# Best anti-drug message in rock **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2006, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712 "2006-07-31T14:09:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/21 "2006-07-31T16:39:00Z")
The Obituaries for Syd Barrett. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/22 "2006-07-31T17:01:22Z")
How about one of the bands, or even still, one of the songs, that started the whole straight edge movement? I present to you Minor Threat’s song “Straight Edge” “I’m a person just like you But I’ve got better things to do Than sit around and fuck my head Hang out with the living dead Snort white shit up my nose Pass out at the shows I don’t even think about speed That’s something I just don’t need” [More.](http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/minorthreat/straightedge.html) Before Minor Threat, the Teen Idles really pushed straight edge, coming up with the black X’s on the hands from their EP _Minor Disturbance._ The Teen Idles have, IMO, above average angry punk lyrics because they were often directed at different aspects of the movement in such clever angsty ways. The only real anti-drug song from their famous EP would probably be “Deadhead”… “Deadhead, deadhead, take another toke Deadhead, deadhead, you’re a lousy joke Friend of the devil, who you trying to kid Friends of the devil are dead like Sid” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/23 "2006-07-31T17:24:01Z")
It may not count as rock, but I think I still have to mention Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack to _Superfly_. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/24 "2006-07-31T17:36:51Z")
Not sure it is intended to be, given Tool’s apparent support of drug use but [Rosetta Stoned](http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Tool/Rosetta-Stoned.html) gives the most unglamorous insight into drug use that I have ever heard. Summed up in one line of those lyrics “God damn, I shit the bed”. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/25 "2006-07-31T17:36:52Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] On the Who’s original album version of _Tommy_, the song “We’re Not Gonna Take It” has the lines _Hey you smoking Mother Nature You missed the bus!_ That was a lot better than the movie version of this song, where the camera cuts to a closeup of Roger Daltrey saying, half-jokingly, _This is a bust!_☹ [/QUOTE] The lyric sheet may say “You missed the bus”–I’m at work and can’t verify that–but Daltrey clearly sings “This is a bust” even on the original recording. (Got my iPod with me, so I _can_ verify that.) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/26 "2006-07-31T17:52:00Z")
[Hateful](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/clash/hateful_20031834.html) by the Clash “Oh, anything I want he gives it to me Anything I want he gives it, but not for free It’s hateful And it’s paid for and I’m so grateful to be nowhere” ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/27 "2006-07-31T18:57:21Z")
Odd that no one’s mentioned Metallica’s [Master of Puppets](http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/metallica/masterofpuppets.html#2) yet. > [@](#): > > Needlework the way, never you betray > life of death becoming clearer > Pain monopoly, ritual misery > chop your breakfast on a mirror > Taste me you will see > more is all you need > you’re dedicated to > how I’m killing you Metallica hasn’t _always_ sucked, hard as it may be to believe these days. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/28 "2006-07-31T20:40:53Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] The lyric sheet may say “You missed the bus”–I’m at work and can’t verify that–but Daltrey clearly sings “This is a bust” even on the original recording. (Got my iPod with me, so I _can_ verify that.) [/QUOTE] Thanks, I was waiting for someone to bust me on that, because 0.23 sec after I hit the “Submit” button, I remembered seeing the “missed the bus” line in the printed sheet music back in the ‘70s (the piano at my parents’ house was always covered in tons of rock scores in addition to classical), and intuited that it was cleaned up for the printed version. Another example came from the printed score of “Got to Get You into My Life” by the Beatles… _Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there_ was changed to “…another kind of _life_ there.” Since _Revolver_ broke new ground as one of the first psychedelic albums ever, I guess any reference to an alternative form of “mind” was assumed to be druggy. OK, so I got out my old _Tommy_ CD and looked in the liner notes, which said “_This is a bust!_” So the “missed the bus” line must have been substituted by the sheet music publisher. How odd, I never thought a song could be improved that way. Ed Sullivan Show producer: Uh, guys, Mr. Sullivan doesn’t want any drug references on his show, so you have to change the line “Girl we couldn’t get much higher.” Jim Morrison: How about “Girl you couldn’t bite my wire”? ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/29 "2006-07-31T21:00:26Z")
Sorry, small hijack. Since **Johanna** mentioned the wrong lyrics in sheet music, I had to bring up the one in “The Ballad Of John & Yoko.” The lyric that goes: _Last night the wife said, “Oh boy, when you’re dead, you don’t take nothin’ with you but your soul.” [sic!]_ …the _sic!_ was transcribed by some imbecile as _think!_ - and it even appears in the promo video for the song that way. Oh yeah, John’s _Cold Turkey_ is a pretty good anti-drug statement, too. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/30 "2006-07-31T21:23:27Z")
