Why Music Sounds Better High: The Science Explained

The Universal Experience You’ve Probably Had

You’re settled into your favorite spot, you’ve just enjoyed some cannabis, and you decide to put on an album you’ve heard a hundred times. Suddenly, it’s like you’re hearing it for the first time. The bass feels deeper, more physical. You notice a guitar riff buried in the mix that you’d never caught before. The vocalist’s emotion hits you right in the chest. You might even find yourself tearing up at a song you’d normally just bop your head to.

If this sounds familiar, you’re far from alone. According to a 2025 study published in the International Journal of Audiology, 45% of cannabis users report that listening to music is their most common activity while high—making it the single most popular enhanced experience. Sixty percent report greater hearing sensitivity when using cannabis.

From jazz musicians in 1920s New Orleans to the psychedelic rock explosion of the 1960s to modern hip-hop producers, cannabis and music have been intertwined throughout modern history.

But here’s the question that rarely gets asked: why? What’s actually happening in your brain that makes a familiar song feel revelatory, or transforms a good beat into a full-body experience?

The answer involves how your brain processes time, sound, and emotion—all of which change when you use cannabis. Researchers even found a surprising paradox using brain scans that helps explain everything.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

• What happens in your brain when you listen to music while high
• Why your emotional response to music gets stronger
• How to pick the right strain for different listening experiences
• The 100-year history of cannabis and music culture

The Science Explained

How Cannabis Affects Your Auditory Processing

To understand why music sounds different when you’re high, we need to look at where THC actually goes in your brain.

Your brain has receptors (called CB1 receptors) in the exact areas that process music:

• The auditory cortex: Where you hear and understand sounds
• The hippocampus: Where you recognize patterns and form memories
• The amygdala: Where you feel emotions
• The prefrontal cortex: Where you focus your attention

When THC attaches to these receptors, it changes how these areas talk to each other. Think of it like a mixing board in a studio—the same sounds come in, but the balance between them shifts.

Dr. Jörg Fachner at Anglia Ruskin University has studied this closely. Using brain scans, he found that cannabis changes activity in the right side of the brain—the side that sees the big picture and finds patterns [Fachner & Rittner, 2011].

As Fachner puts it: “Cannabis seems to shift attention toward the more spatial qualities of music.” In plain terms, you’re not just hearing the notes—you’re feeling the texture of sound.

The Brain Paradox: Less Activity, More Desire

Here’s where it gets fascinating. A landmark 2018 fMRI study from the University of Bath discovered something that seems to contradict the enhanced experience users report:

Cannabis actually dampens brain activity in the regions that process musical reward.

Using brain imaging on 16 cannabis users, researchers found that THC reduced neural responses to music in:

• The bilateral auditory cortex (where sound is processed)
• The right hippocampus (memory and pattern recognition)
• The right amygdala (emotional processing)
• The right ventral striatum (reward center)

Yet paradoxically, the same participants reported increased subjective ratings of “wanting to listen to music more” when they were high.

How do we explain this? The researchers think cannabis doesn’t make your brain work harder—it makes it work smarter. Your brain does less work but extracts more meaning. It’s like upgrading from a loud old engine to a quiet, powerful one.

This also explains why music feels different high, not just louder. Cannabis changes how your brain handles music, not just how much it responds.

Time Perception: The Key to Musical Immersion

One of the biggest ways cannabis changes music is through time perception. Studies show that people who are high think more time has passed than really has—researchers call this “temporal dilation” [Sewell et al., 2013].

Think of time like frames in a film. Normally you see about 24 “frames” per second. When you’re high, it’s like that number goes up. You catch more moments, more details, in the same amount of real time.

For music, this means:

• More space between notes: The gaps between sounds feel longer, so you notice each element more
• Better anticipation: You feel more buildup before a beat drops or chorus hits
• Deeper immersion: The present moment stretches out, letting you sink into the music

A study in Psychopharmacology found that people on THC always thought more time had passed than really had [Sewell et al., 2013]. Scientists called this “impairment.” But for music? It’s a feature, not a bug—you get more experience packed into every minute.

Why Emotions Hit Harder

Music moves us because it triggers emotions. Cannabis turns up that emotional volume.

The amygdala (your brain’s emotion center) has lots of CB1 receptors. When THC activates them, emotions come through stronger—but anxiety drops at the same time [Rabinak et al., 2012]. You become more open to feeling the music and less guarded against it.

