Drugs and Musicianship

Willin · Unread post by **Willin** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:06 pm

I thought I'd bring this up because it's an interesting phenomenon. Do you believe that drugs and/or alcohol aid in being a greater and more creative musician? Tons of *talented* artists through the years abused substances, particularly rock stars, and many come up with some very original music.

A short list off of the top of my head:

Eric Clapton - Cocaine
Jimi Hendrix - Tons of stuff
Mozart - Alcohol, although he was writing crazy music before he probably knew what it was.
Eddie Van Halen - Cocaine, probably everything
Slash - Tons of stuff
Dave Matthews - Weed, Alcohol, Heroine(? - not sure about heroine. Some people claim Rhyme and Reason is about his direct use of heroine, others say it was his friend who he wrote the song about)
Slash - Tons of stuff. He once had to be propped up at a photo shoot for GnR because he was so tanked that he couldn't stand straight.
Jimmy Page - Tons of stuff

The list goes on and on. Do you think that the drugs enhance a musicians skills in terms of creativity? Or do you think the drugs and alcohol are just used to have a good time and don't impact musicianship?

My guitar instructor used to do cocaine a little back in the day and when we go over Van Halen songs and stuff sometimes he'd remark "That's what cocaine and lots of times on your hands will result in." That's not verbatim, but it's the general meaning. Anyway, I thought this is an interesting topic.

6_strings_for_life · Unread post by **6_strings_for_life** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:36 pm

i see this as a very interesting topic. I myself do drugs, mostly just smoke. But I think that it has made me the person that I am today. I think the songs that i have writen are impaced by my drug use in a good way. It helps the mind open up and explore what isnt obvious. i cant wait to hear everyones responces to this

getting high and writing songs go together like peanut butter and jelly..

Tranman66 · Unread post by **Tranman66** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 1:53 pm

i dont do drugs and not planning to. Will drugs help you as a musician? DEF, makes a good musician and singer.

Coldchillin · Unread post by **Coldchillin** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 3:33 pm

Tranman66 wrote:i dont do drugs and not planning to. Will drugs help you as a musician? DEF, makes a good musician and singer.

What?!?! You're harder to understand than BK at times...

c_tietze · Unread post by **c_tietze** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:17 pm

Drugs are a part of many people's lives. Most musicians don't make a lot of money and whether it be the chicken or the egg idea or not, drugs are commonplace in musician's cirlces, they're there.

Personally, whether it be the drugs that influenced a song or not, I think the best musicians rarely play fucked up, I know I can't (of course I'm a hack). I think we'd all be surprised to know that there are very few musicans that reguarly play jacked up on YeYo and Jack Daniels, and if they do, the byproduct usually isn't as good is if you were sober.

Just my opinion.

Speenis · Unread post by **Speenis** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:36 pm

c_tietze wrote:Drugs are a part of many people's lives. Most musicians don't make a lot of money and whether it be the chicken or the egg idea or not, drugs are commonplace in musician's cirlces, they're there.

Personally, whether it be the drugs that influenced a song or not, I think the best musicians rarely play fucked up, I know I can't (of course I'm a hack). I think we'd all be surprised to know that there are very few musicans that reguarly play jacked up on YeYo and Jack Daniels, and if they do, the byproduct usually isn't as good is if you were sober.

Just my opinion.

True, but I think that strongly differs from in the studio. I know one band that doesn't smoke too much before shows, but will after a show and always when they're in the studio.

Coldchillin · Unread post by **Coldchillin** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:37 pm

BigSpeen3436 wrote:
c_tietze wrote:Drugs are a part of many people's lives. Most musicians don't make a lot of money and whether it be the chicken or the egg idea or not, drugs are commonplace in musician's cirlces, they're there.

Personally, whether it be the drugs that influenced a song or not, I think the best musicians rarely play fucked up, I know I can't (of course I'm a hack). I think we'd all be surprised to know that there are very few musicans that reguarly play jacked up on YeYo and Jack Daniels, and if they do, the byproduct usually isn't as good is if you were sober.

Just my opinion.
True, but I think that strongly differs from in the studio. I know one band that doesn't smoke too much before shows, but will after a show and always when they're in the studio.

One band being...? I figured it'd be almost every band...

dmbguitar718 · Unread post by **dmbguitar718** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:39 pm

<-- diabetic

You_Enjoy_Myself · Unread post by **You_Enjoy_Myself** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:40 pm

dmbguitar718 wrote:<-- diabetic

Pat's hooked on isulin.

dmbguitar718 · Unread post by **dmbguitar718** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:41 pm

insulin.

and yeah, it does help a little.

Speenis · Unread post by **Speenis** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:50 pm

Coldchillin23222 wrote:
BigSpeen3436 wrote:
c_tietze wrote:Drugs are a part of many people's lives. Most musicians don't make a lot of money and whether it be the chicken or the egg idea or not, drugs are commonplace in musician's cirlces, they're there.

Personally, whether it be the drugs that influenced a song or not, I think the best musicians rarely play fucked up, I know I can't (of course I'm a hack). I think we'd all be surprised to know that there are very few musicans that reguarly play jacked up on YeYo and Jack Daniels, and if they do, the byproduct usually isn't as good is if you were sober.

Just my opinion.
True, but I think that strongly differs from in the studio. I know one band that doesn't smoke too much before shows, but will after a show and always when they're in the studio.
One band being...? I figured it'd be almost every band...

True, I just know for a fact that thats how 311 is. I'm sure just about every band does the same.

Coldchillin · Unread post by **Coldchillin** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 5:53 pm

Gotcha. I haven't heard them since their album with All Mixed Up and Jack-O-Latern Weather

DMBFan63 · Unread post by **DMBFan63** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 6:08 pm

all I have to say is you have Slash on there twice..

Ranting Thespian · Unread post by **Ranting Thespian** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 7:50 pm

I am clean and I am a very good musician and a very good singer and a very good writer. There are many people who do drugs who aren't creative at all. In some instances people who are really creative have had hard lives, and drugs come into play as a way out, not a source of creativity. There are many different ways that drugs come into play without a source of creativity behind them.

You_Enjoy_Myself · Unread post by **You_Enjoy_Myself** » Tue Dec 07, 2004 8:43 pm

dmbguitar718 wrote:insulin.

and yeah, it does help a little.

How you gonna correct my typos speeny? :lol:

But I think a lot of people will agree that drugs and guitar mix well, but I don't think that it's necessary to be fucked up to write a good song. Here's a breakdown of how certain drugs, affected my playing.

Pot: Mellows me out, and gets my head thinking about a lot of cool progressions and rhythms. I do most of my songwriting and riff writing when I'm baked.

Mushrooms: When I'm on mushrooms, I more want to play lead, and get some solos going. Also, when I was on mushrooms and playing guitar, I could come up with great lyrics, anytime I wanted. I should've written more down. I give guitar and mushrooms a :thumbsup:

Blow: hehe, well I don't do blow anymore, but when I was doing it and playing guitar, I must say it was pretty fantastic. I never wrote any new songs or anything, but I always wanted to sing for hours on end. Haha, yeah I know, typical cokehead. This was actually fun to do, but I don't think I'll do blow again.

That's pretty much all that I've tried, except for one experience with the painkiller Percoset. And I'm not trying to encourage anyone to go out and do what I've done, that choice is up to you.

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Drugs and Musicianship

Drugs and Musicianship

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