Psychedelic Music and Drug Addiction

Psychedelic Music and Drug Addiction

“Mom, what the hell are you doing?” Mrs. Avery was shocked to the core to hear her seventeen year old son Billy utter those words. She had only gone up to his room to turn off the music player, which at times was either emanating strange hissing incoherent and incomprehensible sounds or blaring merrily at 2A.M in the morning. Something was just not right. She went up to the bed to check on her beloved son, her only son, whom she had brought up so lovingly. He just rolled over and refused any help, while being atrociously rude all the way. Then she saw and she realized. Two ampules of drugs and a used syringe were peeping from under the bed. Her worst fears had indeed come true. Her son had fallen to the vicious trap, the deadly chain of drug addiction.

Billy’s story is not unfounded for in most of the so-called developed or even developing countries. Majority of people, mostly teenagers try to seek out new thrills by means of experimenting with drugs and other banned hallucinating substances. Seldom do they understand the deadly effects of these mind altering drugs and when they do, they are well beyond the point of no return. And a major fad seems to be listening to mind numbing hallucinating music while tripping. Every now and then, you can hear a casual college boy bragging to his mate about the trip of his life while listening to Pink Floyd or some other psychedelic bands during the last tripping session they had organized.

Indeed, the situation is becoming increasingly bleak day by day, as more and more innocent college students and more pathetically, even some school and high school children are being sucked into this vicious circle. A circle, which once entered, can only be exited either through sheer self control or a stint at the nearest rehabilitation center. That’s the simplest way you can put it around.

The 1960’s era was the time, which marked the advent of bands, which in later stages came to be associated with hallucinating music and were popularly referred to as psychedelic bands. This era saw a revolution in art, music, politics and lifestyle and people became increasingly experimental, trying to throw away the conventional methods to venture out towards the unknown. Even many doctors were ranting and raving about the pleasures of LSD (popularly known as acid among the drug addicts) to the fun loving and trip seeking individuals. And then the music came into the scene. The typical loud, distorted collage of experimental sounds of the music of the era heightened the effects of the drugs by causing a more intense "trip". Popular bands like Pink Floyd, Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and The Who were among the favorites.

Soon, more and more bands started to come into the realms of psychedelic or experimental or acid rock. This kind of music actually tries to replicate the mind numbing hallucinating effects of the various kinds of drugs. Its origins and roots can be traced back to early blues based rock and also a bit of progressive rock, heavy metal and even Indian music’s sitars and ragas. Psychedelic music typically features various instruments like the electric guitar, keyboards, a bit of sitar and tabla, piano, and various vox organs.

The experiments didn’t stop here however. Various studio effects were given to these sounds produced, to help achieve that special feel of being washed away in your dreams after taking drugs. These studio sound effects included phenomenon such as phasing, panning, backward taping, extreme reverb, long delay loops. Psychedelic music lends its uniqueness to long and extended instrumental solos (mostly guitars or keyboards), subtle melody and at times surreal, whimsical lyrics. Even at times, guitarists used to rub their Zippo lighters on the fret board of electric guitars to produce a repetitive hallucinating sound. Syd Barret, the founder member of the band Pink Floyd was a pioneer in this art.

The specific term “psychedelic” was used in popular music by the band “The Holy Modal Rounder” in around 1964. Bands like Jefferson Airplane and The Great Society are popularly hailed as the fore runner in the psychedelic music movement. In due course of time, other bands emerged on the scene, like The Doors, Hawkwind, Byrds and others. However, the most famous of them all was Pink Floyd. They were in a league of their own. They used unique techniques like back masking, reverbs and loops to give that hallucinating feel to their songs. Their songs were the inspiration and a cause to trip for the drug addicts. Till date, they remain as one of the most influential psychedelic bands in the history of music and their live shows are a spectacle of sound, light and experimentation which induces as much dizziness as normal drugs can do.

These bands and their music brought about a change in the people’s lifestyles. It remains to be seen whether the people took to drugs under the influence of the bands’ music or the drugs themselves pushed the addicts towards this type of hallucinating music. Whatever the case may be, it’s an established fact that psychedelic music and drug addiction are intertwined. A psychedelic drug can highly cause physical addiction, major physiological disturbances, craving, disorientation, delirium, or amnesia. Frequent mood swings, arbitrary thoughts and often blank, vacant expressions become the trademark of the persons indulging in substance abuse. However, prolonged use of these hallucinating drugs might lead to incurable diseases like personality disorder, schizophrenia, mental imbalance which might permanently hamper an individual by turning him into a certified lunatic and bringing about a painful slow death later on.

