Facing the Music

Musicians and drugs have been locked in a deadly duet throughout the lives of jazz, blues and rock, and the depressing incidence of fatal overdoses in recent years is, alas, no surprise. But for the music and recording business, the time has come to face the problem head-on. Only a collective, industrywide effort will work. It will take courage and compassion, and in the short run it may hurt both image and profits.

A Times article last week showed the difficulty involved. It recounted an aggressive campaign launched by Michael Greene, the outspoken president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. Greene has proposed a system that would encourage anonymous reports of drug use by anyone in the industry. The information, Greene said, would allow NARAS representatives to offer help to a user in a confidential manner.

A number of high-level executives accused Greene of grandstanding and said they had been working on the problem in a quiet way. But whatever one thinks of Greene, he has blown the whistle at an appropriate time: At least four well-known rock musicians have died of drug-related causes in the last two years. A recent victim was Jonathan Melvoin, a sideman for Smashing Pumpkins.

Greene’s plan, if not the right one, has nevertheless sounded an alarm in the industry, one it should heed. There are a lot of good ideas out there, and, by many accounts, some good work is already being done. It’s counterproductive to snipe at anyone who’s willing to fight drug abuse in the industry. It’s time to get clean.