That Time When David Bowie and Iggy Pop Were Caught In a Marijuana Drug Bust

U I Team
May 20
4 min read

Collage of a vintage mugshot, newspaper clipping about a rock singer's arrest, and a black-and-white photo of three people in conversation.

If you’ve ever fallen down an internet rabbit hole of famous mugshots, you’ll know the one, David Bowie in a crisp shirt, sharp cheekbones casting long shadows, hair slicked back just so. He looks less like a man facing 15 years behind bars and more like he’s posing for the cover of a new avant-garde record. But behind this iconic image lies a real incident, involving not just Bowie but also Iggy Pop, a late-night hotel suite, some undercover officers, and a brief but memorable run-in with the law.

The Night of the Show

It was 20 March 1976, and David Bowie was in the thick of his Thin White Duke era—performing in Rochester, New York, as part of his Isolar tour. By this point, Bowie was deep in his experimental Berlin-influenced phase, and while his creative output was intense, so too was his personal turmoil, punctuated by heavy cocaine use and increasing paranoia. Touring America didn’t exactly soothe those nerves.

Three people seated; one playfully holds a knife to another's neck. The third looks on amused. Background shows flowers and framed art. Black and white. — David Bowie with Iggy Pop in 1976 (Is that Ronnie Spector?)

That night, Bowie took to the stage at the Community War Memorial arena, delivering the kind of performance his fans had come to expect: slick, theatrical, captivating. But it was after the show that events took a cinematic turn. Bowie, along with fellow rock pioneer Iggy Pop and his entourage—including his bodyguard Dwain Vaughns—retired to the Flagship Americana Hotel. There, in true 1970s fashion, they threw a small party.

Bowie invited a couple of women he’d met in the hotel bar up to his suite. A familiar rock ‘n’ roll scenario—except these women weren’t star-struck fans or weekend thrill-seekers. They were undercover narcotics officers.

The Raid

In the early hours of the morning, the suite’s atmosphere shifted dramatically. Four vice-squad detectives burst through the door, and what followed was a stark contrast to the glamour of the concert hall. Bowie, Iggy Pop, Dwain Vaughns and a 20-year-old local woman were all arrested on suspicion of possessing 6.4 ounces of marijuana. At the time, this amount was enough to classify the charge as a class C felony in the state of New York, which carried a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

As the party came to an abrupt halt, Bowie’s troubles only deepened. According to later accounts, he received a phone call during this period stating that his young son, Duncan, was unwell and that his wife Angela was missing. Police, who had been watching Bowie based on a cocaine tip-off, likely knew he would be rattled. After several frantic phone calls, Bowie deduced the call had originated in Florida and was likely a hoax—just another twist in a night already spiralling into the bizarre.

A Cool Head and a Sharp Mugshot

Following the arrest, Bowie and his companions spent a brief stint in custody before being released. The mugshots were taken the following morning, and Bowie’s remains one of the most celebrated of its kind: calm, collected, impeccably dressed. You’d be forgiven for thinking he’d turned up for a press shoot rather than a booking photo.

Man in suit in a black and white mugshot with front and side views. Text reads "Police Department Rochester, N.Y. 59640 3 25 76."

Bowie paid everyone’s bail and went right back on tour, playing that very evening in Springfield, MA.

He would return to Rochester court on March 25, where he would plead not guilty on drug charges.

“Bowie and his group ignored reporters’ shouted questions and fans’ yells as he walked in—except for one teenager who got his autograph as he stepped off the escalator,” the paper reported of the scene that included a crowd of about two hundred police officers, fans, and reporters. “His biggest greeting was the screams of about a half-dozen suspected prostitutes awaiting arraignment in the rear of the corridor outside the courtroom.”

The case never went to trial. All four were released on bail and no serious charges were pursued. Bowie was philosophical in later interviews, noting, “They were just doing their job.” Still, he was quick to distance himself from the drugs, adding with typical wit and disdain:

“Rest assured the stuff was not mine. I can’t say much more, but it did belong to the others in the room that were busted in. Bloody potheads. What a dreadful irony—me popped for grass. The stuff sickens me. I haven’t touched it in a decade.”

The incident may have been a relatively small hiccup in the long arc of Bowie’s storied life, but some believe it was a pivotal moment—a wake-up call that spurred him to clean up. Indeed, just months later he moved to Berlin, where he would embark on one of the most creatively fruitful periods of his life, collaborating with Iggy Pop and Brian Eno, and producing albums like Low, “Heroes”, and Lodger.

Rediscovered Footage

For decades, the only tangible memento of the Rochester arrest was the infamous mugshot. That changed in 2018 when filmmaker Matthew Ehlers gained access to the WHEC-TV archives. Deep in the station’s basement, he uncovered a rare 16mm reel of Bowie being interviewed outside Rochester City Court. The footage shows Bowie gracious and composed, responding to questions with his signature poise, brushing off the incident without much fuss.