Is Music a Drug?

If it looks like a drug, and swims like a drug, and quacks like a drug...

Is music a drug? To answer this question we must first define "drug." According to the 5th edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, a drug is a substance used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of a disease or as a component of a medication.

So apparently a drug has to be a 'substance.' Is music a 'substance'? Well, what is a 'substance'? That which has mass and occupies space; matter. I think at least some music has mass, because after I played Engulfed Cathedral for a friend he said, "that's heavy, man." And I think music can be said to occupy space because we know it occupies time, and it's been established that space and time are a continuum known as spacetime.

The 2nd definition of 'substance' is a material of a particular kind or constitution. Music is made up of sound waves. Is that particular enough? Anyway, we must admit there is some music that has substance, and other music that has no substance whatsoever!

Wait, what is "material" though? Dictionary.com tells us it's anything that serves as crude or raw matter to be used or developed. Wood pulp is the raw material from which paper is made. Any constituent element. A textile fabric: material for a dress.

We refer to musical ‘material’ all the time, as in this statement: About a third of Béla Bartók’s compositions are folk music arrangements. Bartók chose the material for arrangements predominantly from his own collection made up of about ten thousand folk melodies of different nationalities. Thanks to the so-called Lampert-Catalog, a source catalog of the folk melodies used by Bartók in his works, we now know precisely which are these melodies. The new database of the Budapest Bartók Archives makes available – to the extent possible – the complete source material of these folk melodies.

Now let's go back to 'matter' since we haven't established whether music is matter or not. You may not believe it fulfills the requirement that which occupies space and has mass; physical substance–but it IS a subject under consideration. Examples given by the Cambridge Dictionary:

Could I talk to you about a personal matter?
Allen denied any knowledge of the matter.
Please contact me, it's a matter of some importance.

So it looks like music could be matter, sort of:

Could I talk to you about some personal music?
Allen denied any knowledge of the music.
Please contact me, this is music of some importance. (Hopefully the artist receives this last message from a head honcho in the industry.)

At this point we can address the original word under contention. Drug: A chemical substance, such as a narcotic or hallucinogen, that affects the central nervous system, causing changes in behavior and often addiction. (Farlex Medical Dictionary.)

I think we're getting closer to knowing whether music is a drug with this last bit. First let's see if music is a 'chemical.' Wordnik says the adjective 'chemical' means of or relating to chemistry.

I can assure you that chemistry is absolutely required in order for a band to perform well!

But can we really trust Wordnik? It sounds Yiddish. Better check with the Brits: The Cambridge Dictionary says a chemical is any basic substance that is used in or produced by a reaction involving changes to atoms or molecules.

Does music change atoms or molecules? It depends. If we're talking about sound waves, it's only their interaction with air molecules that allows us to hear them. So in a way, music does change molecules by virtue of its relationship with the air as a medium of transport.

Since the human body is made up of atoms and molecules, and we note that certain music affects a myriad of body processes like blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, muscle response–as well as activating dopamine (a chemical neurotransmitter) which affects moods and emotions–I think we have another win here.

Dig this: maybe something isn't a drug, but it can have the same effect as a drug. Like shopping, sex, gambling, or an iPhone–all things which aren't addictive per se, but to which one can be addicted. Additionally we could have a "toxic friend" or "toxic habit." Neither the friend nor the habit is a chemical, yet both affect the chemistry of our body and emotions negatively, hence the term "toxic."

If it looks like a drug, and swims like a drug, and quacks like a drug....

In 2010 a new fad came out that disturbed parents and other gatekeepers. It was called iDosing, and I wrote about it in my book For The Curious. Young people were attracted to the fad, which involved donning headphones and listening to binaural beat tracks designed, supposedly, to replicate brain waves produced by drugs like marijuana, cocaine and LSD. News articles came out decrying the practice. But the suggestion that it's dangerous to lie motionless while listening to audio tracks through headphones was rather easily ridiculed, so the gatekeepers emphasized, Reefer Madness-style, that such an activity could lead to stronger, harder stuff.

Here's some real news for these people: you can get high from BREATHING. Indian yogis have been doing it for thousands of years. Not into breathing? No problem–go out for a jog and get yourself a Runner's High. Endorphins are legal, and free! But be warned, they're addictive as hell. If running ever becomes a felony we'll know why.

Probably the most imminent danger faced by iDosers crankin’ up them there binaurals isn't scrambled brain waves or progressing to hard drugs, but rather, hearing loss.

Moreover, anyone truly seeking a transcendental audio experience need listen no further than, say, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring or the music of Hildegard von Bingen or Miles Davis. This truth was inversely underscored by the Gates of Hades YouTube listener who commented "well that was 9:34 that i will never get back."

So if some "follow the science" type is going to argue that music is not a drug because x, y and z, that's the same person who argues that the film you love, that had such an impact on you, was just a bunch of actors on celluloid. And the novel that changed your life is simply letters inked into an airport paperback. And that song that kept you going when the love of your life took your money and ran to Venezuela

was just sound waves in a pair of ear buds. Lordy, talk about a killjoy…

Poet Muriel Rukeyser says "The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." Scientists go all out trying to prove their theories of how the Universe works; but at the end of the day that is not how we experience life.

Life is the stories we tell ourselves about why such-and-such happened. In reality, nothing has changed since humans assembled the stars into constellations and everyone knew the gods were responsible for thunder and lightning. Life is our relationships with our people and our animals and our plants. Life is the art we hang on the wall to remind us of something important that we can't put into words. Life is the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the music we crave.

The word 'drug' in popular usage has come to mean not only a substance that alters body or brain chemistry but also something you're addicted to. It means something you can't live without. When I wear a Music Is My Favorite Drug T shirt it lets everyone know what music means to me.

Is music a drug? It depends on who's listening, but yes.

For thousands of years our ancestors used music to alter their minds and heal their bodies. Did they know something we don't? There's only one way to find out.

This content certified A.I. free by Humans United in Humanity.