What's the buzz?: Rethinking the meanings and uses of alcohol and other drugs among small‐timerock ‘n’ roll musicians

Abstract

Since Becker's pioneering work on marijuana use among jazz musicians and Bennett's discussion of the role of drugs in rock ‘n’ roll musicians’ lives, social scientists have added little of either a theoretical or substantive nature to what we think we know about the meanings and uses of alcohol and other drugs among contemporary popular musicians. Drawing on participant observation from 7 years’ experience as a professional musician and in‐depth interviews with 35 local‐level performing musicians, the author explores the relationships between the social organization of musicians’ workplaces, the nature of musicians’ work, and the meanings and uses of various mood‐altering substances. The study offers a descriptive analysis that highlights how musicians performing in bands or groups create and sustain norms regarding work and substance use and under what conditions they invoke both formal and informal mechanisms of social control. In addition, the author discusses the importance of building a theory of deviance that integrates the supposedly disparate concerns of social interaction and social structure.

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