bad things befalling musicians

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blissblogger

Well-known member
This is the place for your favorite rockstar deaths.... bizarre accidents... sundry misfortunes

(No need to feel twinges of guilt - finding amusement in this kind of thing is just the Life Force asserting itself)

I'll start things off with this story about Ronnie James Dio that really tickled me I'm ashamed (except not really) to say..

Now, bear in mind that before he was in Rainbow (and long before a solo performer as Dio), Ronnie was in a band called Elf

In September 2003, Dio accidentally severed his thumb during a gardening accident when a heavy garden gnome fell onto it.

Dio was concerned he would no longer be able to do his signature metal horns hand gesture, but a doctor managed to re-attach it.

(I'm suddenly getting a tremendous sensation of deja vu - apologies if I've posted this before!)
 
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blissblogger

Well-known member
Another one that tickles me - but only because it is so symbolic seeming - is the story of how Freddie Hubbard, who had like so many had followed Miles's lead and got into using effects on his instrument and the whole 'electric jazz' trip, wearing snazzy threads and so forth - how he got electrocuted onstage when a cord attached to his horn passed through some water. Apparently this was a Road to Damascus in reverse kind of experience, he received as an omen or warning sign from the Almighty. Not long afterwards he gave up the whole fusion / jazz-rock thing, returned to playing Blue Note type post-bop, playing instruments without amplification or effects... Even even gave up the garish clothing and started wearing a suit and a tie again.
 
william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
Paul Rudoplh ( Pink Fairies / Hawkwind ) recalls Nik Turner from Hawkwind getting electrocuted onstage

“Preceding going on, everybody was partying in the dressing room; lots of psychedelics. They had these huge World War II strobes. Depending on the speed of the strobes, it can almost look like an old movie. All the lights in the place go out. Two big strobes are firing off: POW, POW, POW! And as it gets closer to the start of the set the lighting guys increase the speed of the strobes and then add a little bit of synthesizer drone into the P.A. So people start to congregate at the front. Nik is first onstage. I’m at the side and I’m looking at Nik. He walks up to the mic and the strobes are going off. He gets close to it and suddenly bolts of lightning are leaping from the microphone into Nik’s body and he starts to convulse. Well, I’m four sheets to the wind along with everybody else going, ‘Wow, this is quite a light show.’ Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, something’s wrong here.’ It was in slow motion. Nik starts falling backwards into the lights. I looked over and there’s Nik basically covered in an electrical aura. I ran over to the side of the stage, ran at the plug, and just kicked it out of the wall to break the circuit. In the UK, it’s 240 volts. He was actually burnt, but being the trooper he is, he went on to continue the gig. But had somebody not kicked the plug out he would have been a crispy critter.”
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william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
some more Nik Turner accidents ( from The Saga of Hawkwind ):

Lemmy's favourite moment involves Nik Turner and the PA. "He skidded on some red wine he'd spilt himself, and it crashed on to him," grins Lemmy. "All you saw was the hand sticking out with the saxophone."

Michael Moorcock recounted another anecdote for an interviewer recently: "We did a free gig at Harlow", he said. "Nik and I were late getting onstage, Hawkwind had already started, and we both ran forward. But Nik had this frog mask on and he actually missed the edge and fell into the audience. It was great.."
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or was he pushed? According to Lemmy:

My life has been one long, drawn-out rock’n’roll moment. One of the most hilarious ones was playing a gig [with Hawkwind] in Harlow New Town, and [Hawkwind’s] Nik Turner came out dressed as a frog – green leotard, green tights and a mask, saxophone round his neck. There was a moat in front of the stage, and everywhere was wet because it had been raining. I said to Dave [Brock]: “Isn’t it about time someone pushed that fucking frog into the water?” As I did so he went skating in. I was on my knees with laughter, man. Stacia [Hawkwind’s dancer] tried to help him out and got pulled in with him. That was the end of the gig for me. I couldn’t stand up.
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william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
fire breathing on stage is always good for laughs

Nik Turner ( again! ):

"Another time I set myself alight in America doing some fire-blowing with lighter fluid and a gas lighter onstage. When the big fireball had gone down, the only thing that was left was my hand, which was still alight. Excruciating. I got it dressed, and I don't think I came back to finish that show."
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from "Nothin' to Lose: The Making of KISS":

Gene Simmons: [...] We wanted to be impressive so I used extra amounts of hairspray to make my hair as big as possible. On the can of hairspray it says, "Warning: do not get near flame." By the third song we're playing "Firehouse," and as soon as I breathed fire the right side of my hair just went up.

Eddie Solan: He took a mouthful of kerosene, held out a dagger with the flame on it, blew fire, and that went great. There was block of foam on the stage that he could stick the dagger in when he finished. So he bent down with his hair falling forward and it went into the flame and set his hair on fire. [...]

Gene Simmons: I didn't know my hair had caught fire; all I remember is feeling some warmth, but I thought it was the lights. Sean Delaney came out with a wet towel to put out the flames. I didn't realise what had happened until the end of the show when I started to smell something. I looked in the mirror and saw my hair on one side was two inches shorter than the other.
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william_kent

william_kent

Well-known member
KISS play an early gig in a room with a ten foot ceiling and debut the "levitating drum kit":

About halfway through the show I discovered where the forklift was. Peter Criss was doing a drum solo and his drums started going up and up right through the false ceiling. Tiles came down. I was told I could never book that lounge again because the forklift damaged the ceiling.
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M

martin

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* John Balance - well, see how jinxed that adopted 'magickal' surname turned out.

* Marc Bolan's "easy as picking FOXes from a tree" crash premonition.

* This bit of online Cocteau Twins fan lore:


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* Ian Stewart killed by Mossad Kwikfit agent.

* Andy Taylor (Duran Duran) hospitalised after local Antiguan boy wrings wet cloth from shit-infested river into his kisser in 'Hungry Like The Wolf' video.

* Wikipedia lists Nico as dying in a cycling accident, though I've heard she'd put on weight and was really self-conscious, so she went out cycling in Ibiza wearing a large jumper and died of heatstroke.
 
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Slothrop

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
Grooverider getting busted in Dubai was an uncomfortable mix of being an obviously grim situation for him while also being awkwardly funny.
 
Murphy

Murphy

cat malogen
Grateful Dead, the curse of the keyboard player and other associates, mostly in involved in car crashes

Jose Garcia, drowned 1947ish

Dead affiliate David Crosby’s gf via rta 1969, see support received in completing If I Could Only Remember My Name

Ruth Garcia, via rta 1970

Pigpen vocals and keyboards, via complications from Crohn’s and alcohol 1973

Rex Jackson, tour manager and o.g road crew, via rta 1976

Keith Godchaux keyboards, via rta 1980

Steve Parish’s wife and daughter via rta, main instrument tech for decades 1984

Garcia diabetic coma, 1986

Brent Mydland keyboards, o.d 1990

Garcia, heart attack in detox clinic 1995

John Kahn bass player JGB 1996
 
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blissblogger

Well-known member
One detail I always remember about Jerry Garcia's unhealthy latter years is from some profile where it's mentioned that his blood is so full of THC and other druggy pollutants that it's almost as slow moving as mud. Probably a bit of journalistic-poetic license there but still, it stuck with me.

Nico's demise via bicycle has a quality of bathos to it having after come after years and years of living on the edge.
 
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