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Heroin, it’s my wife and it’s my life – Lou Reed, Heroin
Although seldom referenced, the United States seems to have a prevalent drug undercurrent running through its societal veins. Through music, our real, unabridged opinions of drugs are manifested and shine through. Of course there are many different opinions voicing a different stance on just about every stimulant. Through countless hours of recorded music over the past 50 or so years, I am able to infer a couple things:
Musicians have famously struggled with heroin addiction over the years. Many even fatally overdosed, most notably Robbin Crosby (RATT), Dee Dee Ramone (The Ramones), Hillel Slovak (Red Hot Chilli Peppers), Layne Staley and Mike Starr (both of Alice in Chains) and Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols). Kurt Cobain, arguably one of the most influential musicians of all time, struggled heavily with his heroin addiction. He reportedly overdosed (without a fatality) prior to show in 1993. A year later he committed suicide after dealing with addiction and depression for years. San Francisco’s own Jerry Garcia died of heart failure while in a drug treatment center after relapsing. Musicians who had either dealt with dependence or personally knew someone who dealt with it, pull out all the stops to let their audience know the dangers of heroin. The result is beautiful: many of the tracks that refer to heroin are extremely personal to their creator.
Some of my favorite tracks of all-time are in reference to heroin. From Pink Floyd’s pre-performance ballad Comfortably Numb to the Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s anthem Under the Bridge to the Eagles’ chart topping hit Hotel California. Below, I have posted nine influential tracks grappling with some aspect of heroin addiction.
Comfortably Numb is the greatest song off of the greatest album of all-time, The Wall (by the greatest band of all-time, Pink Floyd). Known for its extreme popularity and mind-numbing solo, its accolades are justified. Co-written by Floyd members Roger Waters and David Gilmour, the song deals with Pink’s (a fictional character, subject of the movie and album The Wall) heroin addiction and more specifically, his heroin usage before a big performance. The music video/movie clip shows it all.
When The Red Hot Chili Peppers released Under The Bridge, there was a lot of internal speculation that the track wouldn’t be accepted by their fans. It just wasn’t the uptempo grunge/funk style that the Chili Peppers’ fans had been accustomed to. However, this was not the case; Under the Bridge proved to be a soulful, uber popular hit. In addition to topping charts, the track has an interesting backstory to it. Lead Vocalist Anthony Kiedis found himself in such a state of depression, addiction and sorrow that he went to extreme lengths to fuel his heroin addiction. He explains here:
“I was reaching a demoralizing low, just kind of hanging out on the streets and doing my thing and not much else, sadly to say,” Kiedis explains in a subdued, slightly gravelly voice quite unlike his aggro-stud stage bark. “I ran into some fairly unscrupulous characters involved with miniature Mafioso drug rings, and the hangout for one of these gangs was this particular location under a bridge. I ended up going there with this gang member, and the only way that I was allowed to go under this bridge was for him to tell everybody else that I was getting married to his sister. You had to be family to go there. That was one of just hundreds of predicaments that I found myself in, the kind that only drug addiction can bring about,” Kiedis says with a shrug. “It’s not that that one place was more insidious than other places. But that’s just one day that sticks very vividly in my memory. Like, how could I let myself get to that point?” – Anthony Kiedis in The Naked Truth
Its also worth noting that a Red Hot Chili Pepper Band member, Hillel Slovak, overdosed on heroin in 1988 – prior to the conception of this song.
