Ah, the rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle – always on the road, surrounded by great looking babes, lots of alcohol and drugs… You know that nothing good can come out of it all, well actually nothing except epic stories. And rock stars are full of epic stories, some of which they don’t actually remember because they were too wasted, but luckily there’s always that one sober guy or girl who has to take care of their wasted ass*s.
These are the stories of rock ‘n roll stars who have partied hard, told by the stars themselves or by their soberer friends and managers.
1. Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis was performing live before Chuck Berry, the main act of the night. During his performance of Great Balls of Fire, Jerry Lee took a Coke bottle from the inside pocket of his coat and started pouring something which seemed like gasoline over the piano. He lit a match and “burn baby, burn” – the piano was on fire, but Jerry just kept hitting notes perfectly. The kids in the venue went crazy, it was something magical.
2. Axl Rose
Izzy Stradlin, an ex-band member of the epic Guns ‘n Roses tells an interesting tale about Axl Rose in high school. Supposedly, Axl was bullied around by everyone in high school, he was short and had weird long hair. When it comes to girls, let’s just say he didn’t get any, and as Izzy says he didn’t nail a single girl in high school. “And today, that same Axl is a big rock star, chicks love him, he has lots of money and power… and that power clouded his mind. I mean, he was a fuc***g monster, a fool, weirdo,” said Izzy.
3. Jimi Hendrix
Pete Townshend from the Who shed light on the myth of Hendrix’s groupies. You have probably heard all sorts of stories of girls in London coming up to Jimi and offering him their body, but Pete says it was actually a very small and carefully chosen group. “There were 10 of them at most and they were always at our disposal. Every one of them was a music fanatic but also really crazy, a real nympho. They wanted sex and they knew where they can get it!”
4. Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue
The guys from Motley Crue and Black Sabbath use to hang out together and one time they all went out – the guys from Motley Crue in black shirts and leather pants, and Ozzy in a dress.
At one point Ozzy stopped and said, “Give me a straw I have an idea.” When he got his straw he bent over and found a crack in the pavement. He showed one end of the straw in the crack and the other in his nose, while his butt was sticking out like two melons. In one monstrous breath he inhaled an entire colony of ants, stood up, tilted his head back, inhaled a few little buggers that were left in his nose and just smiled like a mad man.
But that’s not the end of it. Then he raised his dress, pissed on the pavement, got on his knees again and sipped his own pee like an animal. He stood up with his eyes shining and with drops of urine dripping from his mouth saying, “Now you do this, Sixx!”
5. Jim Morrison
Pop-art artist Ronnie Cutrone recalls how a night out with Jim looked like. “Going out with Jim wasn’t much fun. He would just sit at a bar, order 8 screwdrivers, take 6 Tuinals, then have more cocktails, take Tuinals again, and then he would just take a piss right where he was sitting because he didn’t want to leave his drinks.”
A typical night out with Jim also entails a groupie who “helps Jim relax” right in the middle of a bar. In the end, Jim would piss in his pants and someone had to take him home. When Jim was on acid he was a machine, great fun to be with, but most of the time he was a drunk fool on pills.
6. The Stooges and Their Guardian Angel
Everyone knew that the Stooges won’t last long. Natalie Schlossman, the girl who ran their fan club, looked after the band, especially after Iggy. She would tuck him in bed almost every night and hide his clothes so he wouldn’t roam the hotel looking for drugs. She was like their guardian angel and she witnessed their best and worst behavior.
Natalie recalls seeing the members of the band in every possible sexual combination – James covered in blood with two girls in a bathroom, Iggy with three girls, Scotty Thurston and Ron in a hotel room with one girl, a 20-people orgy in Iggy’s room, etc.
She wasn’t disgusted, she was more of a nurturing mother kind of girl and thought of them as playful kids. Natalie cooked meals and washed their dirty outfits while they were goofing around.
7. Dee Dee Ramone
Even though Dee Dee never admitted, supposedly the song 53rd and 3rd is autobiographical and at one point in his life, Dee Dee was working as a prostitute to make money for heroin. Did he really stab a customer of his – just like in the song – remains unknown.