Drugs and Music Essay

Music is often considered “the universal language.” Throughout, history it has symbolized love, brought people together, and has been the cornerstone of many lives. In the 1950s, a new form of music entered American mass culture that drastically changed the culture of the United States (U.S.): rock music. In the U.S., it began as Rock ‘n’ Roll, a originally “black” music genre that was then taken and promulgated by white Americans. Post WWII, many Americans—especially teenagers—struggled with the newfound societal conformity and normalcy, and rock provided them a form of retaliation. From its beginning, Rock united the younger generation of Americans, stirring up a sense of community amongst teenagers and troubling many adults by their actions—heightening

Miller (2000) interprets Music as an aesthetic display and indicator for fitness. Musical activities such as “dancing” represents health, “voice control...self confidence for status”, “Rhythmic” engagement shows ability to identify patterns and “melodic creativity” which assists initiation for social communication(Miller 2000, p.10). This handicapping, sexual trait may be useful for reproductive success but attempting to gain excessive aesthetic display can lead to dire consequences. Jimi Hendrix, famous guitarist, died at 27 years from drug overdose which he used to “spark his musical imagination” (Miller, 2000, p.2). Hendrix’s fatal actions can be explained by the neural overlap between effects of drug and music, making music a possible threat to survival(Blood and

The goal of LSD, along with other psychedelic drugs, was to open the mind and “find a new light to look upon things” (Bacig). Many artists took this approach to their music and would drop acid before composing music. This gave the music of this era a distinct sound and without LSD, the world would not have psychedelic rock. During this time, many artists referenced LSD in their songs because of the profound effect it had on them. In order to produce the psychedelic feel, the artists would write “esoteric lyrics, often describing dreams, visions, or hallucinations” as well as use other techniques such as distorting and delaying the sound, and playing sections of the song backwards. Another important part of psychedelic rock is the influence of Indian music. Bands such as The Beatles popularized this technique of using ”exotic instruments like the sitar, the tambura, and the tabla” in their music (Psychedelic Rock).

     Ecstasy, or 3, 4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine, was first synthesized and patented in 1914, by the German drug company Merck. The original purpose of the drug was to be an appetite suppressant, however in 1970 it was given to clinical depressed patients to open them up and talk about their feelings. Then in 1986, Ecstasy was determined to cause brain damage (http://faculity.washington.edu/chudler/mdma.html).

Psychedelics, and drugs in general became such an important part of life during the 60’s that it’s influence was inescapable. Nowhere can this fact be seen more clearly than in the music of the time. The most obvious influence drugs had on music can bee seen in the lyrics. Drug references abound, be it Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” of marijuana smoke, or the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”, obviously referring to LSD. Even the names of the bands were drug inspired, as Garofalo points out in reference to the Doors: “The group took it’s name from Aldous Huxley’s The Doors of Perception, a book about the liberating aspects of drug use.” Even the music itself was influenced by drugs. Take for example much of the music by the Doors. Their song “the End” is a psychedelic journey in to the world of LSD. The slow beat and “trippy” music in the song was probably created with the use of drugs and hence is better appreciated when heard while on drugs. This is also true of the music of the Grateful Dead, although this can be much more clearly seen in their live performances as opposed to their studio work. Much of their music is geared specifically toward those in the audience who are on drugs. Hearing one of their 30 minute jams is a much different experience on drugs, and that is the experience that they intended the audience to have. While drugs were very much connected to the music of the sixties,

this competition. Each person 's job or company has to be bigger and better than

The Beatles had a music style like no other; they brought psychedelic music to new level by making it widely popular. “In their initial incarnation as cheerful, wisecracking mop tops, the Fab Four revolutionized the sound, style, and attitude of popular music and opened rock and roll's doors to a tidal wave of British rock acts” (jack threads).there music is still widely popular, people everywhere have taken their sound and continued to make music based off it, which has taken psychedelic rock to a whole new level. “They are often credited for sparking a musical revolution.” (archive.jsonline.com).

