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Heroin in art, fiction and music

Related: heroin - representation - culture

Titles: Junkie (1953) - William Burroughs

Christiane F. (1981) - Uli Edel [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]

Heroin: cultural influences

Due to both the dramatic effects of the drug on the consumer's life and the widespread use of heroin amongst artists, heroin consumption and addiction has been featured in numerous works of art, ranging from songs and films to novels. Amongst these are:

• Novels
  • Man With the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
  • Junky by William S. Burroughs
  • Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
  • Junk by Melvin Burgess
  • The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll
  • Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh
  • Cain's Book by Alexander Trocchi
  • Requiem for a Dream by Hubert Selby

• Factual accounts
  • The Heroin User's Handbook by Dr. Francis Moraes
  • Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo (life story of Christiane F. a teenage German addict)
  • Permanent Midnight by Jerry Stahl
  • The Survival of the Coolest by William Pryor

• Films
  • Bad Lieutenant directed by Abel Ferrara
  • Naked Lunch directed by David Cronenberg
  • Permanent Midnight directed by David Veloz
  • Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarantino
  • Ray directed by Taylor Hackford
  • Requiem for a Dream directed by Darren Aronofsky
  • The Salton Sea directed by D.J. Caruso
  • Sid and Nancy directed by Alex Cox
  • Trainspotting directed by Danny Boyle
  • Wasted directed by Stephen T. Kay

• Songs
  • "Comfortably Numb", by Pink Floyd
  • "I'm Waiting for the Man", "Heroin" and "Sister Ray" by The Velvet Underground
  • "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed
  • "Space Oddity", "The Bewlay Brothers" and "China Girl" by David Bowie
  • "Dead Flowers", "Sister Morphine" and "Monkey Man" by The Rolling Stones
  • "Black Balloon" by the Goo Goo Dolls
  • "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers
  • "Signed D.C." by Love
  • "Aux enfants de la chance" and "My Lady Heroine" by Serge Gainsbourg
  • "Chinese Rocks" by Johnny Thunders and Dee Dee Ramone
  • "Needle in the Hay" and "The White Lady Loves You More" by Elliott Smith
  • "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
  • "Cold Turkey" by John Lennon
  • "China Girl" by Iggy Pop
  • "The Needle and the Damage Done" by Neil Young
  • "I Believe in You" by Talk Talk
  • "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth (Heroin Is So Passe)" by The Dandy Warhols
  • "Mr. Brownstone" by Guns N' Roses
  • "Junkhead" and "Real Thing" by Alice in Chains
  • "Aneurysm" by Nirvana
  • "Jesus Shootin' Heroin" by The Flaming Lips
  • "Surfin' on Heroin" by Forgotten Rebels
  • "The Needle and the Spoon" and "That Smell" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
  • "Just One Fix" by Ministry
  • "Pool Shark" by Sublime
  • "Times of Trouble" by Temple of the Dog
  • "Carmelita" by Warren Zevon
  • "Bad" and "Running to Stand Still" by U2
  • "Hand Of Doom" by Black Sabbath
  • "Master Of Puppets" by Metallica
  • "Billy" by Bad Religion
  • "Perfect Blue Buildings" by Counting Crows
  • "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan

--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroin#Cultural_influences [Feb 2005]

Trainspotting (1996) - Danny Boyle

Trainspotting (1996) - Danny Boyle [Amazon.com]
With its hallucinatory visions of crawling dead babies and a grungy plunge into the filthiest toilet in Scotland, you might not think Trainspotting could have been one of the best movies of 1996, but Danny Boyle's film about unrepentant heroin addicts in Edinburgh is all that and more. That doesn't make it everybody's cup of tea (so unsuspecting viewers beware), but the film's blend of hyperkinetic humor and real-life horror is constantly fascinating, and the entire cast (led by Ewan McGregor and Full Monty star Robert Carlyle) bursts off of the screen in a supernova of outrageous energy. Adapted by John Hodge from the acclaimed novel by Irving Welsh, the film was a phenomenal hit in England, Scotland, and (to a lesser extent) the U.S. For all of its comedic vitality and invigorating filmmaking, the movie is no ode to heroin, nor is it a straight-laced cautionary tale. Trainspotting is just a very honest and well-made film about the nature of addiction, and it doesn't pull any punches when it is time to show the alternating pleasure and pain of substance abuse. --Jeff Shannon, amazon.com

Christiane F. (1981) - Uli Edel

Christiane F. (full name Christiane Vera Felscherinow), was born in West Berlin, Germany on May 20, 1962. Christiane is infamous for her fight with drugs, especially that of heroin. When she was 13 years old, she was a junkie and a prostitue. At 12, she took hashish; at 13 heroin and at 14 she got into the Bahnhof Zoo scene, a famous partying drug crowd from Berlin. Christiane tried to get and stay clean, but didn’t become totally clean until the birth of her son in 1996. Today, with her little son, Jan-Niklas she lives in a small apartment in Neukölln.

The German magazine, Stern, published the series ‘Wir kinder von Bahnhof Zoo’ (We, children from Bahnhof Zoo), and it became a best-seller, selling millions of copies all around the world. The book was written by ghostwritters, with the help of Christiane F. herself. Following the success of her autobiography, she filmed the screenplay about her life, in which she worked as an advisor. The film became a success as well, making millions, even though Christiane F. never actually appeared in the film about her life and addiction. Her story was directed by Ulrich Edel (aka Uli Edel), in Germany. Produced by Bernd Eichinger and Hans Weth, the film itself was derived from the screenplay by H. Weigal. The cast was carefully chosen, and the young women picked to play Christiane F. (Natja Brunkhorst), won numerous awards for her convincing role at the tender age of 14. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_F. [Feb 2004]

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