What Drug/Drugs Inspire The Best Music?

[la szum]

Drugs and music seem inseparable to me. I can be a prude and say they are bad, but music as we know it
would simply not exist as it does without the influence and impact of drug-induced altered states. It just is.

Heck, there are entire genres of music that are drug-fueled and drug-dependent. It's just a fact, not a moral judgment.

I wonder what others think are the best drugs for inspiring music and creativity, and what are the ones that
create more obstacles and challenges than they solve.

This in no way supports or condones the use of illicit drugs for any purpose, let alone that of making music. It's
merely a reflection of our recent history as a music-making species.

 

[duzie]

 

[gonzoknife]

 

[jellodog]

Why isn't Oxytocin an option? Probably 80% of pop songs are written by people under the influence of that!

 

[jellodog]

@gonzoknife Jinx!!!

 

[Holden Afart]

Why isn't Oxytocin an option? Probably 80% of pop songs are written by people under the influence of that!

I just voted heroin. Opiates is opiates.

 

[DrewJD82]

For me it'd have to be marijuana as it's the only one I consistently enjoy writing/playing while being under the influence of. Drugs have largely pulled me further away from music. Outside of LSD/mushrooms, which have certainly influenced writing in the days after consuming, the rest of them just make me want to sit there and feel f*cked up. That's mostly why I don't do 'em anymore!

But I can take 2 hits off a bowl and come up with 20 new riffs on the spot.

 

[la szum]

I just voted heroin. Opiates is opiates.

Man, it seems to prevent more music from being made in the future (overdose death!) than it helps create.

 

[TSJMajesty]

Ok, but caffeine?

 

[jaxadam]

My guess is whatever inspired this song:

 

[Warmart]

I must abstain from voting as I've never even smoked weed! I'm under qualified.

Hmmm, well if I could vote it would be weed as it sure benefitted Rush.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

In a sober state I always have a groove in my head or moving through my body. As fun as they are, drugs distract me from my natural creativity. A little weed doesn't hurt tho.

 

[sleewell]

That scene in family guy where Peter and Lois think they did great playing that concert super high but then it cuts to a clip of them sounding like birds getting tortured and it sounds horrible. They did a similar scene in its always sunny when they performed at the hs reunion. Pretty funny bc there is truth there.

Lots of ppl think they need drugs to get inspired or whatever but then it becomes the distraction that prevents anything good from happening or becomes the downfall that ruins the band.

There's a pretty good thread at tgp called worst band mates. Its basically all stories that involve people who put drinking or drugs before the music and ruined playing in that band for the other people.

 

[Orvillain]

I remember back in my uni days, sat in my friends little prison cell of a room, constantly playing a single drop-d chord over and over and over, pissing everyone in the room off royally, but no-one wanted to say anything.

Thanks Mary Ja Wanna!

 

[Bob Zaod]

Drugs and music seem inseparable to me. I can be a prude and say they are bad, but music as we know it
would simply not exist as it does without the influence and impact of drug-induced altered states. It just is.

Heck, there are entire genres of music that are drug-fueled and drug-dependent. It's just a fact, not a moral judgment.

I wonder what others think are the best drugs for inspiring music and creativity, and what are the ones that
create more obstacles and challenges than they solve.

This in no way supports or condones the use of illicit drugs for any purpose, let alone that of making music. It's
merely a reflection of our recent history as a music-making species.

I don't do any illicit drugs other than the occasional gummy but I support everyones rights to have and do whatever drugs they enjoy. Period.

 

[EOengineer]

In my 40s now and my answer is a little more nuanced than it might have been as a 20 something.

IMO altered states are bad for precision. The things I do while stoned are typically underwhelming when I review them in a non altered state. That said, altered states can still be extremely valuable for creativity, particularly when I’m in a funk or just need to force my consciousness into a different creative space.

My preferences are to use altered states to start ideas, and then refine and complete them when sober.

 

[la szum]

I just don't know how we have the music we have all come to know and love apart from the influence of
exogenous substances that alter consciousness in some way.

It all seems inseparable to me. That doesn't mean I want to be incapacitated while performing. Nor do I
want to see someone and pay for a performance where someone is unable to deliver because of drugs.

I guess I just see drugs as instrumental in the development of Western Popular Music---from Jazz to Blues to
Prog to Punk to Metal. None of it exists in the forms we have come to know it if drugs are taken out of
the picture completely.

 

[-BOOGIEMAN-]

I’m guessing artists throughout time have used substances for creativity…

 

[Mooselake]

My distinctly non-expert vote