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Why are musicians allowed (and maybe expected) to use performance enhancing drugs, while athletes may not?
by 0xdeadbeefbabe 11y ago
Why are musicians allowed (and maybe expected) to use performance enhancing drugs, while athletes may not?
- jacques_chester 11y agoMusic isn't, in general, a head-to-head contest between individuals or teams with an objectively determinable way of keeping score.
- sageikosa 11y agoMoney: it keeps score so you don't have to.
- dynomight 11y agoWhy are fans of athletes allowed to drink and beer companies allowed to advertise with obvious sports oriented themes in their ads?
- function_seven 11y agoBecause music isn't a competition. It's a creative endeavor.
- kasey_junk 11y agoWhen musicians compete for positions in symphonies it is a competition.
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 11y agoIt's not as if sports don't demand creativity.
- johnward 11y agoLife is a competition. There is definitely competition in music. People battle for spots in orchestras. People battle for commercial dollars, etc.
- johnward 11y agoPeople in all sorts of different positions take performance enhancing drugs. We as a society tend to focus on athletes for some reason. How many of the programmers you work with are taking some kind of stimulant or nootropic? Everyone is looking for an edge. How many famous CEOS "cheated" at some point to get to where they are?
- moron4hire 11y agoBecause we don't have a lot of rules for musicians. Of the rules we do have, they are a social contract rather than a binding rules committee. And of those rules, none of them govern drugs. Plagiarism, yes, but drugs, no.
- deegles 11y agoDo musicians actually use PEDs? How would they help?
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 11y agoThey could help with stage fright or the stresses of touring.
- 6stringmerc 11y agoGoing along with your postulation outright, I'd note that most of the drugs consumed by musicians wouldn't be called "performance enhancing" in the context of general terminology - alcohol, grass, hallucinogens, downers, stimulants - pretty much mess with mental capacity and function, not really "enhance" them. A couple cases can be made for certain uppers, but I kind of look at the relationship of drugs and musicians as one rooted in self-medication moreso than performance related. I have heard of orchestra/symphony types using beta blockers.