Styx Crash White House Briefing Room, Field Obama Questions

Styx made a surprise appearance at the White House Briefing Room in Washington, DC, yesterday after press secretary Robert Gibbs ended his daily briefing, the Huffington Post reports. The band was in town for tonight's concert at the Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, and spent their day off taking a private tour of the president's mansion.

When asked whether Styx had plans to meet President Obama while they were at the White House, keyboardist Lawrence Gowan joked, "If I have time." Gowan added that he voted for Obama in the last election, but since he is Canadian, his vote was rescinded. The HuffPo describes a joyous scene when Styx took the podium, with "correspondents chatting like their youth had been restored" and the press going "crazy" while reciting the lyrics to "Come Sail Away" to one another.

Styx's Gowan, guitarist Tommy Shaw and drummer Todd Sucherman all fielded questions from the press corp, who were likely thrilled to have a break from queries about Iran and the recession. At one point, when asked how Obama has done thus far with his administration, Sucherman reportedly responded by giving a thumbs up. The band revealed they'd heard rumors that their music was on Obama's iPod, but they could not "substantiate that claim," Sucherman said. To see what music is actually on Obama's iPod, check out Rolling Stone's feature on what Barack rocks to in the White House.

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Song Stories

“All Along the Watchtower”

The Jimi Hendrix Experience | 1968

Jimi Hendrix got hold of Bob Dylan's early John Wesley Harding tapes and in late 1967 recorded a version of "All Along the Watchtower" with the Experience in London. Dissatisfied with that first development, Hendrix brought those tapes with him to New York in early 1968 when he began work on Electric Ladyland. Eddie Kramer, Hendrix's engineer at the time, told Rolling Stone that Hendrix "was still looked upon by his basically white audience as the mammoth black guitar hero. There was a constant fight within him to expand himself." Hendrix's successful take on Dylan's work has long been recognized by the songwriter. "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way," Dylan wrote in the liner notes to his Biograph box set. "Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

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