Joe Rogan - The Relationship Between Drugs and Creativity

You got Pink Floyd, you got the Who. When you think about the Beatles, obviously. ACDC. Yeah. Yeah, you got all sorts of shit. You got a lot going on back then, you know? Of course you have Hendrix. Joplin. Joplin. The Doors. You got, yeah, man. You got a lot of shit. And then you got the weird ones, the Mamas and the Papas. Amazing band. Wasn't there some weird shit that went on with that family? Well, yeah, but also heroin and cocaine kind of killed all that whole music scene. Yeah, there's a lot of that. That's the problem. It sort of starts it up and then it poisons it. Well, psychedelics and weed, probably good for your music. When you get into cocaine and heroin, it's not gonna happen. Your music's gonna die. You know, I get it that it's bad for you, but I think it can't be a coincidence that so many people that love heroin made amazing music. Beforehand though. So a lot of people, yeah, look at Lou Reed. Any of them who got into heroin, their music stopped. Lou Reed was always- Even Hendrix and Jim Morrison, I mean, a lot of the songs that Hendrix was writing, he died at 27. So that was a relatively, his musical development, I think was done less with, you know, maybe psychedelics, but I don't think heroin played a factor until later on in his life. It's hard to say. I mean, I don't know. I know he was arrested in Toronto with heroin. I don't know the whole history of his- By that time he was already so famous, he had already written those songs. They got him there, you know? Maybe. I mean, I don't know when he started using heroin or why. I don't think heroin makes you more artistic or more successful at all, but I think what happens is you have very talented people that have a substance abuse problem. You know, that's what Stephen King said. He said, I'm a great writer, but I don't remember writing Kujo. My alcohol didn't make me a better writer. I'm a really imaginative, talented writer who happens to have a substance abuse problem. And I had to get rid of it. Yes and no. Yes and no. Cause yes, he is unbelievably talented. Yes, he's an amazing writer. He's one of my personal favorites. I mean, I probably read more Stephen King books than any other fiction author. But the stuff that he wrote when he was doing drugs was hardcore shit. He wrote The Shining and Kujo and The Tommy Knockers. He wrote all sorts of wicked books, man, where there's just evil intentions and ruthless actions and shocking scenes. And the fact, it was a coincidence he was doing coke. Just a coincidence he was drunk and doing coke. No, I don't think that's what wrote the books though. I think what happened was- It does, it did. No one's saying that. Look, Vitamin C doesn't make a person. Right. These are tools to squeeze the most out of your imagination while suppressing any sort of societal, handcuffs you might've put on yourself because of the horrific notions. He said he would say things in his book where you would go, whoa. You would have to take a step back. Where the fuck, what kind of fucking person thinks this up? What kind of person, I'll tell you what kind of person. A guy who's drunk as fuck doing coke, who's also a great writer. It's not that- Yeah, man, I don't know what those drugs- It's not that he's not capable of writing that stuff and digging into his, I'm not saying that. I think you probably could have achieved the exact same results on the natch because he's Steven motherfucker. Okay, it might've focused his mind for 24 hours. It's also possible that that stuff is rocket fuel. It's rocket fuel for your physical energy, your anger, your moods, your inhibitions dissolve, and it might open up the pathway to that forbidden door of demon rape that you didn't want to get to. Here's what I'm talking about. And that becomes the best scene in a Stephen King book. It gives you courage.