Wooo! Drugs!

I was listening Skid Row's Slave to the Grind to start off this fine workday and had one of those epiphany moments I do so enjoy because they're a quick way to feel clever: "Aha!" I said. "'Monkey Business' is almost definitely about a drug habit!" Then I checked the lyrics and saw it was really more the bridge that's about heroin, fitting into a song addressing the darker side of society from the perspective of the darker side of society, but it made me think of all of those great songs from the metal catalog about drugs.

My three favorite examples are all by Black Sabbath: "Hand of Doom," "Snowblind" and "Sweet Leaf," although I think I noticed "Hand of Doom" first. Not long afterwards, my sister was doing a project for school where she had to report on drugs in popular culture and - for some reason - she came to me. I wasn't a druggie, so I like to think it was my superior knowledge as the elder sibling that led her to seek me out. In any case, I saved the day with an instant answer: "Check out Black Sabbath," I said. "'Hand of Doom' is all about heroin. Makes a perfect example for your report." And, because I knew she enjoyed creeping out her classmates as much as I did, I added, "Plus, it's Black Sabbath, so it's very metal in a way the kids in your class won't get." I think she ended up getting an A.