Pot References No Longer Cutting Edge, They’re Conformist
Yeah, I remember the first time I heard marijuana referenced in a song and thought it was cool. It was a song by the New Riders of the Purple Sage called “Henry” from their 1971 self-titled album. More of a smuggling song than a drug song, the story and the suspense of the song is what made it intriguing, with the marijuana more of just a backdrop. This inspired me to try and discover similar songs which led me to the Arlo Guthrie smuggler’s song “Coming Into Los Angeles.”
Gram Parsons somewhat challenged the stuffiness of the country establishment when he sported a Nudie suit with marijuana leaves embroidered on it in the late 60’s, but at the time he was considered more of a product of the rock world. And then of course there’s Kris Kristofferson’s iconic “Sunday Morning Coming Down” whose somewhat veiled reference to marijuana is given credit for stretching lyrical boundaries in country music on its way to being named Song of the Year by the CMA in 1970.
But 2013 very well may go down as the year when referencing marijuana and other drugs in your songs is no longer cool as much as it is conformist—a lyrical hook, a well-recognized buzz word made for marketing an artist or song just as much as anything else. When a former Disney star like Miley Cyrus is out there talking about “Dancing with ‘Molly'” and “Trying to get a line in the bathroom,” and the 80-year-old Willie Nelson is singing a duet with the 42-year-old Snoop Dogg called “Roll Me Up And Smoke Me When I Die,” there ceases to be either the generational gap, or the exclusivity of drug references in music to make them “cool.”
Where the current trend of mentioning cannabis in your country song seems to be cropping up is in the unlikely place of country music’s songwriting females. This dynamic and inspiring group of women who are regularly referenced as the last bastion of substance in country music’s mainstream seems to be the epicenter of country music’s marijuana bloom: Kacey Musgraves with the songs “Merry Go ‘Round,” “Blowin’ Smoke,” and “Follow Your Arrow.” Ashley Monroe with the song “Weed Instead of Roses.” Brandy Clark and the song “Get High.” And The Pistol Annies with songs like “Takin’ Pills” and “Hush Hush.”
The differences between these song’s marijuana and drug references and the trends on the male side of country music to reference pickups, tailgates, ice cold beer, and dirt roads, are very subtle. Sure, many of the pot references come within the context of a more in-depth story. But just like pickup truck references, they’re used to grab the attention of demographics and sell music to listeners.
Just look at the graphics below taken from Amazon’s MP3 popularity ratings. For a marijuana song like Ashley Monroe’s “Weed Instead of Roses,” it positively dominates the popularity contest compared to her other songs. Same goes with Kacey Musgraves’ three most popular songs (though in fairness, “Blowin’ Smoke doesn’t reference pot directly). One might argue though that these songs are more popular because they are also the artist’s radio singles. But this speaks even deeper to the current marijuana trend. If you want to be a mainstream female songwriter and have the A&R folks pay attention to your music, you may want to include a song with marijuana references.
Ashley Monroe’s Tracks from the album Like A Rose:
Kacey Musgraves Tracks from the album Same Trailer, Different Park:
Just like with the country rap trend or the pickup truck trend, when a lyrical theme works, it almost becomes a requirement for mainstream artists. And just like the male tailgate songs that sound so cliche to distinguishing music listeners, marijuana references appeal to bored suburban types who listen to country music as a form of escapism.
Back in the 90’s marijuana references and imagery became popularized by big music acts like Cypress Hill, Pantera, Snoop Dogg, and Green Day. But then the trend became sort of passé amongst bands on the fringes of the mainstream when marijuana references began to work themselves into the content of Top 40 pop songs. It was no longer cool.
Read: Marijuana, Music, and Marketing
Country music was a late bloomer to the marijuana marketing trend because it’s traditionally conservative-leaning audience. Artists like Hank Williams Jr. and Charlie Daniels referenced pot in the 70’s and 80’s, but this was far from the mainstream. Waylon Jennings’ “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand,” Hank Jr’s, “O.D’d in Denver,” take it a step further into the cocaine realm. But as modern mainstream country artists step into the marijuana and drug realm, independent and cutting-edge artists seem to step away. For example Hank Williams III started his career in country music with heavy marijuana imagery and references, but has veered away from it in recent years.
Women are not the only ones referencing marijuana in the current mainstream country market. Eric Church sells T-shirts with pot leaves on them and had a hit song in “Smoke A Little Smoke.” Luke Bryan’s mega-hit “That’s My Kind Of Night” says “I got that real good feel good stuff up under the seat of my big black jacked up truck.”
