10 Rock Music Songs That You Didn't Know Were About Drugs

10. Kid Charlemagne - Steely Dan

No one well versed in rock music would ever call a band like Steely Dan dangerous. Given their unique brand of yacht rock and jazzy stylings, this is the kind of music that could impress both the music nerds and your grandparents all at the same time. So nice when you're bringing together people through the virtues of drug peddling.

Yeah, even though the backing track of Kid Charlemagne is smooth as hell, the actual lyrics coming from Donald Fagen are a little more dark than you realize. Being inspired by the drug culture going on in the '60s, this entire song is about a drug dealer who ends up at the top of the food chain before he has the feds on his trail by the end. Even though that would have been enough for a song like this, it actually gets a little more violent at the tail end of the song.

After the guitar solo, you get Donald talking about how the feds are coming to raid his apartment and ordering everyone to clean up any evidence so they won't get caught. And there's no real resolution either, with our hero running from the law and off into the sunset. You can imagine he's heading towards something better, but even the most nefarious drug dealers never learn, do they?