adminUrban Beats Nkosilathi Sibanda
EVERYONE knows that musicians like to get plastered, smashed and blitzed. They like the glitz and glamour they create. So influential is their lifestyle that we envy them. There are musicians who get hooked on drugs or alcohol to enhance performance. The most celebrated artistes are victims of intoxication. Often they have done shows under the influence.
I do not, of course, want to stereotype musicians. This weekend’s discussion is on the rehashed cliché of alcohol and entertainment.
Why does music sound better when people are drunk? Those who partake in wise waters will attest to this. Are our musicians so weak to use alcohol to appease the fans?
There must be at least one musician out there who doesn’t love their alcohol but I just haven’t met them, save for gospel artistes.
I am told in Bulawayo there are musicians who cannot perform without sipping whiskey or puffing a joint. Yes, everyone knows a beer or two can take the edge off but that’s the catch — it’s a cover up.
Music promoters and arts journalists know well that some of the big stars in the industry are downright junkies.
So even though there are exceptions to some performances, the underlining truth is that alcohol has a huge influence on artistes and fans.
This is not a mere theoretical possibility. The undeniable fact is that music celebrities have passed that infamous state of being. We can all think of scores of musicians who embody the expression of being drunk. The junkie musician!
A popular Bulawayo DJ summed it up so well in one of our usual conversations about music.
“Alcohol tastes sweeter when loud music is playing.” I bet you are astounded but this is the mantra in entertainment circles.
In as many web articles about the relationship between alcohol and music, people listening to loud club music rated alcohol as tasting sweeter than those who were listening to nothing at all.
I have not tried this and in my research it became news to me that alcohol is a sweetener. The sober reader will be excused to say LOL (Laugh out Loud)!
Musicians seem to be appreciated by a drunken crowd and most prefer to play for tipsy audiences.
It would appear alcohol and pop music are a potent mix. There is a sensory arousal in both the artiste and the listener. That has been the culture. Ask a rock, kwaito or hip hop fan, you will be advised to take a bottle of vodka at the club.
The reality is that people drink more in clubs, bars and parties where there is loud music for a variety of reasons. It is either for excitement or to release inhibitions so that they can dance to the music.
Music arguably makes people want to stay on – and therefore drink more. No matter how old one is, we all have followed pop music. Gospel artistes can testify they owned a Michael Jackson or Brenda Fassie CD. After all most stars influenced the musicians we listen to nowadays.
It is in secular music that we celebrate excessive drinking as a norm. Have you not listened to a song that defines drinking as a worthy pastime?
Hip-hop, rap and kwaito songs make references to alcoholic brands. I never knew of tequila, Hennessy or cognac until I was hooked to such music. Music video producers now lack creativity. The old bar scene with models sipping on whiskey, dancing to loud music by the pool side is overused.
Does it mean we cannot dance without alcohol? In the township where I am from, one is not taken seriously when found listening to Dan Tshanda or Patricia Majalisa without a bottle of brandy by the side.
It is abnormal to be sober when Majalisa sings her popular hit ePhathini.
There are lyrics that have alcohol references often tied to excessive drinking. For example, the hip-hop song One More Drink by Ludacris and T-Pain contains the lines: “Was taking shots and tipping the bartender/Surrender to the woman end up bringing me home/Cause she started looking better every shot of Patron”.
Drinking to get drunk and underage drinking was also encouraged in Asher Roth’s rap hit Love College. In the song college first year students are encouraged to drink as much as they want, because there is no harm.
Another example is hip hop musician B.o.B’s single We still in this b****. He sings, “They try to shut us down/, so buy another round.”
Most common are references to tequila, vodka, cognac and champagne in hip-hop, rap and R&B, whereas country and pop musicians seemed to prefer whiskey and beer.
Pop music advocates are sure to respond that the musicians might be forgiven for fanning the alcohol influence. People drink out of choice, they would say.
Given the heavy exposure of youth to popular music, researchers suggest popular music may serve as a major source of promotion of alcohol use among youths. According to a study by David Jernigan at the Centre on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, when drinking is mentioned in a pop song, it is almost always done so in a positive light.
So, musicians do not force drinks down our throats. The fans misinterpret the message. That is interesting!
The alcohol and music mix can partly be blamed on breweries and marketers. At times musicians are forced to pile up bottles of brandy in their videos because they want sponsorship from beer companies.
Of course it is a fact that backyard parties are filled with alcohol but music videos blow that culture out of proportion.
However, the promotion of such culture on TV has had disastrous consequences. Young people have gone wayward all in the name of music. They drink till the cows come home because Lil Wayne does on video.
I’m surprised when my opinion is requested on the relationship between alcohol and the music creative process. One cannot have the answer to this and musicians fail to find words to explain why they sing about alcohol.
It is complex! Probably some artistes find it hard to play the guitar without drinking and fans follow suit. What could a vulnerable fan do when they are told of women, sex and drinking?
To musicians who depend on the bottle, while alcohol is bad for the fan looking for fun, it is equally deadly on the bandstand. Drunk musicians are notorious for their fake performances. Remember Derrick Majaivana lost credence in the industry after fans complained of his stage behaviour (we hope he has changed his ways).
Music experts say the art of playing instruments requires mind and body connection.
The same applies to the listener.
If you are high, the music you’ll end up hearing in your head will be one thing. Well, the way I see it, music, in whatever form is meant to be enjoyed in a sober state. Alcohol will do it for you as a fan, but there are other forms of bliss. I am yet to meet a sound engineer who allowed a drunk musician to record in the studio.
The true musician must sing with a positive mission. In as much as drinking is as old as culture, there is no need to promote it in art. We are still to model a culture industry that is devoid of ecstasy. I believe that a person can listen to music and get high without ever drinking a substance.
This was not pulpit speak and I have nothing against fans and their musicians who worship the bottle. However, as a true artiste too, I feel obliged to have this conversation in the public domain.
The true musician’s high must always be music not alcohol. Nothing should connect the fan and the musician besides the instruments and the voice.
Why do parents hate it when their children want to be musicians? They take it from junkie artistes that this is not a clean career. Let us leave beer at the bar counter.
Online Reporter