classic albums made with drugs

[hankdrummer]

aren't all classic albums made by drug / alcohol addicts ?

let's make a list. here's what i can think of (might be wrong)

Nirvana - Nevermind (cannabis / heroin)
Pink Floyd - DSOTM (cannabis)
Beatles - Sgt Pepper (cannabis / LSD)
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Catch a Fire (cannabis)
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (heroin)
Metallica - Master of Puppets (alcohol)
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (heroin)
Jeff Buckley - Grace (heroin)
Radiohead - Kid A (cannabis)
...

here's a list of classic albums
The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time : Rolling Stone

the real question might be : what classic album was made WITHOUT drugs

and

do we have to take drugs to make a classic record ?

[tapehiss]

get your self on heroin and see if you make a classic

[frans]

And I want a list of albums that got alcohol spilt over their mastertapes. But Sonic Youths "confusion is sex" deserves a mention because of coca cola spilt.

[The Listener]

Are you sure about Buckley? Heroin?

Drugs expand your perception, it can be helpful, but within reason... or maybe not... maybe you should freak out (with or without drugs) and be a bit crazy to make something really classic...

There are many "sober" or "clean" classics, too, just not so many in jazz and rock'n'roll...

And also - I am quite sure that they performed and recorded in the more or less sober state - at least most of them...

Even most of Grateful Dead and Hendrix studio albums, I guess - you cannot play on such a level under acid...


So to add at least

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Grateful Dead - everything
The Doors - everything


Honestly - I am not a regular "abuser", but I hardly know a musician that doesn't smoke pot. It just does things to music perception that would be foolish not to experience from time to time... What do you think? But I have never seen anyone perform satisfactory while being stoned - feeling good, yes, but if you record it - not something special most of the time. But having that "expanded" experience and transfering it later in the sober state into art - that's what usually works fine. I am not so "experienced" though.

[Batchainpuller78]

Spacemen 3 has an album called : Take drugs to make music to take drugs to.

[Schneider]

Heroin does not seem like a good idea:

shoot up, soil yourself, go for a take?

[Ry-Fi]

Syd Barrett's legendary drug-use is very evident on Piper at the Gates of Dawn, one of my faves.

I'm also pretty sure the Verve were heavily influenced for A Storm in Heaven, another psychedelic masterpiece. What, not a classic you say? It should be!

But isn't most worthwhile music made with the influence of drugs anyways?...

[Lemontree]

Originally Posted by hankdrummer

aren't all classic albums made by drug / alcohol addicts ?

Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (heroin)

If you're thinking of Sid Vicious being a heroin addict, he didn't play a note on Never Mind The Bollocks. Steve Jones played guitar and bass on the whole album as Vicious was in hospital at the time of recording.

[Macky]

The Velvet Underground & Nico. 1967..... Speaks for Itself.

1. "Sunday Morning"
2. "I'm Waiting for the Man"
3. "Femme Fatale"
4. "Venus in Furs"
5. "Run Run Run"
6. "All Tomorrow's Parties"
7. "Heroin"
8. "There She Goes Again"
9. "I'll Be Your Mirror"
10. "The Black Angel's Death Song"
11. "European Son"

Edit.. i see its in the top 500 @ number 13
One that should be in the top 100 is
Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake
Small Faces (1968)

[edbro]

your citing artists, I would imagine the engineers and/or producers were sober. Another thought would be, how many takes did it take to get it right while in an altered state?

[Harry Hughes]

Originally Posted by The Listener

Are you sure about Buckley? Heroin?

Drugs expand your perception, it can be helpful, but within reason... or maybe not... maybe you should freak out (with or without drugs) and be a bit crazy to make something really classic...

There are many "sober" or "clean" classics, too, just not so many in jazz and rock'n'roll...

And also - I am quite sure that they performed and recorded in the more or less sober state - at least most of them...

Even most of Grateful Dead and Hendrix studio albums, I guess - you cannot play on such a level under acid...


So to add at least

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew
Grateful Dead - everything
The Doors - everything


Honestly - I am not a regular "abuser", but I hardly know a musician that doesn't smoke pot. It just does things to music perception that would be foolish not to experience from time to time... What do you think? But I have never seen anyone perform satisfactory while being stoned - feeling good, yes, but if you record it - not something special most of the time. But having that "expanded" experience and transfering it later in the sober state into art - that's what usually works fine. I am not so "experienced" though.

