So do psychadelic drugs really help make better music?

[Perfect Solitude]

I think one should really have respect for these things. Some individuals may benefit from these things. Particulary younger people. Atleast it made me more at ease, in my younger days. Felt like it helped my creativity aswell. As a grown man though, and anyone who has had certain life experiences, one should really be aware of the danger of psychosis, with any hallucinogens, also hashish.

Even so, wasting your youth on cannbis isn't what I'd recommend either.

[advaya]

drugs kill creativity. My music was more psychedelic and just more melodic when i was clean.

Hmmm... I thought it was music theory that kills creativity...

[.jon]

I thought it was working for money 50 hours a week that kills creativity...

[emdot_ambient]

When I was involved with the drug culture I thought about making music a lot . . . but never really got around to it.

Drugs are an enormous waste of time and money. And if you do any of them enough, especially the psychedelics, you'll start to realize that it's kind of like watching Star Wars over and over and over: the effects are nice at first but after you've seen them a dozen times you start to notice there's nothing else there.

And can anyone explain to me how the music of the Greatful Dead ever became linked with drugs? I mean, is it that you just have to be high to like it? I partied for 3 days on end to get tickets to see them back in college and then the actual show was the single most boring musical event of my life. It was just a bunch of creepy old dudes making dinky-dinky music . . . and 30 minute drum solos.

Why do you think they call it dope?

[emdot_ambient]

I thought it was working for money 50 hours a week that kills creativity...

It is. Then throw on top of that the fact that if you're really into drugs, most of the money you make in those 50 hours will be going toward purchasing drugs and . . . well, forget about the music, man.

[advaya]

I thought it was working for money 50 hours a week that kills creativity...

Perhaps that too...

But we haven't had a gazillion threads on THAT topic yet, so I suppose the jury is still out on that one!

[moonlite]

drugs kill creativity. My music was more psychedelic and just more melodic when i was clean.

Hmmm... I thought it was music theory that kills creativity...

yeah .. i think these two are the greatest misconceptions regarding music.

"take as much drugs as you can and try to never learn anything" ...

of course this is a matter of terminology and semantics, since you can be creative as hell but still not create anything that great. for me a creative person is one that is especially good at creating quality creations, and those people sure have studied a lot of .. what ever they do. if they're successful and respected in their scene, that is.

i mean, if they are composers, they have studied a lot of music theory for sure. if they're in the visual arts, they've for sure studied a lot of composition of colour theory or what ever... if they're patch designers, they've studied synthesis and sound in general. =)

drugs are a lot of fun but for me and for pretty much all people i know who take arts seriously, they're not for serious and delicate work, which ultimately arts are.

i'm not denying that some drugs couldn't be used as a tool in some places in the creative process. examples:

- it's much fun listening to music stoned. you get some new ideas, but remember that most of them won't work

- you may hear your songs on "a clean set of ears" if you listen to your music stoned. you may or may not get a better perspective to your music especially played between other peoples tracks.

... etc ...

so, i'm saying that "let's get stoned and make a good song" won't work, at least if you try to make the whole song stoned. the creative process is so delicate, and you have to make so very good choises to make the creation perfect, that you can't do it stoned, because everything that you do sounds much better than normally, to you. when you're stoned.



anyway. if composing isn't the thing you try to be really good at, sure, diss music theory.

and if drugs make you /feel/ more creative. sure, why not. but don't ever start to think the creations acutually /are/ better just because they seem better when you're high. because /everything does/. even crap.

[moonlite]

I thought it was working for money 50 hours a week that kills creativity...

now THIS is true ,)

sitting-in-the-office[tm]

:P

[D-Fusion]

I think one should really have respect for these things. Some individuals may benefit from these things. Particulary younger people. Atleast it made me more at ease, in my younger days. Felt like it helped my creativity aswell. As a grown man though, and anyone who has had certain life experiences, one should really be aware of the danger of psychosis, with any hallucinogens, also hashish.

Even so, wasting your youth on cannbis isn't what I'd recommend either.

I agree...
It starts with canabis and then you get bigger tolerance
and before you know it you want more & heavier kick and start to mix alcohol canabis & amfetamin, after that you get curious about extacy.
That was my path...
Used canabis & alcohol for about 3 1/2year before i got into the other shit.
Suddenly one day i realised that my health did´nt like it (after about 5.years of abuse).
In the last 6 years i have been clean from all that shit and drink alcohol 1-2.times a year (before it was almost every day).
Not to mention all the bad friends you get on that road.

So if i where you i would keep away from it (If the drugs don´t kill you you will end up like a living dead after a while).

[.jon]

Hmm. It's a fine line between use & abuse, but makes a big difference.

[CypherOne]

conversely, I know plenty of people that started with cannabis, moved onto other stuff, then gave up all the other stuff and went back to cannabis - this includes myself, I've tried most things but got bored of it all (but I still like a smoke).

[Perfect Solitude]

I think one should really have respect for these things. Some individuals may benefit from these things. Particulary younger people. Atleast it made me more at ease, in my younger days. Felt like it helped my creativity aswell. As a grown man though, and anyone who has had certain life experiences, one should really be aware of the danger of psychosis, with any hallucinogens, also hashish.

Even so, wasting your youth on cannbis isn't what I'd recommend either.

I agree...
It starts with canabis and then you get bigger tolerance
and before you know it you want more & heavier kick and start to mix alcohol canabis & amfetamin, after that you get curious about extacy.
That was my path...
Used canabis & alcohol for about 3 1/2year before i got into the other shit.
Suddenly one day i realised that my health did´nt like it (after about 5.years of abuse).
In the last 6 years i have been clean from all that shit and drink alcohol 1-2.times a year (before it was almost every day).
Not to mention all the bad friends you get on that road.

So if i where you i would keep away from it (If the drugs don´t kill you you will end up like a living dead after a while).

Yeah, I have the occasional beer myself now only too.
But I've become almost supersensitive to alcohol aswell. I notice one quite well, mentally that is. A bit similar to a feeling of "egoloss".

[moonlite]

Hmm. It's a fine line between use & abuse, but makes a big difference.

true. the line is fine, and it's also subjective in more ways than one.

some people seem fine in every way after smoking for 10 years every day (and i mean "fine", even mentally. not just "alive"). but there's not many people that can do that. i smoked every day for half a year (but it was really a LOT) and got really depressed.

othervice, i've never had any problems with my drug use. i take something when i feel like it .. but i almost never buy drugs, and when offered, take pretty small quantities (except for pot and ghb).

this adds up to

acid 0-2 doses/year

designers 0-1 doses/year (but not anymore, i think)

shrooms 0-2 doses/year (unless /REALLY/ small amounts
with pot)

amphetamines 0-5 doses/year

pot ~1-5 times/2 months unless i'm growing my own

ghb ~1 times/1-4 months

alcohol too much = normal teen-use (although i'm 26) =
practically every week-end at least one more-or-less drunken night


imho these are the maximum rates (for almost anybody) you can take drugs so that you remain a working part of the society and can actually accomplish something with your life. .. i mean .. so that you can keep these rates and not cut back or stop. at least for years and years.
i /should/ cut back on alcohol, though, and pot, at least when i'm growing.

point: don't take too much/often drugs in any situation.
point2: drugs won't help you create better music. at least mostly you won't concentrate enough and on the right things.

[deleted]

DELETED

[Stupid American Pig]

I think that dabbling into substances can open new pathways of yer mind and lead to more creativity. Heavy use of anything, however will definitely mask creativity if not kill it

Everything in moderation.