Cannabis and music have kept close company for about a century. Jazz players of the 1920s and 1930s wrote it into their slang and songs. Rastafari made it a sacrament that reggae carried around the world, and hip-hop made it a regular theme in popular music. Researchers have also started to measure what cannabis does to listening, and the results are more surprising than the stereotype. Here's the history, the science and a few pairing ideas to try.
Jazz and the viper era
In the jazz clubs of the 1920s and 1930s, cannabis users called themselves vipers. The word turned up in song titles and lyrics, and tunes such as Cab Calloway's "Reefer Man" made the habit an open secret. Newark jazz station WBGO describes a whole viper subculture among the era's musicians.
Other recordings were just as playful. WBGO points to "When I Get Low, I Get High," which Chick Webb's orchestra recorded in 1936 with Ella Fitzgerald singing, though "high" could also mean drunk back then. Fats Waller recorded "If You're a Viper" in 1943.
Trumpeter Louis Armstrong was part of the scene. He called cannabis "gage." According to the Louis Armstrong House Museum, he was arrested in California for smoking it in the early 1930s and spent a little over a week in jail. Clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow, meanwhile, became the main source of Mexican-grown cannabis for Harlem in the 1930s. He told that story in his 1946 memoir, Really the Blues.
The backlash: Anslinger and Reefer Madness
The backlash came from Washington. Harry Anslinger, who led the Federal Bureau of Narcotics as its first commissioner from 1930 to 1962, made cannabis a national cause. He went after jazz musicians in particular, including Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, and historians say his campaign leaned on racial fear.
After heavy lobbying by Anslinger, Congress passed the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act, which effectively criminalized the plant. Scare films of the era, such as Reefer Madness, carried the same message to movie theaters. Our history of anti-cannabis propaganda covers that era in more detail.
Reggae and Rastafari: sacrament and symbol
Rastafari took shape in Jamaica in the 1930s, and cannabis has been part of the faith since the beginning. Followers call it the holy herb and regard it as sacred. Many read the Bible's tree of life as a reference to the plant. It's shared during reasoning sessions, gatherings built around group meditation and discussion.
Reggae carried those ideas far beyond Jamaica in the 1970s. Bob Marley's music made Rastafari imagery familiar to listeners around the world, and Peter Tosh's 1976 album Legalize It turned the herb into a rallying cry. Dub, reggae's bass-heavy, echo-soaked offshoot, built a listening culture of its own around sound systems. For many fans, the sound and the plant still arrive together.
Hip-hop and the move into the mainstream
By the 1990s, cannabis had moved from coded jazz slang to an open theme in hip-hop. Rappers named albums and songs after it. Blunts, cigars hollowed out and refilled with cannabis, became part of the culture's look and language.
Chart studies show how common those references became. A University of Pittsburgh team analyzed the 279 most popular songs of 2005 and found references to substance use in 77% of rap songs, compared with 9% of pop songs. Cannabis showed up in about 14% of all the songs studied.
The theme stayed on the charts as states began legalizing in the 2010s. A study of the 25 most popular rap songs of each year from 2006 to 2018 found marijuana references in 38% of them.
How cannabis culture shaped songs and scenes
Beyond the lyrics, cannabis left fingerprints on how music gets made and shared:
- Slang and code. From "viper" and "reefer" to later street names, songs gave listeners an insider's vocabulary.
- Long-form listening. Late-night jam sessions, extended improvisation and slow, heavy grooves found audiences happy to settle in.
- Sound systems and shows. Reggae sound systems, festival fields and hip-hop cyphers became places where music and cannabis met.
- Album culture. Records built for start-to-finish listening, from dub to ambient, suited unhurried evenings at home.
- Today's playlists. Streaming services are packed with mellow, mood-labeled playlists built for slow evenings on the couch.
The science of cannabis and music
Plenty of people say music sounds better when they're high, and a few lab studies have explored why. The findings are more complicated than the stereotype.
What researchers measured
In a 2018 study at University College London, 16 cannabis users inhaled cannabis with CBD, cannabis without CBD and a placebo on separate days. They then listened to music inside a brain scanner. Both types of cannabis made people want to keep listening and led them to rate their perception of sound as enhanced.
