Drugs
Teen Panel: The Use Of Drugs By American Teens
Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, January 1967
In this issue, The BEAT's Teen Panel discusses another of the hottest subjects of the day – the use of drugs by teenagers. ...
Teen Panel: Teenagers And Drugs, Part II
Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, February 1967
This is the second half of The BEAT'S Teen Panel discussion on the subject of "drugs," Part One appeared in the last issue. ...
Yardbirds, The: Bill Harry's Pop Talk: The Yardbirds
Interview by Bill Harry, Record Mirror, May 1967
KEITH RELF, Chris Dreja and Jimmy Page are quite angry about the continuous, almost hysterical attacks the pop world has been receiving from all directions ...
Rolling Stones, The: Pop In The Police State
Comment by Mick Farren, International Times, June 1967
"People try to put us down just because we get around."The Who – 'My Generation' ...
Ravi Shankar, George Harrison: Ravi Shankar: 'My Music Not For Addicts'
Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, July 1967
"THE MESSAGE I'm trying to get through is that our music is very sacred to us and is not meant for people who are alcoholic, ...
Frankie Lymon: I’m Not A Juvenile Delinquent: The Death of Frankie Lymon
Obituary by Bill Millar, Soul Music Monthly, March 1968
THE LAST TWO months have been sad times for blues, rock and soul fans all the world over. All three idioms have had their brutal ...
Who, The: The Who: Bus Ride Back To Pop 30 For Who
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, September 1968
THE STATES are where the Who now have their biggest hits, most fan fever, and excitement. Pete Townsend, Keith Moon, Roger Daltrey and John Entwistle ...
Lady Wootton talks to Caroline Coon about Pot
Interview by Caroline Coon, International Times, January 1969
THE BARONESS Wootton of Abinger was chairman of the subcommittee on 'Cannabis' of the Advisory Committee on Drug Dependence whose Report was published on 8th ...
Rolling Stones, The: King Hash Is Sure To Come
Report and Interview by Sheila Weller, Rolling Stone, May 1970
TANGIER – He shakes another pebble oul of the foot-long, coral-and silver-encrusted stash pouch, pokes an amber-ringed forefinger under the schlockedelic fake-silk ascot he has ...
If You Think It's Groovy To Rap, You're Shucking
Overview by Mike Jahn, New York Times, June 1971
WHEN YOU are trying to be a suburban Dharma Bum you have to try harder. Between the tennis court and the parking lot I read ...
Charles Manson, Ed Sanders: Charles Manson: Stalking Manson – The Sanders Saga
Essay by Nick Tosches, Fusion, December 1971
Ed Sanders spent the summer of the Tate-LaBianca murders yodeling the ditties that were to come to comprise Sanders Truckstop into an overhead mike at ...
Interview by James Johnson, Rock's Backpages Audio, Spring 1972
The vibrato in his body, the band in his head and the drugs in his veins: the legendary singer-songwriter in revealing, if somewhat dazed conversation.
File format: mp3; file size: 29mb, interview length: 31' 37" sound quality: ****
Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett: The Cracked Ballad of Syd Barrett
Profile and Interview by Nick Kent, NME, April 1974
The summer of '67 went up like a psychedelic mushroom-cloud – and some of the fall-out's still coming down. Brian Jones was casually snuffed out, ...
What Made Rizla Famous Made A Loser Out Of Me
Comment by Penny Reel, International Times, May 1974
AFTER YEARS OF shadowy unwillingness as one of the mainstays of the dope scene, Rizla and their finest quality gummed papers have finally put one ...
Rick Wakeman: Beers of the World
Report and Interview by Chris Salewicz, NME, December 1974
"ON OUR rider for the tour of America – for the seven of us – we had twelve six-packs of Budweiser, two bottles of tequila, ...
Iggy Pop, Stooges, The: Iggy Pop: The Mighty Pop vs. the Hand of Blight
Special Feature by Nick Kent, NME, May 1975
Never before told! The story of a brilliant monster called IGGY POP, whose life and countless near-demises have provided Rock with one of its most ...
