Drugs & Music

 

first it giveth then it taketh away.........

 

 

(I think) it means that drugs can inspire music in the beginning but as the adiction takes hold the creativity vanishes.

 

AD2 had pretty much already talked about no drugs ... Apocalyptic Bore (Vive La Trance) is about the sky bites ... and how those days were gone. And Peter Michael Hamel suggested in his book that the Amon Duul commune split (into AD2) because there were too many drugs. And in their Utopia (1972) album there is a massive anti-drug song ... attacking what killed some musicians that we love. It's called "What You Gonna Do" ... and later they also did "Explode Like a Star" an even more poignant anti-drugs song.

 

Gong's You is 100% anti-drugs, and by that time Daevid and other members were already talking about Zen and many other things ... and no drugs. The Flying Teapot trilogy is already about not doing drugs and Daevid would probably tell you to go grab a hashish cigar if you can't tell the difference. Jokingly of course!

 

Can ... I doubt that they were into drugs that much ... being the scholarly folks that they were, and where they came from, I almost think that the Malcom Mooney early stuff probably came to an end because of drugs and by the time Damo got there, I think that exploration was a way to help get off drugs. Some of the stuff is also not exactly simple (except on Damo's solo activities which sounding "small" by comparison), and playing these again would be difficult on drugs.

 

Hawkwind ... probably more drink than drugs. And there are stories of members having been thrown out of the group because of it. Considering their catalogue and insanity, you would have to be a moron to even be that stoned playing Hawkwind for the last 30 years ... plain stupid and out of your mind, and I doubt any person would last more than 30 minutes that ripped!

 

We also are not giving a lot of these "prog" bands any credit ... and that's sad ... they were all inspired by many bands and artists in the 60's and they all were very well aware of the circumstances and abuses.

 

With that said, Europe has a musical tradition that is hundreds and even thousands of years old ... and the desire to do something different has always been there, and many of these people actually followed more of their cultural and classical mores than they did any drugs or any other inspiration ... and in some cases it was more about a personal/artistic freedom than it had anything to do with drugs or anything else.

 

You can even hear it in Ash Ra Tempel's 7UP album, where Tim Leary explains about getting into the vibe of the music ... and that in itself is a statement that does not need drugs ... and already many of those musicians were off them anyway ... Klaus Schulze one of them for sure. Popol Vuh was already on a meditation/eastern course and had been for quite some time ... and many of these people were a lot closer to each other than we give them credit for.

 

I find it insulting and rather sad that we had the idea that drugs create music ... that's not to say that some of the very folks that we like a lot have not experienced it at one time or another ... but I highly doubt it that Mr. Fripp would have indulged ... and he is one of our Gods! And in the West Coiast, maybe you didn't check, but Frank Zappa's family had one of the best known "hospitals" and "care facilities" for many people that got string out on drugs and drink ... and maybe someday both he and Gail will get a nice pat in the back for doing something ... that at the time just wasn't cool ... but they cared about the very people involved! And his music reflects a lot of that even though we will never accept it!

 

In the eastern countries there is such a thing as a "raga" and the idea is to help elevate the spirit into another realm so it can be free and express its music and art. A lot of the German electronic scene took that avenue rather than drugs ... with Popol Vuh, Ash Ra Tempel and Klaus Schulze the best examples of a raga done in the western world.

 

But then you get Scorpions off the same area as Amon Duul ... and we know that drugs are big there ... and you can listen to Comfortably Numb and hear the story ... and Roger will be the first one to tell you that drugs were not really major anymore ... specially when they had one of their own freak out over it ... like one would be too stupid not to learn?

 

Please give music and musicians some credit. For every one that does a lot of drugs there is at least one that doesn't. I suppose you gonna tell me now that Peter Hammill was also stoned immaculate ... what sh*t!

 

It's not the drugs ... it's the music ... never was the drugs ... or the music was garbage anyway!

 

I toured with Gong and photographed it for a long period of time. That line has more in common with English humor than it does anything else ... You might want to go to the GAS/Gong boards and ask about this if you don't believe me ...

 

And please ... european sensibilities about art, music, drugs and many other things are very different than the American paranoid and sadistic media attitude towards all of this ... and as such much more entitled to satirize and have fun with it than here. Here it is always a problem and the media atrocities after the SF days is the problem, not the drugs. The individuals ... well, they did not have very good friends around them, did they? or intelligent enough to know better? ...

 

Choose your pill!  ... and make sure that you know the difference between a person and some media bruhaha ... it will define you too!

 

Thx JG ... you know what it feels like?

 

You have to take a pill to get/understand prog? Or any music for that matter?

 

Yes, many in the annals of the arts have indulged, and so have I and many others ... but that hardly means that it runs our lives or art. But to stage it night after night and keep an audience, and do it well ... it's nearly impossible.

 

One of the best and worst in one swell foop ... Janis Joplin .. almost all her live albums that are found are really sad ... compared to what was recorded, the exception being one of the best rock albums of all time ...  Cheap Thrills ... and the live cut in there for Ball and Chain. The Doors were also terrible on stage because Jim Morrison was often out of it. I don't think I have seen a recording where he was under control and really did an excellent show. Jimi ... may have been stoned, but he had the presence of mind and respect for his music and work to put on one of most important symbols of our time in regards to rock music and drugs and the hippie thing ... he played the national anthem and around him is garbage ... and you know what? We're treating them like it ... it's sad ... the only thing that we missed was the respect for the art, and the drugs were not necessary.

 

There is not a single movie, band, painting out there that is better stoned than otherwise or vice-versa ... at that point it is not about the music or the art .. it's about YOU. And if you want to get psychological enough about it ... you're empty enough inside that you have to enhance your experience ...

 

Now .. be an artist for a minute -- on the other side of the coin ... that would not really be a compliment to your work, would it?