Art and Drugs, Were all great artists druggies?

[Mihoshi Marie]

I was on another message board, reading about Natalie Cole criticizing Amy Winehouse for her drug use, and one moron mentioned that we wouldn't have great music, literature, art, etc if it weren't for drugs.

This also reminds me of a quote by some lame rocker guy from the '70s or whatever saying that all great music was made by people high on drugs, and that if you are so opposed to drug use, then you have to throw out all your music because it was made with drugs, blah blah blah.

Is this really true? Is there a significant number of artists that have not used illegal drugs at all, and gone on to create great works of art anyway? I absolutely HATE drugs and refuse to believe that one has to be stoned on pot or high on heroin to make a significant contribution to the arts.

[knightmuzic]

Sarah Brightman and Celine Dion do not use drugs. Neither do the folks in Nightwish and Within Temptation (although I'm sure they enjoy a few beers every once in a while). That's just off the top of my head, but there's plenty of artists who never touched an illegal substance during the creative process. So whoever said that is a f***ing moron.

Use/abuse of drugs is a sign of weakness, not strength. People use drugs because they want to escape reality, not because they want to create. And as for the artists from the 60s and 70s using drugs, well... just about everybody was on something back then, because it was the "in" thing. But the people who got hooked to the stuff were suffering personal problems, or had some undiagnosed mental illness or something. Basically, the people who get hooked on drugs are "self-medicating" and need intervention to get off the drugs and actually face/solve their issues.

True talent doesn't require getting drunk or high to make good music. And those who use drugs were/are just as capable of making good music without them.

[flea dip]

Knight Muzic basically said most of what I was planning to say in my reply

There may have been quite a number of 1960s/1970s rock bands who used drugs, but I don't think drugs were as prevalent with rock bands in the 1950s (unless it was under-reported).

~But then, in the '50s, doctors weren't as aware of the problems associated with drugs, so taking drugs wasn't considered a stigma at that time.

Sometimes, it's about perception.... I think actual cocaine used to be put into bottles of Coke soda pop, back in the late 19th century, but people back then didn't consider cocaine a 'bad' drug.

If I remember right, I think cocaine was actually touted as being a health benefit!

Back in the 1950s, cigarettes used to be advertised as being okay.

Timothy Leary became very influential around the 1960s, and I think he played a part in college students and rock stars abusing drugs. He popularized it or made it seem okay.

I don't think country music is known much for wide spread drug abuse.

The few cases I've heard were of singers (I think Johnny Cash was one) who had a legitimate problem (a physical injury), were prescribed pain killers by doctors, and then became hooked on the pain killers.

~This is opposed to druggie rock stars from the '60s onwards who took drugs to "get high," to feel buzzed.

It seems to me that most country singers have experienced problems with alcohol (e.g. George Jones, Hank Williams Sr), not cocaine, heroin, pot, etc.

As for artists who paint on canvas and who sculpt...

I believe Vincent Van Gogh abused some kind of drug (I don't remember which one).

Opium was apparently the drug of choice in the 19th century, but I'm not sure how many of the artists (or writers) used it.

Edgar Allen Poe had an alcohol problem, but I'm not sure if that contributed or took away from his writings.

I seriously doubt that most of the artists from the Renaissance (Leonardo, Michaelangelo, Raphael, etc) abused drugs - which to me is proof enough one doesn't have to use narcotics or medications to get good creative results.

I would guess that Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Handel, Bach, Chopin, etc. didn't abuse drugs.

I don't think it's the drugs/alcohol that brings about creativity.

To me, it's more like people have inborn, God-given talent, and then they happen to become drug or alcohol addicts.

Maybe creative types are more prone to use drugs than other sorts of people. Maybe they are more sensitive than average people, and they use the drugs to cope.

There seems to be a high percentage of homosexuals in the art community, and of left-handed people, too. I wouldn't argue that one has to be homosexual or left-handed to be talented or be creative.

It would be interesting to find out how many artists suffered from mental health issues, such as depression*.

I'd have to research the topic to find out how wide sperad drug abuse was among artists to give you a better answer.

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*I just found this about Beethoven:

Beethoven's personal life was troubled. His encroaching deafness led him to contemplate suicide (documented in his Heiligenstadt Testament). Beethoven was often irascible, and may have suffered from bipolar disorder,[15] and irritability brought on by chronic abdominal pain beginning in his 20s which has been attributed to his lead poisoning.

I also recall hearing somewhere that Handel contemplated suicide.

Obviously Vincent Van Gogh had some mental issues going on, too.

[knightmuzic]

To put it in as few words as possible: correlation does not equal causation.

[Mihoshi Marie]

Thanks for the replies. I was thinking of the artists that I listen to, and they don't use drugs either. It made me think of the VH1 show Celebrity Rehab, and I feel so sorry for some of the celebs on it, because they've gone through some really horrible stuff, and drugs seemed to be the only thing to get them through it. I hope that those who want to get rid of the drugs can do so.