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7. The Rolling Stones, Sticky Fingers
The gloriously gratuitous crotch-shot cover art might be this record's most memorable bit of innuendo, but with lyrics like "When the wind blows and the rain feels cold with a head full of snow" and "Sweet cousin cocaine, lay your cool cool hand on my head" ― not to mention a mixed bag of mash notes to heroin and morphine ― it doesn't take too many listens to hear the Stones' first album on their own label as a veritable love letter to narcotics. Right after its release, the guys avoided paying taxes by moving to the South of France, where, according to a bodyguard, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards spent most of their time figuring out how to get drugs in a foreign place. It would be another 30 years or so before Richards apparently got so bored with snorting blow the regular way that he decided to throw in some of his father's ashes as a sort of fun experiment. -- Emma Silvers
6. The Eagles, Hotel California
There were lines on the mirror / lines on her face -- so goes the Eagles' hit "Life in the Fast Lane," from their mega-popular opus Hotel California. Subtle it's not ― that particular song nor the album's account of success' sordid side in the Golden State. Literally and figuratively, this disc found the Eagles' at their career pinnacle as band members were in thrall to their personal demons ― Joe Walsh, cocaine addiction; Don Henley, coke-fueled orgies with love-by-the-hour ladies and rampaging ego; money, just about all the lads; and so on. This album was the faux-roots-y soundtrack to a generation or two's smugly mellow, upscale indulgence. -- Mark Keresman
See also:
* The Top 15 Most Cocaine-Influenced Albums of All Time, Nos. 15-11
* The Top 15 Most Cocaine-Influenced Albums of All Time, Nos. 5-1
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