Drugs & Music

 

PA:  What are your views on drugs?

DG:  If you have a small mind they seem to help you get access to the parts you have shut down. It’s like a shortcut to a visionary state that you can reach anyway if you just let go of your mental limitations put there after years and years in this world.  If your mind is already large they will just help you shut down other parts of it.  Let’s say they are a shortcut to a place to which you will never find a proper way if you use them.  Usually, when a mediocre artist starts doing drugs, they will in fact produce one or two interesting albums, more open-minded than their previous work, then they will just turn sour and never do anything as good again.  At least, that’s my impression.  I don’t go near them.  I have struggled through dense vegetation to find that place anyway, and that journey has done me good.

 

... (I don't find it insulting at all! I think an artist can draw inspiration from ANYWHERE... even the darkest of places. If one can turn a personal experience into a thing of beauty, it's automaticly a positive thing at least for art. I find it rather sad that one would think drugs are not an "acceptable source of inspiration".)...

 

I agree there ... one can not deny a Rimbaud or (obviously) any of the self destructive folks that we happen to like so much and were obvious inspirations for many of us.

 

That said, when I first toked, 35 years ago, was also the first time I realized that I didn't want to do this socially ... because it was about being "hip and with it" (California!!!) .... rather than soemthing to learn from and enjoy with ... I was too entranched already into a literary and artistic world to not know that these things happened and inspired people ... but I had also learned from the Beatles and already knew from John that getting stoned was a cop out and not necessary ... and worse than that ... I had already started to read Castaneda and knew right away that the drugs were not necessary at all ... and to me that was where learning all that was an important perceptual tank of possibilities ... that we could work with sooner or later if we wanted to and gave it time and effort.

 

Sometimes, taking drugs or drink is easy and (seemingly) makes the trip easier to get to ... but more often than not we are not "tripping", or enjoying some fun ... we're escaping this or that ... and that means that the chances of dealing with its consequences just got tougher.

 

Now we can look at someone like Jim Morrison and we're all aware of the insane amount of drugs ... and there is enough information out there from Ray M. and others  that shows they talked about it a lot and even Jim knew that he needed to stop that stuff ... but did not have the personal strength for it. It doesn't make him a bad writer or poet ... just like it didn't Sylvia Plath, or Rimbaud and and what's his name that wrote Alice in bsland, or Edgar Allan Poe or anyone else in history ...

 

But today, unlike 500 years ago, we can share information and we can help way better than we did then ... you didn't know better and neither did anyone else 100 years ago and the medicine was not there (for example), so it is easier to glorify an Aleister Crowley talking about drugs, although if his book and autobiography are any indication he is extremely anti-frugs ... and he knows why ... you can not do the "magical stuff" when you do not have any ability to maintain or control your own mental faculties ... its deadly if you do drugs in those situations. Read his book "Diary of a Drug Fiend" ... and it's moral is ... get rid of it and make sure that the body shows you it doesn't want it ... so you know and won't fall back. It's the same with drink and anything else ...

 

But above all, you have to have the ability -- and DESIRE -- to get stronger with your self ... if you don't you are no better off than dead. And so is a lot of music out there that purports to be party and stoned music ... you might remember that famous incident with that kid fan of AC/DC who shot himself ... because he believed the truth in the words of the band and he didn't know the difference. Same thing here ... when you have no "inner source", it doesn't matter if it is drugs, drink, sex or anything ...

 

But more important? BS ... and those folks are either being facetious or just plain silly! I will say, however, it is their life and they can take care of themselves as they wish ... too bad they might not ever read this and see if there is any truth to it!

 

 

 

 

It depends on the drug. LSD, Cannabis and other psychedelis and quasi-psychedelics are drugs that can open up a persons senses, open up a part of your subconscious.  Drugs like that have been very helpful. Espeically for The Beatles, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Doors, Grateful Dead and Flaming Lips to name a few.

 

But stimulants, like coke and herion. All they do is give you energy, they can't spark your creativity. They might enhance a musicians performance maybe.

 

Granted David Bowie put out some brilliant stuff when he was doing enough coke to kill a small horse. Low is a classic album. But he could have made that album if he was clean.

 

I don't think The Beatles could have made Sgt Peppers without the acid.