Whether you're on uppers, downers, or something in between, there's music for you here

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A Hindu ascetic smokes marijuana outside a temple Reuters

A while back, we wrote about the age-old music industry debate regarding whether drugs catalyze creativity. There's a huge amount of silliness written about musicians' drug use -- compare the hugely asinine "pro" position with the reasoned and rather sensible alternative here, for instance -- but while we generally don't buy into such destructive rock 'n' roll mythology, there have undeniably been some fantastic albums that'll always be associated with drug use. With the band that made at least one such record—Spiritualized, with the all-time classic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space—having just put out their new album Sweet Heart Sweet Light, we thought we'd use this week's release of their hugely strange, we thought we'd round up the best records that reflect both the highs and the lows of drug use.

Of course, we're aware that there are plenty more, but before you ask, The Dark Side of the Moon isn't here. Just because nearly everyone seems to have gotten wasted to this album at least once doesn't mean it's about drugs.

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