History of Marijuana and Music

2009.04.27

The first record of use of marijuana in the United States was in 1909 in New Orleans in the red light district of New Orleans. Only eight years earlier this had been the birth place of Louie Armstrong. This is where marijuana became intertwined with the jazz music. Armstrong told those writing his biography that marijuana allowed for creativity with clearer thoughts than alcohol.

In fact some historians say that in the 1920’s marijuana usage in the US was strictly among the jazz musicians. Since marijuana smoking was tied to crazy behavior and wild music as well as the Negroes and Mexicans the government worked quickly to stop its spread. The establishment used a racist campaign to cause the population to oppose marijuana usage and marijuana was banned in New Orleans in 1923 and in 1927 Louisiana took similar steps.

In 1931, Armstrong was arrested for smoking a marijuana cigarette after one set at the Cotton Club, on the outskirts of Hollywood. Since the officers were fans of Armstrong, he was treated well, but jailed for 9 days in L.A. Since the judge was also a fan Armstrong was given a suspended sentence instead of the possible six month imprisonment. Armstrong kept quiet of this experience with all but some of his closest fans until shortly before he died in 1971.

Dizzy Gillespie reports that he did not drink or smoke marijuana when arriving in 1937 when he arrived in New York. Charlie Shavers introduced him to smoking marijuana. Gillespie goes on to say that they were not the only musicians using the drug. Many of the older Jazz musicians had been smoking marijuana for over 40 years at that time.

Even Malcolm X grew in popularity as he sold marijuana cigarettes to musicians. By the time he decided to become Malcolm X he had grown quite a following from these musicians, who were now eager to hear his message.

During the Beatles first time in New York, Bob Dylan introduced them to Marijuana. Paul McCartney said that after that time every time they sang of “smoke” or “grass” or “high” it was intentional. At age 28 John Lennon was fined 150 pounds for possession of half an ounce of resin. This conviction later caused quit a bit of trouble as he sought residency in the U.S.

Whether they preformed jazz, rock or modern music, many of our well known musicians from the 20^th and now the 21^st century have written and preformed under the influence of marijuana. The jazz musicians said that marijuana allowed them to jazz up the music, to play twice as many notes in the same amount of time as the notes written on the page. Marijuana gave rock music its classic sounds as well as themes to the lyrics. It matters not if we approve of disapprove of the behavior. We enjoy the music that was presented. To understand that music in its context, we must include the element of marijuana usage as well as the element of counterculture and other drug usage.