10 Songs You Didn't Know Were About Drugs

10. A Passage to Bangkok - Rush

Rush have always been a band known for painting sonic pictures through their music. Every time the band released an album, you could count on a gargantuan cut from the record that could take you everywhere from the deep depths of space to the scenic beauty of Middle Earth. "A Passage to Bangkok" sounds like it should be one of those songs on the surface, but the real meat of the song is a bit more mind expanding.

Though the track is initially about travelling into the exotic Eastern countryside, Neil Peart has also been candid about the song's lyrics being written about the freedom of smoking weed. Even when putting together the basic track of the song, the band even found time to put in the simulated sound of someone taking a long toke before Alex Lifeson fires off his solo.

While the greater music public may not have got it, the band's core audience certainly did, with the band themselves noting the aromatic change in the audience whenever they played the song live.

Back then, Rush were known as the thinking man's rock band, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with writing a simple ode to the pleasures of getting high. After this album, Rush began to get more broader with their lyrics, but this stoned-out hard rocker speaks to every single slacker kid growing up in the 1970's.