Russell Brand Says Music Needs More Heroin Users
Is it wrong that I sort of agree with Russell Brand about this? Most of our enduring, kick-ass rock-and-roll was inspired and created while the artist was high on something. Not that I condone heavy drug use, but you have to admit it does make you more creative. Led Zepplin, The Beatles, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Hendricks, Aerosmith, Nirvana…I could go on forever…all heavy drug users at one point. Almost every artist we know and love has had some sort of addiction problem and been to rehab a few times. It’s sort of like the karmic price you pay for brilliance.
So yeah, I sort of think Russell is right that a heavy addiction problem would weed out the lightweight-engineered pop stars. But I also think we sort of need them too. Do you really want your 12 year old daughter sitting her room with her headphones on really getting into Comfortably Numb? Wouldn’t you rather take her to a bland Miley Cyrus concert?
Russell tells Rolling Stone: “The top of the hit parade would look very different if teenyboppers were exposed to heroin. It would weed a lot of them out. I don’t think Justin Bieber could handle [Pink Floyd member and heavy user] Syd Barrett’s habit . . . A lot of people in their journey to rehab overdose, and then, perhaps, we would be spared their awful music. It’s Darwinian. It’s the law of natural selection.”
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