Lynyrd Skynyrd: The 100 Proof Blues
Report by Jim Esposito, Creem, October 1975
2009 note: In the Summer of '75 The Editors of Creem decided to do a Special Report on Rock 'n Roll and booze. They called ...
Obituary by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, March 1976
WHAT CAN you do but grieve. Just grieve. Too close to the edge, always. Pain, so much pain, so much of the time it seemed. ...
Rolling Stones, The: Keith Richard: One Man's Week OFF THE HOOK
Report and Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, January 1977
MONDAY, JANUARY 10th. In Colorado, Claudine Longet, ex-wife of singer Andy Williams, stood trial for allegedly murdering her lover. On America's west coast, kidnap victim/revolutionary ...
Eric Clapton: Give Me Strength
Interview by Steve Turner, Sounds, February 1977
Meg and George Patterson's cure for heroin addiction ...
Ramones, The, Johnny Thunders: The Ramones: So The New Wave Have Scruples Too
Report and Interview by Nick Kent, NME, June 1977
JOHNNY RAMONE is quite definitely pissed off. ...
Rolling Stones, The, Keith Richards: An Outlaw At The Ritz: Keith Richards
Interview by Chris Welch, Melody Maker, January 1979
In which Keef holds up the price of Smirnoff shares, little Marlon holds up his Dad, Anita Pallenberg holds up the interview, and CHRIS WELCH ...
Rock Mortality: They Gave Their Souls For Rock 'n Roll
Essay by Mick Farren, NME, January 1979
THE WRITER can eventually put down his pen, close the book and turn on the TV. The actor can take off his makeup and go ...
Herman Brood: Brood Back On The Nest
Report and Interview by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, June 1979
German rock star Nina Hagen's upset because her Dutch rock 'n' rolling boyfriend, Herman Brood, has disappeared. Will our intrepid CHRIS BOHN track him down? ...
Marianne Faithfull: The Ballad of Marianne Faithfull
Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, December 1979
MARIANNE FAITHFULL was the Face of the '60s Fragile, damaged little bird with the voice of an angel, broken on a spike and filled with ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, NME, June 1982
"There's a certain charisma about a guy that everybody thinks is about to drop dead. It's like when Daffy Duck blows up on stage and ...
Sid Presley Experience, The: Going Cold Turkey with the Sid Presley Experience
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, NME, January 1985
Why reheat ‘Cold Turkey’? BARNEY HOSKYNS TALKS TO THE SID PRESLEY EXPERIENCE about their protest against council block smack. ...
Overview by Mat Snow, NME, September 1986
AFTER TWO false starts due to bad weather, the wide-eyed and jittery paratroopers swallowed their third load of benzedrines in three nights and flew off ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Mr. Clean
Report and Interview by Michael Goldberg, Rolling Stone, October 1987
Boy George Straightens Up His Act ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Nick Cave: The Needle And The Damage Done
Report and Interview by Jack Barron, NME, August 1988
NICK CAVE – the voice of desperation; singer, writer, actor, junkie! JACK BARRON, branded by the Bad Seed a "filthy little prick", gets to grips ...
Interview by Richard North, Rock's Backpages Audio, Fall 1988
Mr P-Orridge talks at length about psychedelics, acid house, sexuality, ritual, Tantra, and about Psychic TV, Throbbing Gristle and Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.
File format: mp3; file size: 125.7mb, interview length: 2h 17' 19" sound quality: ***
Profile and Interview by Martin Aston, Auckland Star, 1989
IF PUNK WAS the answer to the broad lack of genuine invention in the musical mid-70s, then the Acid House phenomenon answered those who believed ...
Johnny Thunders: An American In Sweden
Report and Interview by Richard North, Offbeat, April 1989
SO, WHY did I wait around half a day for a three-minute interview with Johnny Thunders? ...
Report by Jack Barron, NME, September 1989
This week NME devotes its Dance/Club page to a cool and unsensational look at the drug Ecstasy. Report by JACK BARRON ...
