Music really does sound better when you're high, scientists report

Originally published at: Music really does sound better when you're high, scientists report - Boing Boing

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Confirmation studies are the cornerstone of robust and trustworthy science.

You know your duty people.

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wait til they hear about LSD

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I’m looking forward to the confirmation that the following activities are also more enjoyable while high: eating, watching TV, walking the dog, drawing, painting, glazing windows, tidying up, posting memes, playing video games, playing tabletop games, petting cats, petting dogs, looking at a lake, looking at a tree, looking at rocks, and commenting on blogs.

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First, the obligatory link to my YouTube playlist For When You’re High as a Kite. They’re not all music videos, but that content is quite well represented! I don’t think there’s anything on there that I wouldn’t listen to while sober, but the flowing fractal art with Official Trippy Music is exceptionally good when high.

There are things on that list that I don’t think I could successfully do while high. The videos in the above list and purposefully short because I will lose track of the plot (if there is one) after about three minutes at most. (Or I will start trying to construct one where one simply doesn’t exist.) This means Watching TV or playing an RPG is probably out for me. Often I couldn’t even successfully play a round of “Find Your Foot.”

I usually play City of Heroes while I’m waiting for the gummy to start working. So far, I have been able to finish whatever mission I’m playing when it does, although it’s a weird experience since my time sense goes offline. Trying to go from anywhere is also right out – trying to play a speedster when you can’t navigate is funny, though.

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I’m not sure all of their conclusions are evidence of “more enjoyment” than they are of “less circumspection”.

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I envy people who enjoy cannabis. I’m saying that up front because people sometimes seem to think I’m opposed to it when I say I don’t partake, but really I’ve just never had what, when my friends describe it, sounds like a wonderful sensation. Maybe I just haven’t found the right strain.

And once after I tried it I listened to one of my favorite songs and it was a whole new experience. It was like I was hearing it for the first time, and I felt very focused on each individual note. Other than that I didn’t feel anything but I enjoyed it.

TL;DR can confirm.

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Oh yeah, it very much depends on how much has been taken. Especially with edibles. If I take an edible the extent of my plans is: relax. And I try to make sure snacks and hydration are prepared ahead of time and easily accessible.

Usually I’m just microdosing vaporized flower, though. That’s much easier to tailor to whatever I want to do around the house.

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In 1979 me and a buddy (we’re still friends today) were high as a kite when Bowie was on SNL.

I think it was only repeated once and decent quality copies are hard to find.

Imagine being 15 and stoned when this comes on.

I believe this is mirrored because people think it avoids copyright claims.

Here’s the full song but terrible quality.

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sgaPxzB

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Pop Tv Bro GIF by Nightcap

And with bonus Klaus Nomi!

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Yeah, I tried it a couple times, and while it wasn’t unpleasant, it wasn’t particularly pleasant, either. It was just… pointless. It was pretty much identical to the kind of disassociation I experience when I’m on the verge of falling asleep. I tried eating some pie, and was aware I had eaten it, but I was disconnected from tasting it. Listening to music was pretty much the same experience - unlike you, I didn’t even get the feeling of novelty, but more alienation instead. You enjoyed it a lot more than I did, apparently. Perhaps it was too strong and I was overly stoned after one bong hit, but I decided just being tired was preferable (and I could better control the “dosage”).

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One night I got high enough I couldn’t find my lighter. I went thru all my many pockets, stumped.

It was in my other fucking hand.

I was fortunately in good company, upon whom I could rely to provide the appropriate amount of laughter at my expense when I told them what had just happened.

smiley-channelde_rauchen001 weed fly2

We went for a drive up into the mountains in Jamaica one day. I brought my little boom box and cassette cases. Our friend and driver Bamis realized we had no ganja, and stopped when he saw an older gentleman at the roadside. The gentleman was hacking with a machete (locally pronounced mosh-ET) at the 8 foot high impatiens shrubs who threatened to ahem overtake the road. Bamis asked him something in patois, the gentleman assented, and disappeared into the bush.

Bamis asked mom for what turned out to be the equivalent of US$1.50, and we waited a few minutes. I sat there in the back seat, wondering anew as I often did at the 8 foot woody shrubs who are mere tender plants and sacrificial victims (poor things!) where the weather’s untropical.

The gentleman returned, and gave Bamis a small plastic bag containing two rolled spliffs, a big pretty bud who smelled heavenly, and two king size papers. We shared smiles, profusely thanked him, and drove off. Bamis handed the goodies to me, and that’s when mom and I found out how much in US$ it had cost.

We drove thru tiny villages which all had minuscule, brightly multi-colored, corrugated zinc-roof’d roadside bars.

The road curved and switched back, and often there was bush all around. Bamis would stop whenever we came upon places w/room to park and were especially beautiful. He knew all the great spots.

We smoked the first spliff in a couple "go"s, because it was quite strong.

We were still in the mountains when it began getting dark, and Bamis had me relight the second spliff. We were listening to Burning Spear, and the ganja was very trippy. I found myself thinking 17,000 different things one after the other, and sometimes all at once (yay stonèd neurodiversity!), and suddenly caught the line of lyrics I realized The Spear had sung about 300 times. I simultaneously realized how brilliant the lyric was, and that he repeated it so many times so that people who smoked trippy AF J’can ganja would eventually notice them, and say, “Wow! Heavy duty!” which of course I did.

I even managed not to choke to death when I began laughing my head off, and was capable of explaining - with words and complete sentences - when Bamis and mom asked what was so funny.

PS: It much amused me to upload those ganja-related smileys at 4:20 AM!
tophat-biggrin tophat-rofl tophat-cool

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“Chant down Babylon!”

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Will not be trying that thanks. Not at all.

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In the Nineties, a bunch of us would pile round my friend’s house on a Monday evening, get thoroughly baked, watch Liquid TV followed by Ren & Stimpy on BBC2, then spend the rest of the evening playing Megadrive (Genesis) games.

Mortal Kombat 2 was a mainstay, and we developed a “Loser Stays On” rule to make sure people got the practice they needed to get better.

But the absolute best was Micro Machines 2, which had an extra 2 pad ports in the cartridge, allowing for 4-player, and even, if you had enough people available, 8-player, with 2 people sharing a pad. We managed that a couple of times, and it was great. 8 leather-clad, hairy guys and gals all crowded round a 14" telly sharing pads and personal space while completely sky-high.

I have a niggling feeling I’ve written this story before, and maybe even on this here parish.

But it’s a good memory all the same, so a little repetition doesn’t hurt.

Even though my memory’s maybe not what it used to be :laughing:

(although my short-term memory is significantly better since giving up)

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I’m conducting confirmation studies, right now!

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Also,

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I’m completely unsure as to how I’ve managed to avoid that one. I just checked the “active since …” for the artist listed for the last five songs on my streaming app. The oldest was 2007. I can’t find a Wikipedia or other listing for all of them, but I see one was born in 2000, so yeah, pretty recent music! I do have older stuff in my favorites, although some of those go back to at least the 1930s.

Hmm. I think I may have answered my own question: having immediate access to a music library that deep and almost never listening to commercial radio may have a lot to do with not being shoved into a demographic.

Oh, the topic? Yeah … um … Could listening to music while high also give you a broader access to types of music?

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I used to love it, now it makes me feel like shit :face_with_diagonal_mouth:

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