Every Rose

Drugs have always had an impact on society.  In the eighth and ninth centuries, Opium was a main source of inspiration for the artists in Asia.  Over time, more drugs were discovered and influenced art even more.  During the Psychedelic era of the 1960’s and 70’s two drugs in particular; LSD and Heroin became very popular.  The music was drastically changed; in fact, drugs entirely shaped the music of the era and had a positive creative impact on the music of the day.                       

 Heroin, a mixture of morphine and acetic anhydride was created in 1874 by C.R. Alder Wright.  The drug was marketed from 1898-1910 as a non-addictive cough medicine/ pain reliever.  Heroin caused its users to experience lower heart rates, nausea, sedation, Euphoria, and confusion not to mention addiction.  Many rockers used heroin before performances and in everyday life to “relax” them.  The biggest downside to the Heroin user is the withdrawal, which begins six hours after the injection.   Users going cold turkey experience excruciating symptoms that caused victims to relapse and go back to using.  LSD, or Lysergic acid Diethylamide, was created by Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann, who worked for Sandoz Pharmeceutical, as part of a research program studying migrain relief.  Its psychedelic properties were unknown until five years later when some of the substance was absorbed through his skin.  It was very popular in the rock culture of the 60’and 70’s because of its effects, despite the dangers associated with it.  LSD users see indescribable colors, moving objects, and shape shifting. The down side of this drug is the risk of taking a bad trip.  Bad trips are strong feelings of paranoia, feeling as if dying, fear, nervousness, and include scary hallucinations like spiders, insects, blood, monsters, and skulls.   Users on a bad trip panic because they think they are being cut off from reality and being in violent surroundings when getting high or tripping.   LSD became very popular with the Beat Generation.   

The Beat generation began with a group of Bohemians that met in New York City.   The generation was given its name around 1948 when Jack Kerouac, and American novelist, described his social circle.   The Beatniks believed in the liberation of gays and blacks, sexual liberation, and spiritual liberation.  They preached their beliefs in magazine articles, books, newspapers, etc. to gain support for their cause and bring change to the world.  "Once when Kerouac was high on psychedelics with Timothy Leary (a Harvard LSD experimentalist), he looked out the window and said, 'Walking on water wasn't built in a day.' Our goal was to save the planet and alter human consciousness. That will take a long time, if it happens at all." (Allen Ginsberg- Wikipedia) The Beats had good intentions, but they were not the greatest role models.  The Beatniks were known for their avid drug use, and their permiscuous activites.   They dabbled in any type of drug, but LSD was the most preferred because they felt it inhanced their senses.  They attended parties called “Acid tests” where their fellow bohemians relaxed, got high, and listened to drug music.  "The Beat Generation brought America a message that's still crucially relevant; somebody's trying to take our freedom away, and you'd better pay attention. Control can never be a means to any practical end; it can never be a means to anything but more control — like junk." -William Burroughs 'Naked Lunch'

The Merry Pranksters created the acid tests that the beatniks were so fond of.  This was a group of followers of the novelist Ken Kesey who was also a lab rat in the Menlo Park drug test  in 1959.  Kesey read about the experiment in a newspaper add, and decided he could use the extra money.  At the Menlo Park Veteran’s Hospital he experimented with all sorts of drugs, wrote down his experiences with each, and soon spread them to his friends.   He threw parties for his peers in which he gave them LSD without their knowledge and turned on loud music and strobe lights.  The lights and the music were to enhance the experiences of his guests, but Kesey went to the extent of hiding the speakers and projecting the lights onto the trees outside, so the place seemed like another world.  Kesey believed that people could confront their deepest fears under the influence of LSD and with these acid tests he tried to manipulate people into facing them.  Kesey opened up these parties to biker gangs such as the Hells Angels, druggies, and various performers to set the mood at his tests.            

One of the most popular of these stage performers was the Warlocks (now known as the Greatful Dead).  The group  had a low profile beginning being an unknown group with low budget gigs.   It was not until Ken Kesey invited them to his acid test that they truly began making their music.  Coincidentally, this was also the time they began their use of LSD.  One of the Dead’s most famous songs with direct references to drug use was the song, “ Cocaine”.  It’s obvious what the song is talking about; the bands cocaine usage.   They say , “Riding out on a rail, feels so fine Talking 'bout that cocaine express, mainline, got a good head of steam” and “Cocaine Habit Blues.” Another popular song that has some drug implications is “Candyman”. “Look out, look out the Candyman, Here he comes and he's gone again.  Pretty lady ain't got no friend till, The Candyman comes around again.”  The song is about a drug dealer that comes from Memphis selling drugs and alcohol to people of any age.  The group’s success continued after the death of Ron “Pigpen” Mckernan in 1973 and the entrance of Keith Godchaux, a heavy drug user.  Keith was only in the band for a short time because the road wore him down, but he made his mark.  During this period drug addictions spread throughout the rest of the band.  Soon after Keith left, Jerry Garcia had to drop the guitar and do only vocals because of his unstable stature due to his heroin addiction.   Despite the deterioration of each person during this time, the most famous Grateful Dead music was created and their fan base grew tremendously.   

