Let’s find out some of the best songs about drugs which you must know about. Also, there is the possibility you must have heard the songs but just didn’t know it was about drugs.
Religion will never be the opium of the masses, with all due respect to Karl Marx. Opiates, as well as stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogens, have it covered. Drugs will always play a significant role in human existence since life will always be difficult. Substances are used by people to avoid reality. Unfortunately, they can lead to addiction and have side effects that are far worse than the problem you were originally dealing with.
So, let’s find out the 12 best songs about drugs
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12. Johnny Cash – “Cocaine Blues”
While Johnny Cash had his own public issues with narcotics, his classic rendition of “Cocaine Blues” is really about a character named Willy Lee and his coke-fueled misdeeds. “Cocaine Blues,” penned by T.J. “Red” Arnall and sung by musicians as diverse as Woody Guthrie, Led Zeppelin, and Keith Richards, is one of the classic outlaw tales in the American repertoire, a warning to the pitfalls of alcohol and cocaine.
11. Nine Inch Nails – “Hurt”
Trent Reznor, the main vocalist, and mastermind of Nine Inch Nails, has guided the band into psychosexual agony, anti-establishment rants, and politically driven anxiety throughout the course of the band’s two-plus decades at the vanguard of industrial rock. Few tracks in Reznor’s career are as evocative and frightening as “Hurt,” a harrowing investigation of the psychological effects of heroin use. One of the Best Songs About Drugs.
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10. Neil Young – “The Needle and the Damage Done”
Neil Young creates a portrait of an addict’s steady slide, inspired by the heroin overdose and death of Crazy Horse roadie Bruce Berry. While the reference is evident, the most moving words are found in the last verse’s metaphor, in which Young portrays the addict’s sad ordeal: “But every junkie’s like a setting sun.”
9. Peter Tosh – “Legalize It”
Peter Tosh was a forerunner in his field. He produced a whole album called Legalize It in 1976, which was a forceful protest against the drug war that made as much sense then as it does now. The titular song is openly hostile, urging legalization rather than simply praising marijuana (although it did that too). It’s taken a while, but it appears like we’re now starting to pay attention to Tosh’s message. One of the Best Songs About Drugs.
8. Notorious B.I.G. – “10 Crack Commandments”
While some songs may educate you on how to savour drugs, few provide you with the framework for establishing your own drug empire (not that we suggest it–have you watched Scarface?). The late Notorious B.I.G. lays down the fundamental criteria for becoming a crack mogul on his 1997 album “10 Crack Commandments.”
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7. Eric Clapton – “Cocaine”
Despite the fact that it was written and performed by J.J. Cale, Eric Clapton’s version of “Cocaine” became an enduring success a year after its first release. Clapton has said that the song is subtly anti-cocaine, with lines like “If you want to get down, down on the ground, cocaine” and “Don’t forget this reality, you can’t get it back” implying a life lost in search of the next high. One of the Best Songs About Drugs.
6. Bob Dylan – “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35”
Bob Dylan, to be fair, claims that this is not a drug song. He claims he’s never written a song about drugs. He has instead stated that the song is about relationships, cripples, and Biblical stories. We won’t fight with the artist about the meaning of their own song, but we will claim that “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” is about getting stoned for a lot of people. “Rainy Day Woman” has even become a slang name for a joint, and (possibly coincidentally), guess what number you get when you multiply 12 by 35…
5. The Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Under the Bridge”
The Red Hot Chili Peppers took a break from partying on 1991’s BloodSugarSexMagik to release the surprisingly sensitive and touching “Under the Bridge,” despite being renowned for funk-inflected rock and, in their later days, alternations between arena-ready riffs and open-book balladry. “Under the Bridge” exposed audiences to a new dimension of RHCP, cementing the band as a commercial powerhouse, by detailing the loneliness lead-singer Anthony Kiedis faced in the years following breaking his heroin addiction.
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4. Jefferson Airplane – “White Rabbit”
“Feed your head,” says the narrator. The seminal ode to LSD, “White Rabbit,” stands atop the psychedelic rock pantheon, co-opting the imagery of Lewis Carroll’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to craft the seminal ode to the legendary drug that spawned its creation, a ride as scintillating, global, and, inevitably, terrifying as the renowned drug that birthed its creation. One of the Best Songs About Drugs.
3. Curtis Mayfield – “Pusherman”
Curtis Mayfield’s exquisite, sad homage to the heroin dealer “Pusherman,” which has spawned a million hustlers, mixes style, substance, and real funk into five enthralling minutes. “Pusherman” resonates as true now as it did in the coke-soaked 1970s, with a bassline heralding the coolest cat this side of Superfly–the 70s film whose music contains “Pusherman” (and was created entirely by Mayfield)–and lyrics mixing joy with caution.
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2. The Velvet Underground – “Heroin”
Although numerous songs have addressed the highs and lows of heroin usage, few have captured the act, emotion, desire, and aftermath like the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin.” Lou Reed’s raw honesty is amplified by the plain title and terrifying arrangement, resulting in a memorable representation of a substance that is both scary and captivating.
1. Jimi Hendrix – “Purple Haze”
Jimi Hendrix’s towering monument to LSD (not pot, as you might imagine) and a dream he had about being underwater has become one of rock’s most lasting popular songs–drugs or not–for its memorable opening riff and legendary (if occasionally misconstrued) lyrics. “Purple Haze” is one of Hendrix’s most well-known and important compositions, an ode to the drug that became so associated with the late 1960s.
