JOUR 420: B#5

The Death of Laurel Canyon, and the Everlasting Influence in Music

Every good thing eventually comes to an end...

It can be argued how much "good" came out of the drug, sex and rock infested Laurel Canyon, but the influence, importance and impact on future music in undeniable. 

As time passed in the Canyon, rock stars died off and new musicians with new music began to rise. The '60's and '70's era was coming to an end.

In the final chapters of Michael Walker's, Laurel Canyon, he talks on the decline of the era; as the generation that followed after the hippies and the baby boomers, known as "Gen. Y."

Buffalo Springfield

Walker went on to explain that after The Beatles', The Byrds', The Doors', and the Buffalo Springfield's and the performers of peace, love, sex and anti-war began to fade away. More simple and heavy rock songs replaced music about war and peace, and then hip-hop began to make its impact in the music business.

While these Laurel Canyon rock classics began to diminish, there is no doubt that the music made in Laurel Canyon during the 1960's-70's greatly influenced music forever...and that is a great thing. This may be the best part of Laurel Canyon, because its music continues to influence us today.

"But Brandon, I don't like any of that old hippie music?! How could it possibly influence me and the music that I like?!?!"

The answer is simple: All of the artists that you and I enjoy listening to were simply influenced by classic music, especially the music from Laurel Canyon, and without that music, we would never be able to hear the same songs or artists that we enjoy today.

For example, I may not like listening to the Beatles, but other artists that I enjoy listening to may have never existed if it wasn't for The Beatles.

A great connection that I have to this is hip-hop and rap. Not only do I love hip-hop and rap music, but from the 1980's to today, it has been the most influential music genre since rock n' roll from the 1960's-70's.

From the rhythm and poetry aspect, to the art of storytelling through music, hip-hop has had a tremendous influence on modern society and culture.

But anyways, how can you tell if an artist was influenced by certain musicians or artists?

One answer is "sampling." When a musician samples a song, they take a portion (or "sample") of an older song recording, and use that in some way for their own music. For some, it can be used to create a dope beat, and for others, it's a way to pay homage to older artists.

Here are some examples of classic songs that were sampled in hip-hop:

1. Ray Charles' I Got a Woman (1954) was sampled in Kanye West ft. Jamie Foxx's Gold Digger (2005).
2. Aerosmith's Walk This Way (1975) was sampled by Digital Underground ft. 2Pac's Same Song (1991) and was re-covered by Run-DMC in 1986. [Compare and contrast the similarities between the 3 songs...link to video of Same Song in song name]

3. Otis Redding's Try A Little Tenderness (1966) was covered by Kanye West & Jay-Z's Otis in 2011. [Once again, compare the two and spot the similarities; link to Otis music video in song name].

As a matter of fact, here are some very famous rock songs from the Laurel Canyon era, that have been sampled heavily in hip-hop [Comparisons to original song are in song titles]:

• The Beatles, Come Together has been sampled in over 30 hip-hop/rap songs.
• Queen's, Another One Bites the Dust (1980) has been sampled in 51 hip-hop/rap songs.

• Queen's, We Will Rock You (1977) has been sampled in 105 hip-hop/rap songs.
• Examples include: Till' I Collapse by Eminem ft. Nate Dogg; We Will Rob You by Raekwon; When Will They Shoot by Ice Cube.

• Mountain's, Long Red (1972) has been sampled in a total of 497 hip-hop/rap songs, and is currently the 11th most sampled song in history.
• Examples include: 99 Problems by Jay-Z; Wouldn't Get Far by The Game ft. Kanye West; The People by Common; It Ain't Hard to Tell by Nas; Love Yourz and Fire Squad by J. Cole; Chain Smoker by Chance the Rapper; and Shut Em' Down by Public Enemy

For these reasons, the influence of music in Laurel Canyon was one of the best things to ever happen in music. Even though I am not a rock fan by any means, I am a fan of it's influence, and am truly grateful for its impact in all other music genres and in American culture.

So to all those classic rock n' roll groups....thank you. I'll still probably never listen to your music, but nonetheless, thank you.

JOUR 420: B#4

The Drug Life

Drugs and music -- they seem to go hand-in-hand...or at least that was the notion in the early days of rock music. 