The brain scans told a different story. Cannabis without CBD dampened the response to music in areas tied to reward and emotion, including the auditory cortex and the amygdala. When CBD was part of the mix, the brain response looked like the placebo session.
THC also plays with time. In a 2013 Yale study, THC made people who rarely used cannabis judge short intervals as longer than they were, while frequent users showed no change. That stretched sense of time may help explain why a long solo or a slow fade can seem to go on and on.
What the studies don't show
These were small studies in controlled labs, and one gave THC through an IV. They don't show that cannabis makes music objectively better, improves musical talent or works the same way for everyone. What they suggest is that cannabis changes how you attend to sound, and that THC and CBD may pull in different directions.
That last point is worth noticing as a listener. In the UCL study, two kinds of cannabis that felt similar to the people using them looked different in the scanner. If you're curious, compare a THC-forward product with a balanced THC-and-CBD product on separate nights, with the same album, and keep a few notes.
How music shapes a session: set and setting
The music you choose is part of your setting, and it can steer how a session feels. A few ideas:
- Start familiar. Albums you know well are easy to sink into, and they're a smart choice when the product is new to you.
- Mind the lyrics. Busy, intense lyrics can feel like a lot; instrumentals give your mind room to wander.
- Set the volume first. Your sense of sound can shift once effects begin, so pick a comfortable level before you start.
- Match the room. A dim, quiet space and decent speakers or headphones beat background noise.
- Plan the arc. Build a playlist that winds down as the evening does.
Our guide to cannabis and mood explains why mindset and surroundings matter so much, and our movies to watch high cover the screen side of a night in.
Pairing ideas: aroma profiles and playlists
Pairing cannabis with music works a bit like pairing food with wine. You're matching aromas and moods, not chasing a promised effect. The terpenes that give each strain its scent make a handy guide, so try these as starting points and trust your own ear and nose.
| Aroma profile | Key terpene | Smells like | Try it with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bright citrus | Limonene | Lemon, orange peel | Funk, Motown, upbeat pop |
| Earthy and musky | Myrcene | Damp earth, musk, ripe fruit | Ambient, dub, downtempo |
| Fresh pine | Pinene | Pine needles, resin | Acoustic folk, bluegrass |
| Peppery and spicy | Caryophyllene | Black pepper, clove | Blues, soul, boom-bap hip-hop |
| Floral | Linalool | Lavender | Jazz ballads, bossa nova, string quartets |
| Herbal and sweet | Terpinolene | Pine, flowers, citrus peel | Psychedelic rock, synth-heavy electronic |
A few pairing habits help:
- Match energy. Pair brighter aromas with quicker tempos and heavier aromas with slower ones.
- Test one thing at a time. Keep the album the same and change the aroma profile, or the other way around.
- Compare notes. Revisit a favorite record with a new profile and see what stands out.
Some product labels list a few dominant terpenes, and a budtender can describe a jar's aroma for you. Our guide to cannabis terpenes covers each one in more depth.
Building a listening session
A playlist with a shape makes it easier to pace yourself:
- Settle in. Open with familiar, mid-tempo tracks while effects build.
- Go deeper. Move to longer songs, full albums or instrumental stretches once you feel comfortable.
- Wind down. Finish with softer, slower music as the session tapers, with the lights low and water nearby.
Skip shuffle for this kind of night. A planned order keeps sudden jumps in tempo or volume from jolting the mood.
Listening responsibly
- Protect your hearing. Keep headphone and speaker volume moderate, and bring earplugs to loud shows. If you're wearing headphones outdoors, keep one ear open to traffic.
- Never drive. Plan a ride home before the music starts, whether it's a concert or a friend's living room.
- Know the venue's rules. Concerts and festivals set their own policies, and public consumption of cannabis isn't legal in Michigan. Our guide to cannabis and concerts covers the details.
- Go easy with edibles. Effects arrive slowly and last for hours, so don't stack servings before the headliner.
- Take breaks. Step away from crowds and noise when you need to, and keep water handy.
Planning a listening night at home? Browse your local High Society store's menu to compare products, and order ahead for pickup in the store or at the curb. 21+ only. Please consume responsibly.
