BIG PHARMA OGLES YASGUR'S FARM

THERE'S the thumping, utopian music; the hordes of bliss-seeking baby
boomers; the drug that enriches all experience. The sex. It could be the
Autumn of Love, made possible by a corporate sponsor and a prescription.

This summer, Viagra, the enormously profitable blue pill, is the official
sponsor of a concert tour by the funk band Earth, Wind & Fire. Ads for the
tour have already appeared in newspapers, including The New York Times.

The drug culture, in other words, is making friends with the drug culture.

For popular music, as for the pharmaceutical industry, this is a symbiosis
long coming.

"At first we thought it was going to be a joke or whatever," said Philip
Bailey, one of the group's singers. "Then we sat down and discussed the
facts about men's health and erectile dysfunction. It's not something to be
ashamed of, and that's part of the message."

Besides blizzards of promotional literature, Viagra and its manufacturer,
Pfizer, will offer screening tents at concerts, where fans can be tested
for high levels of blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol, all factors
in male sexual problems. As part of the sponsorship contract, the band will
encourage fans to hit the tents, but will not flog the pills from the stage.

Pfizer is "making a subtle psychological pun on the drug culture," said
Nick Bromell, a professor of American studies at the University of
Massachusetts and author of "Tomorrow Never Knows: Rock and Psychedelics in
the 1960's."

Mr. Bromell added, "Of course, they can't explicitly say, 'All you who
smoked marijuana 30 years ago are now about to get another drug that allows
you to live your life more fully.' "

Historically, rock concerts have been test markets for the drug culture,
places where new pharmacologies are marketed via word of mouth to the
unresisting masses. The infamous brown acid at Woodstock, source of so many
bad trips, did not make the grade. But Ecstasy, which fueled the all-night
rave parties of the early 90's, now courses through your local high school.
Drugs that enhance sexual opportunities have always held the upper hand.

For the new drug culture, illegal drugs have been replaced by
pharmaceuticals prescribed by doctors, yet their purpose remains in kind --
not extending life but enhancing it. As the 76 million baby boomers bring
their sense of entitlement into their declining years, drug companies have
invested heavily in quality-of-life products like Viagra, Zoloft, Prozac
and other substances that offer what used to be called attitude adjustment.

The generation that once defined itself by its appetite for sex, drugs and
rock and roll has decided what it wants when it grows up, and the answer
is: sex, drugs and rock and roll.

But, oh, what drugs. After the blind experimentation of the 1960's, the new
drug culture offers a highly calibrated menu of possibilities to induce
narrowly tailored effects. A urologist who prescribes Viagra to help men
achieve erections, for example, may add on an accompanying antidepressant,
whose side effect, a dampening of libido, also reduces premature
ejaculation. The bazaar at Woodstock was never so safe or predictable.

Yet though the drugs and fans have changed, the concerts perform the same
function, using "viral marketing" (as word-of-mouth is called today) to
whet the appetite of consumers.

And there's little mystery as to why Viagra has gotten creative in its
marketing, using concerts to target younger consumers. News of the Earth,
Wind & Fire tour comes just as two of Pfizer's competitors, Eli Lilly & Co.
and Bayer AG, are close to introducing their own drugs to treat erectile
dysfunction.

GEOFF COOK, a Pfizer spokesman, said it was only appropriate to reach out
to men as they hit their early 40's, when their testosterone levels start
to sink and their sexual worries to rise.

"We want to reach them now, instead of waiting for the public to go to the
doctor," Mr. Cook said.

Viagra has tried a similar approach sponsoring a Nascar racer, Viagra No.
6, the existence of which only lends support to what people say about guys
who drive sports cars.

Of course, every drug culture needs an anthem, and the Viagra generation
has plenty of hits to choose from. In recognition of pills' color and
shape, perhaps "Lucy in the Sky With Blue Diamonds." Or considering their
pharmacological action and the public nature of the gatherings, there's
always the Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me."

And to all those who show up at the concerts seeking nirvana, remember the
warning from Woodstock: Don't take the brown Viagra.