There's always been a dark side to the career of John Cale, whose 70th birthday we celebrate this Friday (9 March).
Going to America, founding The Velvet Underground and being part of the Factory, Cale and his bandmates were around drugs all the time. He indulged, as he freely admits.
In this video from the BBC archive, Cale talks about his own life and drugs, and about the situation his home country finds itself in:
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