When rock n' roll was dangerous

[PopTodd]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E4TcHOlHZc

[tinnitus photography]

for the audience, and performer (~0:49)...the greatest live band in the history of music. so glad i got to see 'em again last year.

 

[LouisvilleGreg]

David Yow: "Nice shot, dick"

 

I've seen some fairly out of control Jesus Lizard shows and yes they were one of rock's all-time great live bands, but their shows seemed tame to a few others that come to mind. I saw an Eye Hate God and Anal Cunt double bill that involved lots of flying glass and bottles and all kinds of fights that ended in blood. I saw the singer from the Candy Snatchers, a great garage rock band from VA Beach cut themselves into a bloody mess and set their instruments on fire on stage. A small noise band from Richmond called PCP Roadblock had multiple shows end with police busting them up as the band trashed windows and equipment and threw blood and urine on the crowd on occasion. Never saw GG, but PCP was close enough.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

David Yow: "Nice shot, dick"

 

David Yow...wow. Haven't thought of him in years.

 

Always thought he looked like cross between David Baerwald, Bono and Iggy Pop.

[tinnitus photography]

David Yow: "Nice shot, dick"

 

I've seen some fairly out of control Jesus Lizard shows and yes they were one of rock's all-time great live bands, but their shows seemed tame to a few others that come to mind. I saw an Eye Hate God and Anal Cunt double bill that involved lots of flying glass and bottles and all kinds of fights that ended in blood. I saw the singer from the Candy Snatchers, a great garage rock band from VA Beach cut themselves into a bloody mess and set their instruments on fire on stage. A small noise band from Richmond called PCP Roadblock had multiple shows end with police busting them up as the band trashed windows and equipment and threw blood and urine on the crowd on occasion. Never saw GG, but PCP was close enough.

 

i saw Anal Cunt a few years ago but it was pretty lowkey. only time i've seen fire on stage was when Gibby dumped a third of a bottle of lighter fluid into an inverted cymbal, lit it, and hit it, sending the flames to the ceiling. this was a long time pre-Great White (probably 91 or so) but i was eyeing the exits in case i needed to use it. those two Butthole Surfers shows were also extremely warped, and menacing.

[LouisvilleGreg]

I love the bands that I've seen heavily the past decade or so: Wilco, MMJ, Springsteen, Lucero, DBTs, etc; but there is very little in the way of true spontaneity at any of those shows. Being reared in punk rock, before it was commercial the unexpected could and often times did happen. Stage diving in the days before Pearl Jam was a dangerous thing, band members coming into the audience with their instruments was a dangerous thing, random fists to the face were frighteningly common, especially at local all ages shows. I don't necessarily miss all of these things, but to me a truly great rock show needs to have that kind of feeling to it, like the wheels may come off at any moment, whether on stage or off, but preferably when the barrier between the two comes down all together.

[The High Heat]

With careful planning, rock 'n' roll can still be dangerous.

[tinnitus photography]

I love the bands that I've seen heavily the past decade or so: Wilco, MMJ, Springsteen, Lucero, DBTs, etc; but there is very little in the way of true spontaneity at any of those shows. Being reared in punk rock, before it was commercial the unexpected could and often times did happen. Stage diving in the days before Pearl Jam was a dangerous thing, band members coming into the audience with their instruments was a dangerous thing, random fists to the face were frighteningly common, especially at local all ages shows. I don't necessarily miss all of these things, but to me a truly great rock show needs to have that kind of feeling to it, like the wheels may come off at any moment, whether on stage or off, but preferably when the barrier between the two comes down all together.

 

one of the main reasons i am bummed i never caught a Black Flag show when they were in their prime.

[Moss]

I always thought a GG Allin show would have been scary as hell. I would rather get hit with a fist than flying shit.

 

My days of being up front taking a doc martin to the dome are pretty much over.

[bjorn_skurj]

I saw Black Flag twice in the spring of 1986 - holy shit, did those dudes rock. The craziest mosh pits I ever were in were a Bad Brains show at Bard College at some point in the '80s and a 1989 Ramones show at Vassar College. In the latter, I lost a watch and a bag of weed.

[LouisvilleGreg]

better to lose a bag of weed than an eye.

[bjorn_skurj]

True, but I didn't think that way at the time. I was damned near inconsolable.

[LouisvilleGreg]

rock and roll was very dangerous to me one day in 1991, when I decided to (unknowingly to the crowd) jump off of a balcony at a laser tag place that did punk shows here in Louisville. A great local band, Undermine was playing and the mood hit me, and then whack I hit some poor guy and then the floor. I knocked myself out for 10-15 seconds, but the whole ordeal seemed to impress some girls who largely ignored me up to that point, so I guess it was worth it.

[bjorn_skurj]

Oh yeah - then there was the time I fucked up my knee in a Dead Milkmen mosh pit.

[Lammycat]

I saw Black Flag twice in the spring of 1986 - holy shit, did those dudes rock. The craziest mosh pits I ever were in were a Bad Brains show at Bard College at some point in the '80s and a 1989 Ramones show at Vassar College. In the latter, I lost a watch and a bag of weed.

 

Saw Bad Brains/Meat Puppets show in VA in late 80s. Amazing. HR knows how to rile a crowd. Though Butthole Surfers shows I caught in that era were twice as chaotic.

 

Oh yeah - then there was the time I fucked up my knee in a Dead Milkmen mosh pit.

Caught them and King Missile once in VA. King Missile, still memorable all these years later, did Skynyrd's "Tuesdays Gone" while John Hall wore a gas mask singin it. Fantastic,.

[moxiebean]

I saw Black Flag twice in the spring of 1986 - holy shit, did those dudes rock. The craziest mosh pits I ever were in were a Bad Brains show at Bard College at some point in the '80s and a 1989 Ramones show at Vassar College. In the latter, I lost a watch and a bag of weed.

I lost my shirt at a Ramones show sometime in the late 1980's.

[Basil II]

one of the main reasons i am bummed i never caught a Black Flag show when they were in their prime.

 

 

Meat Puppets were danger to young minds!?!

 

-Robert

[howdjadoo]

First ever Stones "concert" outside the UK

 

 

 

[PopTodd]

Well, as long as the original intent of the thread has long gone by the wayside, I will hop in to the (very cool) new direction it has taken:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8dC9M6OCkE

[stooka]

multi-thread worthy