drugs

[strange_day]

Its a moral debate that could go on forever and ever....

whether drugs are good or bad in general and whether people (artists or whoever) should use them is a moral debate, for sure. but whether drugs are seen to have either positive or negative influence/input on artists' output/creativity is not a moral debate. people can have moral - drugs themselves don't have moral. if we talk about how drugs (may) influence art, we can't make it a moral conversation. moral conversation must involve people.
and so, another good question is whether art itself has any moral?

When i said that, i was meaning people discussing whether or not it is morally right for someone to use drugs. Ultimately, its a choice. Id say theres a fairly strong arguement to suggest that substance use in some cases has enhanced what The Cure has done musically AND lyrically. I agree totally with what youre saying about substance itself being irrelevant, because its the person who creates something, they will always have that talent.
To put it another way i guess its like a musician buying effects pedals to enhance their sound, of course if they dont have tunes to begin with, they will still be rubbish, its not the magic solution. But say using certain effects makes things sound cool. (Guess you could say The Cure have done that too  )

Bill Hicks is right about what he says, he does it all in a very sarcastic provocative way, to provoke a reaction people who have mis-informed views on things and are unable to accept any other point of view, i guess hes looking at other side of it, plus he was a comedian 

I think Robert's attitude towards drug use in the 80's and early 90s was that of an experiment, something to take you outside of your natural train of thought just to see what happens, what angle you might take on things, what sounds, words and images you might see, that you wouldnt in a sober state. I know that during the recording of Disintegration Robert was on a lot of acid, now this has nothing to do with his ability to write those amazing songs, but you can tell it really hightened his feelings and it influnced the sound of that record a lot.

[Poe]

The more I look into it, it seems drugs has been pretty much an important, if not even integral, part of the creative process during most of The Cure's existence. Not many recording sessions without it, it seems, at least not during the eighties, and Robert still appears to be very pro-drugs... Shit! Is it that naive of me to be disturbed by that? Should people really turn a blind eye to the use of drugs in the intention to enhance one's performance, to reach one's goals, just when it comes to art? If they frankly, pretty much, wouldn't have been the same band, with the same special touch to a lot of their work, without drugs, and owe that much to drugs, then...what DOES that say about their talent? Perhaps this question has been answered already...Would I have asked that question if there was only alcohol involved?

I'd just like to add that no matter what, I know the songs are still the same, whatever brought them to THIS world, and I don't need drugs to enjoy them.

[~*CherryRed*~]

For me, everyone seems to be a bit to caught up in this - so what really? Everyone, well most people, have a go at using drugs... so what? Lie back and enjoy it!!! If they did drugs to get inspiration, so be it... it's a common thing. Drugs are a reality for a lot of people around the world, good or bad. And I personally think there is nothing wrong with it - if you can handle it. I've made my point on this clear, and am done with this topic now.

I do want to say quickly that if I have caused offence to anyone, I do apologise, it is not my intention to make any Cure-ite enemies!!! I believe what I do through my own life experiences... and yours will undoubtedly differ to mine.

[japanesebaby]

For me, everyone seems to be a bit to caught up in this - so what really? Everyone, well most people, have a go at using drugs... so what? Lie back and enjoy it!!! If they did drugs to get inspiration, so be it... it's a common thing. Drugs are a reality for a lot of people around the world, good or bad. And I personally think there is nothing wrong with it - if you can handle it. I've made my point on this clear, and am done with this topic now.

first of all i'd like to think that noone's offended by anything. people have firm opinions and they are not shy to state them but that's a different thing.

anyway. actually i sort of agree with you about "so what if they used drugs?".  the only thing that has made me say things that i've said here is that i really dislike/do disagree when people start either romantisizing drug usage in general and see it as something that's "good for artists". whether good or bad, there's nothing to romantisize there. or when people say that pronography is a great album "because of the drug influence". i just don't like mythologizing things like this.

and well, what i perhaps personally don't agree with is a too casual "lie back and enjoy!" attitude towards drugs and/or alcohol. i don't say that because i was an absolutist myself or anything. i've had my bad times/bad experiences with some of those sustances and those were not the best times in my life. and i don't know why anyone would like to experience something similar. true, there's nothing absolutely wrong in it if you can handle it - but there are simply a lot better things in life, whichever way you look at it. and it all does turn into a moral debate the moment we say "hey just enjoy, let's not care about it too much". because we can easily say that just to avoid taking the moral responsibility involved in the issue - and is that good or bad, actually?
anyway, for me it's all kind of useless territory for anyone to venture. artists CAN and MUST be able to create art without it. if they can't, there's certainly something wrong there and maybe they should consider some other profession, really. to say drugs are somehow "important" to artists is in a way the same as if you said a bus driver can't go to work unless he's drunk - ok i'm using a very extreme example there but i think you might get my point. i work with art/music myself and it always has pissed me off that people somehow tend to think that this gives me some sort of "liberty" to mess around with certian stuff more than others. it might sound funny but actually i find that a bit patronizing, almost! and that's where i usually bring forward the bus driver example. anyway.

but true, it all comes to everyone deciding themselves. it's your choice, your decision, just like everything else under the sun. but because everyone can only speak on behalf of his/her own experiences and "give advice" according to that, i guess that's why i tend to say what i say.