On junk and passion
At 04:39 AM 12/21/2007, Skip Lunch wrote:
BRIAN: You know what they say,…no junk, no soul. I mean, look at Chevy Chase!
comments?
Michael W. Dean wrote:
Ehhhhh…..hmmmmm…….a lot of junkie artists start to suck when they get clean (Aerosmith comes to mind) or are still good but never as incendiary as when they were young and strung (Iggy comes to mind). But I think it’s more that they get clean around the age people start to suck anyway.
Overall junk sucks the soul, it doesn’t add soul, at least after a while.
That said, there is something to be said for the struggle and desperation of junk life producing conflict, which makes for great stories. Also, when people get clean, they often go into a safer phase of their life, like “Jesus, I should have been dead a million times…I need to start working out, eating right, and write some middle-of-the-road crossover hit singles!”
And if they’re rich they have mortgages on multiple mansions, and have high-dollar lawyers, managers and other handlers, and many people depending on them for a paycheck, so they tend to do ballads and such, or just keep writing the same tired song over and over.
Remember, five years before he died, Jerry Garcia said something like “I hate playing in the Grateful Dead. I’d quit, except the band employs all my friends.” (He finally died in rehab kicking smack and coke.)
December 21st, 2007 at 5:02 pm
I think its just amazing that So much good music and art was created by junkies… that stuff is SO debilitating that this seems hardly possible.
So whats the [temporary?] connection between narcotics and the creative process?
I wouldnt know….
December 21st, 2007 at 6:38 pm
I think it’s less that “junk begets creativity” and more that creative people are very sensitive and tortured so they like junk. It insulates them from pain.
(From one who’s been there, I’ll add: they’re all pussies. Life on life’s terms is the biggest kick of all.)
December 21st, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Also, when you have heaps of shit going on in your head. Junk clears those thoughts. (i am not saying thats a good thing. i would rather deal with my problems then try to escape them, but thats life) replaces them with calmer times. (obivious, because the mind is altered with (illegal) substances).
well what michael said. sensitive and tortured.
December 21st, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Yeah. Until it started to kill me, I looked at it as my “psyche med”. It slowed my many thoughts per second down to one every few seconds, which actually enabled me to work more clearly for a year or two.
December 21st, 2007 at 10:20 pm
its said by many that in performance , …it makes a musician feel totally un-self-conscious and “in the zone” , [no nervous second guessing].
many great guitar jams were recorded by lots of those guys.
thats mainly what im talking about, [not writing poetry or something]
I think thats interesting. since its a narcotic. that should make you clumsy and stupid, right?
December 21st, 2007 at 10:24 pm
In small amounts, it made me energetic. Sort of the way Ritilan (speed) makes hyperactive kids calm.
I never liked to get near death with junk the way some people do. I’d do more frequent smaller shots to “craft my buzz.”
December 21st, 2007 at 10:40 pm
This conversation reminds me why I HATE HATE HATE HATED junkies. Take your run-of-the-mill drunk and remove the aggression, and there you have your typical junkie. Sloppy, snot-slinging stumblers who invariably fell asleep just when things started to get interesting.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Well Joe,
You’re not gonna drag me into defending junkies, and that’s not what I’m doing. It’s not a way I want to live any more, we’re just a couple of friends talking about why it seemed to make sense at the time, not why it’s a thing worth doing. The high is never sustainable, and no amount of money can make it keep it working. If it did, millionaire rock stars would never get sober. And pretty much all millionaire rock stars eventually either get sober or die.
By the way, I was a pretty angry junkie, which may debunk your theory. But then again, whenever I was off junk (I was on and off and on and off and on and off for eight years), I drank like a fish. Drunk, I would sometimes smash my guitars (alone, not in front of anyone for effect), smash my furniture, and try to pick fights with guys twice my size. It’s amazing I didn’t get beat to death in a bar. That would have been as likely as me dying of an OD.
For what it’s worth, I did much better musical creative work high on junk than I did drunk. But I do a lot more creative work sober, and I’ve been sober for coming up on seven years.
Ever heard that joke?:
Q. What’s the difference between a drunk and a junkie?
A. The drunk will steal your wallet. The junkie will steal your wallet and then help you look for it.
(And I’d add…A speed freak will steal your wallet, and any shiny objects, even if they’re worthless. He’ll also steal your girlfriend’s panties to sniff later while shooting up.
(And a crack head will just kill you to get your wallet.)
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:45 pm
haha., that was a great joke. gotta remember that one