Friday, December 14, 2007

Performance enhancing substances

Yesterday came out a report to the Comissioner of Baseball on drug taking in the Major League. It claims that the use of steroids is widespread and the major stars are involved. That is sad news but at least we know for sure they're doped, unlike in other sports where we can just extrapolate.

Anyway, the point is that if drugs enhance your performance, you are cheating by taking them since you are artificially making yourself a better player. And then I thought about musicians. They take a lot of drugs: pot, cocaine, crystal meth, heroine etc... Does this make them any better? I mean, could Bob Marley ever have had so much emotions in his voice without being so damn high? Could Brad Nowell (Sublime) ever have written Pool Shark without taking heroine? What about Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin or Kurt Kobain? Would have Eminem ever created the Slim Shady without the Detroit shit?

So are these artists cheating by taking drugs? I mean, it certainly enhances their performance and inspiration.

We're better off with good music, why couldn't we better off with better sports?

1 comment:

Brigitte said...

Of course, one would have to be reminded however of the fundamental difference there is between an organized sports competition, where individuals are in direct competition with one another under a strictly defined set of rules, and the creative process for music, in which competition should never matter, for it would perhaps be more of a hindrance than an incentive for musical creativity.