# Songs about or heavily featuring opiate drugs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2008, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515 "2008-04-08T21:36:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/61 "2008-04-11T05:15:41Z")
Fair enough. I was going off of what I’ve heard from Houstonites. Maybe I’ve been misled. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/62 "2008-04-11T05:20:54Z")
[QUOTE=Jackknifed Juggernaut] Third Eye Blind - Semi-Charmed Life [/QUOTE] I thought that was about meth? Not sure on that though. It does seem like people are throwing any ole song about any ole drug into this thread, though, even ones that are clearly about drugs like cocaine and marijuana, which makes me wonder if somehow people don’t understand what “opiate drugs” means…? ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/63 "2008-04-11T05:31:15Z")
IME, a lot of people have a shaky grasp of drug classifications in general. I’m always hearing bizarre classification mistakes. It doesn’t help that most categories (hallucinogen, depressant, and stimulant in particular) sound like effects that a lot of illegal drugs of different kinds have. My WAG about opiate confusion is that “opiate” sounds like it could mean “kind of like opium”, which gobbles up dextromethorphan, marijuana, a lot of unrelated depressants, etc; and/or that people think “opiate -\> heroin -\> cocaine” because cocaine and heroin are linked in popular culture (possibly because of the speedball?). ---
**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:** [April 11, 2008, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/64 "2008-04-11T13:07:24Z")
[QUOTE=Justin Credible] Rush - A Passage to Bangkok [/QUOTE] Totally about cannabis. (Midnight oil = hash oil.) ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/65 "2008-04-11T13:24:51Z")
**Black Sabbath** - [Hand of Doom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Doom_%28song%29) ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/66 "2008-04-11T16:29:54Z")
[QUOTE=Christopher] **Black Sabbath** - [Hand of Doom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_of_Doom_%28song%29) [/QUOTE] One of the great anti-drug songs. It’s ironic that a band that people probably associate with pro-drug and pro-satanism and whatnot wrote some of the most powerfully anti-X songs in Rock history. I came here thinking of that song; good call. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/67 "2008-04-11T16:35:05Z")
White Punks on Dope, by The Tubes. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/68 "2008-04-11T17:45:47Z")
Oh! I forgot \*\*Chinese Rocks \*\* by heroin casualty and punk icon **Johnny Thunders** , formally of the New York Dolls and the Heartbreakers (not Tom Petty; the punk band with Richard Hell in it, too)… ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/69 "2008-04-11T18:02:22Z")
Pearl Jam’s _Severed Hand_ is clearly referencing hallucinogenics: > [@](#): > > Tried to walk, found a severed hand > Recognized it by the wedding band > > “It’s okay, do you want some more?” > I said, “Yeh,…” > "You’ll see dragons after 3 or 4…: > I said, “Yeh,…” > > “Understand, I’m not falling down” > I said, “Look around, the room’s taller now,..” > I can’t close my eyes, cause i see the sound > In waves ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/70 "2008-04-11T20:12:12Z")
[QUOTE=phungi] Pearl Jam’s _Severed Hand_ is clearly referencing hallucinogenics: [/QUOTE] …so probably not opiates. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/71 "2008-04-11T21:00:54Z")
Some folks called it suicide and others blamed the speed. But we just called it crucified when Billy Dee O.D.'d. Yes, I know speed is not an opiate. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2008, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515/72 "2008-04-12T00:55:15Z")
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew] Totally about cannabis. (Midnight oil = hash oil.) [/QUOTE] Pretty sure it is a grand tour of drugs. They start in Columbia, go through Jamaica Morroco, Central Asia and end up in south east asia. The meth labs of the high desert are missing. Either that or Neil Pert was writing some sort of Agatha Christie murder mystery musical and has a shaky grasp of geography and the capabilities of trains. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-or-heavily-featuring-opiate-drugs/444515.md?page=3)