[QUOTE=fishbicycle] Sorry, small hijack. Since **Johanna** mentioned the wrong lyrics in sheet music, I had to bring up the one in “The Ballad Of John & Yoko.” The lyric that goes: _Last night the wife said, “Oh boy, when you’re dead, you don’t take nothin’ with you but your soul.” [sic!]_ …the _sic!_ was transcribed by some imbecile as _think!_ - and it even appears in the promo video for the song that way. Oh yeah, John’s _Cold Turkey_ is a pretty good anti-drug statement, too. [/QUOTE] I’ve never read any printed lyric sheet for this song, but I have always heard the word “think!” at the end of that line…are you saying that is not what he actually sings? ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/31 "2006-07-31T21:29:52Z")
[QUOTE=Bippy the Beardless] Not sure it is intended to be, given Tool’s apparent support of drug use but [Rosetta Stoned](http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Tool/Rosetta-Stoned.html) gives the most unglamorous insight into drug use that I have ever heard. Summed up in one line of those lyrics “God damn, I shit the bed”. [/QUOTE] A Perfect Circle’s [Weak and Powerless](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/aperfectcircle/weakandpowerless.html) has a similarly unglamorous take on drug use: Someone feed the monkey while I dig in search of China White as Dracula as I approach the bottom Desperate and Ravenous I’m so weak and powerless over you ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/32 "2006-07-31T21:31:29Z")
In _Cocaine,_ written by J.J. Cale and brought to fame by Eric Clapton, “Don’t forget this fact, You can’t get back. Cocaine.” Frank Zappa’s _Charlie’s Enormous Mouth_ is a stinging indictment of cocaine and the drug culture. ---
**Author:** ![ArrMatey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrmatey/32/3522_2.png) [@ArrMatey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArrMatey)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/33 "2006-07-31T21:36:21Z")
If you consider alcohol a drug, there’s a Moxy Fruvous song called, “And the Band Played On,” a first-person account of watching a friend, quite literally, die of alcohol poisoning. There’s a line, _“I was so hammered, I stuttered and stammered, Told him he couldn’t just… Die.”_ It makes me weep every time I hear it. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/34 "2006-07-31T21:51:56Z")
[QUOTE=Suburban Plankton] I’ve never read any printed lyric sheet for this song, but I have always heard the word “think!” at the end of that line…are you saying that is not what he actually sings? [/QUOTE] Yes, that’s what I’m saying. When you quote someone, usually in print, who has spoken ungramatically, you add [sic] to the end of the quote, to indicate that that is exactly what they said, warts and all. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/35 "2006-07-31T21:55:09Z")
Who can forget Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch’s **Wildside** : along came Billy possessed and obsessedHe took Annie on a fatal dateAnd showed her things that make heartbeats accelerateAnnie took a hit breathed two short breathsOne for life…the last for deathNow she’s gone, a former ValedictorianEnded up becoming a topic for historiansWashe up dreams and shattered prideAll because Annie took a hit - on the Wildside ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/36 "2006-07-31T22:03:34Z")
[QUOTE=fishbicycle] _Last night the wife said, “Oh boy, when you’re dead, you don’t take nothin’ with you but your soul.” [sic!]_ …the _sic!_ was transcribed by some imbecile as _think!_ - and it even appears in the promo video for the song that way. [/QUOTE] Sorry, **fishbicycle** , but the imbecile was right. The word is clearly “Think.” ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/37 "2006-07-31T22:05:25Z")
Cite? ---
**Author:** ![ddgryphon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8c91f0/32.png) [@ddgryphon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ddgryphon)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/38 "2006-07-31T22:14:13Z")
[QUOTE=fishbicycle] Cite? [/QUOTE] When I get home, I’ll scan in the sheet music of that section from “50 Songs by Lennon and McCartney” or possibly from “The Compleat Beatles” in which it is written: “Think!” ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/39 "2006-07-31T22:17:09Z")
P-Funk: _Why do you think they call it **DOPE**?_ ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/40 "2006-07-31T22:23:04Z")
You seem to have missed the part where I said it was mis-transcribed by someone who thought it said “think!” on the record. You have to ask yourself: has anyone ever, _ever_ said “Think!” at the end of a sentence? Does it make even a grain of sense to say “Think!” at the end of a sentence? Can you think of why he would have done so? See, this is the argument that goes on between people who write and people who listen to music. In some Beatles fora, it’s a forbidden topic, because nobody can agree on it. My reference to quoting poor speech stands on logic, if nothing else. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712.md?page=3)