant just stick with weed. I would say booze but that can get ugly too.
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Truth brother.

And to add, I hate it when people refer to weed as a gateway drug. Yeah, it's pretty much bottom rung as far as most are concerned. At the same time, why can't we consider alcohol a gateway drug? Or caffeine? Or better yet, think about this:

When you were a kid, you spun around and you were all "haha this makes me feel funny!" Spinning around is a gateway drug!
 
#23
St Drogo said:
I was just thinking about this yesterday; I wouldn't be surprised if certain sleazy record executives would demand their act is on stuf like cocaine and give it to them, to ensure a good energetic show that night. Nevermind the artist will have to pay the price for it later.

Then again, I may have a somewhat overly cynical standing here.
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I don't think you are being too cynical. I have often thought drug access and supply may be a tool record execs have used to keep artists under control and dependent. I have no proof and I am not accusing anyone, but I could sure see it being a possibility.
 
#24
Im against recreational drug usage myself. Though IMO Marijuanna is pretty harmless. I think alcohol is more evil. Though I do drink wine, and the occasional beer.

I recently suffered a very severe knee injury that required multiple surgeries. I got addicted to pain killers, and I dont have an "addictive" personality. I didnt even realize that I was addicted until I decided my knee didnt hurt anymore and I stopped cold turkey . Thats when I noticed I had a problem. I became real sick. Got hospitalized and had to go through a weening process. What Im getting at is prescribed narcotic pain killers are a problem and because the new generation of Doc's dont like to have their patients in pain, they prescribe painkillers like candy.

On a side note....Drug usage within the musical circle is very mild comapred to drug usage within the community of artists. By "artist" I mean painting,drawing and sculpture. You wanna talk about heavy drug usage. Those cats are always stoned.
 
#25
doctorpunch said:
Truth brother.

And to add, I hate it when people refer to weed as a gateway drug. Yeah, it's pretty much bottom rung as far as most are concerned. At the same time, why can't we consider alcohol a gateway drug? Or caffeine? Or better yet, think about this:

When you were a kid, you spun around and you were all "haha this makes me feel funny!" Spinning around is a gateway drug!
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Brother, it's pretty much just logic and consideration of human nature. Most of us, if we try something and like it, will try other things that are similar. When we are at the age of experimenting with various life experiences, pot and booze are more available and more accepted by our peers. Those of us that REALLY like catching a buzz will keep doing it and many of us will try other stuff that can give us a buzz. Eventually, we end up doing things we never intended to do in the begining and have a hard time stopping. Just my 2 cents.
 
#26
Invalid Link Removed

Yeah, I'll add the above link to the macabre tone of this thread. Was surprised I didn't see him here already. I'll also add that I'm not sure Vic Chestnutt fits in this thread. While he did technically die from an overdose, it was a suicide. Maybe I'm splitting hairs....
 
#27
I think drug use is just as rampid today as it was before if not worse. IMO society was just a little more reserved and shocked back in the day that there favarite musician, actor or a kid down the street could die from partying too hard. Now a days we've seen it for several decades and have become somewhat numb to the situation. Not that we don't care but after seeing the same thing over and over it dose'nt have the same effect after a while.
 
#28
I think the biggest difference between then and now is what's popular. Back in the 70s and 80s, a lot more famous musicians were in genres more known for drug usage.

Today, how many Jonas Brothers or Justin Biebers are out there shooting heroin? Even some of the more "gangsta" rappers, stick with weed and alcohol. Obviously, they are still drugs, but you're much less likely to die puffing on a joint than with a syringe in your arm.

Back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, you had hippies, which many eventually branched out into harder drugs. Then you had punk rock, well known for use of drugs like heroin. Then consider the rock of the era. Motley crue, poison, aerosmith, kiss, Led Zepplin, Pink Floyd. These bands weren't exactly squeaky clean. When famous musicians were shooting heroin in nightclubs and lying in alleyways at night, it mas more well known. These days, you'll hear about musicians still doing drugs, but the genres well known for drugs are no longer the mainstream ones. And even the drugs that are in more mainstream genres aren't typically hard drugs.
 
