Damon Albarn claims heroin made him "incredibly creative and productive".
The Blur frontman – who has 14-year-old daughter Missy with partner Suzi Winstanley – battled an addiction to the deadly drug in the 1990s but claims the substance made him feel "free" and helped him become a better artist.
He said: "You know, I hate talking about this because of my daughter, my family, but for me, it was incredibly creative. It freed me up.
"If you’re talking about odysseys, then that was definitely an odyssey.
"A combination of that and playing really simple, beautiful, repetitive s**t in Africa changed me completely as a musician. I found a sense of rhythm. I somehow managed to break out of something with my voice.
"I can only say heroin was incredibly productive for me. Hand on heart."
The ‘Beetlebum’ singer – who claims to have quit heroin with the aid of just two aspirin – also claimed the drug gave his life structure because he had a strict rule banning himself from using the substance at weekends.
He explained: "I wouldn’t recommend that and I was incredibly lucky, but I did manage it. I mean, five days on and two days off is kind of mad isn’t it? It was mad.
"I became regimented during that period funnily enough. [Did heroin give my life structure?] Yes. Ha. I don’t know. It was such a long time ago now."
And despite claiming heroin helped his career, he admits there were other problems with it.
He said: "It does turn you into a very isolated person and ultimately anything you are truly dependent on is not good.
Damon first took heroin after returning from a Blur tour to the house he shared with then-girlfriend Justine Frischmann and never expected the habit to become a "problem".
He told Q magazine: "It was just what I found going on in the front room. The telly was on so I just thought, ‘Why not?’ I never imagined it would become a problem."
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Damon Albarn: Heroin made me productive
