Before rock ‘n’ roll hit its peak as a large factor of the 1960s counterculture movement, music was largely appreciated quietly at concerts or clubs, where intensification only resulted in more dancing. During the 1960s, as the War In Vietnam dragged on and civil rights seemed a silly idea, a hippie movement erupted with social and political instability and disenchantment in the Western world.
The hippies of the 1960s created a shift in mainstream music and fashion that frequently drove avant-garde over the edge into the absurd.
Below are the 5 Criminally Crazy Rockstar Antics Onstage:
Inappropriate display of Jim Morrison
The legendary concert is often seen as the origin of The Doors’ demise. Morrison had already been drinking extensively all day and had delayed a scheduled flight to Miami. Morrison arrived an hour late, and the inadequately vented venue was crowded with irritated supporters. The audience seemed uninterested all through the bad intoxicated show, so Morrison responded by confronting them: “You’re all a bunch of fuckin’ idiots!”
As fans ascended to the podium, the temperature went up, both metaphorically and literally. Morrison is said to have exposed himself to the madding audience while bewildered. Morrison was charged with six months in prison after the incidents in Miami. While contesting the court verdict in 1970, he opted to go to Paris, whence he died a year afterward under suspicious circumstances.
Narcotic self-mutilation by Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop’s early gigs with the proto-punk group The Stooges were noted for their outlandish antics. In one instance, Iggy urged a member of the audience to break apart a fence post that had been placed between both the audience and the stage to prevent stage diving. On some other occasion, he hurled a watermelon into the crowd, injuring a female fan.
In order to surprise the crowd, The Stooges often appear on stage dressed in dubious apparel. In a few instances, performers appeared dressed in Nazi uniforms. Iggy, on the other hand, favored nudity whenever feasible. He constantly exposed his genitals to the crowd, and he would occasionally feel the urge to self-harm, slashing into the flesh on his exposed body with a variety of instruments.
The battle-ax of Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was well-known in the late 1970s as the loud incarnation of British punk with his band, the Sex Pistols. While he really can not correctly perform his bass, he had no difficulty finding other applications for it. During the Sex Pistols’ debut tour in the United States, the band generally performed at the dirtiest clubs that their manager, Malcolm McClaren, could find. It didn’t take too long for matters to get out of control for an anarchist punk band performing in a southern state with many conservative values still present.
Throughout a 1978 show in Texas, an enraged member of the audience tossed a bottle at Vicious. The bassist quickly replied by lifting his four-string above his head and landing on the guy responsible’s head. Vocalist Johnny Rotten exacerbated the situation by provoking the notoriously homophobic “Bible-belt” with statements like “all cowboys are f*cking f*ggots”.
Keith Moon’s stage explosions are overcooked
In 1967, while in Los Angeles, the erratic Moon decided that physical devastation would not suffice. On September 17th, The Who appeared live on CBS’s The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Townshend started bashing his guitar against the floor near the end of an enthusiastic set of ‘My Generation.’ A massive blast roars, followed by a cloud of smoke erupting from Moon’s bass drum and heading towards Townshend. Moon reportedly inserted excess powder to his spectacular flash cannon, boosting it 10 times the authorized explosion limit for on-stage theatrics. Townshend’s hair was riven and he was forever deaf in one ear, while Moon was injured on the shoulder by flying cymbal shrapnel — it can not get more rock ‘n’ roll than that.
Axl Rose’s camera snatching caused a ruckus
Axl was most likely responsible for the most violent incident at the Riverport Amphitheatre in 1991. He was irritated by a fan who was photographing him, so he rushed into the crowd and grabbed the camera off his grasp. He then smashed the mic onto the stage, Rose yelled, “thanks to the lame-ass security, I’m going home.” thereby ending the show, which had only lasted a few minutes. The enraged fans responded with riots, leading to a number of injuries and extensive damage to property. Axl Rose had to explain in court for this, and they eventually reached a settlement for more than $2 million! Finally, the fan received an autograph.