Rocking in the free world: The musicians who took drugs to the White House
Sex, drugs, and rock and roll, so goes the saying. But what happens when you throw politics into the mix? Government, drugs, and rock and roll don’t quite have the same ring to it, yet a number of artists have looked to combine the three in the White House. Perhaps emboldened by fame or thrill, several musicians have attempted and succeeded in their quests to sneak illegal substances into America’s most famous house. Here, we’ve collated just a few of those stories.
Two of those instances took place during the presidency of Richard Nixon, which lasted from early 1969 to the summer of 1974. The US were coming to the end of the psychedelic craze, which culminated with Woodstock in 1969. Characterised by psychedelic rock, hippie counterculture, sexual liberation, and drug use, it was any government’s nightmare.
At the centre of this movement were Jefferson Airplane, a pioneering psych-rock band who advocated for LSD. In one instance, this psychedelic obsession made its way to the White House. Invited to attend a Finch alumni gathering by Nixon’s daughter, Tricia, Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick planned to sneak LSD into the event. She recalled to Phyllis Pollack in 2009, “I got an invitation in the mail. ‘Grace Wing, we cordially invite you to a tea… Tricia Nixon at the White House.’ And I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I think Tricky Dick needs a little acid.’”
Despite being a leading figure of the counterculture, Slick had managed to receive an invitation under her surname. However, she didn’t quite make it past the doorway – Slick brought with her 600 micrograms of LSD and activist Abbie Hoffman, the latter of which got her swiftly turned away. Recognising Hoffman at the door, they were turned away for posing a security risk.
While Nixon was still in office, The Turtles managed a slightly more successful, albeit intoxicated, trip to the White House. Despite their disdain for his politics, the band were invited as a result of Tricia Nixon’s actions. The president’s daughter was a huge The Turtles fan, so they were invited to the White House to perform for her.
As Howard Kaylan recalled it in Shell Shocked: My Life with The Turtles, Flo and Eddie and Frank Zappa, via Ultimate Classic Rock, the band were given President Lincoln’s library as a dressing room: “It was amazing. We were loaded – high from smoking pot back at the hotel and a wee bit tipsy from all the French champagne that was being freely dispensed – and we were roaming around the most important home in America unsupervised”.
Two presidents later, the drug-fuelled shenanigans of musicians at the White House were still ongoing. While Jimmy Carter was in office, from 1977 to 1981, progressive country legend and marijuana legalisation advocate Willie Nelson took a trip to the White House. Asked if he rolled a joint on the roof of the building in an interview with CNN, Nelson maintained that he rolled it before he got up there, before joking that he “should’ve been” afraid.
Snoop Dogg has also claimed to have smoked at the White House or, more specifically, in a bathroom. On GGN: The Double G News Network, he recalled to Jimmy Kimmel, “I said, ‘Look, when I do No. 2, I usually, you know, have a cigarette or I light something to get the aroma right”. The security officials allowed him to light a piece of napkin, but Snoop Dogg had other ideas. Promising them he would do that, he apparently lit up a blunt instead.
It’s an odd phenomenon spanning genres and decades, from 1960s psych to 1970s country to 1990s rap. Whether the artists see it as a covert form of rebellion or simply want to prove that they can get away with it, it certainly makes for some interesting stories.