The 1977 Grammy Record of the Year, Hotel California, was universally loved. For good reason too – even today it is hailed by many to be a track for the ages. It is ranked 49th on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest songs of all-time as well as reaching #1 on Guitarist magazine’s Top 100 Guitar Solos Of All-Time. One of the songwriters, Don Henley, gives us an interesting insight into the song’s meaning,
it’s basically a song about the dark underbelly of the American dream and about excess in America, which is something we knew a lot about. – Don Henley
Three particular lyrics stand out to me as a reference to heroin. The first lyric represents the beginning of the trip, “My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim//I had to stop for the night//There she stood in the doorway;//I heard the mission bell//And I was thinking to myself,//’This could be Heaven or this could be Hell’//Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way.” The second and third lyrics refer to the strong addictive quality that heroin owns: “And she said ‘We are all just prisoners here, of our own device’” and “You can check-out any time you like,//But you can never leave!” Hotel California one great metaphor that encompasses the Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘N Roll mindset of the era. Neil Young’s message in A Needle and the Damage Done is not so concealed. The title gives the listener the gist of its meaning. When Neil Young introduced this track at his concert/album Live at Massey Hall 1971, he explain why he felt compelled to write this song,
strangely enough, the real good ones (musicians)… that you never got to see was… ’cause of, ahhm, heroin. An’ that started happening over an’ over. Then it happened to someone that everyone knew about. So I just wrote a little song. – Neil Young, Live at Massey Hall 1971
Interstate Love Song, another hit, spent 15 weeks atop the charts in 1994. It refers to vocalist Scott Weiland’s escalating heroin dependency. According to him, the track dealt with:
Honesty, lack of honesty, my new relationship with heroin
The Rolling Stones’ 1971 track, Dead Flowers. This is another fairly obvious reference to heroin. Check out some of the lyrics: “I’ll be in my basement room //With a needle and a spoon //And another girl can take my pain away.” The sad reality is that the Stones weren’t bullshitting, heroin was a way of life for some people. It may come as no surprise to you that Keith Richards, the co-author of Dead Flowers, was treated for heroin addiction as well as being charged with heroin possession for the purpose of trafficking.
To some people, this might be the most offensive line in this article: Follow Me by Uncle Kracker is about heroin. I know it’s a beautiful song and you can probably sing all the words. Consider this line “All you know is when I’m with you I make you free //And swim through your veins like a fish in the sea.”
The Black Crow’s She Talks to Angels is one of the most heart-wrenching songs I have heard. It discusses a depressed heroin addict who lost a child and now deals with her pain by shooting up. In my opinion, it is the most captivating song on this list. A purpose of music is to insight emotion and She Talks to Angels admirably fulfills that purpose.
The final song that I will post deserves it’s own paragraph. The Velvet Underground’s song Heroin (written by Lou Reed) really embodies the drug. Not a lot of songs describe their subjects half as well as The Velvet Underground’s ode to heroin. It’s gotten some mainstream play as well; it was ranked 455 on the Rolling Stones list. The song is a disgusting, ugly, discordant mix of tones; slowly accelerating at certain times throughout the song from beginning to end. This instrumental backing gives off the impression of a euphoric heroin high. The lyrics tie in extremely well with the acceleration and deceleration of the instrumental track. Lou Reed begins the song with this stanza:
I don’t know just where I’m going
But I’m gonna try for the kingdom, if I can
‘Cause it makes me feel like I’m a man
When I put a spike into my vein
And I’ll tell ya, things aren’t quite the same
When I’m rushing on my run
And I feel just like Jesus’ son
And I guess that I just don’t know
And I guess that I just don’t know
During the stanza above, the introduction to the track, Lou Reed slowly accelerates, reaching full speed at the line, “When I’m rushing on my run” and decelerates for “And I guess that I just don’t know”. Every other verse is just as thought provoking and descriptive as the first. Some had issues with the track however,
While “Heroin” hardly endorses drug use, it doesn’t clearly condemn it, either, which made it all the more troubling in the eyes of many listeners; at a time when marijuana was still legally classified as a narcotic, the notion of a rock & roll song discussing a dangerous drug without openly condemning it was practically the same thing as a ringing endorsement. – Mark Deming, AllMusic.com
The build-up, cresendos and subject matter was completely original to Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground. At the time, nobody had heard anything like it and understandably didn’t know what to think. I would like to leave you with the last verse:
‘Cause when the smack begins to flow
Then I really don’t care anymore
Ah, when the heroin is in my blood
And that blood is in my head
Then thank God that I’m as good as dead
Then thank your God that I’m not aware
And thank God that I just don’t care
And I guess I just don’t know
And I guess I just don’t know
Under the bridge – Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Needle and the Damage Done – Neil Young
Dead Flowers – The Rolling Stones
Interstate Love Song – Stone Temple Pilots
ErinVisitor
Velvet underground!! Heroin – amazing song. It really makes you experience the drug. Lou reed = genius