By Dan Reich
Recently we published an article about the relationship between cannabis and music. This article is a follow-up, with more information and a look at some musicians who have not only used cannabis but advocated for its legal use and referred to it in their music.
One key finding in research that keeps coming up is the way cannabis encourages people to be in the present moment. Part of this is linked to the known suppression of short-term memory, and the result of this while performing music is that a musician might forget what they are playing. In early jazz, this often meant that the musicians simply improvised, and the improvisations were frequently dazzling. If cannabis was involved, as it usually was, the effect of the inner clock being sped up relative to actual time outside the body (as discussed in the last article) the musician felt as though they could play more notes, or more expressively, than if they had not inhaled some “reefer.”
As jazz developed, these departures from notated music developed into solos, and the format of jazz standards evolved in which there was a melody played over a series of chord changes (called the “head”) and each member of the band would have a verse (or several) over which they would improvise, or solo. The creativity of these solos expanded rapidly due to what Professor David Nutt, a neurological researcher at Imperial College London, explains as follows: "Cannabis seems to break down rigid ways of thinking and feeling, so it allows new insights and approaches to art. This largely occurs in the high-level neural circuits, especially the frontal lobes.” Jörg Fachner, a professor of music, health and the brain at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, explaining the relationship between marijuana and music, had this to say: “Marijuana works like a psycho-acoustic enhancer. That means you are more able to absorb, to focus on something, and to have a bit of a broader spectrum. It doesn't change the music; it doesn't change the ear functioning. Obviously, it changes the way we perceive ear space in music.”
Cannabis has been in use for more than 4000 years, and it is fair to assume that it had its place in the performing of music during this time. More recently, it has been revealed to be one of the primary tools in the arsenal of many of today’s most popular musicians. Let’s look at some of music’s most significant movers and shakers when it comes to cannabis:
Leadbelly
Cannabis was used and enjoyed by both the slaves and plantation owners of the 19th Century American South. For the plantation owners, it was used to keep the slaves placid and content, while the slaves used it and liquor to both escape their circumstances and to inspire them as a new genre of music, Delta Blues, emerged from the region. Around the same time, artists such as Bill Monroe was developing a sound that would become Bluegrass. Both Leadbelly and Monroe thought highly enough of cannabis to refer to it in their songs.
Louis Armstrong
Early Jazz’ biggest star, Louis Armstrong smoked cannabis at every recording session, and also found it helpful to calm his anxiety. Armstrong also pioneered “scat singing,” in which a singer improvises nonsense syllables while imitating the sound of a horn or other instrument.
Cab Calloway
Calloway was a huge star in the ‘30s and ‘40s, entertaining thousands on the radio, in movies, and live performances at historic clubs such as the Cotton Club. His act featured scat singing, which he learned from Louis Armstrong, and his fondness for cannabis is evident from one of his most famous songs, “Reefer Man,” which appeared in the 1933 movie International House.
Bob Dylan
Cannabis was a fixture on the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early ‘60s, and Dylan famously remarked that it wasn’t a drug in Playboy Magazine: “Hash and pot, those things aren’t drugs. They just bend your mind a little bit. I think everyone’s mind should be bent once in a while.”
The Beatles
Dylan introduced the Beatles to cannabis in 1964. Legend has it that the first time they smoked with Dylan, they admitted that they had never tried it. Dylan looked at them incredulously and said “What about your song? The one about getting high?” “Which song?” Lennon replied. To which Dylan said “You know…(starts singing) and when I touch you, I get high, I get high, I get high. John turned red as a beet. “Those aren’t the words,” he said. “They are I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide.”
The Beatles, perhaps more than any other musical artist, brought cannabis into the mainstream at a time when it was mostly an underground activity among jazz and blues musicians. As their music evolved, cannabis (not to mention LSD) was actively used to court their muse, and it can certainly be heard in their music. Albums such as Revolver and Sergeant Pepper almost singlehandedly ignited the technicolor psychedelic music era of the late ‘60s. Their song, “Got to Get You Into My Life,” has been described by Paul McCartney as a love letter to cannabis.
Brian Wilson
The brilliant and eccentric leader of the Beach Boys felt compelled to try to match the advances in popular music that the Beatles were achieving, and has gone on record saying that he found inspiration for his magnum opus Pet Sounds while high. Wilson smoked weed after listening to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul and was so moved that he went to his piano and wrote what is perhaps his masterpiece, “God Only Knows.”
Jimi Hendrix
A contemporary of the Beatles and Brian Wilson, Hendrix’s explorations of the ragged limits of electric guitar, spacey feedback and adventurous musical ideas resulted in music that was at its best enjoyed while smoking cannabis.
Bob Marley
Another key figure in the history of cannabis and music, Marley was a Rastafarian…a Jamaican culture that worships cannabis as a holy sacrament. Marley didn’t consider himself a recreational user. But his very purposeful use of it helped deliver the sound of reggae (and the virtues of cannabis) to music lovers around the world. “Herb is a thing that gives you a little time to yourself so you can live,” he has said. “When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself.”
Willie Nelson
A giant in the world of country music, and one of the country’s most stalwart advocates for the legalization of cannabis, Nelson has an unmatched 6-decade run as a writer, singer and performer, having penned such classics as “Funny How Time Slips Away,” “Pretty Paper” and “Crazy.” A star who advocated for cannabis’ legality at a time when no one else was doing so, he is co-chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), has his own cannabis brand, Willie’s Reserve, and has composed the song “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.”
Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill roared out of Southern California in the late ‘80s to become one of hip-hop’s most successful groups, riding hits such as “Insane in the Brain.” Long time advocates for the legalization of cannabis, they performed on Saturday Night Live in 1993. Despite being asked not to light up on stage, they did and were barred from ever appearing on the show again.
Snoop Dogg
Snoop is one of the most high-profile entertainers who is also a cannabis advocate. A protégé of Dr. Dre, Snoop first came to fame on Dre’s classic album, The Chronic. (Three guesses what that refers to.) His subsequent solo albums, The Dogfather and Doggy Style, established him as a major hip-hop star. He was the first celebrity to market his own cannabis line, “Leafs by Snoop,” featuring flower, edibles, and concentrates. He has also been behind a digital media business, “Merry Jane,” which he describes as "A crossroads of pot culture, business, politics, and health."
Wiz Khalifa
Another hip-hop musician who has embraced cannabis culture, Khalifa’s debut album was called Rolling Papers. Much of his music celebrates cannabis…he has referred to his demos as “weed mixes” and has said “cannabis helps free my mind, slow my thoughts down, and think about everything in a more poetic way… it just makes it more vivid. Back in the day people just got stoned and had dope conversations — that’s how a lot of great songwriting began and how a lot of great concepts came to be.”
Melissa Etheridge
This acclaimed singer/songwriter has said “I love to light up a good sativa, which I can best describe as the caffeine of cannabis. It makes your brain start thinking, yet it relaxes everything else.”
Other famous musicians who have gone on record as being cannabis aficionados include Miley Cyrus, David Bowie, Casey Musgraves, John Legend, Carlos Santana, Mickey Hart, Madonna, Sublime and many, many more. Some less well-known musicians have also been eloquent about the benefits of cannabis: Ras Kayleb of reggae outfit Channel One, says smoking is “another form of meditation” adding : "I can't perform without a spliff. With a joint before a gig, I have greater flow. I'm more of a freestyler, I can think of words on the fly." Jessie Baez is even more succinct: “I don’t know if I’ve ever written not stoned, and I don’t know if I ever want to.”
So there you have it. If you want to increase your enjoyment and appreciation of music as either a listener or a performer, you have plenty of company.
