Rock music is nearly synonymous with drug intake. Drugs are part and parcel, not only to the image of rock and roll, but often to the creation as well. Rock came from blues. The blues came from hard times. Drugs always helped/created/facilitated hard times. Just as Hendrix created his most inspired work under the influence, so too have more modern pillars of the genre. Wilco and Ryan Adams are arguably two of the most important musical forces of the last 15 years. Both acts are distillations of a classic, American sound, who have made fans from nobodys and legends alike, and who have carved out a distinct niche for themselves in the cavernous, modern, musical zeitgeist. Also, both made their best material high.
Adams' "Heartbreaker" is to 21st century singer-songwriters what "After the Gold Rush" was exactly 30 years earlier. It is a towering musical achievement. If we're making Neil Young comparisons, I think it's fair to say that Adams followed up "Heartbreaker" with "Gold", his own version of Young's "Harvest." Both albums defined a genre, and Adams freely admits his narco-life was firing on all cylinders during their conception.
Wilco started out as an above-average country-rock act. Then they made "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot." Critics and listeners immediately annointed it today's "Pet Sounds", and Wilco suddenly joined Radiohead as an "important" band. They made another sublime noise-rock album, "A Ghost is Born," and then their leader, Jeff Tweedy, abruptly went to rehab. He had been riding the script, as they say, during his rise to international acclaim.
So what happened? Adams produced a bunch more albums under the influence (only one of which was great) and then got sober. Tweedy came out of rehab a clean, family man. Both men eventually put out albums finally off "the stuff." While both works (Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" and Adams' "Easy Tiger") are absolutely pleasant affairs, they are also nothing more than that. You listen to "Sky Blue" and "Tiger" and literally hear these men sanding down their edges. It's hard to listen and not think, "oh, how the mighty have fallen."
But there in lay the real quesions. How can you say that when it seems that they finally got their personal lives in order? As fans, shouldn't we be happy that our favorite musicians, they are people after all, are setting a course to have longer careers as healthier folks? Yes, we should be happy, and we will be... that is, until we find the next drug-addled bright light. As to the first question, the mighty have fallen because they lost their creative flame. Or perhaps sobriety simply doesn't allow it to burn as hot.
These are terrible things to admit. I don't wish despair on anyone, especially not when they unknowingly provided me with some of the most treasured music in my collection. But we fans are inherently greedy for more. We are also observant. In being so, I can't help but ask one last question about the nature of creativity and personal health. Is it better to burn out or fade away?