The political environment surrounding marijuana also plays into the pot music debate. The stigma around the drug has been significantly diluted by the passing of laws decriminalizing the plant, making it legal for medicinal purposes, or legalizing it in full which has happened in some states. Marijuana is a very commonly-used substance throughout American society, and as the stigma around the plant subsides, so does the potency of the references to it in popular culture.
There’s nothing naughty or cutting edge about a pot reference in a song anymore. It’s conformist. It’s marketing. It’s mainstream. Not all the time of course; sometimes it comes up naturally in the context of a song. But just like many so many other musical elements, marijuana and drug references have been co-oped by the mainstream, spoiled, and exploited.
October 29, 2013 @ 9:17 am
I think that part of what is going on here is the overall rupture in the the tradition of country music. In this particular instance, the break is with mainstream country leaving behind the tried and true formula of the cautionary tale, which once was a mainstay of country music. I think it is fair to say songs like the ones by Waylon and Hank Jr., for all of their outlaw style, would still fall into this category, much like Cocaine Blues. I think that even Hank III even referred to this formula in the past, especially in relation to Straight to Hell.
Nowadays, that which was the subject of a cautionary tale is now what makes it “my kind of night”, pushing even further away from the traditions that have always been at the heart of country music. This is not to say that the cautionary tale is the heart of country alone, but that it is a part of the traditions that once defined country and are now being discarded.
October 29, 2013 @ 9:27 am
So, is your argument that artists shouldn’t reference marijuana because it is too mainstream, and that the vast majority of the time that an artist references weed, they are doing so to conform and sell more albums?? I’m sure this is the case at times, and I agree that it is not as rebellious to reference marijuana as it once was, but I don’t see increasing references to a drug which I enjoy and feel should be legal as a bad thing. I think it is a good thing. I’m thrilled that pop country artists, miley cyrus and everyone else under the sun are putting a positive spin on marijuana. If they can help convince their fan base that weed is not an evil detrimental drug, then I’m all for it. I also believe that most of the people out there referencing pot in their songs are doing it because they like it. I doubt if Miley, Snoop, Willy or Lindi Ortega are referencing marijuana because a record executive out there thought it would help sell records.
October 29, 2013 @ 9:53 am
First off, please don’t think that I am presenting this as a black and white issue whatsoever. I think it’s actually a very complicated issue with many veins and tangents, and I am in no way saying all pot references in music are either bad, uncool, or outmoded, or that they are wrong in a certain type of music, or from certain artists. I’m simply trying to present the evolution of these references in music and ask why there has been a dramatic increase in country, and what that says about how drugs and marijuana are perceived in society.
“I doubt if Miley, Snoop, Willy or Lindi Ortega are referencing marijuana because a record executive out there thought it would help sell records.”
I think these are four different instances, and should all be taken individually. As for Lindi Ortega, I think she is the perfect example of an artist who may bring up marijuana in the context of the story and have it be nothing more than an accurate representation of life.
With Willie and Snoop, they have both purposely gone out of their way to market their music with marijuana, and I don’t think there’s any disputing that with huge pot leaves superimposed behind their names and likeness. There was a statue unveiled in Austin last year of Willie Nelson that was unveiled on 4/20, and 4:20 PM. That is pot marketing. And the only reason Miley didn’t use marijuana is because it has become so passe, she needed to reference harder drugs to create the shock factor she was looking to create. And I’d have to respectfully disagree that Miley Cyrus is a good spokesperson for anything.
I have no desire to get into the politics of marijuana, but as I said above, that plays a factor as well. I feel confident that within the next few years, marijuana is going to be decriminalized on a national level. If that’s the case, will we still see artists whose biggest songs are the ones that refer to pot? I’m asking as many questions as I’m trying to answer here.
October 29, 2013 @ 11:34 am
Sometimes the bigger shock factor comes when an artist does not reference hard core drugs in their lyrics, (at least not openly) and dies at 29 years old from combining legal and illegal drugs.
So if anyone wants to talk about tradition in country music then why don’t you look at this reference to the King of Country Music. That is more of an outlaw in one boot than any of these fuckin’ so called self proclaimed outlaws you got runnin’ around callin’ themselves outlaws.
October 29, 2013 @ 12:09 pm
A major part of this I think is it’s a way for an artist to sound or appear edgy which is becoming laughable as attitudes about the drug change. The next question is what do they move on to next when they realize that is not edgy but instead conformist and even worse cliché. Meth? Heroin?