Doors, The: Jim Morrison: Last Meeting With a Fallen Star
Memoir by Ben Fong-Torres, San Francisco Chronicle, 1991
NEAR THE END of his 27-year life, was Jim Morrison – as depicted in Oliver Stone's new movie, The Doors – a fat, abusive, alcoholic, ...
AUDIO: Free's Andy Fraser (1991)
Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages Audio, March 1991
The British Blues-rock bass wunderkind talks about joining John Mayall at 15, then of his years with the fabulous Free, including the writing of the iconic 'All Right Now', and Paul Kossoff's descent into drugs.
File format: mp3; in 2 parts, total file sizes: 40.7meg, total interview length: 44' 26" sound quality: ***
Happy Mondays: That Monday Mourning Feeling
Report and Interview by Tom Hibbert, Q, December 1992
FOR NO IMMEDIATELY discernible reason, Shaun Ryder is attempting to perform a party trick and failing miserably. He is trying to flick a cigarette (one ...
Aerosmith: Sex'n'Drugs'n'Rock'n'Roll!
Memoir by Pete Makowski, Kerrang!, April 1994
Up until the early '80s, Aerosmith indulged in every rock 'n'roll excess! "It's a miracle they survived!" says Dr. Pete Makowski, who met Steven Tyler ...
Report and Interview by Johnny Cigarettes, NME, July 1994
"AAAARGH! F*** YOU ASSHOLE! GET OUT MY FACE!" ...errrrrrk!..."YEAH I'M DOIN' A F***IN' U-TURN – WHAT'S THE GODDAMN PROBLEM?!" errrrrrrk! "Oh jeeezuuus! We've been past ...
Drugs In Rock Culture: Don’t Try This At Home
Essay by Ian Penman, Guardian, The, August 1996
TAKING DRUGS CHANGES things. It changes your blood stream and brain waves and bank balance; your heart rate and slang of choice and the circumference ...
Black Grape: Straight to Stupid: Black Grape
Interview by Dave Thompson, Alternative Press, 1997
DANNY SABER'S been a busy boy. Produced the Rolling Stones, remixed David Bowie, and then seven weeks recording the new Black Grape album, climbing ...
Shane MacGowan, Pogues, The: Shane MacGowan: One More For The Road
Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Daily Telegraph, November 1997
THERE ARE THOSE who believe that Shane MacGowan is among the most gifted and singular singer-songwriters to have emerged in British music in the past ...
Spiritualized: The Mile High Club: Spiritualized in the Sky
Report and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 1998
SPIRITUALIZED: a concoction of the cosmological and the pharmaceutical enjoying high times in Britain. Now Jason Pierce is spending two months turning on America. Barney ...
Primal Scream, Depeche Mode: Depeche Mode and Primal Scream: The Most Debauched Tour Ever
Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Q, August 1998
Depeche Mode have been touring for almost a year. Drug and alcohol abuse is rife and the group are close to breaking point. The obvious ...
Monster Magnet: Life After Mood-Altering: Monster Magnet
Interview by Ian Fortnam, Kerrang!, February 1999
SIT A SPELL in the stark and featureless foyer of the current temple of the Monster Magnet dreams, a half-built Sunset Strip hotel of rare ...
Spiritualized: Jason Pierce: The Urban Spaceman Falls To Earth
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, September 2001
COSMIC OR WHAT? Jason Pierce has conducted Q to a yellowed Hoxton hostelry called the Macbeth. By the door it sports a tiled mural illustrating ...
Aerosmith: Tales of Toys and Toxic Twins: Aerosmith
Retrospective and Interview by Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock, 2002
SPOOL BACK four years to the Virginia Beach Resort Hotel on America’s sun-kissed East Coast and I’m sharing a sumptuous afternoon repast with Aerosmith’s Steven ...
Report and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, February 2002
"I WAS TRYING to prove I could do it and come out alive." That was Eric Clapton's account of his immersion in heroin from 1970-74. ...