Everybody has heard the expression Sex, Drugs, and Rock n' Roll. There's even a TV show on FX with that same title. And beginning in the late 1960's into the '70's was the hippie belief that all of these elements, when brought together, created the perfect mix. Almost all musicians in the rock industry, and then in the music industry as a whole, realized that drugs were part of the normal way of living, and for many, it didn't have the best ending.

They might have functioned thinking: "I didn't choose the drug life, the drug life choose me." But this quickly led to addiction for many, and eventually their downfall.

As Michael Walker describes in his book, Laurel Canyon, "Whenever cocaine actually arrived, there is universal agreement that it leeched whatever charm and innocence, real or imagined, the canyon scene still possessed. Whereas pot and acid were seen as tools of enlightenment...(Walker 156)." 

Drugs such as cocaine, LSD, heroin had become the "preferred refreshment" in the industry.

I am not going to include marijuana in all of this, because it is not a lethal drug. Weed was very popular back in the hippie movement, and remains very popular today, but there has not been a single musician who has lethally died or overdosed on marijuana (just ask Willie Nelson and Snoop Dogg).

Jimi Hendrix

In the 1960's, there were only three drug-related deaths to famous musicians. In the 1970's, the drug death toll skyrocketed. Some of the famous names that died from overdosing included Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison (The Doors), Gram Parsons (The Byrds), Elvis Presley, and Sid Vicious (Sex Pistols).

There were certain old school artists that I enjoy listening to up to this day, which include musicians such as Rick James and David Ruffin (The Temptations). 

David Ruffin

After rising to stardom as the lead singer of the Temptations, Ruffin gained a large ego and eventually was kicked out of the band. Part of the reason for this was because of the drug addiction that he had gained. In 1991, Ruffin was found dead with cocaine in his system. James on the other hand did not hide his love for drugs. He was one of the first artists who created a song entirely about weed (Mary Jane). Over time, interesting stories would surface about James' drug-life with loose women and other crazy factors. In 2004, James died of heart failure, and his autopsy revealed that he had up to seven drugs in his bloodstream at time of death, including cocaine.

There hasn't been much slowing down in drug-related deaths. From the '70's into the 2000's, there were many lives taken due to overdosing. This undoubtedly had an impact on the average music listener. For the people who loved certain musicians so much, that they wanted to be like them or relate to them as much as possible, even if that meant through drugs. With that said, there is no denying that drugs influenced music and pop culture forever. 

So where do we draw the [white] lines?

Well, first we have acknowledge that not every musician was a drug addict. Some had risen above the peer pressure of the industry and took a stand against the culture. The group Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five for example created the song White Lines (original music video) to warn against the dangers of cocaine.

Artists such as Eminem was once heavily involved in drugs and alcohol, but eventually came clean, and writes about his addiction through multiple albums, most notably Recovery. One of his biggest motivations was not only his health, but living a better life for his daughters. He tells this story through the song Not Afraid, where one of his rhymes includes:

It was my decision to get clean, I did it for me

Admittedly, I probably did it subliminally

For you, so I could come back a brand new me you helped see me through

And there were artists that were completely anti-drug: As mentioned many times in the book, Frank Zappa was beloved by the hippies, but never used drugs himself. Artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Gene Simmons, Rod Stewart and even Tyler the Creator have all identified themselves as anti-drug musicians. 

Although there has always been some kind of a voice against the drug movement, I think that as time has passed, today's music industry is still filled with drug-addicts simply due to the peer pressure and the constant stress of the industry. Maybe not as much as it once was in the 1970's-1990's, but it's still there. This doesn't just include cocaine, heroin, or LSD as mentioned in Laurel Canyon, but more than ever, there seems to be deaths related to prescription drugs.

The most recent example of this was the death of Prince in 2016. He was never addicted to drugs such as cocaine or heroin. But rather, he died from an overdose on Fentanyl, a very strong yet highly addictive pain killer.

Prince

Drugs have influenced the culture of music, and that influence still remains today, as more and more drugs come from the streets and the pharmacy. Hopefully, the voice against life-threatening and addictive drugs can grow stronger as well.