As for Willie Nelson a big part of me finds it incredibly sad that he has become so well known as the ‘pot guy’ that I would dare say many if not most of the younger generation have no clue how brilliant his music was. Instead of being known for writing ‘Funny How Time Slips Away’ or ‘Angel Flying To Close To The Ground’ or ‘Hello Walls’ or the ‘Red Headed Stranger’ album he just that ‘pot guy’. Maybe he doesn’t care I don’t know. Very unfortunate in my opinion.
October 29, 2013 @ 9:21 pm
I agree 100%.
Willie Nelson has become flanderiized,
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Flanderization
If you go back and watch interviews with Willie from several decades ago, his opness about marijuana use was just one small facet of his personality. The main focus was still on the music. He’s always been the subject of good-natured jokes either about his pigtails, his tax problems, or whatever, but now the “pothead” characterization has almost superceded everything else including the music itself. And unfortunatley, it’s probably Willie’s fault. Whenver he appears as a guest on a late night show, the host always sprinkles the interview segment with copious references to weed. I usually chuckle along, but I cringe a little too. Willie is too mellow to care about his reputation and seriously considers himself a marijuana legalization advocate. I guess it’s not totally a bad thing if it turns hippies and stoners on to his music, or correctly protrays him as a free spirit that even non-country fans can dig.
But I still think that for anything to deflect attention from Willie’s music, songs, guitar playing and heavenly voice is a drag. A billion musicians and celebrities smoke pot. Let some other dweeb with half the talent be the “advocate.”
(Tangent over.)
October 29, 2013 @ 9:46 pm
Damn you for linking to that site. Think I just lost two hours of my night.
October 29, 2013 @ 9:43 pm
I guess I shouldn’t take it for granted that folks have read my musings on Willie Nelson and marijuana. Here are some:
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/lets-remember-willie-nelson-for-more-than-marijuana
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/is-willie-nelson-becoming-a-pot-punchline
https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/college-students-shocked-pot-icon-willie-nelson-plays-music
October 29, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
Sorry about that I knew you had written about this before but didn’t have time to search the archives.
October 29, 2013 @ 10:24 pm
Trigger, man I should have known you would have written about Willie’s weed problem before. You’re always one step ahead.
And sorry for linking to that TV trope site. I couldn’t resist. Willie’s transformation into a pot punchline over the years reminds me of a character on a situation comedy turning into a cartoon of himself.
But hey, he’s still one of my favorite human beings of all time! He’s earned the right to do whatever the hell he wants.
October 29, 2013 @ 11:51 pm
No need for apologies whatsoever Applejack and Scotty, just putting some links out there for folks who may want to read further. Can expect everyone to know everything that has been written on the site. I’ve written so much stuff at this point, sometimes I forget.
And feel free to link to anything you want. These comment sections are here for the free flow of ideas and opinions.
October 29, 2013 @ 4:57 pm
Whiskey Songs are cliche, but even today, some of the best songs are about drinking whiskey.
But at least now, no one thinks they are doing something novel when they sing about whiskey. In contrast, it’s pretty clear that lots of country singers think that singing about weed is edgy. The same can be said about underground country singers referencing cocaine and Oxycontin.
This does not mean that every song about marijuana or Oxycontin written in the last 5 years is going to suck. However, it means that there are going to be a lot of bad songs about the drugs, because lots of songwriters are putting together contrived songs because it’s trendy.
October 29, 2013 @ 9:44 pm
Exactly. Now why did it take me 12 paragraphs to say that?
October 29, 2013 @ 9:55 am
Don’t Bogart your opinions my friend, pass ’em over to me.
October 29, 2013 @ 10:41 am
Frankly I think it depends on the song itself. If a part of the tale the song is telling involves weed so be it. Wiile using the symbolism of weed in his merch, of course he does, it’s just part of the Willie experience, which with out the symbolism of weed woud be like Regae with out weed references it wouldn’t be genuine.It’s just part of the overall deal.
October 29, 2013 @ 10:51 am
“I”™m simply trying to present the evolution of these references in music and ask why there has been a dramatic increase in country, and what that says about how drugs and marijuana are perceived in society”
Looking at the traditional country base, I think it’s safe to say that many in country music’s socially conservative audience are still opposed to pot. It’s a taboo subject and I suppose you could say that these light-hearted references in pop music are breaking that taboo, but eventually that will ruin the appeal of their music.
Personally, I don’t want celebrities like these artists being the spokespersons for marijuana reform. What the reform movement needs are professionals, white collars, blue collars…you know, every-day-people. The general population already expects celebrities to be consuming copious amounts of alcohol, pot, and harder drugs because it’s assumed to be a part of the lifestyle. That’s not to say that celebrities shouldn’t be allowed to have a voice, I just think that they provide little credibility to “the cause”. Smoking pot doesn’t make you an outlaw, and being an outlaw adds nothing to a rational debate on drug policy.
