Back in the 70?s it was a cool time to be in a band. There were wall-to-wall groupies and tons of drugs and some of the funniest, most unlikely and strangest backstage tales have come from that time. But what is it about that time that fascinates us so much ? and why do we put up with today?s ?copy-cat? rockstars.
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Take this classic story from three chord legends, Status Quo.?On tour down under, the Quo were traveling over the Australian outback when their tour bus smacked a kangaroo. Naturally the guys shuffled off the bus to see the damage and on inspection of the animal did what any other group of guys would do?they dressed the dead kangaroo in one of the guys? denim jacket, put some shades on it and posed around it for a photo to mark the moment. Trouble was, when the flash on the camera went off, the completely not-dead kangaroo leapt up and bolted in to the sunset to much shock then hilarity then utter horror as they realized the keys for the tour bus were in the pockets of the marsupial?oops.
?That?s just one of a million stories that no-one will ever know if they were true, take these other examples; Charles Manson auditioning for The Monkees; Michael Jackson bidding to buy the remains of the elephant man; Van Halen demanding their rider included a jar of M&Ms with the blue ones taken out; Freddie Mercury’s parties catered by dwarves carrying trays of cocaine.
?Renowned music journalist, Mick Wall said, “I remember reading books about Rolling Stones tours and thinking, What a life.’ Instead of going to dreary work every day, you get to do a show, jump in a limousine, get groupies, snort coke, stay up all night listening to music As a young person, that’s very appealing.”
?“If something’s gonna happen, rock ‘n’ roll is the place where it’s allowed to happen,” says Wall. “I’ve been in this business nearly 30 years and when I first went out on the road, I’d have been very disappointed if we didn’t all get slaughtered and if women and drugs weren’t involved. If someone wanted to drive a limousine into a swimming pool, that would have been fantastic.
?With artists trying to re-capture the spirit of these wild times, it just appears to be a bit pretentious. Everything is controlled by a manger, publicist, stylist and the public know it. If your in a band, the truth is your more likely to get depressed about all the media stuff you have to do, because like it or not ? they are the ones who make you famous.
?I could rant on about how much these drugged-up ?artists? are ruing the rock and roll spirit but I?ll leave yu with a story that has made me laugh each time I hear it:
?Steven Tyler, legendary frontman for Aerosmith (and one half of the toxic twins) went on stage one night and the band had decided to start the set with the song they?d finished the set with on every previous night of the tour, Steven was so out of his head on drugs that when the band finished the song, he thought the set was over, said ?thank you and goodnight? then walked off stage. Legend.
