There are songs about tripping, there are songs made to listen to when tripping, there are songs about cocaine, and getting drunk, but there’s more songs about marijuana than any of the other drugs.  And even within the “pot song” genre, you’ve got all kinds of subzones, like songs to complement your high when you’re rolling face at a show.  But the reigning kings of weed songs have always been the ones written specifically about the act of smoking and getting high on weed.

Over the years, the weed song has evolved through all different phases, most of which have been on the fringes of the music scene.  Starting with the Jazz musicians of the 20’s into the counter culture movement of the 60’s to the rise of hip in the 80’s and 90’s, the music was always listened to at the cool kids table.  Now that smoking pot is more mainstream, the pot song has gone mainstream too.  Here’s a look at the evolution of how people have played, written, sang and rapped about weed.

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1928: Louis Armstrong – Muggles  

Muggles is actually an old school reference to marijuana used amongst Jazz musicians. That was the slang back then. Louis Armstrong loved getting high, why not play about it?

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1937: Stuff Smith -You’se a Viper

Another Jazz song, originally composed by Stuff Smith. It was re-released by Fats Waller in 1943 simply titled The Reefer Song supposedly as a dig against the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. The Austin Chronicle listed this song as the King of All Pot Songs.

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1966: Bob Dylan- Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

Bob Dylan’s first track off of Blonde on Blonde needs to be mentioned, as it was actually banned from some radio stations when it was released due to the growing paranoia about it being a drug song. At this time in America, you could do actual time for just having a single joint on you (not that it’s much better now) but using the language “everybody must get stoned” was ballsy, which only proves that  Dylan is the man.

“Everybody must get stoned” (RAINY DAY WOMEN… by soleilquichante

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1968: Fraternity of Man – Don’t Bogart Me

Featured in Easy Rider, possibly the greatest counter-culture film of the 1960s.  This song, along with the film, was straightforward with the drug references. Times were changing and so were mindsets and so was the music.

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1976: Peter Tosh – Legalize It

Peter Tosh and the rest of the Wailers were some of the first musicians in Jamaica to become Rastafarian’s. And marijuana is the sacred herb in the Rasta religion, so in 1974 the Wailers broke up and Peter Tosh went on to put out his first solo album, Legalize It. This is his biggest hit and his legacy, calling for the legalization of marijuana so Rasta’s could practice their religion in peace. Though he says it’s good for asthma, not so sure Mr. Tosh was a doctor.

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1993:  Cypress Hill – Hits From the Bong

Well, any sort of subtlety or code words have gone out the window at this point. One of Cypress Hill’s greatest hits, this is just written as a how to smoke weed out of a bong song. You can walk through a Cypress Hill concert and get stoned, everyone’s lit the fuck up. It was a huge hit for Cypress Hill.

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2000: Dr. Dre – The Next Episode

This was the crossover pothead anthem as soon as it hit off of Dr Dre’s follow up to 1992’s The Chronic. It took him eight years to come back with a full length album, but it was worth the wait. Sure the beginning of the song tells us  to light it up, but it’ll live in infamy for the last words of the song, just when you thought it was over, Nate Dogg (RIP) serenading us and telling everyone to just smoke weed everyday. Really just next level shit writing.

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2001:  Afroman – Because I Got High

Coming only a year after the new weed smoking anthem, The Next Episode, Afroman came literally out of nowhere to break into the one hit wonder stratosphere with Because I Got High. Afroman just goes on about all the shit in his life he’s fucked up because of constant love of weed. This song actually had a movie tie in with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, featuring them smoking a giant joint with Afroman in the music video for the song.

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2011:  Juicy J, 2 Chainz, and Tha Joker – Zip and a Double Cup

And this takes us to 2011. It’s totally off the rails now, you can say whatever you want. The bluntest of all these weed songs, the chorus includes just a chant of “I get high as fuck”. The premium set designer for the video included ounce bags of weed for the video hoes to rock. And bonus points for the second verse of the song including a “suck and fuck” reference. No one cares anymore if you get high and you’re a musician. You’re expected to. So say it all the time, even if you don’t get high, potheads just want to hear it.