This is probably going to be more of a poll than a debate, so I didn’t put it in GD.
I’ve heard Afroman’s “Because I Got High” on the radio a few times, and I’m still not sure what to make of it (after some laughter, of course). Is it a straight anti-drug song, by describing how the protagonist destroyed his life with drugs, or is it a reverse-flip parody of anti-drug songs that shows them as being somehow cool? I’d like some other views on it.
Sample lyrics:
“I was gonna go to class, but I got high
I coulda cheated and passed, but I got high
I’ll take it next semester, and I know why
Because I got high, because I got high, because I got high
…
I wasn’t gonna run from the cops, but I was high
I was gonna pull over and stop, but I was high
Now I’m a paraplegic, and I know why
…
I messed up my whole life, 'cause I got high
I lost my kids and wife, 'cause I got high
Now I’m sleeping on the sidewalk, and I know why …”
Without the background laughter, I’d have no reason to question it. Thoughts?
I haven’t heard it, but just based on the lyrics, it seems really anti-drug. Like it’s mocking those people who think nothing will happen if you get high and how your life slowly worsens. That’s the feeling I get, just from the words. Especially in that last line.
I consider it nothing but satirical, especially since the radio stations that are playing it, leave the last verse off, which discusses weed which is “bomb as hell,” and in which the singer invites skinheads to give him head. If you listen to the radio cut, it’s anti-drug. If you listen to the whole thing, it’s satire.
From the lyrics you posted it would be easy to think its very anti drug, but after listening to it (laughed my butt off) i gotta say its either pro-drugs or satirical. Some of this verses hit too damn close too
Wish I could tell you where I read this – I think it was one of the weekly newsmags, but I couldn’t forget a name like this one – Afroman says he wanted to write songs for all the dopers out there to enjoy, so it’s definitely pro-drug.
I’ve heard the song a couple times & get the feeling that the song is mocking what the artist sees as a “Reefer Madness” mentality. The song’s not at all warning that weed’s bad for all the kiddies out there, it’s laughing at the ideas that fervently anti-drug people might have about weed.
I’m gonna stop singing this song because I’m high
I’m singing this whole thing wrong because I’m high
and if I dont sell one copy I know why
cause I’m high, cause I’m high, cause I’m high.
I guess he didn’t learn his lesson. No need to, I believe this is Afroman’s best selling record. 'Cause he got high.
Afroman used to play the bars here all the time. I never saw him, though. Everybody in dorm is complaining because he had to cancel everything now that he’s got his record deal.
Well, according to the radio, MTV thinks it’s pro-drug and won’t air the video. The also said Afroman claims that it’s supposed to be anti-drug, and feels MTV is wrong to exclude it from air-play. Personally, I can’t tell. It’s funny and catchy, and that’s all that matters to me I say, if a song can influence your decision to take drugs or not, you have more problems that banning a video can help you with.
I assumed that the song was pro-drug, and just poking fun at all the dire threats anti-drug enthusiasts throw at us. I know quite a few potheads who are like functioning alcoholics - high all the time - and none of them are paraplegic, or homeless, or dropouts.
I mean, crack kills, but weed? The world would be more peaceful, relaxed, and stress-free if more people smoked. We’d be a hell of a lot dumber, too, but it’s not like we’re setting IQ records with our world leaders now (ahemGeorgedubyaahem).
I just heard it at the end of Jay and Silent Bob and laughed my ass off.
I think it supposed to be funny, that’s my theory. Doesn’t matter if it’s pro-drug or anti-drug, because it doesn’t add anything to either argument. If you are taking it seriously, what the hell is wrong with you?
Anti-stoners can listen to it, laugh at the stupid stoners and pat themselves on the back for being so not stoners. Stoners can listen to it and laugh at it because, face it, everythings really funny when you’re high.
MTV can kiss my ass on any of their video decisions. They had no problem shoving full frontal nudity in our faces when trying to unload the whole “electronica” revolution with Prodigy’s “Smack My Bitch Up”, so everything they say is invalidated. (Not that I’m complaining about the full-frontal nudity, mind you.)
Is this song considered to be part of the screwed music scene? So named after the late DJ Screw who popularized it. Screwed music usually concerns drank (cough syrup w/ codeine), is really, really, slow, and usually unintelligible (to me at least). “Because I Got High” doesn’t quite qualify, but I’m wondering if Afroman might have had screwed music on the brain while making it.
I say, if a song can influence your decision to take drugs or not, you have more problems that banning a video can help you with.