Rumor or reality: Bob Dylan heroin addict?

[rainy]

A friend of mine told me today that Bob Dylan was addicted to heroin for a time in his career. I don't believe it as I have never heard this before. What say you guys?

[pitohui]

1. i heard it told as speed EOM

,

[seg4527]

2. i heard he just did pills. pep pills while on tour, sleeping pills when no

he's so secretive it's hard to know the truth though. i personally haven't done a whole lot of research into his life, recorded the pbs show though, can't wait to watch it!

[skooooo]

3. i doubt heroin

speed, downers, pot, maybe some psychedelics

[Seeking Serenity]

4. Why should he have been any different?

A lot of the biggies were addicts at the time.

Clapton, Townshend, Lennon, et al.

[TomInTib]

5. Would it matter?

I don't know if you were around back then but this is not news.

[Extend a Hand]

6. I saw him in 1978

I was in the middle of the ninth row. Best concert I've ever seen. He looked like he was stoned to the bone. His face had that grey heroin cast, pin point eyes. he was nodding . But his music was awesome. He broke a string while playing and fixed it without stopping playing with one hand. (I'm probably pretty good at recognizing someone high since I was once married to a junkie).

[skooooo]

14. He was probably wearing make up..he used to go into "white face"

....around that time.

Which concert where you at ? I saw him in Terre Haute in '78.

[Extend a Hand]

16. Birmingham AL

I saw him the next year too(or it might have been the year after) when he had gotten religion and wouldn't do any of his old stuff. That was kind of a bummer.

[skooooo]

18. 1978 was the first time i saw him...

...and YES I was glad to see him before he turned religious. The concert was great.

[madaboutharry]

7. In all that I have read and studied about him

I have never come across any evidence of herion. I think it was weed and pills.

[skooooo]

15. He likes whiskey too!!!

Lots of stories about Bob drinking..lol.

[madaboutharry]

21. Yeah, I heard that too!

I did read an article a couple of years ago that talked about the drinking and that he scaled back when people started talking about it.

[mitchtv]

8. He had a very bad motorcycle accident in , I think, '69

It wouldn't suprise me.

[skooooo]

13. it was 1966

[stlsaxman]

9. Either way I don't care.

It doesn't belittle what he had/has accomplished in the slightest.

Seriously, I don't give a fuck if he liked herion, milkshakes, orange chewable baby asprin or lime jello with orange slices...

He's Bob Dylan.

[johnnie]

10. I have heard coke

In the 70s.

[Warren DeMontague]

20. Well, thankfully it didn't turn HIM into a dangerous, violent, anti-social

megalomaniac.



Like it seems to have done to certain other folks.

[johnnie]

27. Heh

True. Good one. :thumbsup:

[Wrinkle_In_Time]

11. "Rumor or reality"? You forgot to include: "Who cares"...

... a friend of mine told me tomorrow that Ray Davies was a Capsaicin addict for a time in his career. I don't believe it as I have never heard this before. What say you guys?

[Syncronaut Seven]

12. I hear that cops have the best

Capsaicin, think about it.

[On the Road]

17. Alan Ginsberg Was with Dylan on the Rolling Thunder Tour, I Believe,

and wrote about Dylan's cocaine use. The Beatles supposedly introduced him to weed. I hadn't heard about heroin, either, but I didn't follow his life that closely.

[madaboutharry]

25. Actually, It was Dylan who turned the Beatles

on to weed. You can hear about in the movie that is on tonight. It was during Dylan's 1966 tour.

[Zen Democrat]

26. Backwards. Dylan turned the Beatles on to weed.

Dylan assumed they were heads and pulled out a jay when he met them. When they told him they hadn't tried it before, he said what about that song where you sing "I get high, I get high" (I Want To Hold Your Hand), and Lennon had to tell him they were singing "I can't hide, I can't hide". They put towels under the hotel door and fired it up. Rubber Soul and Revolver followed.

[On the Road]

32. I Had a Source That Escapes Me

it might have been been the Ginsberg book.

The rumor was always that Dylan turned the Beatles on. This is what you would expect, since Dylan was a part of the underground and close to the beat and urban folk communities, and thus supposedly closer to the drug community.

The source was very specific that it was the other way around. I haven't been able to find it however, and all the links I can find on a search engine give your version. I did find links in which Al Aronowitz, who accompanied Dylan, took credit, so you may be correct.

[skooooo]

19. That heroin rumor was started by AJ Webermann....

...who is a PIG! There's a telephone conversation between the two of them that has been released as a bootleg. You can hear the whole thing - pretty bizarre.

[Minstrel Boy]

23. Weberman also started a rumour

that he contracted HIV from IV drug use. Evidence? It's in the songs, man!

