Chicks On Speed

We’ve previously covered the many bands with weed-related names, but what about the ones who go a little harder? Here are 15 bands named after other drugs.



SLIDE #1 The Magic Mushroom s

Plenty of acts working the nascent underground rock scene of the mid-1960s could claim the influence of Allen Ginsberg, but the fate of one Philadelphia-based band was directly guided by the poet. As legend has it, aspiring rocker Josh Rice caught up with Ginsberg following a campus lecture in 1965, and asked the Howl author to suggest a band name. Ginsberg’s response: the Magic Mushrooms, a designation that’s a lot more explicit now than it was then. Then again, fe wer people would know about the psychedelic properties of psilocybin mushrooms were it not for fuzzed-out singles like “It’s A-Happening,” which became a minor hit for the Magic Mushrooms in 1966. Ginsberg’s allusion wouldn’t fool the straights for long, however: When the band’s name was decoded by the brass at A&M Records, “It’s A-Happening” was pulled from stores, though the song lives on thanks to its status as the final track on Jac Holzman and Lenny Kaye’s original Nuggets compilation. [Erik Adams]