Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

What I believe is that if these dead musicians had never done the drugs and lifestyle they were living, then we would not have had all that music they gave us. They chose to do the things they did and the reward was the music they created. How many of us have smoked some weed, got high and enjoyed the music we were making with our fellow friends and musicians. Jimi and others like him lived on the edge and took things much farther and to the limit. I'm not the judge to say what he should have or shouldn't have put in his body, but he did what he did and gave us all he had even though in the end it cost him his life. This is what makes legends.

That is what makes legends, unfortunately, but to suggest Jimi would not have made the music he did (or equally as great music) without all the drugs/alcohol he used, does not make any sense to me. His genius was there to begin with, not a result of a drug-crazed mind. Overstated, but you get my point.

Yeah, tell that to Hank Williams, Joe Pass, Eric Clapton, Billie Holliday..or all the others from Bobby Hatfield to Etta James or Ray Charles or John Bonham, on and on and on the list will go. Musicians are a different breed, looking for that next note that will touch their inner soul and set them free in their own world. IMO these people were not drug crazy, just influenced, some do it and some don't. Do some research and you will find that most of the ones who take this path had a hard and troubled childhood. You can look back on numerous musicians of fame and stature and you'll find the same thing: sex, drugs and music. I don't believe any one of these musicians wanted a drug induced screwed up life, maybe just some happy times and the drugs open their minds to creativity.

Dale, I still can't believe it was because of the drugs. I say they were all really gifted musically and would have been great without any drug influence. Any drugs/alcohol they used took it on a different bent, and maybe even held them back, but I can't say it was why they were as good as they were. I don't mean to argue, it is my belief based on observation and personal experience.

Found this, deteriorating. Can't find the "Drugs Kill Idol Of Acid Rock" clipping.

That's the great thing about our country. We can believe what ever we want.

Amen, brother...and I agree with your observations, Dale...

Hmmm..."drug-crazed mind"...sounds like a little of that ol' Harry Anslinger/J. Edgar Hoover 'Reefer Madness' propaganda. Some of the most 'crazed' minds I've ever encountered belong to people who've never done any drugs.

Put all the sixties musicians into two camps, one headed by Jimi Hendrix and the other headed by Donny Osmond (I think you get the idea), and then tell me that drugs do nothing to enhance the creative process.

'Are You Experienced', or just 'A Little Bit Rock-n-Roll'?

I would agree that without LSD, Hendrix would never even have dreamed of some of the sounds he made, nor the wild techniques that...well, who knows where they came from.

On the other side of the fence, however, is not Donny Osmond, but Frank Zappa. Straight as an arrow, clear as a bell, weirder than any of us.

To quote the drug-crazed Sly, "Different strokes for different folks."

Well, Frank may not have done drugs...but if it weren't for drugs he never would have sold a single album.

Put that in your bong and smoke it...

I'm sticking with my characterization of Donny as "The Anti-Jimi"...

I can imagine how annoyed FZ would be if he thought that were true.

Well I'm not gonna talk bad about Zappa, I knew him personally and he was a heavy wine drinker. Not trying to say he was an alcoholic, but he often said he did his best stuff while enjoying his wine.

A-HAA! I knew there had to be something besides coffee and cigarettes going on there...

Come on now, Mark...how could Frank not know about his own audience? Every time I saw him live the room was...how shall I put it...pungent...

I say WPLJ, it really tastes good to me
WPLJ won't you take a drink with me
Well, it's a good good wine
It really makes me feel so fine, so fine, so fine, so fine

Frank Zappa, "WPLJ"
http://www.lyricstime.com/frank-zappa-wplj-lyrics.html

And what do we know?

What I know: not much.