I definitely understand what you mean.
Mind you, I don't inject or take any of the really dirty drugs (meth, cocaine) or anything like that and I take pretty good care of my health.
I certainly will NEVER play guitar and bass guitar under the influence and never write under the influence, but the drugs I've consumed (acid and pot generally) have been influences on my music and expanding my mind in general in ways that wouldn't have been possible had I never taken them.

And mind you , this is from a guy who used to be really anti drug and believed that sort of stuff couldn't expand your mind. How wrong I was.

[hankdrummer]

while drugs have negative side effects, they're a good way to shortcut your brain and make you feel more inspired, and get rid of the stress.

i have a hard time finishing songs, so do a lot of musicians i know. none of us do drugs at all.
pot makes me sleep

Jeff Buckley and heroin : heard that in a tv interview

[tapehiss]

i think the whole idea of being more creative under the influence can be true.
this is due to the altered state that allows you to exist differently than normal, thus allowing you to create differently than normal.

and everything in moderation.

i screwed myself up quite a bit back when, i remember being on the road at sxsw and running out of cheeba and getting sick as hell.

my band was so pissed and i screwed up the next several shows, and im not even going to get into rehab and maintanance therapy:(

theres a thin line between recreational drugs and addiction, and gambling with drugs is never a sure thing!

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by hankdrummer

aren't all classic albums made by drug / alcohol addicts ?

let's make a list. here's what i can think of (might be wrong)

Nirvana - Nevermind (cannabis / heroin)
Pink Floyd - DSOTM (cannabis)
Beatles - Sgt Pepper (cannabis / LSD)
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Catch a Fire (cannabis)
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (heroin)
Metallica - Master of Puppets (alcohol)
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (heroin)
Jeff Buckley - Grace (heroin)
Radiohead - Kid A (cannabis)
...

here's a list of classic albums
The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time : Rolling Stone

the real question might be : what classic album was made WITHOUT drugs

and

do we have to take drugs to make a classic record ?

dont believe the hype.


.... great interview ten-ish years ago with Keith Richards - classic quote would be "I've done a lot but if I'd taken half of what people think I've done I'd be dead. "

[The Listener]

Originally Posted by Harry Hughes

I definitely understand what you mean.
Mind you, I don't inject or take any of the really dirty drugs (meth, cocaine) or anything like that and I take pretty good care of my health.
I certainly will NEVER play guitar and bass guitar under the influence and never write under the influence, but the drugs I've consumed (acid and pot generally) have been influences on my music and expanding my mind in general in ways that wouldn't have been possible had I never taken them.

And mind you , this is from a guy who used to be really anti drug and believed that sort of stuff couldn't expand your mind. How wrong I was.

Then we are quite similar in this regard...

[Sk106]

If I did drugs, and made an album, then I would know that my perception of good and bad, and also my performance wouldn't be the same as then I was sober, so I wouldn't like the sound of it as much - as if I had done it sober - after the drugs wore off. So unless I plan to be high for most of my life, then I wouldn't do an album on drugs. If I find that something on drugs gives me a better sensation of life and gratification, then I would enable that IRL .. so I wouldn't need the foul stuff.

When we are sober, and we like an album that is done with heavy intake of drugs, does this mean that when the musicians (who made it) are sober they don't like it? Does being high mean that albums - that were made being sober - sound worse?

[5down1up]

Originally Posted by narcoman

dont believe the hype.


.... great interview ten-ish years ago with Keith Richards - classic quote would be "I've done a lot but if I'd taken half of what people think I've done I'd be dead. "

+1 STOP spreading that BULLSHIT !!!

[Marlowe]

Nirvana's Nevermind came way before the heroin use.

I remember one tour where Jon Anderson would intro 'And You And I' by talking about how they were drinking mushroom tea during the recording.

[Fletcher]

Originally Posted by hankdrummer

do we have to take drugs to make a classic record ?

No, you need talent and imagination to make a classic record, both of which seem to be in far shorter supply than chemical solutions. If drugs help you achieve imagination, and you have the requisite talent, then they're not an impediment to the process... however, you really need the talent an imagination before you add the chemical stimulus package or you'll just be another homeless idiot with a substance abuse problem.

Originally Posted by edbro

I would imagine the engineers and/or producers were sober.