Everyday, more and more new substances are being added to the list of recreational drugs. Classical psychedelic drugs include the likes of LSD, Cocaine, Heroin, psilocybin or magic mushrooms, LSA or Morning Glory seeds. Some people also dig the Ayahuasca or the popular traditional Shamanic tea, which is brewed from plants containing harmaline (a hallucinating substance). Some new kinds of drugs include the likes of “E” or Ecstasy, Nexus, and Foxy Methoxy have enjoyed ample popularity. Herbal psychedelic drugs like the Cannabis or the Marijuana are the widely used psychoactive drugs in the world and they produce hallucinating effects similar to a low dose of a classical chemical psychedelic drug.

The drugs normally work in quite a strange way. It enhances the mood you are presently in. For example it’ll heighten your senses of joy when you are in a fantastic mood and taking a trip with your doses of drugs. However, if you are depressed and dependent on drugs, then the depression will spiral to a long lasting one and eventually your only way out would be a rehabilitation center. Music and its effects on the drug addicts can be seen everywhere in the society. Innumerable musicians, some of them world famous, have fallen prey to the vicious circle of drug addiction. Jimi Hendrix was just 27 when he was found dead in his hotel room. He had choked to death on his own vomit due to severe drug overdose. Jim Morrison, the lead man of the famous band “The Doors” also succumbed to a spree of drug addiction at the tender age of 27. Other notable musicians who have succumbed to drugs include the likes of Syd Barret of Pink Floyd, Tommy Bolin of Deep Purple and many others.

The problem started when innumerable people, mostly students, took to drug addiction being inspired by the lives and deeds of these illustrious musicians. The musicians have been severely criticized over the years for actively or passively promoting drug addiction among youths and their role in motivating youngsters, whether directly or indirectly can not be fully denied. While growing up, the young music loving people always look up to somebody as their idol. And they blindly tend to follow their idol’s footsteps. Moreover, it has become quite a fashion statement or a measurement of your coolness by showing off to the world, the amount of drugs you can inhale. However, the environments around the home or negligence of the parents are also to blame for the drug addiction among the young people.

Basically it’s up to us to curb this demon of drug addiction among today’s youth. While we cannot exactly restrict or ban the production of psychedelic music, we must take adequate steps to see that the drugs and the banned chemical substances are not as easily available as they are today. Parents should be more aware of the substances present in their child’s room and they must be friendly with him or her just to reassure them of their caring presence. More often than not, the addicts feel that they are the loneliest persons in this planet. Parents must try to take care of this fact and find a proper solution by ways of soothing them or by adequate medication.

Proper councilors and psychiatrists must be employed at high schools and colleges to take care of the mental problems and depression of the students. With these proper measures we surely can hope for a better future where music (be it psychedelic or not) will be the sole survivor and that each and drug addict in this world would happily denounce their deadly habit and make their successful comeback to this world.

PS:- Had written this one long ago. Found it while rummaging my drives for particularly nothing.

Edit:- Weee!! Just realized that this is my first post in 2009. Better late than never I believe! :P

Death of a Dream

Don't jump the gun seeing the title. No, not yet. Nothing of that sorts happened to me. It's just the title for the next crap which I jotted down while traveling via metro. It seems like the metro railway and my poems have a connection deep down, since most of my creations have been while traveling via the metro. This particular poem is dedicated to Jim Morrison, a.k.a The Lizard King.

The Death of a Dream
=====================
Hey ya, is anybody out there dreaming?
Frittering,wasting time in day dreaming?
Don't just sit there, get up and get going,
All we gotta do is surviving.
Wake up,wake up to the hard fact,
To the things you have got to tact,
Gone are the age of dreamers
welcome to the era of schemers.
This is the new age,new dawn,
when you're just someone else's pawn.
Live and let die is the order of the day,
while a psychopath society makes hay.
Oh mighty Lizard King, show us the way,
To a land where we all shall have our say.

I gotta be more regular with my blogs. I know it's a futile promise which will be forgotten in due course of time.Gosh, I gotta get rid of this habit of procrastination. Hope to see you all pretty soon.Till then, Adieu!!

Politics

I have been dormant for too long.Just a mere indication of my laziness.*yawn*.See,am already sleepy again.Nah,I have just enough time for typing out a Bengali poem(which I penned down today in the afternoon) before I doze off again.

