Word: opium
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...France's traditionally subtle perfumes are under siege. Though the gentle Chanel No. 5 remains a bestseller, this fall's freshet of new scents was triggered by the success of Opium, which is sold under the Yves Saint Laurent label. It was so popular in Europe after its launching there in 1977 that its appearance in the U.S. had to be delayed a year for lack of supply. As it happens, Opium is marketed by a subsidiary of the Squibb Corp., the U.S. pharmaceutical firm, which pays the Yves Saint Laurent fashion house a royalty in return...
...Yves Saint Laurent perfumes, traces the taste for strong fragrances to the same craving for identity that makes people want designer names on their clothes. Says he: "The French were wrong when they failed to respond to this need." Whatever the reason, powerful scents are selling. Worldwide sales of Opium are expected to reach $80 million this year, a lot for a brand that has been out for only two years. The top-selling perfume of all, with an estimated $150 million in annual sales, remains Revlon's six-year-old Charlie...
...Opium as the opiate of the people is not a new story; blending religion, drugs and pop culture in an ancient culture is. When Allen Ginsberg made his pilgrimage to India in 1962, his influence was limited to the handful of people who read his poetry. When the Beatles headed east in 1966-68, they affected tens of millions with their celebrity and music. They also laid the foundations of the international guru business. Mehta has an impish eye for the spirit trade; a multinational convocation of celibates meets in Delhi under the motto ROYALTY is PURITY PLUS PERSONALITY; downtown...
...curious attempt to impose aural purity on his people, the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini earlier in the week had proposed that music be banned from national broadcasting. "Worse than opium," he said, "music is among the elements that stultify the mind of our youth." Television and radio officials said they would go along with the ban for the holy month but would decide later whether or not to resume normal musical programs...
Some examples are clearer than others. Keats enjoyed an occasional draft of opium, and, Dr. Ober points out, his imagery can be pharmacologically explicit ("My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk, Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains . ."). Restoration Poet John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, enshrined his premature ejaculations in The Imperfect Enjoyment. The disorder, Ober suggests may have been caused by confusion and guilt: the earl was bisexual...