Electronic Cigarettes and Alcohol

Do Electronic Cigarettes Have Their Place In Rock?

“But all I need are cigarettes and alcohol!
You could wait for a lifetime
To spend your days in the sunshine
You might as well do the white line”

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The famous lyrics to the 1994 Oasis hit ‘Cigarettes and Alcohol’ sums up a rock and roll stars existence quite nicely. The lifestyle ultimately resulted in rock starts treating their bodies like human chemistry sets and drinking excessively until they finally passed out on some random street pavement or on the floor of some hotel room party. How the times have changed...

Modern stars are now more health conscious and as seen by a previous post ‘Celebrity Vaping Vaping’ with more and more celebs turning to the electronic cigarette. There are some however who refuse to let the notorious rock image die, with Oasis front man, Noel Gallagher, having a jibe at the Muse drummer, Dom Howard, for using an electronic cigarette.

“I saw the drummer from Muse smoking an electronic cigarette. A cigarette with a battery in. I had to say to him: ‘Really? Really? Is that where you are at? Do me a favour, mate, either have a proper one outside, or don’t have one.’ It lit up green when he had a drag of it. Nonsense. He said that immortal line – ‘Oh you know how it is, mate’. And I said ‘I’m sorry, mate, I actually don’t.’"

However Muse have hit back by saying that Dom was taking the lyrics to Oasis track ‘Live Forever’ literally. In the song the words 'I want to live I don't want to die', 'maybe I just want to breath' and 'you and I are gonna live forever' can be heard. Noel, accused of taking a U-turn however states that these lyrics were in fact wrote in response to a song called “I Hate Myself and Want to Die” by Nirvana with him saying “kids don’t need to be hearing that nonsense”.

Personally I am a massive fan of rock bands such as Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and AC DC and I accept that their excessive lifestyles contributed heavily to who they where, what they stood for and ultimately to the songs they wrote.

However I feel that rock has evolved since then and society no longer has a place for the stereotypical rock bands of yesterday. Gone are the days where a group of teenagers living on the outskirts of society formed to become some of the best musical talents of all time. We now have an influx of manufactured bands from TV programmes such as ‘Pop Idol’ or The Voice’ of whom the majority of people have attended higher education, have degrees and have a high standard of living. The best songs are wrote from personal experiences and going to school, getting a job at the bank and playing COD on the PS3 wouldn't quite cut it. Although with songs like 'The Cheeky Song' by the Cheeky Girls and Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' reaching number one in recent years maybe I will be proved wrong.

Do you think the definition and what it means to be a rock star is evolving or are we starting to see the death of a bygone era? Do e-cigs  have a rightful place in rock and roll?

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