Planning-drug Influences (1960s)

The rock and roll lifestyle was popularly associated with sex and drugs. many rock and roll's early stars were known as hard drinking, hard living characters. During the 1960s the lifestyle of many stars became more politicly known, aided by the growth of the underground rock press.

Drugs were often part of the lifestyle of music at the time. In the 1960s, psychedelic music arose; some musicians encouraged and intended listeners of psychedelic music to be under the influence of LSD or other hallucinogenic drugs as enhancements to the listening experience. Jerry Garcia of the rock band grateful dead said "For some people, taking LSD and going to Grateful Dead show functions like a rite of passage.... we don't have a product to sell; but we do have a mechanism that works."

Rock musicians were early adopters of hippie fashion and introduced such styles as the Nehru jacket; bands such as the Beatles had custom-made clothing that influenced much of 1960s style. As rock music genres became more segmented, what an artist wore became as important as the music itself in defining the artist's intent and relationship to the audience. The Glam rock of the 1970s brought fashion to new heights of importance in rock music with the "glitter" image of artists like T. Rex and Alice Cooper being widely influential. Some artists who had been active in the late 1960s such as David Bowie, Lou Reed and Iggy Pop also adopted a glam-influenced look. In the late 1970s,Disco acts helped bring flashy urban styles to the mainstream, while New Wave groups began wearing mock-conservative attire (including suit jackets and skinny ties) in an attempt to be as unlike mainstream rockers (who still favored blue jeans and hippie-influenced clothes) as possible.

Stuart Deller