The Correlation between Psycho-Reactive Drugs and Music Culture in the 1960s - Research Paper Example

The connection between drug use and dance music is not a new phenomenon – since onset of recorded music, the music industry and drugs have gone hand in hand, with the first main incidence of usage of drugs coming from jazz musicians. All through history as well as cross-culturally, dancing while under the influence of psychoactive drugs has been a common occurrence. In religious ceremonies, traditional societies have used this kind of dancing to facilitate the reaching out of visionary states. These musical styles and cultural trance dances comprise the far eastern religious groups’ mantra chanting, those of the spinning dervishes of Turkey, as well as Morocco’s joujouka players (Landry & Landry 92). This paper delves into the correlation between psycho-reactive drugs and music culture in the 1960s. Introduction Psychoactive drugs refer to substances that have an impact on somebody’s mood, thinking, perception as well as feeling. These drugs activate the brain’s pleasure centers thus increasing the potential of engaging in drug abuse continually. People have always ingested psychoactive drug (Goode 1). The 1960s are however notorious for the celebration of abuse of these drugs, especially among the young people. Moreover, the growth of the music scene of this period was interconnected to the augmented use of hallucinogens as well as marijuana by the culture of the youths. A study conducted on the same revealed that in the year 1962, only twenty-five thousand Americans had even tried using LSD. However, after a period of only four years (towards the end of the year 1965), this number had increased to approximately four million users. Three quarters of the users were college or high school age students (Shapiro 139). In 1960s, there was the emergence of a spirited subculture of drugs, with some social groups viewing the use of drugs positively, assessing persons on the basis of whether they made use of illegal drugs, and believing that ‘turning on’ an individual who was not a drug abuser was a virtue. This subculture became a strong force in engaging young people into the habit of abusing illegal psychoactive substances. Drug abuse had never before gotten to such a great number of youths (Lyman & Potter 51). As a way of rebellion and a means asserting insubordination of community norms, young people in America used drugs. In the year 1964, those who opposed mainstream ideals and American culture made San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district their meeting place, rock music being the basis for this counter-cultural stance. Following his encounter of a world of love and peace during a psilocybin mushroom trip, Allen Ginsberg, a beatnik poet, made up the term ‘flower power’ to cover this thought. Soon, the term came to be a symbol of 1960s counter-culture all together (Brewer 25). LSD became increasingly readily available as years went on. In the mid 1960s, Owsley Stanley (commonly known as the ‘king of acid’) became top-grade acid’s key vendor, and built very close bonds with the world of music (Shapiro 134-137 & Wong 3). The greatest number of the musicians heavily used heroin, and some were even dealers of this drug. Moreover, marijuana played a great role in their music as well as in their daily lives. The 1960s also saw a shift in drugs of choice in the drug scene of the Unites States of America. The use of such psychedelic substances as marijuana, heroin, methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and N-diethyltryptamine (DMT) became more popular in the 1960s and their popularity increased through the beginning of 1970s (Lyman & Potter 51). LSD users often acclaim the drug arguing that it helps them attain a heightened sensation of understanding of the world. They also believe that the drug is a stimulator of creativity. In users, many of the drug’s effects are evident through the kind music that they produce when they are high on the drug (Shapiro 137). Continuous chanting or drumbeats accompanies cultural trance dancing (as seen in rave music), the consumption of stimulant or hallucinogenic drugs, or by both drugs and music. There has been a connection between various forms of the 20th century dance and music in the western world and the use of drugs. Examples of dance and music subcultures linked with the use of drugs include country and western (associated with alcohol), reggae (associated with cannabis), ‘punk’ and barbiturates (associated with glue sniffing) and ‘mods’ (associated with amphetamine). In the early 20th century, cocaine had a close connection with jazz clubs that played the period’s dance music. In the 1950s however, cannabis (not cocaine) was the drug of the nightclub scene (Forsyth 17-18). In the beginning of 1960s, a band known as the Byrds together with people like Dylan brought a transformation in people’s perception of music. The bands began a dissident wave that run all through the 1960s and the era became known as the ‘Psychedelic Era.’ This era presented drugs as a significant part in music production – listeners used it to heighten their experience. Bands like the Holding Company, Big Brother, the Grateful Dead and the Byrds began trying out with drugs such as acid, LSD, and marijuana, holding the belief that drugs could assist them produce music that would waft away that of the 1950s and it indeed did! The young bands believed that these drugs turned them into ‘real’ musicians who could arrest the attention of their audience in only a few guitar string strums. This new kind of music began in San Francisco and stretched all over the US throughout the1960s. Youths welcomed this new music gladly arguing that drugs brought a transformation in the way many people experienced this new music wave (Thinkquest.org 2&3 and The Wordman 1). Towards the end of the 1960s, other bands such as Jefferson Airplane, the Fish, and Country Joe came into the psychedelic bandwagon producing songs with the help of the mind jumbling drugs. The Jefferson Airplane gang produced a song called ‘White Rabbit,’ which tells of the distinction between harmful drugs and those that are not (curative drugs). In the time of the year 1967 ‘Summer of Love,’ there was another big performance at Alexander Palace and roughly ten thousand people attended. The show lasted 14 hours with those in attendance doing such fanatical things as swinging from banisters as well as climbing walls. The Beatles released their first album entitled ‘Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ in June, which bought another revolution of whole albums in the music world from singles. In August 1969, there was a "three-day Peace and Music Festival in Woodstock and it was a great success. In fact, it was the first of its type to have ever occurred. Over two million persons attempted to get in and to deal with all these people, state lines and borders had to be closed. Various popular bands from all over the world attended the festival and it became a place for people to begin a demonstration for peace. Altama was the last memorable concert of the 1960s and the Rolling Stones gave it to the public free of charge. Over 500,000 heads attended. Following the close of the renowned period of the 1960s, the war stopped a few years later. Drug use could however not end – the rage had caught on and to date, it is still persists through contemporary music. Many people died in this ‘Psychedelic Era’ from either a gunshot, or heroin-laced needle prick and the music of the 1960s captured these calamities to serve as eternal commemoration to future generations (Thinkquest.org 6-9 and Landry & Landry 92). Conclusion Apparently, drugs were, perhaps, one of the most powerful variables perceptible in the music of the 1960s. Although the 1960s counterculture vanished very quickly, some of the most influential and acclaimed music was generated during that short time period. While the correlation between the music industry and drugs will always be there, the connection between these two has by no means been as cohesive as it was during that time. Works Cited Brewer, Jim. "Drugs: Cheap Grass and Free Acid." The San Francisco Chronicle 9 April 1987. Print. Forsyth, Alasdair J. M. A Quantitative Exploration of Dance Drug Use: The New Pattern of Drug Use of the 1990s. University of Glasgow. November, 1997. Web. 16 April 2012. . Goode, Erich. The Sociology of Drug Use: 21st Century Sociology. New York: Sage Publications, 2006. Print. Landry, Mim J., and Landry. Understanding Drugs of Abuse: The Processes of Addiction, Treatment, and Recovery. Arlington, Virginia: American Psychiatric Pub, 2004. Print. Lyman, Michael D., and Potter, Gary W. (CON). Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts and Control. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2010. Print. Shapiro, Harry. Waiting For the Man: The Story of Drugs and Popular Music. Southampton: Camelot Press Plc, 1988. Print. The Wordman. Rock in the 1960's Part 2: Psychedelic Rock. Hubpages. 2012. Web. 15 April 2012. < http://thewordman.hubpages.com/hub/Rock-in-the-1960s-Part-2-Psychedelic-Rock>. Thinkquest.org. The Music of the Sixties – The Psychedelic Era. 22 September 2010. Web. 15 April 2012. < http://library.thinkquest.org/21342/text/1960.htm>. Wong, George. Psychedelic Fungi and Its Impact on Music and Art. Botany Department. University of Hawaii at Manoa. Fall, 2003. Web. 16 April. 2012. . 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