Drugs are bad. They ruin careers, tear apart families, and kill you...sometimes. All my life I have been taught to avoid them at all costs---except when it comes to music. Most of the modern music that I enjoy to listen to have been influenced by drugs in one way or another and everyone embraces it. From The Beatles to Nirvana, they have all written songs thinking about taking drugs, on drugs, or recovering from them. In the sixties, the drug references tended to be more obvious than they are now and are not even recognized until an interview is read or a music video is watched.
Last year I was reading an issue of Rolling Stone and read an article about a band called MGMT (also known as the Management) and learned about their adventures on mushrooms and all their craziness. So I started looking into this band to see how this drug influenced their music. The first thing that I stumbled upon was the song Electric Feel. I read the lyrices and noticed that they were a bit odd. While listening to the song I thought it was bad ass...then I watched the video. Holy hamburgers, it was the coolest video I have seen in a while. The colors, the costumes, the dances. It made me feel like I had begun a trip with them. The music and the images are meshed perfectly together and just sucks you into the party.
When I have the chance to hang out with my four year old nephew, Ryan, I try to instill good music taste in him to undo all of the T.I, Kanye West, and Miley Cyrus that my cousins feed him everyday. This repertoire consists of Panic, Johnny Cash, Hendrix, and, now MGMT. It is his new favorite song that he sings all the time. The only mushroom he eats are on his pizza and the longest trip he has been on was to Disney World. But, Ryan wants to play the guitar like Jimmy Page, sing like John Lennon and write songs like Leonard Cohen. Should I be concerned that one day he will discover the "magical ingredient" that can detour someone off of Abbey Road and begin a Magical Mystery Tour? Or should I pray and hope he does not end up the fourth member of the Jonas Brother?
It is definitely really tough when good music and drugs seem to be so intertwined. I think it is great that you are instilling your young cousin nephew with the awesome music taste, and maybe if you talk to him now about not giving into temptation at a show or with a bad group of people, he will do great things one day!
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