Playlist: Illinois Crime Commission’s classic 1971 list of ‘drug-oriented’ songs
Drugs have always had a hold over the world of popular music, stretching from the heroin addictions of the mid-century jazz scene, all the way up to the acid house explosion during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Along the way, drugs have been responsible for the deaths and demise of countless iconic and beloved artists spanning multiple genres and distinct scenes. On the other hand, some narcotics have led to profound areas of artistic inspiration, inspiring the creation of some of music’s most innovative and revolutionary works, the marmalade skies of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band being the first to come to mind. As the late prophet Bill Hicks once quipped, “The Beatles were so fucking high they let Ringo sing a few tunes.”
During the 1960s, the lysergic advent was expanding the minds of artists everywhere. The world saw an influx of spaced-out and trippy anthems, ushering in the age of counterculture. Groups like Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead led the way, turning San Francisco’s East Bay into a hippie haven in the process, but the influence of acid was utterly unavoidable even in the musical mainstream. Both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones had their own psychedelic phases, and even the typically safe sounds of Motown were infused with a swirling kick on hits like The Temptations’ ‘Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone’.
It didn’t take very long, therefore, before mainstream society hit back against the prevalence of drug-addled artists allegedly corrupting the youth. Although LSD wasn’t explicitly illegal when first introduced, authorities were quick to crack down, and by the end of the 1960s, hardly a rock band was safe from tabloid headlines for various drug busts. But people kept their ears to their radios and record players.
In an effort to combat the popularity of drug-influenced music, the Illinois Crime Commission took matters into its own hands in 1971. The ICC compiled a list of ‘drug-oriented’ songs and dished it to local radio stations. Technically, none of these songs were ever officially banned by the Commission, but there were some thinly-veiled threats sprinkled on the radio stations that there may be consequences if any note was out of line on air.
Among those in the list are The Beatles for their 1967 ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, which is often assumed to be about or at least influenced by LSD, despite the band refuting those claims at the time. Jefferson Airplane’s hippie anthem ‘White Rabbit’ also features on the list, as does Joe Cocker’s ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned’ (this one really put its foot in the ass with the title), ‘Hi-De-Ho’ by Blood, Sweat and Tears, and ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon’ (slightly subtle about it) by Peter, Paul, and Mary.
It is certainly difficult to dispute any of these songs as having been heavily influenced by mind-expanding chemicals or more grassy pathways, but it is equally as hard to claim that the ICC’s list had any impact on removing these songs from popular society. ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ and ‘Yellow Submarine’ remain some of The Beatles’ most notable recordings, and ‘White Rabbit’ is still hailed among the greatest songs of the 1960s and beyond.
Arguably, this compiling act made these cuts more appealing to younger audiences, as has always been the case with banned songs, outlined once poignantly by Michel Foucault. If you tell teens they absolutely cannot listen to some songs because they are rife with drug influences, they will absolutely seek them out, listen and obsess (produce discourse) over them in revolt against authority. The songs are martyred, in a sense.
So, no, the ICC did not succeed in dissuading the music-buying public from soaking up the acid infusion of the 1960s, and the list remains a curio of the cultural panic that ensued in the wake of the counterculture age, as the older generations kept the cycle of fearing the bold new generation of artists alive.
Illinois Crime Commission’s 1971 list of ‘drug-oriented’ songs:
- Jefferson Airplane – ‘White Rabbit’
- Procol Harum – ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’
- Blood, Sweat, and Tears – ‘Hi-De-Ho’
- Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66 – ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’
- Peter, Paul, and Mary – ‘Puff, the Magic Dragon’
- The Beatles – ‘Yellow Submarine’
- The Beatles – ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’
- Joe Cocker – ‘Let’s Go Get Stoned’