Rajniti
=====

Politics ba rajniti!chotto ekta shobdo,
periye esechhe she aj onek bongabdo,
boye gechhe onek shomoy,onek rokto,
hariye gechhe sohosro taja pran
kere niyechhe ogunti mayer kol-er shontan.
karur ba dada,karur baba.
rokkha payeni narikul-o,
barangbar bhroshto hoyechhe aponar naritto.
nirmom juddho kere niyechhe tader matritwo.
etokichu koreo ki protishtito hote perechhe aj,
marx-lenin-er shei chironton motobaad?
naki bingsho shotabdi-r rajniti aj sudhui taka ar khomotar khela?
jekhane uchhashon-er lobhe ek pother bhikhiri-o bhashaye tar bhela.
adorshobaad kothata aj roye gechhe ui pokaye kata boi-er pataye,
aar hoyto edik-odik ghure berano nogonyo kichu "kerani"-r mukhe.
shototar bolidaan ghote gechhe nongra kutnitir harikathe.
manush ashole aj porajito jibon-er kachhe,
beche thakte hoy bole sudhu beche thake aar hashe.

For You!!

Penned down while sitting alone in Jadavpur 8B bus stand.


Miss you day & night in every heartbeat,
gone are those days when survival was a feat.
Everything seemed dreary & bleak,
with none by my side,so as to speak.
Amidst the darkness,I saw the rising sun
the return of the much awaited fun,
It was you,who stood firm beside me
Love,yes I said,let it be.
It all started when it was almost an end
then life took the unexpected bend.
The love,the warmth & the care,
all your secrets you dared to share
true love I found at last
Me the ship & you the mast
love you darling like anything,am there in your tow,
forever yours I am here,this is my vow.

I Love You my sweetheart[:)].

Eight Simple Things

I am quite inept at jotting down things about myself,the person I find the most easiest & at the same time the most complex to decipher.Yet,since I have been tagged by Bubai(Sushir),I have scratched my head for the length of three days & finally managed to extract the following eight simple(?) things about me:-

1.I am a shit-head,arrogant,egoistic,good-for-nothing fellow.I am quite renowned for throwing up frequent tantrums & my mood swings are the times you will want to stay away from me.Now,that was quite plain & simple!![:p]

2.I like to annoy people,so much so that they become pissed off to the extent after spending just five minutes with me.

3.I am known to have an attitude problem & quite a bad one at that.So,beware!!

4.I love my music & my drinks HARD.Movies(the off-beat ones & the classics) & books have been my passions too since childhood.

5.I was an omnivorous at one point of time(if you get the drift[;)]),but yes,I managed to kick the habit.

6.I suffer from acute Alzheimer's disease & yes,I might not be able to recognize myself the next morning.Have I told you that I simply adore punning & that at times, I try to pen down my thoughts as poems(which are utter bullshits in any case)??.See,I told you I suffer from acute memory loss.Hah!!

7.Philosophy,yes I adore it.Have a chat on that subject & you are sure to forget everything you knew(or even pretended you knew).

8.Oh yes & lastly, I am LAZY!!This post was pending for about one month & that probably gives you an indication of my laziness.Now,off to sleep.zzzzzz.....

PHEW!!

Realization

Okay.This one was again arbitly penned down while waiting for her at the station.Had a fight with her the previous day,was quite disturbed & the following was the output.Piece of my mind basically.

Realization
========

It was a stormy & a rainy night,
when I found someone with my desolate sight
divine she was & straightforward too,
with my whimsical likings she agreed too.
a difference in opinion ,we rarely had,
a minutes absence was enough to make me mad.
yet,now when i see her in pain
when all her pleading goes to vain....
all because of my insufferable filthy attitude
giving her the lengthy hours of desperate solitude....
hurts me the most,as it does now,
feel as if I could just bow
and say to her,she's the best,the perfect for me
how I miss her day in & day out,oh me!!
love her with all my might
never will I lose her from my line of sight.
stay as you are darling,just hold me close
you are my drug & I need my daily dose.


Love is good?err..is it?well,last time I checked it wasn't.But now,am forced to change my conception.ah well....for once,sure it does feels nice to be proved wrong!!

Dreams - II

Times change & dreams do change.This is just a small testimony.Jotted this down in my cell,when I was waiting for her at the station.

Dreams - II
========
Come my love,let me take you there
to the place of your deepest desire.
The ocean,the mountain & the ledge,
I will take you over to the edge.
The sweet smell of the rushing air,
as it gently caresses your flowing hair,
stay close to me,hold me tight,
as we watch the albatross take its flight,
spreading its giant wings,shielding us both,
minuscule we may seem like tiny vegetation growth,
here comes the rain again,falling from the stars,
let's get drenched again & wash away those scars.