Matt Pike has taken a toke or a thousand in his life. The dude is responsible for founding two of the most important stoner bands of our lifetimes – Sleep and High on Fire.
So, when Metal Hammer asked Pike to pick his favorite stoner albums, you know the dude speaks from vast experiences. Predictably, the greatest Sabbath stoner album, Master of Reality made Pike's list and his anecdote that went with it is pretty great:
“I gotta start by going back to Black Sabbath. I got fucking stoned and put on Into The Void, that was a real turning point in knowing what music I was going to like, what direction I was going to go in, and what music I’d play. Before that I’d heard AC/DC and Van Halen and ZZ Top, and those bands are all great, but I hadn’t heard anything as heavy as Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler. That was the heaviest shit out there, and when you first get stoned and listen to that it makes you understand that that music was made out of weed. Master Of Reality is the pure weed album, once you go past that you can add in a little coke or whatever, but that’s the real deal.”
This is an excellent point, Master of Reality is the last all-stoner Sabbath album, before they dipped into other drugs.
He then moved onto Metallica's classic Ride the Lightning which, I mean, I got stoned just from reading why it's a great stoner album:
"I just went ‘FUUUUUUUCCCCKKK!’ I thought it was bad with Black Sabbath, but now there’s this thrash metal and no one knows where it’s coming from! They’ve got a little bit of the British metal bands in there but it’s just so much faster, it felt like your head got stuck in a vortex. That was a moment that really changed me too.”
The other albums on the list are:
- Black Flag's My War
- Celtic Frost's Emperor's Return
- Misfits' Legacy of Brutality
- Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon
I mean, the last one is a must for any stoner, but I recommend reading why Pike recommends all these over at Metal Hammer.
