r/TopCharacterTropes • u/PaperBullet1945 • 5h ago
miscellaneous Works that were, in fact, made while on drugs
Sometimes people see a strange work of fiction and wonder if the creator(s) was/were under the influence while making it. For these works, that's literally true.
The Point (1971), by Harry Nilsson
Nilsson was a singer-songwriter who came up with the idea for this film in this way:
"I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to points. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it.'"
The film is about a little boy, Oblio, who is born without a pointy head in a world where everyone is born with a pointy head. This gets him ostracized and he goes on a journey to discover the meaning of his life. It involves a bunch of wacky characters and at least one song featuring a decomposing whale.
Cujo (1981), by Stephen King
King has stated that he was so deep in alcohol and cocaine while writing this book that he barely remembers writing it at all. He came to sorely regret that, saying that he missed out on the joy of creation that he normally experiences while writing his novels, and that the book would have had a better plot had he not been so compromised.
The book is about a Saint Bernard dog who contracts rabies and attacks people, eventually trapping the human family he'd been a part of in a sweltering car.
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u/AcceptableWheel 5h ago
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u/DeathkeepAttendant 5h ago
It's true, Frank Herbert put absolutely no thought into the themes and meanings of Dune
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u/RadarSmith 4h ago
Yup, none whatsoever.
Not like his son Brian, who's clearly got a very detailed and mature set of themes he works from.
(/s, obviously)
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u/dead_parakeets 3h ago
I know nothing about his son, what’s he done?
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u/RadarSmith 3h ago
He inherited the Dune franchise and has published several books in it woth cowriter Kevin Anderson.
They are...very, very bad. And that's the overwhelming consensus on their own merits, not just from some unpleasable fanbase of the original books. And they are very inconsistent with his father's work, thematically and otherwise.
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u/Fish_N_Chipp 5h ago
Okay granted not drugs. But the origins of Panty and Stocking were because the crew got absolutely shitfaced and tried to make an anime as western as possible
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u/LovelyLuna32684 4h ago
I mean they certainly succeed, hell even the ending was so western, because when you get right down to it whats screams Media more a WTF out of nowhere cliffhanger ending that's never going to be resolved?
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u/Fish_N_Chipp 1h ago
I mean at least it was in season 2
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u/LovelyLuna32684 1h ago
Only because of idiots who didn't get the joke complained enough over 15 years, I would be willing to bet that if you asked the original people who worked on it they would tell there was never a plan for a second season originally.
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u/Fish_N_Chipp 14m ago
I mean I’m pretty sure the reason it didn’t happen for so long was some duel licensing issues. Once the license expired for the other company that owned it then they made season 2
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u/JuiceOfTheElderToad 5h ago
The Beatles’ albums from Rubber Soul onwards.
The popular story is that Bob Dylan introduced the band to weed in 1964, and their albums from then on evolved from just catchy pop music and clearly became more psychedelic and adventurous.
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u/CoalEater_Elli 5h ago
I remember how this specific poster was used as evidence that Beatles are hinting at Paul's death, because, somehow, Walrus means Corpse in greek.
It doesn't
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u/minemaster1337 4h ago
Also, John was the Walrus
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u/CoalEater_Elli 4h ago
I guess it must be some sort of evidence that Beatles knew that John will get shot and they were like "Yo, Johnny boy, put on dis suit of a Walrus will ya. We want people to know you will die eventually"
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u/Competitive-Cress-43 5h ago
“On the Road” - Jack Kerouac
while on benzedrine: wrote the entirety of the book in long continuous sheets of paper he later taped together, in the span of three weeks
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u/Konradleijon 5h ago
That’s impressive
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u/Competitive-Cress-43 4h ago
yeah if i remember right the intention was for having no indentations, just one long rambling string of consciousness
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u/go_faster1 5h ago
Zardoz was said to have been written while on drugs. Probably also filmed while under the influence. Probably the other reason why Sean Connery took the role beyond getting away from James Bond
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u/nadderby 4h ago
I sincerely wish I could scrub Connery's costume in that full from my mind. Some things are too much for mortal eyes (and minds).
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u/Sadam_Deluise 5h ago
The Invisibles by Grant Morrison. Morrison acknowledged doing lots of acid while writing it
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u/CryptographerNo923 4h ago
Doing acid was probably the least chaotic habit Grant Morrison had while writing this.
My all-time favorite work of fiction.
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u/ComprehensiveBox6911 5h ago
The first season of the Pokemon Anime
The main writer of the original Indigo League Pokemon series Takeshi Shudo was open about consuming alcohol and prescription drugs to fuel his creative process. Alongside alcohol (often vodka), Shudo frequently used prescription tranquilizers and pills. This likely explains why the series had so many absolute absurd moments that would never happen in the Pokemon show again, like James’ inflatable boobies or Misty trying to exorcise a ghost Pokemon with a cross
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u/RadarSmith 5h ago
Zardoz. It was made stoned, and its reccomended you watch it stoned.
"The Penis is evil! The Penis shoots Seeds, and makes new Life to poison the Earth with a plague of men, as once it was. But the Gun shoots Death and purifies the Earth of the filth of Brutals. Go forth, and kill! Zardoz has spoken."