Kurt Cobain, Nirvana: The Last Star: Kurt Cobain
Essay by Barney Hoskyns, Observer Music Monthly, June 2002
Why Kurt Cobain's legacy is worth fighting – or at least waiting – for ...
Rolling Stones, The: The Rolling Stones: The Crowning of King Mick
Retrospective by Chris Salewicz, Sunday Times, October 2002
It is hard to believe that Mick Jagger was once just another Rolling Stone. How did he become an idol? Chris Salewicz, his biographer, tells ...
Jefferson Airplane: High Priestess: Grace Slick and ‘White Rabbit’
Retrospective and Interview by Mark Paytress, Guardian, The, November 2002
White Rabbit has just come out top in a poll to find the finest drug song ever. Mark Paytress discovers that its writer/singer Grace Slick ...
Bob Dylan: Just Bend Your Mind A Little…
Retrospective by Andy Gill, MOJO, December 2002
BOB DYLAN WAS NOT THE FIRST SONGWRITER to write about – or under the influence of – drugs, though you could be forgiven for assuming ...
Retrospective and Interview by Ian Fortnam, Classic Rock, 2003
BY DECEMBER 1984, having exploded onto a decidedly lacklustre rock scene blighted by vacuous new romanticism, post-punk austerity and backward glancing metal Gumby-ism, the five ...
AUDIO: Fleetwood Mac's Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks (2003)
Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages Audio, April 2003
Mick Fleetwood on getting it on with Stevie Nicks, his place in the band and cocaine; Stevie Nicks on her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, dud boob jobs, songwriting and cocaine.
File format: mp3; in 2 parts, total file sizes: 64.6mb, total interview length: 1h 10' 38" sound quality: ****
Elliott Smith: You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Retrospective and Interview by R.J. Smith, Spin, February 2004
WHEN ELLIOTT SMITH played Los Angeles in the fall of 2002, after more than a year of semi-seclusion, he didn't look so good. His hands ...
Essay by Nick Kent, Guardian, The, April 2004
THEY ASKED ME to write this piece about "self-destruction and its place in rock" and that immediately set me to thinking: what do they mean ...
Gil Scott-Heron: Chasing The Heron
Report and Interview by James Maycock, Times, The, July 2004
"I'M ADDICTED to creating," mutters a grizzled, slightly stoned Gil Scott-Heron. "I use other things from time to time." It's late afternoon on Friday 3rd ...
Review by Fred Mills, No Depression, September 2004
IF YOU HAVE no tolerance for revolving-door "recovering" addicts who feel compelled to chronicle, on record after record, every opium-drenched near-death vision and every groveling ...
Babyshambles: Pete Doherty And The New Decadence
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, Independent on Sunday, February 2005
PERHAPS MARC ALMOND put it best: "To me a star is someone who has something extra, and something missing at the same time – ...
Libertines, The, Pete Doherty, Babyshambles: Kate Moss' Prince Alarming: Pete Doherty
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, Vanity Fair, July 2005
IT'S 9 PM AT the Boogaloo in north London and Gerry O'Boyle, the proprietor of this dingy pub, says Kate and Pete are on their ...
Report by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, September 2006
What do Pete Doherty, Justin Hawkins and Keane's Tom Chaplin have in common? All have been in rehab recently, some for the first time. But ...
Grateful Dead: For The Unrepentant Patriarch Of LSD, Long, Strange Trip Winds Back To Bay Area
Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, July 2007
THE SMALL, barefoot man in black T-shirt and blue jeans barely rates a second glance from the other Starbucks patrons in downtown San Rafael, although ...
Mötley Crüe: Ban this Sixx filth!
Report by Ian Gittins, Guardian, The, October 2007
Thought Mötley Crüe's biog The Dirt was the ultimate rock read? Pah! Ian Gittins helped bassist Nikki Sixx write his gruesome journals. Those of a ...
Interview by Robin Eggar, Live Magazine, December 2007
NIKKI SIXX is the bassplayer and chief songwriter in Mötley Crüe, the LA hard rockers who became a byword for rock and roll excess, while ...
