📀🍄 So Before You Knock It, Try It First...steemCreated with Sketch.

in song-challenge •  6 years ago 

Drugs. Alcohol. Two words synonymous with great Rock music.

Today's entry in the 30-day #song-challenge is brought to you courtesy of copious amounts of creative lubricant. Read this post from @connecteconomy for more info.


DAY 7: A SONG ABOUT DRUGS OR ALCOHOL.

OK, let's just get some things out in the open and mention the elephant in the room.

You see, I think drugs have done some good things for us. I really do. And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight. Take all your albums, all your tapes and all your CDs and burn them. 'Cause you know what, the musicians that made all that great music that's enhanced your lives throughout the years were rrreal fucking high on drugs.
— Bill Hicks

 
I kinda found this one hard. I mean, a song about drugs/alcohol...? Or a song that is inspired by drugs/alcohol? And when we're talking about drugs, are we talking about illicit drugs? Or prescription drugs? Do we count coffee as a drug? Or songs that sound really awesome when you're on drugs? Uppers? Downers?

And honestly, I have soooooo many tracks I could play to cover all of these.... it really is a subject that is well-represented in Rock music.

As well as having been either the source of inspiration, or at least a factor in the creation of some of the best music ever, it's also been highly destructive and taken away brilliant artists well before their time.

So would I be choosing a track that glorifies, cautions, or condemns?

In the end, I came across this in my library and instantly knew this was the one I wanted to share.

Burn One Down by Ben Harper
from the 1995 album Fight For Your Mind
albumfightforyourmind.jpg
image source

Check out this track on the STEEMIT SOUNDS: SLIGHT RETURN soundtrack

 
This track has a beautiful groove to it. And yes, it's about smoking weed. But Ben Harper is also passionate and outspoken about freedoms, and this is what I love about the song.

His interesting and quite liberal take on all of this comes through also in his commentary in this live recording on bootlegging, downloading music, and Napster (this is pre-iTunes and Spotify, for those of you too young to know what we're talking about here).

As he says, it should all be free. The issue he has is in the quality of the 'free' stuff. People like Harper work hard to produce excellent quality music. Much like people here on Steemit who take the time to produce excellent quality posts, and those who simply plagiarise and create "shit-posts" and expect to get big payouts.

 


I used to smoke weed quite a lot in my 20's. Some of my fondest memories are being in hysterics with my buddies getting high, listening to awesome music and laughing our arses off watching Simpsons episodes.

At some point however, I stopped enjoying it, and found I wasn't having much fun. That's when I realised I'd probably had enough.

But even after becoming a #naturalmedicine practitioner I never became a 'reformed smoker' and moralised about it to others, knowing the effects it has on the body, mind, and spirit.

Even when it comes to smoking tobacco, I believe people should have the freedom to make their own choices and not be dictated to by governments: so long as your choices and freedoms do not impact on others' choices and freedoms.

To quote from this song:

My choice is what I choose to do
And if I'm causing no harm
It shouldn't bother you
Your choice is who you choose to be
And if your causin' no harm
Then you're alright with me

 

Enjoy (In Moderation)!!
😊🙏🏽☯️



MADE FOR STEEMIT
Soundtrack for this post can be found on this month’s STEEMIT SOUNDS playlist

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What Did the DeadHeads Say When They Ran Out of LSD??

Dude.... this music SUCKS! :D

How does the lyric go?

Whether your for drugs or not you have to admit the combination of music and drugs has come together in a beautiful way.
lol

Pick nearly any song, and you'll find alcohol or other drugs behind the writing of it. :D

Hello @metametheus, thank you for sharing this creative work! We just stopped by to say that you've been upvoted by the @creativecrypto magazine. The Creative Crypto is all about art on the blockchain and learning from creatives like you. Looking forward to crossing paths again soon. Steem on!

So true!! That’s why I love that quote from Bill Hicks.

I’d even go so far as to say that not just music, but so much art and other manifestations of pop-culture are also influenced – either directly or indirectly – by mind-altering substances.

I think there is a good case for entheogenics being involved in the early Palaeolithic cave art.

Artists generally create when their consciousness is freed from social conditioning. Drugs and alcohol aren’t the only ways one can achieve this, but I dare say they help open doors that would otherwise remain shut.

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