You would imagine quite incorrectly in a great majority of the albums cited in the "top 500" list.

[waxx]

tons of records are made under influence of drugs (including alcohol wich is also a drug), and tons without. It surely has an influence, sometimes good, sometimes bad.

Most drugs are always bad (herion, cocaine, xtc, crack ...) some are in moderate use for some people rather benificial (weed, hash, alcohol, mushrooms) but at the end it's how you handle it.

[guze]

It's in your head, not in your drugs.

Like the tittle suggests(it doesn't say illegal drugs), all albums probably have cafein, some sort of aspirin or pill, tobacco, etc etc etc.

[Levon]

Originally Posted by edbro

your citing artists, I would imagine the engineers and/or producers were sober.

Exactly.

I remember in my band (back in the 70s), we played and recorded some amazing, mindblowing, out-of-this-world stuff while being in 'an altered state of mind'... or so we thought. Listening to the tapes sober, we were always fast to erase that crap.

You need someone with a clear head while recording. In a best-case scenario, that involves everyone in the studio.

My 2 Euro Cents...

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Schneider

Heroin does not seem like a good idea:

shoot up, soil yourself, go for a take?

Some folks seem to write good 'love songs' dedicated to heroin.

The LA's - There she goes
The Only Ones - Another Girl another Planet
Lou Reed - (the cryptically entitled) Heroin
The Stranglers - Golden Brown

[Bassmankr]

The 60's got alot of things right, drugs wasn't one of them. Drugs and moderation don't seem to go hand in hand, especially for creative types. If this thread goes long enough I'm sure it will spin off to who made those albums died of drug overdose/commited suicide due in part to heavy drug use spiral.

[Elvis Christ]

Originally Posted by hankdrummer

aren't all classic albums made by drug / alcohol addicts ?

let's make a list. here's what i can think of (might be wrong)

Nirvana - Nevermind (cannabis / heroin)
Pink Floyd - DSOTM (cannabis)
Beatles - Sgt Pepper (cannabis / LSD)
Bob Marley & The Wailers - Catch a Fire (cannabis)
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (heroin)
Metallica - Master of Puppets (alcohol)
Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks (heroin)
Jeff Buckley - Grace (heroin)
Radiohead - Kid A (cannabis)

bob marley....wow...seriously? are you sure about that?

[msl]

a few not mentioned yet:

Stooges (everything under the sun and then some!)
Fleetwood Mac (alcohol / cocain)
Blondie (cocain / heroin)
Moterhead (alcohol / speed)

etc, etc, etc, all classic bands with more than one classic album, obviously not all band members partook but still.

and all the dub greats, Lee Perry, King Tubby, Prince Jammy (cannabis)

more recently:

Massive Attack (cannabis / mdma)
Leftfield (cannabis / mdma)
Portishead (cannabis / heroin / alcohol)
Prodigy (cannabis / mdma / alcohol)
Underworld (cannabis / mdma)
Happy Mondays (cannabis / mdma / alcohol / heroin)
QOTSA (everything and anything)
Depeche Mode (alcohol / cocain / heroin)
Thievery Corporation (cannabis)


Possibly some of U2s albums were made without any major drugs, just booze?
Kraftwerk?




.

[RTR]

Originally Posted by Harry Hughes

I definitely understand what you mean.
Mind you, I don't inject or take any of the really dirty drugs (meth, cocaine) or anything like that and I take pretty good care of my health.
I certainly will NEVER play guitar and bass guitar under the influence and never write under the influence, but the drugs I've consumed (acid and pot generally) have been influences on my music and expanding my mind in general in ways that wouldn't have been possible had I never taken them.

And mind you , this is from a guy who used to be really anti drug and believed that sort of stuff couldn't expand your mind. How wrong I was.

I just used to love acid..All my friends smoked weed and I think I am alergic to it because I throw up and get sick off one hit, all my life I could not smoke it..but I loved LSD...wish I still knew where to get it actually..

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Bassmankr

Drugs and moderation don't seem to go hand in hand

Hey! I resemble that remark!

What seems to be the problem ossifer?

[JPeters86]

Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde

[5down1up]

imo :

this forum holds responsibility to not motivate people to do something based on some " hollywood storys ".

whats next ? you need to stick 3 melons up your ass to play accordeon ?