The telephone conversation is pretty funny. Amazing how long Dylan stays on the phone with him.

[skooooo]

33. There wasn't even HIV back then!

Are you sure you aren't confused? I'm talking 1971. That's when he started his pig rumors.

[Minstrel Boy]

22. No.

Can't say he never tried it, but there's no evidence of addiction.
Speed, in the mid-60s, is what almost killed him.

Don't need a shot of heroin to kill my disease,
Don't need a shot of turpentine, only bring me to my knees,
Don't need a shot of codeine to help me to repent,
Don't need a shot of whiskey, help me be president.

I need a shot of love!

[leftofthedial]

24. I heard he was addicted to the I - IV - V

and even got into the IIm for a while.

[junkiebrewster]

38. LOL, great post!!!!

And a great screenname as well.

[radio4progressives]

28. Everybody tried EVERYTHING then.. that's just a fact

some people were able to avoid getting in too deep into certain things .. but the fact is, artists and musicians on the road were exposed to endless amounts of anything and everything and it was all fairly impossible to avoid.

Afganistan produced the world's supply of what was considered the best quality opium, heroin and hashish - and all that was just as abundant and available as cocain, speed and acid.

Back in the late 60's or early 70's, (can't remember exactly when) it was rumored (then) that Dylan just like everyone else got heavily strung out on heroin but unlike Morrison, Joplin, Hendrix and others, somehow Dylan survived and made it through the otherside.

Who knows for sure, but those that were closest to him and I don't think they're talking.

[donheld]

29. I think he was even addicted to Jesus at one point

The boy's been through it all.

[DemonFighterLives]

30. Have you had a chance to watch the show on PBS

No Direction Home? It is replaying now at 10:00. Great show.
I wonder why they had to stop after 66 and his motorcycle accident?
:kick:

[skooooo]

34. ...after the motorcycle wreck

He didn't record for 2 years, and didn't tour for another 6 years after that.

I imagine that there could be a continuation of film that takes up when he starts recording again. That would be fantastic....


"John Wesley Harding...was a friend to the poor...."

[DemonFighterLives]

37. It was a bad wreck then huh?

I was a little young back then but grew up really liking Dylan partly from the MN boy done well. He was an amazing kid and the footage of him at the march with Martin Luther King was great. Of course Joan Baez too. The flick made it sound like he left Joan in the dust.
The Mystery that is Bob continues. I'm kicking myself now for missing the Bob and Willie concert that came through this summer.
:banghead:

[Bridget Burke]

40. If you're interested in Dylan & Baez, I'd like to recommend a book...

Positively 4th Street: The Lives & Tmes of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina & Richard Farina.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/086547642X.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

It recounts the early years of an creative group of artists, along with a bit of gossip. Dylan's accident was pretty bad, but it was also an excuse to take a few years off from a speedy scene that was a worse threat to his health. He spent that time in Woodstock with his wife & young children. But he never stopped writing & playing music with the Band who lived in the Big Pink house.

(Another book I read recently referred to Joan & Bob as "Lady & the Tramp.")

[skooooo]

41. Yea the wreck messed his neck up pretty good....

Lots of rumors about him dying, or being in a coma or brain damaged. I don't remember it either. I was only about 2 when it happened! Just read about it alot.

[graywarrior]

31. I know someone who knew someone who knew someone who

said he used heroin. Whether it was to get high is known by someone else.

[devilgrrl]

35. What do I say?

Who gives a rats ass?

:hide:

[Liberal In Texas]

36. If he runs for Pres. and is still addicted, I care. Otherwise, not much.

A big SO WHAT? from Texas.

[Bridget Burke]

39. So what?

Dylan has played many roles in his long life & is doing quite well nowdays. I saw the first half of the PBS special; missed the 2nd half but I've already decided to buy the DVD. The best parts were just Dylan talking. He's smart, funny & remembers everything.

If he went through heroin & got over it, I would not be amazed. Perhaps I've been around longer than you. Anyone can become a junkie--very few can write such fine songs.

[rainy]

42. Thanks for posting to you all. I posted this because I have been a

long time fan of Bob forever, since I was 11 and first heard Blowing in the Wind.
I have loved his music ever since. I agree who cares but I was just trying to see if it was true that's all. I was hoping it wasn't, but, you are right it is irrelevant.

[alfredo]

43. chance are he tried a bit of everything. The Boho crowd was

into experimenting. No biggie.


For the shirt worn on the highway 61 cover, go here.

http://www.brcycles.com/

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

44. So was David Crosby, so was James Taylor, so was

Janis Joplin (although her drug of choice was Southern Comfort), so was.....

Well, you get the point. Which is "big deal", true or not.