Metal Insider’s Top 5 is a column where we count down the top five of…well basically anything.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKBRJ8sD31c[/youtube]
Last Saturday (March 10), iwrestledabearonce incited a mini-riot during their performance at the I’m on a Boat Festival in Long Beach, CA after singer Krysta Cameron had a run in with security earlier that night. And last Wednesday (March 7), fans seeing Suffocation in Moscow, Russia were treated to a female fan jumping onstage and flashing the crowd (video of which can be seen above). Of course, metal and rock shows are no strangers to mini-riots or flashers (though the latter is not often seen at a death metal show). So with that in mind, we decided to list the top 5 craziest incidents that occurred onstage.
Note: in the interest of good taste and decorum, we’re not counting any incidents when anyone died as a result.
5. Kirk Hammett Knocks Out A Little Kid
Metallica were performing in Sydney, Australia in November, 2010. Like with every show, large black balloons fell from the ceiling as the band performed “Seek And Destroy” with the house lights on. Unfortunately for guitarist Kirk Hammett, though, the stage manager and dressing coordinator’s young daughter was standing on the stage. What resulted was Hammett accidently kicking a balloon and knocking the girl off stage. It’s an incident Hammett likely wishes everyone would forget, but the memory remains thanks to YouTube. Luckily for him, though, the little girl didn’t hold a grudge.
4. James Heftield Gets Burned/Ace Frehley Gets Shocked
Nothing livens up a stage show like some cool pyrotechnics. On the other hand, nothing can ruin a show like wandering into them. That’s what happened to James Hetfield in 1992 in Montreal during their tour with Guns N’ Roses. During “Fade to Black,” a pyrotechnic went off, causing him second and third degree burns on the left side of his body. His hand, arm, eyebrows, face and hair were burned. While he returned to the stage just 17 days later, Metal Church guitarist John Marshall played the guitar parts for the rest of the tour. That was far from the first time a stage mishap caused injury to a musician, however. In December of 1976, KISS was playing a show at the Lakeland Civic center in Florida, and during the first song, guitarist Ace Frehley touched a metal staircase railing, electrocuting him and knocking him to the ground. While he returned to the stage a half an hour later to finish the show, he said he had no feeling in his hand. There was a happy ending, however. It encouraged him to write a song about it, and “Shock Me” was the first KISS song to feature Ace on lead vocals.
3. Sebastian Bach Throws Bottle At Fan
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndf9LpweaE0[/youtube]
Skid Row was opening for Aerosmith in 1989 when the now infamous “bottle incident” occurred. During the tour’s stop in Springfield, MA, a fan threw a bottle onstage during Skid Row’s set. Upset, Bach called out the heckler and threw the bottle back into the crowd. However, Bach missed and ended up hitting a young female fan in the face. And unfortunately for him, video of the entire altercation was found and used against him court. The singer was arrested for the incident and received three years of probation. Fortunately, though, Bach has since learned his lesson… oh, wait.
2. L7 Throws A Tampon Into Crowd
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sztbB3-6IXk[/youtube]
Bands have their own ways to handle rowdy crowds during technical difficulties onstage. For the female grunge group L7, their way is a little less hygienic. “Eat my used tampon,” guitarist Donita Sparks screamed as she removed her (you guessed it) tampon onstage and threw it into the Reading Festival crowd in 1992. Did it stop the UK festival crowd from throwing mud onstage? Not sure, but it definitely left a lasting impression.
1. Everything GG Allin Did
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsntmzzWti8[/youtube]
No seriously, there are way too many things that GG Allin did onstage to even list. Don’t believe us? Just watch the video above of Allin and The Murder Junkies performing in Atlanta, GA in 1991. Then watch video of GG Allin storming the streets of New York after the electricity goes out during what would be his last gig before overdosing below.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F9yk8X1TAw[/youtube]
