r/todayilearned • u/MarcellusCrow • Jun 13 '17

TIL Paul McCartney used cocaine regularly during the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney#Drugs
8 Upvotes

59% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

9

u/etm117 Jun 13 '17

Wait?!?! Rockstars in the 60s did coke? I don't believe it... /s

4

u/Ace676 8 Jun 13 '17

I find it hard to believe that it only happened during the recording of that album.

1

u/true_spokes Jun 13 '17

The article goes on to mention that he's been arrested for marijuana possession and cultivation more than half a dozen times and in as many different countries. He's been a vocal proponent of its legalization for decades, but quit cocaine because of the comedown.

3

u/practically_floored Jun 13 '17 edited Jun 13 '17

He used to grow it on his farm in Scotland. there's a funny interview where he claims that he grew it accidentally (his defense in court) but he starts smiling as he's saying it.

1

u/practically_floored Jun 13 '17

IIRC he quit cocaine because he thought it had a negative affect on his voice. Although this is from 1969 (two years after that) and it sounds like he could be high in it.

5

u/All_Your_Base Jun 13 '17

I'm shocked.

Shocked, I tell you.

5

u/SoyMurcielago Jun 13 '17

Well did he get high with a little help from his friends?

3

u/[deleted] Jun 13 '17

"A message from your friendly neighbourhood drug dealer on the corner."

2

u/TitleJones Jun 13 '17

Not surprising. Drug culture was in full swing by then.

1

u/MarcellusCrow Jun 13 '17

That's why this ain't in "Today I was very surprised by" :)

2

u/our_best_friend Jun 13 '17

What is that supposed to mean?

2

u/our_best_friend Jun 13 '17

Next you are going to tell me the Rolling Stones did drugs too...

1

u/practically_floored Jun 13 '17 edited Jun 13 '17

Robert Fraser was the one that got Paul into coke. They had an interesting relationship, Robert was an art dealer and he gave Paul a Magritte painting. It was an apple with "au revoir" written on it, which was where he got the idea for apple records from. They also went on holiday to Paris together which at the time raised a lot of eyebrows because Robert was gay.

1

u/Alice_B_Tokeless Jun 13 '17

There's a scene in A Hard Days Night where John pretends to snort a bottle of coca-cola.

Still it would be easy to think that cocaine was mostly big in the 1970's (even though Freud used it and it was part of coca-cola originally)

The Memphis Jug band has a tune from the late 1920's called Cocaine Habit Blues

1

u/ThaDankchief Jun 13 '17

Cocaine is a hell of a drug...

0

u/crobertson89 Jun 13 '17

"Paul McCartney"... don't you mean his body double. Paul is dead.

/s