Artists Who Made Better Music When Sober?

[Ocelot]

Can anyone name one? Afaik, all the artists/bands I can think of made their best music while messed up on drugs and alcohol. Once they cleaned up, the music suffered. Are there exceptions?
Please don't turn this into a soapbox for the 'now clean and sober' to pontificate. It's purely about the music produced.

 

[Echo]

Well I don't know about his entire career, but John Mayer smokes a lot of pot now, and his last album sure sucked compared to the album before it.

Also, there's Dave Grohl Nirvana vs. Dave Grohl Foo Fighters, but that's 2 entirely different things I guess.

 

[shane8]

coltrane

 

[Ocelot]

coltrane

Wasn't he thick into heroin when he recorded A Love Supreme?

 

[shane8]

Wasn't he thick into heroin when he recorded A Love Supreme?

.......... no

 

[Crowbar]

Stevie Ray

 

[Strat335]

Even though he was incredible (mostly) as a youngster burning a candle at both ends, Glenn Hughes has been writing and performing better and better the older he gets.

 

[Ocelot]

.......... no

Then god bless 'em. Well done, John.

 

[rspencer]

Stevie Ray

 

[shane8]

Then god bless 'em. Well done, John.

the story is he got clean or @ least "saw the light" in '57 and a love supreme was released in '65

 

[SteveO]

ME!!!!

 

[Whiskeyrebel]

Stevie Ray

Really? I mean Live Alive was awful rough but I much prefer the songs on CSTW over In Step.

 

[GuitarsFromMars]

Lenny Breau.

 

[Rockledge]

I think most of them make better music while sober. Just not always their most popular.
I think Aerosmith got WAY better after they dried out. Aside from Toys in the Attic their later stuff blows their early stuff away.

Too bad Hank Williams succumbed to his excesses rather than sobered up. Imagine what kind of stuff he would have been able to do with his head intact.

 

[oldschoolguy]

I could be wrong but I think John Hyatt's career was interrupted by alcohol. I'm not 100% certain of that but I've had that impression. I'm certainly a fan now, that's for sure.

 

[Rockledge]

ME!!!!

LOL.... come to think of it me too.
I quit drinking in the early eighties, mostly because withdrawals suck and I don't EVER want to go through THAT kind of hell again.
I thought having to quit the stuff was the end of my world, but in fact I enjoy playing sober far more than I ever did stoned.
And I play much better, as well as get along with the musicians and club owners better.
And interestingly, it doesn't bother me a bit being around it.


And, it is great not needing to worry about getting popped on the way home from gigs.

 

[tsar nicholas]

Peter Gabriel

 

[rhinocaster]

Really? I mean Live Alive was awful rough but I much prefer the songs on CSTW over In Step.

I wouldn't say that Stevie got better once he got clean, but I think that he didn't lose a single thing by being sober. I think IN STEP is one of his better albums (even though I loath the first track). It's not just about song writing either. I don't even know how many songs SRV actually wrote (he did work with songwriters), but I know his playing was still killing right up to the end.

 

[Ocelot]

Album to album comparisons would help. For instance, were SRV's last records as good as his first?

 

[deadhead]

Trey Anastasio's playing has been amazing since he became clean.