Dopesmoker

The year is 1999. Livin’ la vida loco is top of the charts. M. Night Shyamalan just put out the Sixth Sense and the world is eagerly waiting on him to become the new Spielberg. Somewhere far removed from these events there are three men in a rented home, smoking more weed than most of us can imagine, and creating a piece of art that causes non-metalheads everywhere to groan when it comes on. What is that piece of art? A sixty-three-minute long “stoner doom metal” gregorian chant describing the pilgrimage of weedians, people of the weed, as they cross a desert in search of enlightenment. The song/album/art is Dopesmoker and few pieces cause such division across any medium of art.

The song begins with the characteristic “drone” that has become associated with stoner rock’s ability to defy traditional songwriting techniques. There is no hook in the land of the weedians, only the riff, and its holiness is only second to the smoke that fills the air wherever this song is played. Sleep uses the consistent tone to lull the audience into a sort of trance that is only broken when the band begins to sing, about eight minutes in, or begins one of the riff’s stoner doom metal is so famous for. The song snatches you up because of the consistency the audience is accustomed to throughout the length of the album, but releases you again when it’s done only to wrap its claws around you the next time it feels necessary.

Do not be fooled by the beards and the “long hair don’t care” image of the band, this is serious. The lyrics to Dopesmoker are filled with the Judeo-Christian imagery literature nerds will associate with James Joyce or Samuel Beckett, art nerds will associate with the renaissance, and “normies” will associate with wanting to cover their ears and run from the room. One of the band members, Matt Pike, spoke on the songwriting process, “working on [the song] for like four years. We also had two other songs that we were working on that were really long, too—like 15 and 20 minutes. But we never recorded them." (https://tinyurl.com/y5fu8uhc) This stretched out process ensured a detail-oriented approach and the lyrics deliver powerful messages that would not be out of place in the ancient texts of a civilization, “Creedsmen roll out across the dying dawn, Sacred Israel Holy Mountain Zion, Sun beams down on to the Sandsean reigns, Caravan migrates through deep sandscape, Lungsmen unearth the creed of Hasheeshian” (https://genius.com/Sleep-dopesmoker-lyrics) Are meaningful lyrics neccesary for the creation of a beloved song? Absolutely not, as the aforementioned Livin’ La Vida Loco can attest to, but it does allow for the song to bear the test of time and bring continuous enjoyment two decades later.   

Few times in the modern world do you have the opportunity to embark on a journey of personal will. Some people chase the feeling by running marathons or embarking on a true religious pilgrimage, and while those are admirable, Dopesmoker brings the audience a piece of that feeling anywhere with speakers or a pair of headphones. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from finishing this behemoth and letting yourself be washed over by the experimental drone for such a continuous period of time. We all have feelings of loneliness and abandonment which haunt the drudgery of our everyday life, but when you press play, pack a bowl, and sit back to “drop out of life with bong in hand” you gain the reprieve we all need to make it to the next day.