It seems to depend on the genre.

I would say heroine for the cats I listen to - then whiskey.

I thought about smack. Hugely popular with musicians it's true. But what examples can you give me on where it has really influenced a sound?

VU perhaps?

a ton of huge names have been heroin addicts... jimmy page, clapton, lennon, ray charles... the bird and miles were junkies too

I realize that, but as far as all those names go I think Cream is the only one to have a sound really impacted by the musicians herion use. And that was certianly for the worse.

I think dance music has been influenced by pingas more than any other genre in history.

Certainly for the worse? C'mon, dude, it's Cream!

I'm not totally getting the point of the thread. Are you suggesting that drugs are the primary impetus that creates sound/genre?

If so, that's horse shit. Ray Charles (as all ready mentioned) did smack for 17 years, and he created one of the most exciting sounds in popular music. However, I don't believe it was primarily drug induced.

Also, as mentioned, Miles Davis's creation of "the cool" - ie, his amazing muted sound - was not, I believe, mostly influenced by his smack use.

As for the question of specific examples of music genres that got their start in coffee houses...let's start with folk rock (Dylan in Greenwich Village coffee houses), then let's look at the whole accoustic alternative movement, and yes, the turn-of-the-century classicists such as Stravinski...

But really, I meant it as a joke...I would say that pot is probably the big one, because it was used by the jazz community, the folkies, and in the rock era as well.

Cream was a good band in the studio but Live Cream is a serious snorefest and it's totally smacked-out. Smack may not be very beneficial artistically but that doesn't rule out it's influence, good or bad. I agree with you about cool since you used the word 'mostly'. Late period Coltrane was deeply impacted by his LSD use, however.


That's a good point.

Hmmmm...Those guys smoked grass for sure but in early rock and jazz up to and including bebop I don't really hear it in the sound. The folkies yeah, especially if I keep in mind that the grass they smoked wasn't that strong but a more mellow buzz, not so freaky creepy. High octane weed is more like the Melvins and Dre. Also, Hawkind is more of a stoner band than a psychedelic band, in my opinion.

Anthony Keidis - Was a huge heroin addict. supposedly the name of the band came from a hallucination (If heroin even is hallucinogen)

Cant forget Kurt Cobain i think his heroin use greatly influenced his mood and emotion in his music which to me personally is pitch-dark depression. I also link Nirvana with a buddy of mine who had the persona of a mini Kurt Cobain who killed himself last year.