With each album, Harry Styles expands his musical palette. While some of that evolution can certainly be chalked up to Styles’ personal growth as a musician, he hasn’t been shy about his use of illicit materials as songwriting inspiration in the past.
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While making his second studio album, Fine Line, Styles tried his hand at “magic mushrooms.” He credits the hallucinogen for pushing his creative bounds. Read more about Styles’ foray into “shrooms,” below.
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‘Fine Line’ – The Album Harry Styles Made While on Mushrooms
Fine Line saw Styles move away from the classic rock-inspired sound we heard on his debut album. He got a little more experimental, which was likely down to the use of drugs. According to Styles, he and his writing partners would take edibles, put on a record, and absorb all the creativity that proccess provided.
“We’d do mushrooms, lie down on the grass, and listen to Paul McCartney’s Ram in the sunshine,” Styles once said of making Fine Line at Rick Rubin’s Shangri-La studio. The pursuit expounded upon Styles’ talents. In the end, he was left with a rich and impressive work that remains one of his best to date.
It wasn’t all just fun and games though. Styles didn’t walk away unscathed. While speaking on all the fond memories he has of making Fine Line, he mentioned a time in which the edibles made him bite off the tip of his tongue.
“We were doing mushrooms and I bit off the tip of my tongue,” Styles continued in the same interview. “So I was trying to sing with all this blood gushing out of my mouth. So many fond memories, this place.”
Fine Line ultimately went No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. It seems Styles’ brush with drug culture paid off. Revisit the album, below.
(Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