October 29, 2013 @ 11:23 am
At the end of the day, what surprises me more is that The Band Perry have become as of early this year the first mainstream “country” act as far back as I can ever recall referencing crystal meth in song (it may be because Brandy Clark co-wrote it).
That’s right………The Band Frickin’ Perry cited meth in a “country” radio song before any allegedly “outlaw” artist did.
I don’t know if we can expect to see other substances gain traction in terms of their marketability in the coming months, but they don’t even censor that lyric on the radio while they persist with the editing of “cocaine” on recurrent play for Kid Rock’s “Picture” and Eric Church’s “Creepin'”.
That double standard alone raises some urgent questions about corporate “country” radio’s double standard in regards of drugs. Cocaine is unmentionable, but crystal meth isn’t?
October 29, 2013 @ 12:07 pm
You left out mentioning the ground floor of country music and drugs (things are sure different ~40 years later):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iYY2FQHFwE
In Merry-Go-Round the only reference was that the brother was “hooked on Mary Jane”. I don’t think that counts. It’s not glorifying the weed, just mentioning a side character is hooked on it. Also, I don’t detect any weed reference at all in “Blowin’ Smoke” (not getting how that song relates to the topic at all). You could change “Blowin’ Smoke” to “Shootin’ Bull” and it would still be the same.
Funny story while I’m here:
Back in the early 90’s when I was in college, me and a buddy had recently purchased a water pipe (as you legally have to refer to it now since it’s illegal to sell them if you refer to them as bongs). We also had recently purchased about a 1/4 of a pound. That’s when we decided to experiment and see exactly how high a person could get.
Somewhere around the 20th bong hit I was flat against the couch having some epic thoughts about the exact origin of the Universe. This weird train of thought went on for what seemed like a half an hour. That’s when I realized I was still holding in the last hit. How stoned can you get: To a point where anything completely distracts you from realizing you’re holding in the last hit.
So, starving, we order pizza (2 mediums from dominos). About 30 minutes later when someone knocked on the door, we had forgotten we made the order and freaked out in a full panic attack thinking it was the cops. Luckily the pizza dude was patient. We mow down both pizza’s and my buddy is still hungry so he pulls a big freezer bag of Broccoli out, microwaves it and puts cheese all over the top and eats that too.
Here’s the punch line (thanks for waiting): 30 minutes after all of that, we’re sitting on the couch barely functional and he actually looks at me and says “Hey man, when’s the pizza gonna get here?”.
Side Topic: I haven’t had weed in years but I miss it all the time. One magically thing about it is how it enhances music. I always describe it as a level of improvement from 2D to 3D (like the music is ‘fuller’ and surrounding you). I miss weed most when I’m listening to music honestly. I’m sadly middle aged now and no longer know anyone that sells (and I live in Texas where the laws are pretty harsh regarding weed). If I still knew people that sold, I’d be smoking still.
I’ll say this about weed though: There’s no chemical dependence involved but it doesn’t take long to get really use to it. After a few months of smoking, you’re so use to being stone there’s nothing special or abnormal about it really (in large part the thrill is gone). For about a year when I was younger and still smoking, I somehow managed to smoke only on the weekends and never the week days. That went a long way to preserving the special altered state feeling where getting stoned still felt like a major reality shift.
October 29, 2013 @ 4:03 pm
I would guess that Austin has plenty of weed.
October 29, 2013 @ 4:50 pm
Merry-Go-Round was designed to be “shocking” by insinuating that the idea that Church Going families in the suburbs put on a facade. The lyrics were witty, but it could have summarized an episode of Desperate Housewives or Weeds and is pretty much the same complaint the pseudo-counterculture has made for the last half century.
Yet you don’t get this too much in country, so it seemed novel. The idea of brother being hooked on Mary Jane is supposed to be part of the family’s lie–in the sense that the “if the neighbors only knew” shocking. And so even if the song wasn’t all about weed, taken on its own terms, the idea was that marijuana is shocking.
February 2, 2014 @ 1:08 pm
I dont know about the whole “dependancy” thing. I always here it isnt addictive, but my partner is addicted to it, and on the rare occations he quits for awhile he doesnt sleep well for about two weeks. Maybe he is the exception and not the rule.
Anyway, I miss the country that didnt have all the drinking and smoking. Don Williams had quite a career without any of that. And I am a big Waylon fan, and you know what, he seldom sang about drinking and drugs.
