July 17, 2008 - Drug Talk

I was just sitting here during a break shooting the breeze with my good buddy #3….. he became a Father exactly 8 years ago today, congratulations to him & his little snowflake. As we were talking, my iTunes started to play (in it’s entirety) the Motley Crue over looked and classic, THEATRE OF PAIN. If one was to put a gun to my head and say you HAVE to take a Motley Crue lp with you to a desert island, it would be THEATRE OF PAIN, no question.


Anyway, we were talking about Crue and their legacy and the conversation eventually turned to drugs…. I wonder if Crue even remembers recording that LP? I have heard they barely remember GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS…. Can’t say I blame them, even though it does contain one of their best songs, WILDSIDE. Anyway, it is such a shame that so many delve into drugs, and so many destroy themselves because of them. Sure, I guess it is human nature that folks will always try to alter their consciousness to some degree….little children will spin around and around to make themselves dizzy and fall over, there is a rush that is received by riding a roller coaster, I guess….. but after so many years, it saddens me to see the amount of lives ruined by drugs. I see so many people and wonder “what if?” and ask “why?”

Sure, I am going to sound hypocritical here, I think Aerosmith and Eric Clapton were better when they were junkies, they made some amazing music…. But WHAT IF? What had they kept their noses clean…LITERALLY? Would DRAW THE LINE and NIGHT IN THE RUTS be the awesome lps they are? What about Ol’ Slowhand? Listen to all that over the top jamming we here on LIVE CREAM during NSU…. What awesome songs were on that BLIND FAITH lp…. Would we have ever heard a 2nd Blind Faith lp where perhaps the pieces began to gel a little more? Same could be asked about DEREK & THE DOMINOES.


And could THE ROSSINGTON-COLLINS Band been the successors to Skynyrd’s throne? The 2 lps they did were pretty mediocre, and that whole time period seemed to be mired in drug use & abuse…. Sure they were probably still hurting and their mentor & guiding light, Ronnie was gone…. But to me, looking back on that period, and someone who was a fan and saw The R-C Band a couple of times, it just wreaks of failure and wasted time. Perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be. Had the plane crash never happened, would Skynyrd still have been putting out lps in 1983? Would Steve Gaines taken over as one of the primary forces in the band? Would Allen or Gary have been sacked because of drug abuse? You know Ronnie had sobered up in the year before his death, due to the birth of his daughter Melody.


Perhaps it was all never meant to be. But was it because of drugs? Maybe…probably. As much as the FLOWER POWER GENERATION and all the liberal scum that are now in positions of authority like to spout off how much they were right back then, how they were correct in that ALL WE NEED IS LOVE, how we need to GIVE PEACE A CHANCE & WAR IS NOT THE ANSWER, there is one thing they were totally, unconditionally 100% wrong on… and that was drugs. I know… talk like that is not cool…. And this will be interpreted as I am just trying to tell people how to live their lives and force my way down other people’s lives…. Nope, not the case…. Not even close. I am simply saying it saddens me to see people destroying their lives with them.


It makes me think back to 2 stories I remember from “Back in the Day”. The first is from a member of the 80’s band RATT… he talked about how hard it was adjusting to life on the road, how easy it was to fall into that mire of parties & drugs, and how they would pull into town and there would be all these people at the hotel and at the arena “Looking for the Party”….. and how in most cases, THEY (Ratt) were the party! What a horrible way to go through life….. people so totally void of anything of any substance in their lives, all they can do is wait for RATT to get to town on a Tuesday so they can get high, and …..perhaps hanging around with some one who is on TV and is on the radio will validate their life some….perhaps. If only they could get close enough to touch the hem of their garment!

Then Thursday, Motley Crue is in town…..

and Friday is Aerosmith……

Saturday is Stone Temple Pilots

Sunday is Skynyrd… and the treadmill continues.


The other story is one that former bass player for Jane’s Addiction, Eric A tells. They were in Europe in early 1991 touring behind the “Ritual de lo Habitual” lp. Eric and Perry Farrell (the lead singer) weren’t talking to each other at all! And to further complicate things, Eric was trying desperately to clean his self up and get off drugs. So every time they pulled into a city, he would find a museum, usually an art museum, and spend the day exploring it! It got him out, it got him to see the city they were in and learn something about it, and it kept him away from Perry who spent the entire day on the bus smoking hash. What a waste! You are given the opportunity to see the world and instead you spend the entire time inside altering your consciousness with drugs.


I have heard similar stories like Perry’s about Motley Crue, Aerosmith & many professional wrestlers who got to go to Japan, Europe and travel all over North America as well. I am sure there are many, many more, but I think that is highly commendable of Eric A. I am sure that here, 17 years later, he is a much happier person than Perry is.


I guess just consider the source….. most of those folks aren’t terribly intelligent in the first place.
I used to do the same thing myself when I would travel to go see The Grateful Dead in the early 90’s…. I would always go to some city that I never had been to before and while there, see the place. I went to the Bay Area twice, Louisville, KY, Pittsburgh & Las Vegas to name a few places. And I always had fun, as did the folks I would go with. Heck, what is the point of travelling to see the Dead if all you wanna do is camp out and stay high?

Oh well, to each their own.