- Trent Reznor has spoken very candidly about the extent to which drugs impaired his ability to create music, saying: “I had made writing out to be a terrifying prospect filled with pain and failure and some things that I dreaded doing because I’ve always lacked self-confidence and every other thing. By the end of my run with drugs I’d also realised that my brain wasn’t functioning right and I’d lost the power to really concentrate – it really made my art suffer, which made me feel worse, which made me want to get high and you know, that cycle starts up.” Now that he’s sober, Reznor says, he’s finally learned how to write on the road, which makes him even more productive than he’s ever been before.
(Read the original article here.)
Maybe we shouldn't be surprised. Doesn't it seem like the more drug-infused a rocker is, the quicker his/her career plummets? Pink FLoyd, the Beatles, and countless other bands seemed to peak then self-destruct, largely due to substance abuse. On the other hand you have bands like the Rolling Stones. They nearly broke up leading up to the release of Exile on Main St because some members of the band were abusing drugs. But others were (relatively) clean, and that probably saved the band. The Stones are the only British Invasion band that still matters - that still makes good music. You can also consider people like Eric Clapton. He nearly killed himself with substance abuse. His addiction caused him to stop making music for years. Then he kicked the habit, cleaned himself up, and released his most successful songs like Change the World and Tears in Heaven.
Listen to Trent Reznor.
Hi, I was researching the topic of drugs and creativity for school and stumbled upon this. I have to say that in my personal expirence as an artist and a user that I think that drugs do have a negitive influence on creativity. I used a lot of different drugs and found that I had an extreme decrease in my ability to make art. Weed certainly lessened my ability to create beacause of the lethargy and inability to stick with one train of thought. Coke was my drug of choice and is, in my opinion, the drug that hampers creative thought the most. I couldn't think abstractly, just numb. I was on a coke binge for about 2 months not to long ago and was not even able to sketch. Opiates and tripleCs just made me too floppy and out of it to even move very much, but I did take a very high dose, so maybe you could but I doubt it. Drunk, obviously not. I really wanted to try hallucinagenics and I now have access to them, but i'm on a lot of prescribed meds so it would be a bad idea. Anywayyyyy all this to say,when I stopped using I could paint again and I have only had creative periods in my life when im not under the influence. =]
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