Progressive Rock and Drugs

Woah dude...

 

 me at age 16 

Jimbo's ok...reminds me of the Simpsons character, whom I did resemble a bit in the teen years

'Jamesie' was what a Welsh friend of mine used to call me (if you're out there, Matt, Pob dymuniad da!)...it's little used, but perfectly fine!

I'll pass on 'Jimmy', though...if that's ok

no prob...happens all the time

"Jamie" is more acceptable, all my Irish relatives do it. Then again, several of them took me to the pub as a toddler, so maybe they're not such a good example of model behavior...

Don't call me Jim!!!!

Reed Lover wrote: James Lee wrote: Reed Lover wrote: Most people who do drugs do them to appear cool. Did them myself at Uni and had a fair bit of blow since (none since i gave up ciggies though). It is a game-beer, birds and blow. Got to do them or you're not cool.Anyone who thinks rock artists are making their best music whilst stoned out their minds are kidding themselves. If the music was designed to be enjoyed whilst stoned it would have been composed, recorded and mastered that way! Yeah, forget about feeling really good or having an addiction, it's the fashionable nature of drugs that makes them so darn irresistable Is anyone saying that music should be made or listened to on drugs? I don't think so- it just happened that some music is made under the influence (for better or worse) and a heck of a lot of music is enjoyed under the influence (for better or worse). If it weren't for speed and other ilicit stimulants, for instance, a huge portion of the bands wouldn't have been quite so tirelessly prolific in the studio or on tour- The Beatles themselves were notorious speed freaks in the early days especially. One might as well argue that you shouldn't use alcohol while participating in the dating ritual. Sure, there's been some drunken hook-ups that probably shouldn't have happened, but more than a few of us owe our very existence in some part to a few drinks. If you're against it or don't need it, fine; more power to ya. But don't kid yourself that drugs aren't a major part of rock and roll. "If there's sex and drugs, I guess I could do without the rock and roll." - from Spinal Tap I think some of the replies here and in other threads suggest things like "you should try such or sucha album whilst high" and they are saying "look at me I am cool because I have done this" I think you are being a tad ingenuous.

Oh, admittedly! But only as a response in kind

Honestly, I've never personally experienced a big peer-pressure or fashionable motivation in my history with drugs. I'm sure I've met people because of drugs that I wouldn't have met otherwise, but that doesn't strike me as a bad thing- we find lifelong friends in any number of ways, and in stranger circumstances than casual weed use. The main social effect I remember from those days was from people who I assumed to be friends suddenly deciding that part of their newfound refusal of drugs included dropping me as a friend because I was still doing them- despite the fact that I've never required or suggested drugs as a condition of my friendship. I'm not talking about people who needed to 'break the chain of addiction' to survive...we're talking weed here, a substance that never causes physical dependance.

But I do recognize that it plays a big part for a number of people who are more concerned with their social image, so in that sense I totally understand your point (despite my previous ingenuousness...or is that ingenuity? no, that's something else ). From what I understand, your experience with coke is not at all uncommon (though maybe less seen now than, say, the 70s or 80s ). But in that case drugs are no different than anything else you do to 'fit in' (except for potentially more serious consequences). If drugs were simply a social phenomenon, they wouldn't be such a big issue- people would drop drugs like they drop any trendy phase. It's the fact that people enjoy the feeling they provide, and/or develop a physical or mental need for them, that makes drugs such a persistent issue.

Reed Lover wrote: Most people who do drugs do them to appear cool. Did them myself at Uni and had a fair bit of blow since (none since i gave up ciggies though). It is a game-beer, birds and blow. Got to do them or you're not cool.Anyone who thinks rock artists are making their best music whilst stoned out their minds are kidding themselves. If the music was designed to be enjoyed whilst stoned it would have been composed, recorded and mastered that way!

Yeah, forget about feeling really good or having an addiction, it's the fashionable nature of drugs that makes them so darn irresistable

Is anyone saying that music should be made or listened to on drugs? I don't think so- it just happened that some music is made under the influence (for better or worse) and a heck of a lot of music is enjoyed under the influence (for better or worse). If it weren't for speed and other ilicit stimulants, for instance, a huge portion of the bands wouldn't have been quite so tirelessly prolific in the studio or on tour- The Beatles themselves were notorious speed freaks in the early days especially.

One might as well argue that you shouldn't use alcohol while participating in the dating ritual. Sure, there's been some drunken hook-ups that probably shouldn't have happened, but more than a few of us owe our very existence in some part to a few drinks.

If you're against it or don't need it, fine; more power to ya. But don't kid yourself that drugs aren't a major part of rock and roll.

"If there's sex and drugs, I guess I could do without the rock and roll." - from Spinal Tap

Music gets me high enough.Nowadays.But I have to admit that I took tons of drugs and at that times music seemed to be better.However,I'm over that S..T.

for the advanced experience
you need
Mescaline/Hashish
Pilsner Urquell (pasteurized beer)

listen to Krautrock
Tangerine Dream - Force Majuere
Cluster - Zuckerzeit
Ashra - Best of
Conrad Schnitzler - Ballet Statique
Edgar Froese - Stuntman
are a few suggestion

music becomes color, but watch out for the horned
wonder, could visit as an alien imposter!

I feel that smoking hash has a really determining effect on one's perception of art. You allow yourself to become more at one with whatever you are focusing on. I've listened to several prog albums whilst smoking, and it sort of takes away the innate filter for all the beauty that surrounds me, and let's me take it all in at once. The sense of understanding and oneness with the music is really intense. Furthermore, I feel alchohol only dulls the senses and diminishes the listening experience, and besides that, it can make you dance to otherwise intolerable music. The vague memory of myself busting out dance moves to a Justin Timberlake song in a club, still lingers in my consciousness... and it really hurts
Hash=good, alchohol=bad. Consider this metaphor: Listening to prog sober is like drinking a large soda with a thin straw, whereas with the influnce of some herbs, you toss away the straw and drink straight from the cup.