You know those “chills” you get from a perfect song moment? Research from McGill University shows they come from dopamine release in your brain’s reward system [Salimpoor et al., 2011]. Cannabis also affects dopamine, which may explain why those peak moments hit even harder when you’re high.

There’s another piece too. Cannabis quiets your “default mode network”—the part of your brain that’s always thinking about yourself and wandering off. When that quiets down, you’re less stuck in your own head and more present with the music. It’s like what experienced meditators describe: the wall between “you” and “the music” starts to dissolve.

The Cultural History: A Century-Long Love Affair

The cannabis-music connection isn’t just neurochemistry—it’s deeply embedded in cultural history, spanning nearly 100 years of documented musical evolution.

Jazz and the Birth of a Partnership (1920s-1940s)

In the 1920s and 1930s, cannabis (then commonly called “reefer,” “muggles,” or “tea”) became closely associated with jazz musicians in New Orleans and Harlem. During Prohibition, clubs called “teapads” emerged where jazz was played and cannabis was openly consumed—a legal gray area that offered an alternative to alcohol.

Louis Armstrong was the most famous fan. He recorded “Muggles” in 1928—one of the first cannabis songs in music history. He stayed a fan his whole life, once writing that cannabis “makes you feel good, man… it relaxes you.”

Cab Calloway’s “Reefer Man” (1932) and Fats Waller’s “Viper’s Drag” were open about it. (“Viper” became slang for a cannabis smoker.) Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie were all part of this scene.

Jazz was the perfect match for cannabis. The music is all about feeling the moment and going where creativity takes you. Cannabis effects on time and pattern recognition may have helped musicians explore the spaces between beats.

The Psychedelic Rock Revolution (1960s-1970s)

The 1960s saw cannabis cross cultural boundaries and become inseparable from rock and roll. The pivotal moment came in 1964 when Bob Dylan introduced cannabis to The Beatles at the Delmonico Hotel in New York. The band’s subsequent evolution—from “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to “Tomorrow Never Knows” to the sprawling experimentation of Sgt. Pepper’s—traced a clear arc of cannabis-influenced creativity.

Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” Pink Floyd’s extended compositions, and the Grateful Dead’s improvised “jam band” format all emerged from this era. Music was created by and for cannabis-enhanced listeners.

This era birthed the concept album—music specifically designed for immersive, sequential listening. The idea that an album should be experienced as a complete journey, not just a collection of singles, perfectly complemented the enhanced attention and temporal expansion of the cannabis experience.

Reggae and Spiritual Connection

No discussion of cannabis and music is complete without reggae. Unlike the recreational associations in jazz and rock, reggae’s relationship with cannabis is spiritual—rooted in the Rastafari movement’s use of “ganja” as a sacrament.

Bob Marley became the global face of both reggae and cannabis culture, with songs like “Kaya” and “Easy Skanking” celebrating the herb. For Rastafarians, cannabis isn’t about getting high—it’s about meditation, spiritual connection, and “reasoning” (thoughtful discussion).

Hip-Hop and Modern Production (1990s-Present)

Cannabis became central to hip-hop culture in the early 1990s, particularly with the release of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic (1992)—an album whose title and cover art explicitly referenced cannabis. Snoop Dogg, appearing throughout the album, would become perhaps the most visible cannabis advocate in modern music.

From Cypress Hill to Wiz Khalifa to modern artists, cannabis references in hip-hop have evolved from countercultural statements to mainstream celebration. The genre’s emphasis on bass-heavy production, intricate rhythmic patterns, and layered samples aligns remarkably well with how cannabis affects auditory perception.

Modern producers often report using cannabis during mixing, finding that it helps them hear subtle details in the frequency spectrum and make more intuitive creative decisions.