Another performer with a growing fan base in the 60’s  was Bob Dylan.  Bob Dylan, a beatnik, was very famous for his protest singing as well as his musical talent.  Dylan was also a fan of the Merry Pranksters Acid Tests.  Dylan, like Garcia was more into Heroin, and he wrote many songs that suggested it.  For example he makes drug references in his songs “ Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Just like Tom Thumb’s Blues”.  In “Just like Tom Thumb’s Blues” Bob sings, “My fingers are all in a knot/I don't have the strength/To get up and take another shot/And my best friend, my doctor/Won't even say what it is I've got” he describes how the drugs are making him so tired, but his music he’s writing in this state is making him more popular and in high demand.   

Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin' ship, my senses have been stripped, my hands can't feel to grip, my toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels to be wanderin'. I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade intomy own parade, cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it.

In “Mr. Tambourine Man”, a very popular song at the time, Dylan is clearly describing tripping on Heroin.  It was a catchy tune with innocent lyrics that was on the lips of many who did not realize that the song was referring to drugs making Dylan widely popular.              

Possibly the best example of drug usage is the band the Velvet Undergound.   This band was an unknown until David Bowie told people they were a band worth listening to after they had broken up.  The album,  The Velvet Underground & Nico was produced in 1967 and proclaims their drug usage, specifically in their songs, “Run, Run, Run”, “Heroin”, and “I’m waiting for my man”.  In “Heroin” Lou Reed wrote, “Cause it makes me feel like I'm a man /When I put a spike into my vein/ Then I tell you things aren't quite the same/ When I'm rushing on my run /And I feel just like Jesus' son/ And I guess that I just don't know.”  The title “Heroin” made it no secret what the song was professing, but a little less obvious was “I’m waiting for my man.”  The song begins with Lou Reed singing quietly into the microphone, “I’m waiting for my man/ Twenty six dollars in my hand/ Up to Lexington, One Two Five/ So sick and dirty more dead than alive/ I’m waiting for my man.”  You have to listen for awhile before it is clear he is waiting for his drug dealer.  In “Run, Run, Run” there is yet another drug reference.  The refrain, “You gotta run, run, run, run, run/ Take a drag or two/ Run, run, run, run, run/ Gypsy Death and you/ Tell you whatcha do” implies their understanding the dependency on the drug.  As their fame grew from the record, so did their doses of LSD and Heroin.  The next album, titled White Light/ White Heat, increased its drug references with the songs “Sister Ray” and “White Light/ White Heat”.  In “White Light/ White Heat” they sing, “I surely do love to watch that stuff shooting itself in, ooooh white light, Watch that side, watch that side, Don’t You know, gonna be dead and bright, ooooh white heat….  White light moving me drain my brain, white light, gonna make me go insane.”  The song sounds like the Velvet Underground is warning people of the drugs’ dangers, but at the same time hopelessly dependant on them.               

The Beatles continued the drug promoting music with their albums, Revolver and Sgt. Peppers and the Lonely Hearts Club Band.   When the Beatles first came on the scene they were viewed as a trendy pop group.  It wasn’t until they released Revolver that they began to gain attention for their Psychedelic music.   Revolver was the first album that John Lennon’s long time drug use became apparent.  In the song "She Said, She Said", Lennon wrote, “She said I know what it's like to be dead I know what it is to be sad and she's making me feel like I've never been born” referring to the drugs running his life.   The entire song, "Tomorrow Never Knows" was actually taken from the Tibetan book of the dead which throughout history was read while on acid.   The song “Doctor Robert” was written about a doctor in New York that was known for injecting Amphetamines into his A-List patients.  The idea behind the Sgt. Peppers album was to “record something continuous, like a novel or scrapbook.”  (Norman, Shout)  After Paul McCartney wrote the first piece entitled “Sergeant Pepper’s lonely Hearts Club Band” he asked the band if they would consider writing the whole album as if Sergeant Pepper was actually doing the album and the Pepper band really existed.   They formed the album with songs written by each Beatle but for the Pepper Band.  Fans knew the Beatles were on LSD. Though the Beatles deny that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was a reference to LSD, there are many other drug references that cannot be denied.   For example in the song “With a Little help from my friends” Ringo Starr says he gets “high with a little help from [his] friends.”  "A Day in the Life includes the phrase "I'd love to turn you on". At the time “turning on” was a phrase that meant getting high.  Also, "digging the weeds" in "When I'm Sixty-Four" is said to refer to the growing of pot. ( Wikipedia Sgt. Pepper’s)  The cover of the album not only promotes marijuana usage (there is a row of Marijuana growing directly infront of the Beatles) but it was also quite controversial because of the people they depicted.  The origional cover depicted Ghandi, Jesus, Hitler, and Elvis along with the others.  EMI, the Beatles’s record lable, denied production of the album cover with those images on it because it would diminish their fan base.   This Psychadelic Drug influenced cover was so influential in society that it has been reproduced more than any other album cover.             