#29
stepswork4me said:
Brother, it's pretty much just logic and consideration of human nature. Most of us, if we try something and like it, will try other things that are similar. When we are at the age of experimenting with various life experiences, pot and booze are more available and more accepted by our peers. Those of us that REALLY like catching a buzz will keep doing it and many of us will try other stuff that can give us a buzz. Eventually, we end up doing things we never intended to do in the begining and have a hard time stopping. Just my 2 cents.
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At least part of it is because of the drug laws themselves. From that perspective there's no significant difference between MJ and harder drugs, and since it's all illegal, it's the same "store" you go to procure your DOC, whether it be pot, heroin, LSD, meth, whatever.

Although many will say that the "war on drugs" has been a failure, I maintain that it is an unqualified success at it's REAL objective, which is to provide politicians with a vote getting political football and to provide smoke and mirrors to obscure what they are really doing to bugger the system to their own personal economic advantage. </rant>
 
#30
St Drogo said:
I was just thinking about this yesterday; I wouldn't be surprised if certain sleazy record executives would demand their act is on stuf like cocaine and give it to them, to ensure a good energetic show that night. Nevermind the artist will have to pay the price for it later.

Then again, I may have a somewhat overly cynical standing here.
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O.K.
Just a little pin prick.
There'll be no more <aaaaaaaaah!>
But you may feel a little sick.
Can you stand up?
I do believe it's working, good.
That'll keep you going through the show
Come on it's time to go.

-Pink Floyd, "Comfortably Numb"
 
#32
Honestly I think that Drug usage actually hampers your creativity. You hear people say getting high makes you creative, but I think it just makes you enjoy things that are normally kind of boring because your looking at it from a different perspective... your high...your brain isn't functioning properly...duh.

If you have to be high to enjoy someones music, IMO it's not all that good to begin with. I'm the only sober one in my band, and I get to listen to this crap all the time...ugh "It's sounds good, your just not high enough to enjoy it".

The irony is that the things I used to enjoy when I did drugs, aren't nearly as impressive now that I've been sober for many years. I can see through the fog of stupid much clearer then before.

And for the record, contrary to popular belief, Marijuana effects those around you a lot more then you might think(friends and Family/ band mates). Because they have to deal with you being stoned and acting ********. So a little harmless pot may not seem harmless to you, but it effects your social life, family life, work etc... Most of the time though, the offender is too high to realize it unfortunately till it's too late, then there's always some other excuse why something went wrong.

/semi rant

You may now Burn me at the stake
 
#33
groooooove said:
you're just not hearing about it as much..perhaps because your not into too much contemporary music? people are going to keep posting examples, im sure.
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That's a good point, and you're right, I'm not into much contemporary music - I've never even heard any Slipknot, so when Paul Gray died it didn't affect me as much as someone younger than me who's into Slipknot. To me the music scene nowadays looks like Lady Gaga and wannabes, hip-hop artists no old white guy can ever relate to, and metal bands whose singers growl rather than sing. The acts I'm into - Rush, Clapton, McCartney, Skynyrd, et al - their drug days were long, long ago, just like mine were. So unfortunately it seems like things havn't gotten any better drug-wise, except treatments are more effective as one poster pointed out.
 
#37
omnimutant said:
Honestly I think that Drug usage actually hampers your creativity. You hear people say getting high makes you creative, but I think it just makes you enjoy things that are normally kind of boring because your looking at it from a different perspective... your high...your brain isn't functioning properly...duh.

If you have to be high to enjoy someones music, IMO it's not all that good to begin with. I'm the only sober one in my band, and I get to listen to this crap all the time...ugh "It's sounds good, your just not high enough to enjoy it".

The irony is that the things I used to enjoy when I did drugs, aren't nearly as impressive now that I've been sober for many years. I can see through the fog of stupid much clearer then before.

And for the record, contrary to popular belief, Marijuana effects those around you a lot more then you might think(friends and Family/ band mates). Because they have to deal with you being stoned and acting ********. So a little harmless pot may not seem harmless to you, but it effects your social life, family life, work etc... Most of the time though, the offender is too high to realize it unfortunately till it's too late, then there's always some other excuse why something went wrong.

/semi rant

You may now Burn me at the stake
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This may be true with pot. If you try LSD you will notice how much your creative side opens up.
 

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