The night Grace Slick ensured she would be fired by Jefferson Starship: “I wanted to be so out of line”
Grace Slick has always operated entirely on her own terms. Throughout her illustrious career, from performing with Jefferson Airplane to her more recent painting and artistry work, it seems as though Slick was never particularly keen to take orders from anybody. That fact is probably to be expected, given that she rose to prominence during the hippie counterculture, defined by a newfound sense of rebellion. However, Slick’s unique way of operating lasted much longer than the fleeting revolt of American hippiedom.
More so than most of their contemporaries, Jefferson Airplane were synonymous with the advent of LSD and psychedelics. Tracks like ‘White Rabbit’ became undisputed anthems of acid, with Slick’s voice providing a guiding light for the LSD trips of countless people over the years. Unsurprisingly, then, much of Slick’s post-Airplane career was plagued by drug addiction and alcoholism, often to the detriment of her performance and artistry, particularly during her time with Jefferson Starship.
Jefferson Starship rose from the ashes of Jefferson Airplane following the band’s demise in 1973. In contrast to the incredible psychedelic rebellion of Airplane, this new incarnation of the group leaned more towards mellow, middle-of-the-road soft rock and prog. This band saw Slick and company move with the times, rather than desperately hanging on to the vibrant scene of the 1960s – although, admittedly, very few Jefferson Starship tracks rival the material recorded with Jefferson Airplane.
The problems within the Jefferson Starship camp were not limited to their ever-decreasing quality of songwriting. As the years went on, Grace Slick became increasingly unpredictable and increasingly reliant on alcohol. The band had always enjoyed partaking in drugs and alcohol, but there was a sense that, with Slick, it was becoming a serious problem. For instance, the band’s bassist, Pete Sears, attested, “She’s such a beautiful person when she’s sober, a really sweet woman, but it’s like an instant change. It’s more than just being an alcoholic,” adding, “When she gets drunk, the evil forces seem to be able to take over. There’s like a demon looking at you or something. She just stares”.
Sharing a band with a demon is rarely an appealing prospect, unless you’re in the black metal business. Slick’s behaviour tended to be at odds with the soft rock stylings of Jefferson Starship. Soon, during a European tour, the wheels – or wings – began to fall off the band. At a festival in Germany in 1978, a drunk Slick refused to perform, leading to an angry audience burning down the stage and stealing the band’s equipment.
Shockingly, the tour only seemed to get worse from that point. After hiring new equipment at great expense, Slick got the band into hot water at a show in Hamburg not long after. “I decided to wear an 18th century milk maid’s dress on stage,” Slick innocently recalled years later. However, things took a turn for the worse when, “someone remarked that I looked ‘cute little Swiss miss,’ which really irked me”. In a fit of drunken rage, Slick sought to get her revenge: “I went back upstairs, put on a Nazi uniform, got drunk and did a ‘get back at you for the Second World War routine’ for the show”.
Where Slick was able to source a Nazi uniform in Hamburg at short notice remains unknown, but her motives around the stunt was much more than trying to spite whoever called her a maid. “I wanted the band to see an uncontrollable mutant,” she shared, “and I wanted to be so out of line that when I fired myself the next day nobody would object”. This tactic seemed to work, as Slick was promptly asked to leave by guitarist (and father of Slick’s child) Paul Kanter. Thankfully, Slick would soon seek help for her addiction, eventually embracing sobriety.
