The genre of music, which commonly is associated with drug
abuse, is alternative music such as Metallica with their song “Master of
Puppets” and “Needles” by System of a Down. This dates back throughout history,
for example in 1971 the Rolling Stones released Sister Morphine. Another
example is “The Acid Queen” by The Who, which was released in 1969.
However in recent years this has grown into the mainstream
genre of pop. Artists such as Lady Gaga and The Weekend make references to
drugs throughout their music songs such as “Mary Jane Holland” by Lady Gaga and
“The A Team” by Ed Sheeran.
The contemporary R&B artists such as The Weekend and
Rihanna who both identify with this genre, they have delivered songs about drug
use/ abuse, for example Rihanna released a song called “Diamonds” in 2012 the
song refers to marijuana in the video and in the song. The Weekends song “ High
For This” refers to drugs in the sense of nightlife such as clubs, the song has
the theme of marijuana.
A study conducted by
the Department of Health and Human Service (DHS) found that in a sample of a
thousand songs from 1996 and 1997 based on commercial success, 75% of hip hop
songs some version of substance abuse was involved compared to that of a
maximum of 20% in other genres.
A recent mainstream artist who has been related
to drugs is Miley Cyrus where her songs continue to refer to drugs, such as “We
Can’t Stop” which references cocaine use, however she has recently been
connected to drugs such as cannabis and MDMA. Modonna
has also stated that she supports MDMA as it provides “euphoric feelings of
love”.
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