0s that its influence was inescapable. Nowhere can this fact be seen more clearly than in the music of the time. The most obvious influence drugs had on music can bee seen in the lyrics. Drug references abound, be it Jimi Hendrixs Purple Haze of marijuana smoke, or the Beatles Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, obviously referring to LSD. Even the names of the bands were drug inspired, as Garofalo points out in reference to the Doors: The group took its name from Aldous Huxleys The Doors of Perception, a book about the liberating aspects of drug use. Even the music itself was influenced by drugs. Take for example much of the music by the Doors. Their song the End is a psychedelic journey in to the world of LSD. The slow beat and trippy music in the song was probably created with the use of drugs and hence is better appreciated when heard while on drugs. This is also true of the music of the Grateful Dead, although this can be much more clearly seen in their live performances as opposed to their studio work. Much of their music is geared specifically toward those in the audience who are on drugs. Hearing one of their 30 minute jams is a much different experience on drugs, and that is the experience that they intended the audience to have. While drugs were very much connected to the music of the sixties, it was hardly the only time such a connection occurred. During the 70s, 80s and today drugs and music have always been connected. A good example is todays prominent rave culture. Instead of marijuana and LSD, the drug of choice at raves is Ecstasy. The music played at raves is designed to heighten the experience of the drug, and the drug heightens the experience of the music.For many, even today, drugs represent both freedom and rebellion, and that is exactly what the counterculture of the 60s was about. Unfortunately for many of the musicians, they took this rebellion to extremes. For instance, Janis Joplin, one of the greate...
