About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about references to drugs in pop music, focusing in particular on: (i) the abundance of drug references in pop music; (ii) the likely link between music and drugs, due to the altered mental state that many drugs bring about in the consumer; (iii) psychedelics being commonly mentioned in pop music, with The Beatles as an early example with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds; (iv) a reference to the consumption of legal drugs and its appeal to the working classes in Oasis’ ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’; (v) further song references to alcohol, with rap, hip-hop and country music having the most references; (vi) the link between endorsement of alcohol brands in songs and increased sales; (vii) the paradox in the modern world between the illegality of many drugs and their celebration in pop culture; (viii) links between cocaine, hedonism and the upper echelons of the entertainment industry; (ix) some key links between mentions of drugs in songs and the relationship between their general mood and the mood commonly associated with consuming them; (x) links between references to heroin in songs and their melancholy and downbeat nature; (xi) emotional contagion, the phenomenon where emotions are linked to memories and influence future views on the events in that memory; (xii) the link between parasocial relationships formed with celebrities and the influence they can have on societal perceptions of drugs.

About the lecturer

Dr Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, author and honorary research associate in the Centre for Medical Education at Cardiff University. Dr Burnett’s research interests are in neuroscience, science communication and psychology. Some of Dr Burnett’s recent books include Psycho-Logical (2019) and Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up The Wall And What To Do About It (2019).