The list of music artists who have (and we have to say ‘allegedly’ for obvious reasons) used cannabis while composing and recording music is even longer than you might think. The Beatles, Bob Marley, Pink Floyd and Aphex Twin are your trump cards, obviously, but the rest of the pack is littered with supposed weed users across a wide variety of genres.
Snoop Dogg, Eno, Louis Armstrong, Bowie, Herbie Hancock and Paul Simon are just some of the names from music history who have (again, allegedly) used cannabis at one time or another, while the 1990s alone gave us Boards of Canada, DJ Shadow, entire genres in trip-hop and chillout, and, oh, me, who thought of himself as a British DJ Shadow while smoking his way through the decade.
The trouble was that no-one else saw my ‘stuttering beats backed by synth pads’ potential, and after I gave up smoking in 2000, I spent the following 25 years making, well, not very much music at all. Probably a good result all round, to be honest.
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Recently, however, I’ve rediscovered weed’s medicinal and compositional properties – all legally, I might add – and have seen an explosion in my creativity. My mojo is back, and I think it might be the cannabis that made the difference. So could it work for other people, too?
Not all good
I’ll start with the obvious caveat. Using cannabis in many countries is illegal, although an increasing number of territories have decriminalised it to various degrees, and access on a medical prescription is available in quite a few, including the UK, where I live.
I’d also add that, due to the nature of cannabis, it will have different effects on different people, and it has been known to induce psychotic episodes in some users. And while this is relatively rare, we urge caution before taking it, and to seek medical advice where possible.
A good starting point before you continue could be this Guardian article, in which several doctors and scientists take a balanced view and explore weed’s possible harms, with one conclusion being that the doses you take and ways you take it are key. Vaping is better than smoking, for example, simply because of the harmful (and potentially addictive) tobacco you mix in with it when you smoke.
An explosion
So, here’s the thing: over the six months that I have been taking medically prescribed cannabis, my music making has exploded. In the previous 25 years of using various hi-tech methods to make music, I’d made maybe half a dozen tracks that I would have considered good enough to play out. Over the last six months I have made an entire album’s worth, possibly two if I were totally self-indulgent. (And, God help you all – I might even release it.)
So what on earth does cannabis do to improve your creativity and ability to make music? Using it while composing music is obviously not a new concept. In fact, drug use tied to musical chants, incantations and worship goes back thousands of years, and reaching that higher plane of consciousness through music can be traced back through pretty much every ancient culture, not just trance music from the 1990s (although that was pretty great, from memory).
More recent musical genres have been inspired by, shaped and enjoyed with cannabis, including jazz in the early-to-mid 20th century, all sorts of leftfield music from the ’60s (also associated with stronger psychedelic drugs), hip-hop, chillout and trip-hop from the ’80s and ’90s onwards.
I rather like the concept that the entire universe – or even reality if you like – is based on vibrations and frequencies, and that music is one way to become attuned to it. Just ask some current thinkers on ancient civilisations about how chambers in pyramids from completely unrelated and unconnected populations resonate at the same frequencies, and you’ll unearth theories of a universal consciousness based on frequencies that unite quantum physics, religion and whatever else you can think of. If nothing else, you’ll also end up down a rabbit hole that could ultimately link music to the very core of our existence, which is rather good if you think about it.
If you want to know more about the spiritual stuff, I’ll bore you senseless another time, but here comes a more reasoned explanation for cannabis’s musical chops.
The science bit
The science says that cannabis unlocks several superpowers which can help with music. OK, I’m exaggerating slightly, but it does help lift some of the restraints that, as music producers, we often find ourselves working under.
Cannabis contains THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol), which works like the natural endocannabinoids within the body that help us with sleep, mood, appetite, pain and memory. However, it works slightly differently and unpredictably, binding with receptors in the brain to release different neurotransmitters which enhance some senses and shift others. Throw dopamine in for that feelgood factor and that is your cannabis trip right there.
Again, what happens next will vary depending on mood and surroundings, but there are some common cannabis side-effects that are great for music. It reduces inhibition, for example – very much something that can hold some producers back – which obviously means you are more likely to try something new. With a more relaxed attitude, you’re more likely to explore compositions, melodies and genres you might not have previously.
Following on from this, cannabis is also cited as an enabler for a more diverse approach to your music making. This means you are likely to get a greater number of ideas from a simple sound or melody, which is not only fantastic for creating tunes from scratch, but also for remixes – the number of ‘ideas’ that I had lying around on my hard drive for decades that I have now completed is testament to this aspect of weed.
Cannabis is especially good for more free-flowing genres like jazz, and who hasn’t stuck on some ambient or chillout music while stoned and then tried to recreate it (yep, my hand is up)? It can also increase your perception of the music, where certain elements are enhanced, layers feel more distinct, and basslines are (yes, of course) more, well, groovy.
All of these are advantages for the musician, but some are double-edged swords. An increase in focus that comes with weed can also mean tinkering around on a bassline or kick drum for hours. Then there’s the opposite effect, where a lack of focus will have you forgetting what you were just about to do, or what project you were about to open.
Again, one important factor to stress with all of these pros and cons is that effects will vary from session to session, and the cannabis strain and dose. Once again, go with the flow: if something doesn’t feel right, ignore it, and don’t feel forced into doing anything. This alone will make your music creative process that much more fulfilling and less stressful.
Going where the music takes you is a beautiful way of looking at it, and while you might not go in a direction you particularly wanted to travel, it usually ends up as a fantastically rewarding experience, with music you might never have dreamed of. It certainly worked for me.
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