Another very influencial album was the Rolling stones album, Sticky Fingers.  The album was a top of the charts seller, the 46^th best album ever made on the VH1charts, including the hit song “Brown Sugar”.  The Album was filled with tunes that everyone loved listening to, but rarely anyone paid attention to the lyrics they had all memorized.  The most drug heavy songs on the album were “Brown Sugar”, “Sister Morphine”, “ Wild Horses” , and “Dead Flowers”.  In “Dead flowers” a song to “Susie”,  “Ah, I'll be in my basement room with a needle and a spoon And another girl to take my pain away”  describing shooting up heroin to take away their pain.  The song, “Sister Morphine” is a little more obvious in its drug reference.  A morphine addict in the hospital cannot wait for the next dose.  “Here I lie in my hospital bed. Tell me, Sister Morphine, when are you coming round again? Oh, I don't think I can wait that long. Oh, you see that I'm not that strong.” The song, “Wild Horses” is a little less obvious.  The “Wild Horses” are actually the drug dragging the narrator away and “offstage lines” refers to lines of cocaine.  “Wild horses couldn't drag me away Wild, wild horses, couldn't drag me away I watched you suffer a dull aching pain. Now you decided to show me the same. No sweeping exits or offstage lines Could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind.”  The last and most obscure drug reference is in “Brown Sugar”.  “Brown sugar how come you taste so good? Brown sugar just like a young girl should” People thought the song was about the African slave trade, but Brown Sugar was Heroin.             

The end of the Psychedelic era began in December 1969 at the Altamont Speedway.  A free concert was planned by the Rolling stones at the end of one of their United States tours.  The Stones were not able to play at Woodstock, so they wanted to replicate it in Liverpool.  The concert was to include performances Carlos Santana, Tina Turner, The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and was to end with a performance by the Stones.  The concert planning was poor.  Planners estimated only 100,000 people tops, and at least three times that attended.  The concert was crazy from the beginning; no security, lots of drugs and alcohol, and crowd violence.  But, the show must go on.  Throughout the concert fans grew more and more impatient waiting for the appearance of the main show.  When the Stones emerged, people rushed the stage, resulting in more people jammed into a very small space.  About 850 people were hurt, and an 18 year old boy was stabbed and beaten to death in the front row.  This concert was said to be “The Death of the 60’s”, and part of the inspiration for Don McLean’s song, “American Pie”.  (Livermore History)  In the stanza’s                        

Oh and as I watched him on the stage,
my hands were clinched in fists of rage;
No angel born in hell
could break that Satan's spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night 
to light the sacrificial rite 
I saw Satan laughing with delight,
 The day, the music, died.
He was singin'… 

McLean depicts Mick Jagger as Satan because the Stones were responsible for this concert and at the height of the violence they were singing “Sympathy for the Devil”.  “No angel born in hell” refers to the Hells angels who the Stones had asked to work concert security.  The lyric announces that none of the Hells Angels could stop the crowd from being violent.  The Angels were also responsible for the “Sacrificial Rite”, referring to the stabbing and beating of the 18 year old boy.  “The Flames climbed high that night” refers to the bonfires that had been lit around the site. (Livermore) They say all good things must come to an end and this is precisely what happened that day.              

Drugs have influenced the cultures of the world, but the drugs of the Psychedelic Era brought a significant change to the music we listen to today.  Before Psychedelic drugs songs were pop tunes with innocent lyrics like “Help!” or “Little Girl”.  These tunes were simple dancing tunes that everyone loved.  When drugs came on the scene the artists experimented with manipulation of the music as they were experimenting with drugs.  Songs became more complex in lyrics and music as they blended sounds and styles.  This music was still good to dance to but had a different intensity.   Without the influence of drugs, modern music would never have become what it is today.  Any of the sounds in modern pop music are the products of the experimentation with drugs and with music in the 60’s.