My new favorite singer, Chris Young, his new album A.M. is a big step back for him, too many drinking/partying songs. 2 or 3 a record is fine, but over half of this is drinking and such.
Sorry, this comment was a little all over the place.
October 29, 2013 @ 3:50 pm
“Been spending all my money and weed and pills, trying to write a song that will pay the bills, but it ain’t came yet, so I guess I’ll have to rob a bank.”
Sure the shock value, like everything taboo, eventually diminishes but drug has been en vogue in popular music for years now. So to see it in a lot of Pop Country seems about right.
October 29, 2013 @ 4:02 pm
To be fair, Merry Go Round, Blowin Smoke, and Follow Your Arrow are the only songs that have been released from the album so far. That probably explains their high popularity.
October 29, 2013 @ 4:08 pm
Also, “Merry Go Round” seems to reference marijuana in a negative context, as an example of the general dysfunction within families:
“Mama’s hooked on Mary Kay, brother’s hooked on Mary Jane, Daddy’s hooked on Mary two doors down”
October 29, 2013 @ 9:52 pm
First off, I explained above that these songs were the singles. I also explained that they very well could have been targeted because of their weed references, so it only further proves the point.
As for “brother hooked on Mary Jane,” I think a lot can be gleened from that line, including the boredom of Suburbia, which ironically is what modern pop country appeals to the most. Pot smoking teens and early 20-somethings from the suburbs are the biggest consumers of rap music.
October 29, 2013 @ 10:05 pm
“Pot smoking teens and early 20-somethings from the suburbs are the biggest consumers of rap music.”
This just led me to a realization as to why mainstream country is so much worse today than 3 years ago.
3 years ago, the country music industry was trying to appeal primarily to middle-aged suburban housewives. Now, the industry is trying to appeal to young suburbanites who love rap.
In that case, I would suspect that the age demographics of country radio have changed significantly too.
October 29, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
I may catch some flak here on this one, But Honestly, I don’t mind that it’s become Conformist, Partially due to my Politicalviews, I’m a Libertarian, and partially, Because I’m not a A hipster, I don’t hate things just because they’re conformist or mainstream, If I don’t like something it’s becuase of the content or style or whatever, I don’t like rap, because I don’t like It sonically, and It’s “Imma bang some B*tches, and steal Money” I don’t like pop sonically, and due to it’s “Woo, Party and don’t care about anyone else.” I don’t like metal as I can’t understand half of what their saying, not beca=use it’s mainstream, Because of it’s sonically, or content.
October 29, 2013 @ 6:34 pm
smokin in da back of my pickup truck, tailgatin, listenin to flawda gawga line, chillin’
October 29, 2013 @ 10:50 pm
Attitudes about pot in particular are changing, but I think an increase in drug/party/sex references in a socially conservative genre like country is probably a sign of our society becoming more permissive in general. Then again, it could just be shifting demographics and rapid genre and radio format decay.
As for Johnny Cash, I”™ve always been bugged by the lazy use of “I shot a man in Reno,” to justify the endorsement of violence in gangsta rap and other genres. It”™s fairly obvious to anyone who listens to “Folsom Prison Blues” in its full context that it is decrying the protagonist”™s actions and portraying him as a miserable, tortured man. That”™s always the case with Cash songs which have any portrayal of violence.
October 29, 2013 @ 10:52 pm
Dang it. The bit about Johnny Cash was a reference to what Shastacatfish said at the top of the comments and was intended as a reply.
October 30, 2013 @ 7:54 am
They went and gnawed a rap-hole in country music, now all kinds of varmints are creepin’ in through it.
November 6, 2013 @ 5:20 pm
I know this article is a few days old, but it seemed the appropriate place to put this.
I heard Kacey’s “Follow Your Arrow” on a local station for the first time today. They’ve censored the word “joint” out of the chorus. But the line “if you lose too much then you’re on crack” remains in it’s entirety. I found that a little weird.
November 7, 2013 @ 1:55 am
…just had to point out that “stoned” didn’t always mean high – it also meant drunk back in the day!
December 23, 2019 @ 3:41 pm
I don’t think there are many (if any) good country songs about “doing pot” but there are many (Rowans “Panama Red” and Townes “My home is in the Blue Ridge Mountains” being two fine examples) which contain some references and are fantastic. As Todd Snider said: “people still love drugs”! Personally I have slipped in a couple in some of my songs because when you are a stoner (as many musicians are) it becomes part of the individual story, or a fiction you have enough personal experience with that it helps move an interesting narrative. That said I only like murder ballads from genuine murderers.