Interview by Michael A. Gonzales, Stop Smiling, Winter 2007
FROM CINEMATIC outlaws Vito Corleone (The Godfather) and Priest (Super Fly) to real life dons like John Gotti and Nicky Barnes, the mythology of gangsterism ...
Beatles, The: When Acid Reigned
Retrospective by Harry Shapiro, MOJO, Summer 2007
Hippies tripped, tabloids raged and police cheered as Engelbert Humperdinck's Jan '67 hit, 'Release Me' became the real theme tune for the Summer of Love. ...
Amy Winehouse: Why Amy Winehouse is On The Rocks
Essay by Nick Kent, Times, The, January 2008
As troubled singer Amy Winehouse is filmed smoking crack cocaine, our writer, a veteran of the 1970s music and drug culture, explains why we view ...
Velvet Revolver: And Now Let's Go Over to the Leather Report: Velvet Revolver
Profile and Interview by Dan Gennoe, Mail On Sunday, March 2008
IF THERE'S A definition of a rock star, Scott Weiland is it. The ever-present Aviator sunglasses; the hip-jutting swagger; the slow croak of an LA ...
John Phillips, Mamas and The Papas, The: King of the Wild Frontier: Papa John Phillips
Retrospective and Interview by Chris Campion, Observer Music Monthly, March 2009
IN AUGUST 1977, John Phillips was supposed to be recording the album with Keith Richards that would mark his comeback. ...
Rolling Stones, The: Villa Nellcote: Tommy Weber Arrives at the Rolling Stones' French Stronghold
Book Excerpt by Robert Greenfield, 'A Day in the Life' (Da Capo), July 2009
In this excerpt from his brilliant new A Day in the Life: One Family, the Beautiful People, and the End of the '60s, Robert Greenfield ...
Primal Scream: Bobby Gillespie and Primal Scream
Retrospective and Interview by James Brown, Sabotage Times, February 2010
Primal Scream are the last great band of the original Creation Records roster, still rocking on, un-interrupted by break-ups or break-downs. James Brown gets down ...
Kyuss: Kings of the Stoner Age
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Guardian, The, March 2011
"I DIDN'T THINK THAT at 40 years of age I would still be talking about generator parties," Kyuss frontman John Garcia says with a puzzled ...
Amy Winehouse: A Rock Star Dead Again at 27
Comment by Wayne Robins, Rock's Backpages, July 2011
THE OTHER DAY I was listening to Amy Winehouse sing "You Know I'm No Good" on WFUV, and thought about how authentic she sounded. Not ...
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, July 2011
Singer with a soul-steeped voice whose instantly successful Back to Black album reflected her tormented experience of love ...
Hank Williams: On The Lost Highway: Hank Williams
Retrospective by Mark Mordue, Australian, The, October 2011
DAMNED cold. An ice storm over Nashville has closed down flights across the state of Tennessee. ...
Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, February 2012
AS CONCEPT ALBUMS go it was one of the more eccentric creations of the late 1960s. The mouthful of a title alone (Suite for Susan ...
Tim Hardin: The Unforgiven: Tim Hardin and the Shock of Grace
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, February 2012
NOTE: This is the "director's cut" version – at almost twice the length – of a piece written for MOJO and subsequently used as the ...
Obituary by Caroline Sullivan, Guardian, The, February 2012
Superstar singer credited as the first 'pop diva', whose compelling talent was lost to drug addiction ...
Memoir by John Pidgeon, Rock's Backpages, June 2012
I'M IDLING ALONG the High Street in my tan sit-up-and-beg Ford Pop, when 'Whatcha Gonna Do About It' comes on the radio. ...
Rolling Stones, The: A Sweet Tooth for the Stones: 'Brown Sugar'
Comment by Barney Hoskyns, Sabotage Times, Summer 2012
GOD IT'S TEDIOUS when ancient hacks wax nostalgic about formative pop memories – memories sacred to them but rarely to their readers. So stop reading ...
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