Today is a big day as stoners everywhere prepare to party. April 20, or 4/20 in date notation, has become a counterculture throw-down on par with the major holidays for some. According to Brad "Daddy X" Xavier, front-man for notorious rap-rock stoners Kottonmouth Kings, who are dropping their 11th album today, "420 represents personal choice and personal freedom. It is like Christmas for stoners, a time to come together and fire it up."
While X points out in an Exclaim! interview that "420 is a worldwide code for blazing weed," the actual origins of the term are known to few, many mistakenly explaining it as everything from the number of active chemicals in marijuana to police code for smoking in progress. However, those who first coined the term finally came forward in 1997 to set the record straight with High Times magazine. And the culprits? A handful of teenagers from San Rafael High School in San Rafael, CA, who, in 1971, started to use 420 as a quick code to discuss their after-school meetings at 4:20 p.m., in order to search for a crop of cannabis rumoured to have been abandoned near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast Guard Station.
The Waldos, as they called themselves, searched for weeks but to no avail, and since they smoked each time before they began the search (and likely during and after, too), "420" soon started to refer to getting high, at any time. The term was likely further spread by the Grateful Dead, who would have heard of it through the manager of one of their side-projects, Too Loose to Truck, the manager being an older brother of one of the Waldos. When High Times found the term they ran with it and popularized it worldwide, especially with events such as the World Hemp Expo Extravaganza and the Cannabis Cup.
Despite this worldwide notoriety and mainstreaming of 420, the holiday is still primarily a North American event for celebrations that included everything from political rallies and concerts to small, simple gatherings of people who just want to get high together. Daddy X usually falls within the latter category: "We get all our friends together with their best strains and we have a 420 barbecue. Good food and good vibes. There is a tribal aspect to gathering around the fire and passing the joint around."
But for X, this year will be different. "This year we have a record coming out, so we are doing a record release party at the Roxy in Hollywood," Daddy X explains. "When we saw that 420 fell on a Tuesday, the day records are released to stores, we thought that the gods are smiling on us."
Long Live the Kings marks 15 years together for X, D-Loc, Johnny Richter, Lou Dog, Taxman and DJ Bobby B, collectively knows as Kottonmouth Kings, and it also celebrates the addition of motor-mouthed new member the Dirtball to the fold. On Long Live the Kings, which is being released via Suburban Noize, KMK salutes the U.S. military with "American Made" and gives the middle finger to cops with "Fuck the Police" alongside Insane Clown Posse, but best believe the crew are still on the front lines in the fight for legalization with stoner anthems like "Reefer Madness" and "Let's Do Drugs."
Kottonmouth Kings would likely want you to pick up and play Long Live the Kings today, but for those who need a little bit more 420 music, Daddy X offers up his professional advice.
Daddy X's Top Ten Tracks to Get Stoned to on 4/20:
Kottonmouth Kings - "Proud to Be a Stoner"
Bob Marley - "Kaya"
Sublime - "Badfish"
Cypress Hill - "Hits From the Bong"
Tom Petty - "Last Dance with Mary Jane"
Jack Johnson - "Pirate Looks at 40"
Slightly Stoopid - "Collie Man"
Steve Miller Band - "The Joker"
Rick James - "Mary Jane"
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (any or all tracks)
While X points out in an Exclaim! interview that "420 is a worldwide code for blazing weed," the actual origins of the term are known to few, many mistakenly explaining it as everything from the number of active chemicals in marijuana to police code for smoking in progress. However, those who first coined the term finally came forward in 1997 to set the record straight with High Times magazine. And the culprits? A handful of teenagers from San Rafael High School in San Rafael, CA, who, in 1971, started to use 420 as a quick code to discuss their after-school meetings at 4:20 p.m., in order to search for a crop of cannabis rumoured to have been abandoned near the Point Reyes Peninsula Coast Guard Station.
The Waldos, as they called themselves, searched for weeks but to no avail, and since they smoked each time before they began the search (and likely during and after, too), "420" soon started to refer to getting high, at any time. The term was likely further spread by the Grateful Dead, who would have heard of it through the manager of one of their side-projects, Too Loose to Truck, the manager being an older brother of one of the Waldos. When High Times found the term they ran with it and popularized it worldwide, especially with events such as the World Hemp Expo Extravaganza and the Cannabis Cup.
Despite this worldwide notoriety and mainstreaming of 420, the holiday is still primarily a North American event for celebrations that included everything from political rallies and concerts to small, simple gatherings of people who just want to get high together. Daddy X usually falls within the latter category: "We get all our friends together with their best strains and we have a 420 barbecue. Good food and good vibes. There is a tribal aspect to gathering around the fire and passing the joint around."
But for X, this year will be different. "This year we have a record coming out, so we are doing a record release party at the Roxy in Hollywood," Daddy X explains. "When we saw that 420 fell on a Tuesday, the day records are released to stores, we thought that the gods are smiling on us."
Long Live the Kings marks 15 years together for X, D-Loc, Johnny Richter, Lou Dog, Taxman and DJ Bobby B, collectively knows as Kottonmouth Kings, and it also celebrates the addition of motor-mouthed new member the Dirtball to the fold. On Long Live the Kings, which is being released via Suburban Noize, KMK salutes the U.S. military with "American Made" and gives the middle finger to cops with "Fuck the Police" alongside Insane Clown Posse, but best believe the crew are still on the front lines in the fight for legalization with stoner anthems like "Reefer Madness" and "Let's Do Drugs."
Kottonmouth Kings would likely want you to pick up and play Long Live the Kings today, but for those who need a little bit more 420 music, Daddy X offers up his professional advice.
Daddy X's Top Ten Tracks to Get Stoned to on 4/20:
Kottonmouth Kings - "Proud to Be a Stoner"
Bob Marley - "Kaya"
Sublime - "Badfish"
Cypress Hill - "Hits From the Bong"
Tom Petty - "Last Dance with Mary Jane"
Jack Johnson - "Pirate Looks at 40"
Slightly Stoopid - "Collie Man"
Steve Miller Band - "The Joker"
Rick James - "Mary Jane"
Pink Floyd - The Dark Side of the Moon (any or all tracks)
