Re: Drugs+music: Off topic?

[Mike.Biffle@wj.com (Mike Biffle)]

Author:  Mark Sottilaro <msottila@mailbox.syr.edu> at INTERNET
> For all recorded history there are tales of artists and drugs.  It seems 
>to be
> an indelible part of art "lore."  Should the list avoid the topic?... 

I don't have a problem when the issue of drugs comes up... I just don't 
like 
presumptuous statements about "how people end up" after their usage.

> Let's face it: a very large proportion of the music that we listen to 
>was 
> created under the influence of some drug. (I include alcohol in that 
>list.)  
> Why is this?  I'd love to hear anyone else's theories.

I believe anything which relaxes the restrictive inhibitions of self 
criticism 
and doubt, including drugs, alcohol, meditation and other mental 
disciplines, 
will have a positive effect on music making. Artists have utilized this 
general 
principle to allow them to access sublime concepts either naturally or 
chemically, at the very least throughout this century.

In Derek Bailey's book "Improvisation", he ruminates about the influence 
of the 
audience and recording on the act of creating music, and, (to paraphrase), 
states that an audience and/or the act of recording interject a (mostly) 
negative influence on the creative process. 

This points to the influence these elements have on the performer as well 
as 
their contextual effects. Relaxation techniques and a certain disregard 
for both
the audience and the recording process might help one to peform with more 
in-the-moment abandon. Whether chemicals or mental discipline are the 
conduit 
for this, I believe this to be true.

-Miko