It’s my contention that you can use anything to educate children, especially teens, as long as it’s interesting and the truth. And the truth is where government abstinence programs like those trippy Above the Influence commercials fall short.
The truth is that Jimi Hendrix drank and used drugs. The truth is that Jimi Hendrix probably had a lot of fun drinking and using drugs, and there is a high probability that his drinking and drug use influenced and enhanced his music the same way drinking and drug use influenced the works of hundreds of writers and poets like Edgar Allen Poe and James Joyce. It also left him dead at 27, asphyxiated by his own vomit.
The reason the work of William Shakespeare is so omnipresent in our educational system isn’t necessarily the greatness of his work. It’s the fact that when it comes to Shakespeare, we know almost nothing about him, but his work. Did he drink or use drugs? Was he happy or depressed? Who knows? Teaching Shakespeare is easy for that very reason. There are no difficult lifestyle issues to broach there. Unfortunately, kids don’t grasp onto art in a void. When you hear a great song or read a great book, you want to know about the life of the man or woman who created it.
The very thing that educators too often miss is that it doesn’t matter if those lives are flawed or filled with debauchery. The world is a complicated place, and the best way to educate our youth is to acknowledge it and to be honest about it.
In the hands of a qualified educator, the lives of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Charlie Parker, William Burroughs, and anyone else who mixed chemicals with their art can be both an inspiration to creativity and a lesson of the downside of substance abuse.
The one sure way to irresponsibly attract teens to a subversive life of drinking and drug abuse is by ignoring it, demonizing it, and sweeping the lives of those who fell in its wake under the carpet. Teach kids about Jimi Hendrix because of his drug use! Like the smart parents used to say about sex, “It’s better that they learn it here from me than out on the street.”
Article comments
1 - JC Mosquito
I heard Shakespeare died of pneumonia - but the thing is, he supposedly contracted it due to exposure as he had spent overnight passed out under a tree after an evening out on the town.
I think you can have it both ways - Jimi was a genius, but don't inhale your own puke - or anyone else's, for that matter.
2 - Evan
I think it's great that Jimi is being used as a role model for teachers. He was so innovated and creative and I think thats the message. Clearly not to live like Jimi, which I don't think was so bad. He had a lot of pressure on him in general and his managers were terrible for years, which is why his live ended too soon.
3 - jamminsue
Brad:
Awesome! We most certainly need more sane voices like yours in tis world!
4 - Glen Boyd
Here in Seattle he is celebrated on murals downtown, and even by an entire museum (Paul Allen's Experience Music Project). I really don't see what the big deal is, and agree with you that writing him, the Beatles, or anyone else out of the history books is a pretty ridiculous idea.
Their personal lives notwithstanding (and this was the sixties were talking about here), the impact on culture made by these musicians far outweighs any of their more youthful indiscretions...which many of us who were alive at the time also share.
-Glen