As stated in (McCaughan (2004)"Ecstasy was first developed in 1914 as a weight loss aid, it was never marketed for that purpose. In 1970 the drug began to get some popularity among clinical psychologist as an aid to psychotherapy and marriage counseling in the United States". More than a decade later, DEA placed the MDMA drug into the list of schedule drugs, however the popularity of the drug gained attention among the youth subcultures. The way that this drug is distributed throughout the public is in pill form; they vary from color and designs, an example would be superman symbol, different cartoon characters, etc.; as color goes, it varies from white, blue, pink, etc.. This drugs has also gained attention in recent Hollywood Movies like Bad Boys 2, when of

to, and got high off of. This paper will discuss the ways popular music of

Questioning the correlation of commercial success and true artistry began in the light of mainstream music. Mainstream music has been given a negative connotation due to the supposed lack of originality of the artists. Repetitive chord progressions and meaningless lyrics compose the majority of “mainstream music,” making each song sound like the next . Despite these patterns in music, artists still ventured outside of what was societally normal and created music that was unheard of. Despite the potential risks in being an individual in the music industry, several groups achieved high success and maintain the popularity in the present. Creativity and commercial success can definitely exist alongside one another, and this paper will prove that through the music of the Beatles, the performance styles of David Bowie, and the grunge movement in Seattle which was fueled by Nirvana.

It's 6 o'clock on a Saturday morning and while some teenagers are enjoying the extra hours of sleep, many are still bouncing around to the sounds of techno music. Thousands of teenagers and even some adults gather into clubs decorated with black lights, disco balls, and tons of smoke machines. Their hearts are pounding and their pulse is racing at the speed of light, all compliments of designer drugs known as club drugs (National Institute on Drug Abuse). Changing the molecular structure of an existing drug or drugs to create a new substance creates designer drugs (Kusinitz 151). The all night dance parties, known as raves, are about the wildest thing going from midnight till dawn, and often beyond. Just because these drugs may portray

Hip Hop is more than just music, it is a culture. Over the past three nearly four decades, Hip Hop has influenced and uplifted Black America, speaking out for generations of families whilst providing a voice to a group of people trying to deliver a message both politically and therapeutically and some may say at times also very controversially. It was viewed as “street language” or “ghetto” due to its harsh language, associations with explicit sex, alcohol, gambling, street gang violence, drugs, and even prostitution. During the uprising of Hip Hop there was a marked rapid increase in street violence and drug use known as the “Crack era” during the late 80’s and early 90’s as some say it was the directly influenced by Hip Hop music . Marked at times as retaliation toward law enforcement, most Hip Hop songs and that time was focused on the unfairness and inequality of Black Americans amongst American society. Heavily criticized in the 1980 's, Hip-Hop still managed to enter mainstream in the 1990 's and by the early 2000 's, it was the mainstream music genre replacing the likes of more contemporary music. By constantly

During the 1980s and 1990s on Wall Street, people only really cared about two things and two things only money and drugs. Wall street aloud young men straight out college to get a job. For example the movie Wolf of Wall Street based on this time period, a young man named Jordan Belfort was a small time stockbroker and he started a small brokerage firm and after a few years it became very big and he became so rich. Drugs in the 80-90s were a very big thing on people on Wall Street many of them did cocaine and quaaludes. The economy was very high so it was really easy for people to get a job and make a lot of money.

Music has played a vital role in human culture and evidence based on archaeological sites can date it back to prehistoric times. It can be traced through almost all civilizations in one form or another. As time has progressed so has the music and the influences it has on people. Music is an important part of popular culture throughout the world, but it is especially popular in the United States. The music industry here is, and has been, a multi-million dollar business that continues to play an important role in American popular culture. This is also a art form and business that is forever changing as the times and more importantly, technology changes. Technology has changed the way music is made as well as how it is produced,

The line between public safety and the continuation of a high standard of privacy for all is a razor thin line; the United States government itself straddles it every day. Such is one very serious complication that the administrators and security forces of Coppell High School face: it is in the best interest of the administrators to prevent drug usage in the school as to stop the spread of any conflict (namely any characteristically delinquent behaviors such as interpersonal violence and school dropout) that they could potentially cause. However, it is also imperative to maintain some level of privacy so that students do not lash out against the administrators and school-wide morale remains fairly high. Numerous students and other relevant