The chapter begins with a discussion of the link between jazz and blues musicians and the use of narcotics as perceived aids to musical composition and performance. The use of heroin in the United Kingdom was pioneered partly by musicians who believed that its use would improve their musical performance, whatever its other effects on their live. The belief was that heroin would make White British musicians play like Black American musicians who used the drug. A review of the link between drugs and rock and pop music notes that amphetamines or "speed" was the drug of choice for those in and around the early-60s pop scene in the United States and Great Britain. It was also the drug of choice for mid-1970s punk and northern soul musicians. As rock’n’roll turned to pop, and as the first wave of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean settled in the United Kingdom from the mid-1950s onward, cannabis use increased dramatically, as did calls for its legalization. As dance and electronica began permeating the party scene in the early 1980s, cocaine was marketed by drug suppliers connected to the owners of party sites. Ecstasy also entered the music and party scene, along with LSD. Marginalized and alienated youth searching for role models and social interaction have been drawn to rebellious musicians and youth who share their musical tastes. Drugs are part of the package of musicians' lifestyles and that of the fans who wish to identify with their music and personal values. 28 references