View Full Version : Bands/Musicians Before/After Drugs/Sobriety
stendhal
08/12/09, 06:03 PM
Tryin to start a paper on the effects of drugs on musicians/bands and more specifically, their craft... hopefully you guys will be able to think of a few more.
Easiest one would be the Beatles. Before drugs: "P.S. I Love You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand". After drugs: "Got to get you into my life", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds","Day Tripper", et al.
Not only saying that the Beatles just wrote about drugs after the transition, but I think it did add a obscurity to their work. Also, in this particular case, it was a positive catalyst.
Any help is appreciated.
thespearkid
08/12/09, 06:09 PM
I don't think drugs really had to do as much with the Beatles success is common people think. They are geniuses either way.
stendhal
08/12/09, 06:16 PM
I agree with that... but it did affect their music to a degree. I'm sorry if it seemed like I was saying they owe their success to opiates. Not my intention. I just picked the easiest example to show what I'm looking for.
Until The Bombs
08/12/09, 06:16 PM
Ryan Adams.
stendhal
08/12/09, 06:23 PM
Ryan Adams.
Thanks, I shall add it to the list.
chipdip18
08/12/09, 06:32 PM
Elliott Smith
thespearkid
08/12/09, 06:34 PM
Elliott Smith
Was he ever sober?
thespearkid
08/12/09, 06:34 PM
Also, to prove I'm not just trolling for an argument tonight, Max Bemis hasn't been as good since he stopped smoking the ganga.
chipdip18
08/12/09, 06:39 PM
Was he ever sober?
Very good question.
stendhal
08/12/09, 06:39 PM
Also, to prove I'm not just trolling for an argument tonight, Max Bemis hasn't been as good since he stopped smoking the ganga.
I in no way thought your argument was directed towards substance. It sounded like you were just a Beatles advocate.
No worries.
thespearkid
08/12/09, 06:42 PM
Very good question.
Like, he was rumored to be sober while he was recording From a Basement On a Hill but a lot of people said he was still doing drugs at that point too.
chipdip18
08/12/09, 06:43 PM
Like, he was rumored to be sober while he was recording From a Basement On a Hill but a lot of people said he was still doing drugs at that point too.
Well from what i heard he was just incredibly depressed during recording From A Basement On a Hill, and that he was sober and going through terrible withdrawls.
x togepi x
08/12/09, 06:47 PM
I don't think drugs really had to do as much with the Beatles success is common people think. They are geniuses either way.
Pre-drugs all the beatles did was steal black music.
boysandbulletsx
08/12/09, 06:50 PM
Was he ever sober?
When he was in the womb.
thespearkid
08/12/09, 06:52 PM
When he was in the womb.
I'd like to think Elliott's sober material would have sounded something like the song Dewey Cox played at the school talent show in Walk Hard.
boysandbulletsx
08/12/09, 07:10 PM
I'd like to think Elliott's sober material would have sounded something like the song Dewey Cox played at the school talent show in Walk Hard.
Would that be a good or bad thing? I haven't seen that movie.
FeynmanWannabe
08/12/09, 07:23 PM
Ryan Adams.
sucked after he sobered up.
+1 for drugs/alcohol.
patpratt
08/12/09, 07:49 PM
Kenny Vasoli
Until The Bombs
08/12/09, 07:49 PM
sucked after he sobered up.
+1 for drugs/alcohol.
Agree.
patpratt
08/12/09, 07:50 PM
Also, to prove I'm not just trolling for an argument tonight, Max Bemis hasn't been as good since he stopped smoking the ganga.
this, for christ's sake.
FeynmanWannabe
08/12/09, 07:54 PM
Agree.
Actually, the new stuff sucks pretty hard. Better make it +3 for alcohol/drugs.
:::::::|:::::::
08/12/09, 08:09 PM
Dance Gavin Dance smoke teh ganja quite a bit I believe, and their newest album is trippy as hell, in a good way. I don't know if that's what you're looking for, though.
ReignofFiction
08/12/09, 08:09 PM
Uh...maybe The Cure...?
apsterling
08/12/09, 08:10 PM
Motion City Soundtrack.
anamericangod
08/12/09, 08:10 PM
Adam Lazzara makes shitty music now.
the andyspecial
08/12/09, 08:28 PM
two key characters are ryan adams (view his work from 2003-2007) and scott weiland (of stone temple pilots fame). Both of these vocalists are summed up by the bright burst in their careers during their most abusive episodes.
As for the beatles, who are summarized as genious regardless of abuse, saw a dramatic turn in their career after the introduction of psycadelics as introduced by Bob Dylan (according to folklore). Bob Dylan is another key example, but has found a way to rekindle his career post-abuse. You can stretch that 311 lost their popular favor after Nick and other members ceased to tour while using drugs; this, consequentially, led to the entire band cleaning up (though i suspect Tim Mahoney is a lifer). Joe, the bassist of the Rx Bandits is addicted to opiates after an operation, his work on bass has excelled though he has become a bit of an asshole in recent years.
The Mars Volta stopped using cocaine after "de-loused", tim kasher of cursive gets drunk before he goes onstage, townes van zant was a raging alcoholic that experimented with opiates and cocaine (he's heralded as the birth of the americana movement), Coltrane was on junk for a good portion of his early career, and brad nowell (Sublime) was a heroin addict that sold his band's gear to get a fix.
Drugs have been a mainstay in rock music for years. . . . what's more is that the genre sees different outcomes for different addicts.
RiCCioLi
08/12/09, 08:29 PM
say anything??
Metallica and NIN.
Word. Was gonna say Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails; pretty easy to follow his story of drug abuse.
nerdvglc
08/13/09, 01:27 AM
Motion City Soundtrack.
i came in here to say that. i think the drug induced cttm is their best, or at least better than eiikm by a wide margin.
87pikachu
08/13/09, 04:36 AM
Lucy in the sky with diamonds isnt about acid. its about a picture one of their sons drew of a girl with diamonds in the sky.
87pikachu
08/13/09, 04:39 AM
take a look @ jerry garcia and his battle with heroin addiction. and the grateful deads phases of drug abuse ranging from psychedelic to 80s cocaine when they started to suck. you can hear it in their music going from psychedelic folk rock to disco crap.
tca_123
08/13/09, 07:28 AM
Dunno if has been said already...
Red Hot Chili Peppers were awesome on drugs and distinctly boring sober!
Word. Was gonna say Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails; pretty easy to follow his story of drug abuse.
I don't condone drugs, lol, but I thought his earlier work was far better than the stuff he does now that he's sober.
I don't condone drugs, lol, but I thought his earlier work was far better than the stuff he does now that he's sober.
Depends on who you ask, I like both eras for different reasons... it is an obvious transformation, though.
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