# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/61 "2006-08-01T05:57:22Z")
Billy Joel: You had to have the \*\*white-\*\*hot spotlight You had to be a Big Shot last night! ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/62 "2006-08-01T06:19:17Z")
\*Now I know you’ve been kicked around You ain’t alone in this ugly town If you put a needle in your arm You bite the dust, you buy the farm Hey hey hey hey, hey stoopid Whatcha tryin’ to do? Hey hey hey hey, hey stoopid They win, you lose, Hey hey hey hey, hey Stoopid! \* The whole thing is anti-drug and anti-suicide. Here’s the full lyrics - [http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/lyrics/hs.php#1](http://www.sickthingsuk.co.uk/lyrics/hs.php#1) Oh, Alice Cooper, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/63 "2006-08-01T06:29:15Z")
This is from a Spanish song, so please excuse the bad translation. It was Loquillo y los Trogloditas’ first hit. My father, like many fathers, understood it as “tooting drugs” but myself, like many teenagers, understood it as “why do so many people let drugs ruin their lives”. RocknRoll Star … baby, you’re lucky you met me, 'cos someday I’m gonna be a rock’n’roll star that day baby you’ll feel lucky you can say that you met me. (story of the rise of a star) and when I’m full of meth and booze I’ll need somebody to pick me up as I hit the floor that day baby I’ll be lucky if I happen to meet you. For the record, something I’ve seen Loquillo say in several interviews, when asked about drugs: “you know, I’ve been in this business for a long time and I still sometimes get the jitters before a show. Back at the start, our manager would give us some pills, ‘to calm the jitters’ and one day I’m about to take them and I look at them and I think ‘are you a moron or what? You know you love it once you’ve been there for five minutes and they’re rocking with you, what the fuck you need this shit for?’ and I threw them away and we changed managers a bit later. I’m not going to tell you I don’t smoke a joint cos I do, but the day I need to speed up so I can do my job I better sign up for an old folks’ home. I love the job, don’t need no pills or coke to do it” ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/64 "2006-08-01T09:43:07Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Billy Joel: You had to have the \*\*white-\*\*hot spotlight You had to be a Big Shot last night! [/QUOTE] _Captain Jack_ is another good one by him. Not so much about the eeevils of taking drugs, but just a complete rundown of how pathetic the user’s life is. Personally, I think much of The Who’s _Quadrophenia_ is a pretty good anti-drug/alcohol message. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/65 "2006-08-01T21:32:41Z")
I just thought of a really good one: Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie. He wrote around the time he got off drugs. Here’s the chorus: Ashes to ashes, funk to funky We know Major Tom’s a junky Strung out in heaven’s high Hitting an all time low ---
**Author:** ![noodlehaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@noodlehaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/noodlehaus)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/66 "2006-08-02T05:15:55Z")
"You had it comin’ " by [The Dictators](http://www.thedictators.com) alter ego, Manitobas Wild Kingdom: “Got fired from your job, man you blew a good career, So you slept on my couch and my tv disappeared. I was your only friend, the others said goodbye, Some of them have told me they didnt care if you died. No one sent you flowers, no one could deny, you had it comin’, you had it comin’, you had it comin’…” I had a now dead best friend like that. We all probably did. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/67 "2006-08-02T06:00:07Z")
Just remembered another one: **Johnny Ryall** , by the Beastie Boys. Damn, re-reading the [lyrics](http://www.lyricsdepot.com/beastie-boys/johnny-ryall.html) reminds me of what a kickass song that is. (And that whole album, actually.) I don’t usually quote lyrics because I find it pointless, but a few lines stand out. It’s about a former singer/songwriter who lost it all from smoking rock, and is now a homeless alcoholic. _Makes his home all over the place He goes to sleep by falling down on his face_ … _He drinks where he lies He’s covered with flies_ … _He’s no less important than you working class stiffs Drinks a lot of liquor but he don’t drink piss_ … heh. My favorite line from the song is probably lifted from somewhere else; I don’t know. But I do love it: _A platinum voice but only gold records_ ---
**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:** [August 2, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/68 "2006-08-02T18:36:42Z")
Black Sabbath **Hand of doom** > [@](#): > > Your mind is full of pleasure, > Your BODY’s looking ill > To you it’s shallow leisure, > So drop the acid pill > Don’t stop to think now > > … > > Now you know the scene, > Your skin starts turnin’ green > Your eyes no longer see life’s reality > Push the needle in, > Face Death’s sickly grin > Holes are in your skin, > Caused by deadly pin Shame Ozzy didn’t take his band’s own lyrics to heart. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/69 "2006-08-03T19:37:19Z")
from the Dead Kennedies: _You should’ve got a couple of piercings and decided maybe you were gay. I never thought you’d be a junkie 'cause heroin is so passe._ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/70 "2006-08-03T19:50:34Z")
