George Harrison of The Beatles wrote the sitar-laden song Within You Without You while high. It's one of my favorite Beatles songs.
John Butler smokes pot (frequency unconfirmed on my side), but he's one of the best guitarists I've ever heard.
But they won't influence me in that way one bit. I'm clean, and I prefer it that way. Just because I listen to hippie music does not necessarily mean I will do drugs. Music influences me, but in a spiritual or emotional way more than a physical way.
Speaking loosely of influence, one of the things that greatly bothers me is the way that pop music samples or copies music. I've been a fan of Modest Mouse for around seven years now, and hearing Lupe Fiasco copy "Float On" greatly disturbed me and prompted me to punch a large birch tree down. Even more aggravating was an artist directly sampling Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams are Made of This. I heard the unforgettable synth intro and got excited for a heavy dose of Annie Lennox, then SUDDENLY, RAP. I was disgusted and shocked into submission and spent the next two days unconscious. The doctors told me I was muttering the letter Y before I awakened. I declined psychological evaluation.
This makes me assume that the artists who directly sample other artists lack the talent to write their own music. Given, we're running out of original music that sounds good, but if Handel can write hundreds of original songs in the baroque period (roughly 17th-19th century), Aaron Copland can write original songs in the 20th century, and hundreds upon hundreds of composers between the baroque-20th century period can also be original, the 21st century is becoming trite.
[fair warning; it gets technical from here]
I say trite, because I've noticed a large shift in the pattern of pop lately. In a workplace where the radio is constantly playing popular music, I've been noticing a shift from the VI - VII - i progression (e.g. Tik Tok) to the i - III - VI pattern (e.g. Yeah 3x), focusing not on minor lifts, but mediants ( III ) and submediants ( VI ). The minor tonic ( i ) has been staying; I can only speculate that it gives the song a dark and dirty edge to it, and minor keys are suitable for dubstep breakdowns or breaks (dubstep; another rising trend I see).
Artists have also been raping syncopated rhythms. Most of the songs I hear today are prime examples; Britney's Till the World Ends, the backing of Ke$ha's We R Who We R, and Chris Brown's Yeah 3x. It's something that is easier sung, not read. I can only imagine thousands of people at a Britney sing-along receiving a songbook and seeing:
All this being said, I'm not going to listen to this stuff as a hobby. Don't get me wrong, I'm interested in pop music, but mostly for the direction. Where's it going? Only time can tell.
Or Katy Perry will tell.
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