So, I was sitting here a little hungover on an otherwise beautiful morning, once again promising myself that at some point good me and bad me would have a sit down to discuss my bad habits. Cause and effect: I always forget about that second part.

Anyway, amongst the debris that was floating around inside my skull, was the shocking, shocking, news that I read a couple of days ago: according to the Daily Mail, Satan is now skating to work, or, more specifically, Keith Richards has quit doing drugs. Alright, so he says he quit because modern drugs are "too weak" (seriously), but even still, an era has ended.

Along with the recent passing of Syd Barrett (founder of Pink Floyd), the Keith Richards news lead me to a revelation: two of the people who had always (to me, anyway) stood for the combination of drugs and music were, for one reason or another, no longer doing drugs. Just to remind you, I didn't say this was a brilliant revelation, just a hungover revelation, and you have to be happy if those make any sense at all. But it did get me thinking about how hand in hand drugs (of various sorts) and music are.

Drugs have been responsible for the creation of a lot of the greatest music of the 20th (and now 21st) century, and if we include alcohol, pretty nearly all music ever. Drugs have also been responsible for the enjoyment of music since the beginning of time. I'm not saying that a sober person can't appreciate music, as I guess some people have enjoyed church music over the years. So is this drugs and music association a bad thing? We'll it's certainly a double-edged sword: it's lead to creativity and enjoyment, but plenty of musicians have died prematurely because of their habits.

In fact, it could be argued that the only reason Keith Richards is still alive is that he's been wealthy enough get clean(er) heroin and good medical attention, and be able to spend a lot of money without having to end up living on the street. But while Richards is still with us, drugs have served to inspire many of these same people that they killed. I guess we all gotta die sometime. And who wants to be a 70- or 80-year-old rock 'n' roller? It works for blues and jazz guys, but being an old rocker is just lame. Sorry.

What's my point? I never promised a "point." Okay, here's something: whilst doing my exhaustive research for this article, I came across several Christian websites that had published long lists of musicians who had died (relatively) young, and then came to the conclusion that God had killed them as punishment for being "wicked." But religious types are always saying that kind of thing, ignoring the fact that although God decided to kill Sid Vicious with drugs at age 21, he's inexplicably decided to let Keith Richards live to be a million years old. Whoa, that was kinda off topic. Soooo anyway...drugs and music...they seem to be associated.

Remember, you read it here first.

Enough blathering; let's listen to some music.

Some good drug-related songs:

• "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" by B & The Buzz
• "One More Cup of Coffee" The White Stripes
• "Whiskey Whiskey (Saved My Life)" by The Hard Rock Miners
• "Smoke Two Joints" by Sublime
• "Cocaine Blues" by Johnny Cash
• "Cheap Trucker Speed" by The Cowslingers
• "Chinese Rock" by Johnny Thunders
• "L.S.D." by The Pretty Things

Andrew Pearson is owner and operator of Red Cat Records in Vancouver.