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u/ExploadingApples 5h ago
ALL of Stephen Kings work pre ~1990
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u/Rowsdower888 5h ago
Apparently most of the members of Motley Crue have no memory of making this album
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u/Chaosmusic 4h ago
William S. Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch which was heavily influenced by his various addictions. Accounts on how high he was during the actual writing are varied. Some say he literally woke up from a drug stupor and found the manuscript all typed up, which is most likely highly exaggerated. More likely he was cycling between addiction and withdrawal while writing it.
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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 5h ago
Disco as a genre (cocaine)
Rock as a genre (everything)
Hip-hop as a genre (weed)
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u/MissDiketon 5h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/XNlQ17cEiXB2EWhat I really yam is on massive amounts of cocaine (and all my friends are, too.)
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u/schizo999 5h ago
Philip k dick book
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u/JohnHenryMillerTime 4h ago
Self treating schizophrenia with meth is where the phrase "pro gamer move" was invented.
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u/Nepalman230 5h ago
Ok Stephen King has said that he does not remember making the film maximum overdrive. He wrote the script directed it produced it and was in it.
Also, a man was permanently maimed because of his decisions while he was high on cocaine.
Cocaine is in fact a hell of a drug and I do not mean that in any kind of a positive way.
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u/mescaline_jimmies 4h ago
When I was 16 I won an essay contest with a paper that I was too stoned to remember writing
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u/heidismiles 4h ago
The Point was the "my family has this one weird movie we have on tape and watch often" at my house
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u/NegativeMammoth2137 4h ago
Production
Before the principal photography started, Jodorowsky and his wife spent a week without sleep under the direction of a Japanese Zen master.[6]#citenote-ErnestXavier2007-6)
The central members of the cast spent three months doing various spiritual exercises guided by Oscar Ichazo of the Arica Institute. The Arica training features Zen, Sufi and yoga exercises along with eclectic concepts drawn from the Kabbalah, the I Ching and the teachings of George Gurdjieff. After the training, the group lived for one month communally in Jodorowsky's home before production.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Mountain(1973film)#cite_note-ErnestXavier2007-6) Thereafter, the filming started in early 1972. The film was shot sequentially, entirely in Mexico, at a budget of $750,000.[[6]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Mountain(1973_film)#cite_note-ErnestXavier2007-6)
Jodorowsky was also instructed by Ichazo to take LSD for the purpose of spiritual exploration. He also administered psilocybin mushrooms to the actors during the shooting[citation needed]
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u/Rleduc129 5h ago
Staying with Stephen King, we can't talk about King and cocaine without mentioning IT and *ahem* THAT
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u/QuietWaterBreaksRock 3h ago
"Speeeeeeed is keeeeeey!!!!! Stop, wait a minute, something ain't right... Why is the fat orphan hung like a horse?!"
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u/ANormalRando 4h ago
Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon
He was apparently on so much acid the entire time he wrote the book that when it was returned from his editor he said it was like reading it for the first time and he had to re-deduce the themes of his own book. While it's a highly regarded book, it's just packed to the brim with absurdity, mostly philosophical and sexual. The whole driver of the plot, for example, is that the main character's sexual exploits correspond to V2 missile impacts so Allied intelligence investigates using his erections as an early warning system. This is only scratching the surface.
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u/AceofKnaves44 2h ago
In the Alice In Chains song God Am at the start of the song you hear a bong being hit before Layne says “sure god is all powerful. But does he have lips?” That’s the sound of Layne smoking crack.
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u/ducknerd2002 5h ago
Several crewmembers on Friday the 13th Part 5 used a lot of cocaine during production.
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u/jerux211 4h ago
Encore by Eminem, sure he was on drugs before on the other albums. But none were bad as it was during this. And you can tell by his voice around this time period and several songs that were released around this time period. With his depression with fame at that time and more stuff it was bad period of his life.
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u/jerux211 4h ago
One of Redman most popular he hates mainly cause his addiction at that time and being in extremely dark place in life. He also doesn't remember recording half of this. Tho he was shocked that many women loved this album.
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u/BudgieWonder 4h ago edited 4h ago
Most early Funkadelic albums
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u/miha68419 59m ago
Apparently their second album wasn't only written while high, but also fully recorded live in the studio while the entire band was tripping on acid
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u/Emptyspace227 2h ago
"See, I think drugs have done some good things for us. I really do. And if you don't believe that drugs have done some good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight, take all your albums, all your tapes, and all your CDs and burn 'em. 'Cause you know what? The musicians that made all that great music that's enhanced your life throughout the years? Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreal fuckin' high on drugs." - Bill Hicks
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u/Sumoshrooms 4h ago
Watching Movies With the Sound Off - Mac Miller
https://giphy.com/gifs/tfgzHxkUdkU1O
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u/DivineComedyIsCool 5h ago
Whatever I write and conceptualize after I take a bunch of generic off-brand Benedryl - IRL
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u/Cheeky_Hustler 4h ago
Hey, the Nilsson song about the decomposing whale is one of the best on that album, and that album is full of bangers!
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u/DurumMater 4h ago
I don't know if it counts but during the filming of Easy Rider they used the actual drugs they were portraying in various scenes
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u/The6Book6Bat6 3h ago
It, also by Stephen King. Him being completely coked off his ass is the only reason he hasn't been cancelled for THAT scene, he was literally out of his mind while writing it.
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u/Carnage678 5h ago
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter S. Thompson's magnum opus.