09/13/07
Sitting in traffic, listening to the Ron and Don show talking about Seattle artist and an age old question comes to mind:
Is there a good artist, an artist that gave us amazing, transcendent, timeless art (music, painting, writing, etc.) That wasn,t a drug user (or any kind of abuser)?
I know there must be some world renowned artist out there that didn,t get there the wrong way or commit suicide.
In other news, my husband is totally going to be the next greatest inventor. It’s so inspiring to watch him pour over all his ideas and projects. He’s going to change the world.
“See, I think drugs have done some *good* things for us, I really do. And if you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a Favor: go home tonight and take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your cd’s and burn em’. ‘Cause you know what? The musicians who’ve made all that great music that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years… Rrrrrrrrrrrrreal fuckin’ high on drugs.”
—Bill Hicks
I guess it’s funnier when you hear the audio clip…
I do understand that in an ‘artistic’ sense, drugs have done good…but does that ‘good’ outweight the harm that it does?
I suppose that’s my real question. Is drug-enduced art worth the crappy life that often comes with it?
You have to remember that correlation does not imply causation. Perhaps people do drugs because they have a crappy life instead of the other way around? Perhaps there is a third variable that is cause for both drug usage and a crappy life?
Also, after Santa Cruz, I can say that drugs and crappy lives do not always correlate. There are also plenty of happy responsible drug users and plenty of drug free people with crappy self-destructive lives…
The point is, the idea that drugs usually equals messing up your life is just anti-drug commercial scare tactics. The truth, as with most things, is a bit more complicated.
And yes, the art is worth it.
I disagree. There’s plenty of art out there that is not directly drug related. ‘Sides, a lot of successful artists get into the abuse for one of two reasons: fun (which I tack onto the availablity that comes from fame/fortune) and as an escape/release from their problems or emotional traumas (which often times is also why they create the art in the first place).
Of of the top of my head, in no particular order, Glen Miller, Gene Kelly, Gene Simmons, Michelangelo, Eric Clapton and Michael Macdonald both swore off drugs and made some great music after, Lerner and Lowe, Rogers and Hammerstein, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and Maya Angelou. There’s plenty more, but I need sleep.