Practical Implications: Optimizing Your Listening Experience

Understanding the science behind cannabis and music appreciation can help you curate better listening sessions. Here’s how to apply what we know:

Consider Your High Family

Different cannabis profiles create different listening experiences. Based on the terpene chemistry of the High Families, here’s what you might expect:

Uplift High strains (high in limonene and linalool) may be ideal for:

• Energetic, feel-good music
• Social listening sessions
• Discovering new music with an open, positive mindset

Relax High strains (myrcene-dominant) might enhance:

• Ambient and atmospheric music
• Deep listening to complex albums
• Late-night, introspective sessions

Entourage High strains with complex terpene profiles could provide:

• Nuanced appreciation of production details
• Enhanced emotional range
• Full-spectrum musical immersion

Set and Setting Matter

The same principles that apply to psychedelic experiences apply to cannabis-enhanced listening:

• Quality audio: Your enhanced perception will notice the difference between compressed streaming and high-quality audio
• Minimal distractions: Give yourself permission to just listen, without scrolling or multitasking
• Comfortable environment: Physical comfort allows you to focus on the sonic experience
• Intentional selection: Choose music that matches your desired experience

The Dosing Sweet Spot

Research suggests that lower to moderate doses of THC tend to enhance music appreciation more than high doses [Green et al., 2003]. Very high doses may increase anxiety or cause cognitive overload that detracts from the experience.

Start with a comfortable dose and give yourself time to settle in before pressing play. The goal is enhancement, not overwhelming alteration.

The Creativity Connection

Many musicians report that cannabis helps them not just appreciate music, but create it. While the research here is more limited, some studies suggest cannabis may enhance divergent thinking—the ability to generate multiple solutions to open-ended problems [Schafer et al., 2012].

For musicians, this might manifest as:

• Hearing unexpected chord progressions
• Finding novel rhythmic patterns
• Making intuitive leaps between musical ideas

However, it’s worth noting that cannabis may impair the convergent thinking needed to refine and execute those ideas. Many artists report using cannabis for brainstorming and initial creation, then returning to edit and polish while sober.

Key Takeaways

• Altered time perception is central to the enhanced music experience—you’re subjectively experiencing more moments within each passage of music
• CB1 receptors in auditory and emotional brain regions modulate how you process and respond to sound
• Reduced default mode network activity may help you become more present and immersed in the listening experience
• The cultural connection between cannabis and music spans nearly a century of documented history across multiple genres
• Different cannabis profiles (High Families) may complement different types of music and listening intentions
• Moderate dosing tends to enhance appreciation more than high doses

FAQs

Does cannabis actually improve hearing or musical ability? No—cannabis doesn’t enhance your physical hearing or make you a better musician. What it does is alter how your brain processes and experiences the auditory information you receive. You’re hearing the same sound waves; your brain is just interpreting them differently.

Why do some people not enjoy music while high? Individual responses to cannabis vary significantly based on genetics, tolerance, set and setting, and the specific cannabis profile consumed. Some people may experience anxiety or overstimulation that detracts from music enjoyment. If this happens to you, try a lower dose, a different strain (perhaps something from the Balance High family), or a more controlled listening environment.

Is there a “best” genre of music to listen to while high? Research hasn’t identified a universally “best” genre—it’s highly personal. That said, music with rich production, dynamic range, and emotional depth tends to be most enhanced. Many listeners gravitate toward genres like electronic, psychedelic rock, jazz, classical, and hip-hop. The best music to listen to high is ultimately whatever moves you.

Can listening to music while high become a habit that diminishes sober enjoyment? There’s no research suggesting that cannabis-enhanced listening diminishes sober music appreciation. However, like any pleasurable activity, it’s worth maintaining balance. Many enthusiasts find that alternating between enhanced and sober listening keeps both experiences fresh.

Sources

Darakjian, L., et al. (2025). “Exploring the interaction between cannabis and music.” International Journal of Audiology. PMC12448268

Freeman, T.P., et al. (2018). “Cannabis Dampens the Effects of Music in Brain Regions Sensitive to Reward and Emotion.” International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. PMC5795345

Fachner, J., & Rittner, S. (2011). “Ethno therapy, music and trance: An EEG investigation into a sound-trance induction.” Music, Health, and Wellbeing. Oxford University Press.

Lo, C.Y. (2023). “Cannabis, Altered States, Impact on Auditory Perception and Absorption.” Toronto Metropolitan University. NeuroMusic Conference

Salimpoor, V.N., et al. (2011). “Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music.” Nature Neuroscience. PMID: 21217764

Sewell, R.A., et al. (2013). “Acute effects of THC on time perception in frequent and infrequent cannabis users.” Psychopharmacology. PMID: 22038538

Bhattacharyya, S., et al. (2024). “Intoxication due to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol is characterized by disrupted prefrontal cortex activity.” Neuropsychopharmacology. Nature