Rock Music and Drugs Rock Term Paper

The wide availability of drugs - and the status quo's failure to control the distribution and supply of drugs - gave rise to the hippie movement, which crystallized in 1969 at the Woodstock Festival, which saw performances by such luminaries as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and Bob Dylan. A month later, however, a similar festival in Altamont, California would end in tragedy, as a young man was knifed to death during a Rolling Stones concert. The Altamont tragedy would come to be seen by many as the end of an era - or at least the end of the 1960s.

Drugs and rock music continued to have an impact on the formation of young baby boomers throughout the 1970s. Rock music began to split off in several different directions. At one end of the spectrum, you had psychedelic rock - a form of rock n' roll directly influenced by psychedelic drugs such as LSD in both sound and lyrics. Then, there was a harder form of rock n' roll that began to grow popular. This eventually turned in to heavy metal. One of the earlier proponents of this new genre of rock was Black Sabbath, a band that helped popularize the usage of downers - or depressants - which were usually taken in pill form.

As the 1970s wore on, disco music became popular with a new generation of baby boomers.Disco was music you could dance to and it had a strong beat. Some of the artists who helped popularize disco include the Bee Gees, Donna Summer, and Gloria Gaynor. In clubs where disco music was played, cocaine was the drug of choice.

Progressive rock was a form of experimental rock n' roll that grew out of the late 1960s' dissatisfaction with traditional pop structures. Bands like Jethro Tull, Electric Light Orchestra, and Pink Floyd continued the experimentation of their more radical 1960s forebears. Partly as a reaction to progressive rock and disco, the punk rock movement was born. It was the punks who, through their loud, fast, energetic, and angry music, helped popularize the usage of amphetamines during the 1970s.

The 1980s saw a relaxation in both the musical and drug activities of the baby boom generation, as most of these people entered their 30s and decided to settle down and have families. With the advent of Ronald Reagan's war on drugs, the usage of illicit substances became taboo once again, and the music reflected this cultural reversion to the values….....