The Pot-Punk Connection: Punk, Cannabis, and Its Connection

When it comes to cannabis-themed music, certain genres bound instantly to our to mind: rock and rolling weed, stoner metal, couch grunge, stone jammed bands, psychedelic, etc.

The list of sonic stoner smoking dude points to grow comely long before most of us would get around to punk rock. From a frostproof on, punk’s brutal sound, sense, and participatory antiquity have been more rapidly connected with exotic dopes than anything in the cultured milieu of cannabis.

However, cannabis and punk have its connection, fortunately, several times, including some of the songs that pay tribute to the celebration of cannabis without falling short in the range of angry wrath. Here are the completely biased, almost full picks for the top Pot Punk songs to light up too.

“Howling at the Moon” — The Ramones (1984)

Most Lit Lyrics:

“Keep it glowing, glowing, glowing
I’m not hurting anyone
Keep it glowing, smoking, glowing
I’m howling at the moon
I took the law & threw it away
Cause there’s nothing wrong
It’s just for play”

“Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” from the Ramones’ self-titled 1976 debut, ensured that the punk celebration to come would be just as loaded joint as the hippies had been, but with afresh perverse revolutions.

After that early acceptance to huffing, though, the Ramones often bent away from calling out their inebriants of choice. “Howling at the Moon,” however, makes it fair that the punk pioneers considered pure passion for the pleasures of the weed pipe.

The song even appeals for (inevitable) legalization:

“Ships are docking
Planes are landing
A never-ending supply
No more narco
No more gangster
Conservatives can cry.”

“We’ll Give It to You” — Gang Green (1987)

“We have fun while they pretend
Nine to five is bullshit it’s not my style
A case of Bud and a bag of weed is pretty much what we need”

Skate-punk thrashers Gang Green originally vented out of Boston in 1980. These perma-wasted hooligans flashed a particularly potent route through East Coast hardcore, flying in their wondrously whimsical wake of countless beer empties and spent barrels of bong water — along with a hot roll of raucous cannabis on the order of “We’ll Give It to You.” Not to mention the hangover though!

“Bong Song” — Butthole Surfers (1989)

“When I crawled through a pipe
Without hesitation
To a place where a color
Went over my eyes
When I got to that place
They reached for my face
They lied”

In 1987, Texas-fired freak posse the Butthole Surfers tooted a pillar of smoke into the celebration that connected punk to metal by covering Black Sabbath‘s ultimate anthem to the sweet higher plant life, The “Sweet Leaf.” Of course, the acid-whacked Butthole Surfers deconstructed it as “Sweat Loaf,” but the connection billowed ahead from every riff: cannabis will bring us together.

Two years later, they burst out “Bong Song,” a typically discombobulating sonic stopover that starts with the sound of the title thing bubbling up and breaks down into hot-boxed skull entropy from there just like a dry herb atomizer.

“Green Day” — Green Day (1990)

“A small cloud has fallen
The white mist hits the ground
My lungs comfort me with joy
Vegging on one detail
The rest just crowds around
My eyes itch of burning red”

The opening word of both the celebration of Green Day and their eponymous old song is a footnote to the pot. Obvious, easy, and smoke-adelic.

It considered the moment at the dawn of the 1990s wherein the Mohawk-and-safety-bin comrades had set on to rolling up and blasting off. Rock only got richer (in every sense) from there.

Thus, kindled by joint, this Bay Area punk trio pushed punk to unprecedented multi platinum highs, turned pop radio to pot celebration, induction into the Rock-‘n’-Roll Hall of Fame.

“Quest for Herb” — Murphy’s Law (1990)

“Ten bucks in hand

Herb to the man
I’m on a quest for herb
I’m on a quest for herb
I’m on a quest for herb
Smoke it!”

While the 1980s New York hardcore celebration seemed to divert from coarse, buzz-cutted street violence to sudden outbursts of infinite peace through “Krishna-core” (with one group, Cro-Mags, including both heights), Murphy’s Law addressed every bit of it like the most glorious opportunity on Earth to get lit.

“Quest for Herb” is just one highlight of the band’s gloriously titled 1990 LP Back With a Bong. Another is the album closer blunt-ly named “Bong.”

“Smoke Two Joints” — Sublime (1992)

“I smoke two joints in time of peace
And two in time of war
I smoke two joints before I smoke two joints
And then I smoke two more”

Cannabis concluded so crucially into the analytic makeup of SoCal ska-punk rockstars Sublime that their drummer’s name was “Bud.” Of course, frontman and lead songwriter Bradley Nowell also constantly recognized the greatness of cannabis with myriad original lyrical hymns to the pot.

Still, Sublime‘s breakthrough hit shown to be “Smoke Two Joints,” a cover of a 1983 single by Oregon reggae revelers The Toyes, that inflamed radio airwaves just in time for the Lollapalooza time to get fully lit.

“(Let’s Go) Smoke Some Pot” — Dash Rip Rock (1995)

“Let’s go smoke some pot! Oh, baby!
 Let’s go smoke some pot!
Come on, let’s go smoke some pot!
Let’s go!”

Dash Rip Rock connects every known celebration of their native New Orleans into a gonzo gumbo, scores a volcanic spicy sauce of their brewing, seasons it copiously with cannabis, and then ignites the whole intoxicating connection out with punk-rock brio.

“(Let’s Go) Smoke Some Pot” is a scorched earth version of the 1958 Danny and the Juniors classic “Let’s Go to the Hop” with lyrics suitably warped for the celebration of cannabis.

“Herojuana” — NOFX (2000)

“Are we men? Are we children?
At what age, can I choose how to live?
The only real drug problem is scoring real good drugs.
Haven’t we learned our lesson?”

LA pop-punk pillars NOFX have always rolled for freedom and keep their indie standards despite whether they are playing a garage basement or a stadium.

NOFX is also often connected to a celebration with a higher purpose. “Herojuana” denotes the means of the healing power of sativa, but the delusion of those who venture to keep it from the people. Well then, Smoke ’em all!

Watch this space for updates in the Music category on Running Wolf’s Rant.