Kristopherson’s “Billy Dee”: Some folks called it suicide and others blamed the speed But we just called it crucified when Billy Dee O.D.'d ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/71 "2006-08-03T19:52:46Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Billy Joel: You had to have the \*\*white-\*\*hot spotlight You had to be a Big Shot last night! [/QUOTE] The anti-drug part is the line, > [@](#): > > You had the Dom Perignon in your hand and the spoon up your nose. But I always interepreted the song as more a condemnation of the lifestyle, rather than the drug (cocaine). Re: Steppenwolf, The Pusher – it’s definitely a condemnation of heroin. Grass is allright, but heroin is bad, m’kay? Re: John Lennon. I always thought it odd that he included this line anyway, since (AFAIK) Lennon didn’t even believe you \*have \* a soul. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/72 "2006-08-04T00:00:13Z")
**“Pop Life”** - Prince: _What’s the matter with your nose? Is that where all your money goes?_ **“Tonight’s the Night”** - Neil Young: _'Cause people let me tell you It sent a chill up and down my spine When I picked up the telephone And heard that he’d died out on the mainline._ **“Hotel California”** - The Eagles You can check out any time you like But you can never leave [“Say It Ain’t So”](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/w/weezer/say+it+aint+so_20145648.html) - Weezer (alcohol): _Somebodys heine is crowding my icebox. Somebodys cold one is giving me chills. … Say it aint so a-woah-a-woah. You drug is a heartbreaker. Say it aint so a-woah-a-woah. My love is a life-taker._ ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/73 "2006-08-04T12:27:01Z")
Tom Paxton is a folk artist, but he wrote the atypical hard rocking “Hooker” While ladies play at cards, how will you spend your life? Lying in a six foot velvet room, dying in a six foot carpenter tomb. Lying in the gutter with the aches and pains, trading the years for the aching veins. Dying at least when the tricks are few, when I can’t get action from a john like you… Don’t point your fingers, say your prayers at me. The truth is hard but I’m gonna tell it, there’s a whole lot of ways to sell it. He couples the song in concert with his “Cindy’s Crying” Cindy’s crying but it ain’t no use, she got a habit and she can’t get loose. Stopping each and every man she meets, gonna be a hooker on Bleeker Street. Police stopped her on the straight today, she was holding and they took her away. Threw her in jail and made her wait, she was crying 'Oh, Jesus, let me just get straight. Cindy went south and took the cure. “This time honey, I’m straight for sure.” Went to the corner to the grocery store, you were gone ten minutes and I knew you’d scored. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/74 "2006-08-04T12:46:26Z")
A lot of the examples cited here are stories about individuals who came to a bad end via pills, smack, or coke. The anti-drug message is often more implicit than actually stated. How about “In the Quiet Morning”, Joan Baez’s lament for Janis Joplin… > [@](#): > > That poor girl > Tossed by the tides of misfortune > Barely here to tell her tale > Rolled in on a sea of disaster > Rolled out on a mainline rail It’s such a sad song. Although the focus is not on drugs at all, but on Janis’s tragic difficulty with existing. The word “mainline” is the only hint of drugs, and Baez uses it for wordplay regarding train travel, i.e. traveling out of this life. From the examples cited so far, heroin and cocaine come in for the most condemnation, while pot gets off easy. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/76 "2015-08-11T19:50:05Z")
Looks like a publicist has been turned loose. Reported. ( **fuschiairis** ) ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/77 "2015-08-11T20:07:00Z")
From Neil Young’s “Tonight’s the Night” which he wrote for his friend and roadie, Bruce Berry, who died of a heroine OD. 'Cause people, let me tell you It sent a chill up and down my spine When I picked up the telephone And heard that he’d died out on the mainline ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/78 "2015-08-11T20:26:18Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > **Sam Stone** by _John Prine_: Man! What a great song. Thanks for sharing it 9 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/79 "2015-08-11T20:57:00Z")
**Moderator Note** Zombie Alert! This thread dates back to 2006 and was raised by a spammer who has since been wished away to the cornfield. ---
**Author:** ![I-VI-ii-V](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c89c15/32.png) [@I-VI-ii-V](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I-VI-ii-V)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/80 "2015-08-11T23:37:08Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Richards & Brian Wilson are proof positive that taking every illicit drug ever devised is a way for some people to live forever and a day (and in ten years I suspect you can add Whitney Houston to the list). Almost… ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2015, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712/81 "2015-08-12T00:51:26Z")
This may be a zombie thread but it’s never too late to mention “Why does it hurt when I pee?” from Frank Zappa’s _Joe’s Garage_ album. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-anti-drug-message-in-rock/366712.md?page=5)