free love, free alcohol

There was a study done called “Music, Substance Use, and Aggression where 4 observers took notes and questionnaires on if the use of substances and aggression were correlated with the songs that promote substance use and aggression. The study was done on community college students which after 1965 there was over 5.9 million students¹ attending college including blacks and women. The controlled variables of the study were age, gender, race/ethnicity.² The researchers concluded that students are prone to substance use and aggression if they are influenced and introduced to it by the music that they or their friends listen to. Personal music preference may have previous underlying contributing factors, but more than likely that student was shown that type of music sooner or later.

Many popular songs of the 70’s included songs about drugs, alcohol, and rebelling against “The Man.” These bands holding influence over the younger generation would be: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, the Ramones, Donna Summer, Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Ian Dury, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, The Kinks, and many other bands. ³ When talking to my parents about their youth, many of these songs played a part in their lives and held an impact. Dr. Genevieve Dingel has done research “showing a strong link between music and drug and alcohol abuse.” ⁴ Her research showed that music can procure strong memories, memories  that may trigger someone who used to be a user to return to that drug.  By the linkage of music to substance abuse it can be linked to that time when it was popular to the youth to feel more “free and open” by doing different substances. Music can trigger something emotionally and that can make anyone relapse or just crave the substance even more if it was linked to good musical memories.

Peer pressure is a significant part of daily life no matter the time period. When a child sees the media projecting images at them everyday that the life style of drinking and smoking is one that will positively impact their life by making them “cooler” then they are more likely to be pressured into it when it comes down to one of their own friends asking them to join in. Becoming a member of a peer group  is one of the primary developmental tasks of adolescence. ⁵ Substance abuse, delinquency, and risk-taking behavior can be attributed to the pressure to conform to a group; How high is the price to conform? During a time where everyone seems so care free and full of life, the want to be like that could be tempting along with the substances that come along with that lifestyle.