About this Playlist
Play On: The Relationship between Cannabis And Music Genres
I swear…These articles always start out in one direction, then take a path of their own!
I had this grand plan to talk about individual music genres and how they relate to cannabis.
And then the damned playlist began talking to me…AGAIN.
(The crazy part is, I always listen…)
And so here we are, off on another tangent.
But hopefully, I ain’t let you down yet. You know I’m ‘bout that cannabis life…
Basically, There Are Two Types Of Music…
That which you dig and have listened to, and that which you have yet to listen to and dig (or not).
Everything else is just individual classification.
When we really get down to basics, all music is stoner music. There is no specific category to attribute to. A lot of people would probably say reggae, but that’s only due to the philosophy of Rastafarianism and its close proximity to both elements. It doesn’t necessarily appeal to everyone.
It is easy to argue that no-one (on the surface anyway) disagrees with messages of peace, equality and mellow vibes. No one in their right mind would. To some, reggae is an acquired taste.
But we are not here to get wrapped up in debates over genres.
What we’re here to talk about is how cannabis erases those boundaries.
If You Smell What Rock (and the others) Are Cooking…
Listen to music long enough, and genres will mean very little to you
That’s because your listening experience (in a best-case scenario) will gradually focus more on the groove and how it makes you feel, rather than the fact Pitchfork decided it was cool.
Music can (and should) transcend boxes and categories. Eventually it becomes about whether or not the music moves you emotionally. Does it connect? Does it make you feel something? Anything?
If so, then the creator has accomplished their mission.
What cannabis does is like Berlin in ’89, baby…It tears down those walls.
All your hang ups, perceived cool, street cred…all of that falls away as you slip into a warm aural ocean of who-gives-a-toss.
Y’know…as it should be.
You give yourself permission to take off on a sonic safari of epic proportions. Frank Zappa can chill at the same watering hole as Depeche Mode, Lenny Kravitz, Liza Minelli and Guided By Voices and it matters not.
This can have one, some or many beneficial side effects.
The first, and most significant is you will dig deeper in your listening preferences, gradually expanding your horizons. Today, you might be curious as to what ‘yacht rock’ is, the next, you could be digging into Brazilian favela funk.
It can happen.
Next, you might even start to challenge preconceived notions about what music should and should not be. Hell, you might even start creating your own definitions.
You little revolutionary, you.
And if those restrictions start breaking down…who knows how far this could go?
Welcome To The End Of The Beginning…
Here’s a secret you probably already know.
There are people who are every bit as curious and desirous of expanding their consciousness in quite the same as you, Dear Reader.
They crave the buzz provided by the symbiotic tug of war between cannabis and music…just like you.
While it is true that not every open-minded person is a head, it is also true that every head is an open-minded person.
It’s incredibly difficult to put the brain back in the small box once it’s had some room to expand and spread out.
And once that expanded mind comes into another expanded altered mind, great things start happening. And keep happening.
As introverted and socially averse as I can be sometimes, cannabis helps to bring me back out of my hard shell and into the world and around other people.
Because some of you actually don’t suck…In fact, quite a few of you are pretty damn cool.
Now here’s something else you might already know, but I’m gonna say it anyway, just so that we can all be on the same page.
A part of this endeavour is because I like the sound of my voice, because I’m just as vain and self-important as anyone else who writes. We like the stuff we say and think it matters.
But I also do it because a lot of you are thinking the same damn thing.
This is a folie à deux. We share this fever dream that somehow by fellowshipping and relating to one another about these common threads, we just might be able to have some positive effect in our section of the planet and shift these positive vibes into some momentum that maybe, just maybe, we could produce a spark to ignite a beautiful revolution.
Crazier things have happened…
As always, the playlist is meant to enjoy alongside the writing, but on this one, feel free to wander off the ranch and use it as a conversation piece and share the hell out of them if they move you in any way shape or form.
Stay blessed and favoured, my brethren and sistren.
Remember to keep it as weird as you can…
Part of the Green Space Collection
Track Listing
- Listen to the Music – The Doobie Brothers
- Frontier Psychiatrist – The Avalanches
- We Could Forever – Bonobo
- BOOM! – The Roots
- Raw – Remix – Big Daddy Kane
- Burn My Shadow – UNKLE featuring Ian Astbury
- Don’t Be Light – Neptunes Remix – Air
- My Party – Kings of Leon – Chad Hugo/Kenna Remix
- Stay Loose – Jimmy Smith – Lyrics Born Remix
- Rock Creek Park – The Blackbyrds
- Rose rouge – St Germain
- On & On – Erykah Badu
- Colors – Beck
- E=mc2 – J Dilla
- Move Your Feet – Junior Senior
- Dance to the Music – Sly & The Family Stone
- Musicology – Prince
- Pomegranate – deadmau5
- Pass The Peas – The J.B.’s
- Groovy – Burning Spear
- I Love Music – The O’Jays
- Pharaohs – SBTRKT
- Breathe It In – Ambient Jazz Ensemble – Lomea Rework
- Man of Constant Sorrow – Skeewiff
- HA! – Jon Kennedy
- Holy Fool – Love and Rockets
- 1 Crush – Garbage – Nellee Hooper Mix – 2015 – Remaster
- Blood And Roses – The Smithereens
- Faded – Ben Harper
- Valerie Loves Me – Material Issue
- I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun – Rotary Connection – Remastered
- Book Me In – Bullitnuts
- No Restrictions – Men At Work
- Lost – Frank Ocean
- Mirror in the Bathroom – The Beat
- Distant Past – Everything Everything
- Roots, Rock, Reggae – Bob Marley & The Wailers
- Rock Lobster – The B-52’s
- Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll – Ian Dury
- Super Stupid – Funkadelic
- Freak – Sofi Tukker
- What It Look Like – Spank Rock – Todd Edwards Remix
- Can’t Stop – Red Hot Chili Peppers
- Jet Sounds – Nicola Conte
- TVC15 – David Bowie – 2016 Remaster
- No Diggity – Blackstreet
- Get Away – The Internet
- Jazz Cop – Gripper
- Good Times Roll – The Cars
- There’s No Other Way – Blur – 2012 Remaster
- Banquet – Bloc Party
- Everything In Its Right Place – Radiohead
- Secret – Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
- Johnny Come Home – Fine Young Cannibals
- Rings – Aesop Rock
- The Definition of Funk – Shawn Lee’s Ping Pong Orchestra
- Mellow Yellow – Donovan – 2005 Remastered Version
- Clap Ya Hands – Pete Rock – I Feel Good
- Do The Astral Plane – Flying Lotus
- Gold – Lamb – Original
- Music Takes Me Up – Mr. Scruff
Playlist image GPT4
