'Lead vocalist Dead committed suicide in 1991 (two years after joining the band) by shooting himself in the head; Hellhammer made a necklace using some of his skull fragments, and Euronymous reportedly cooked and ate pieces of Dead’s brain. Euronymous, in turn, was stabbed to death while in his underwear on August 10, 1993, by the band’s bass player, Count Grishnackh (born Christian Vikernes). Grishnackh’s alleged motive was jealousy over the fact that Euronymous had a more evil reputation; he inflicted 23 separate wounds, it was also rumored, so as to outdo rival band Emperor’s drummer, Faust, who was convicted in the stabbing death of a homosexual acquaintance. When police arrested Grishnackh, they found over 150 kg of stolen dynamite in his house, complete with a plan to blow up a large church on a religious holiday. ’
In fact, not only was everything in that story about Mayhem true (with the skull fragments a possibility), there are even more gory details. Euronymous found Dead’s body and rushed out to get a camera to take pictures of the horrific scene, one of which ended up on a live Mayhem bootleg. Dead’s suicide note was the straight to the point “Sorry about the mess”. It also seems that the real reason for Grishnakh killing Euronymous was that Euronymous had planned to have him killed.
This happened after a number of churches had been burned down - a picture of the burnt remains of one church being on the cover of a record by Grishnackh’s band Burzum. The record was called Aske (=“Ash”), and was packaged with a cigarette lighter.
Having said all that, the fact that all of the ‘notables’ are either dead or in jail means they’re not too much of a threat. For a few years though, everything parents had warned their children about with regards to the evil in Heavy Metal music, came to life in a vivid and horrible fashion.
Wow, I just read up on some Mayhem history, including the cover bearing the suicide picture.
These guys weren’t hardcore, they were a bunch of fucking idiots!
I was laughing out loud at all the Satan/Goat/Darkness/Pestilence/Plague references on the various fan pages. Two band members didn’t live to see 26, and the rest -from the sound of it- are completely without talent.
Just a bunch of Darwin Awards, people. Had they not killed themselves and/or eachother, they would have been long forgotten.
So, OK. The most hardcore, defined as: “wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley”. I hear Eddy Vedder has quite a temper when you tell him Pearl Jam sucks.
Other than that, I wouldn’t know. There’s tons of people who I think embody the essence of Rock, but I’d just as soon have a beer with them anyway. Ozzy, Lemmy, and me, kicking back and sipping on our Guinnesses.
Jeff Clayton, who is the lead for Antiseen, a Charlotte NC punk band for 15 or so years. The dude’s idol is Cactus jack. He breaks beer bottles on stage and rams them into his forehead. He’s got the crimson mask the rest of the show.
I saw one show on tape they did for halloween. Clayton had barbed wire stretched across the front of the stage and he raked his forhead on it throughout the show. Kept getting his hair cuahgt in it too, so he had to tear it out by chunks.
I met him a couple of times. Nice guy, but I wouldn’t wanna get in a fight with him.
I’ve read in several places that Dio gives off a really evil vibe even though he’s only like 3’2" and 95 years old. Interviewers say he’s intimidating.
IIRC Roger Daltry grew up in a pretty bad neighborhood and supposed to be one tough little dude as well.
Still, gotta go with the rest - Lemmy, Danzig, Rollins.
I read a story somewhere where Motorhead was playing and got into a fight with the crowd and a scuffle later went on outside the gig and the band (and roadies) ended up chasing a whole crowd of people down a street.
Mayhem is mostly considered as an embarressment up here. Count Grishnackh AKA Varg Vikernes has tossed aside his satanic belifs in jail in favor of neo-nazism. Nice.
I would say Henry Rollins is the most ‘hardcore guy’ in the music business.
“Music industry” and “Hard core” are words that don’t go together well. They’re MUSICIANS. Despite the tough-guy looks the heavy metal boys give you on their PR shots, they’re about as tough as the girls who work at the Gap. These are the guys who cried in phys ed class when they were asked to climb a rope.
Henry Rollins, I will grant, may be an excetion to the rule, but he isn’t exactly as musician so much as he is a performance artist who dabbles in music.
I have my doubts about Henry Rollins. He seems like one of the resident music experts around VH1. Whenever they have one of those top 100 things, he talks about everyone.
“Yeah, I really love Sixpence None the Richer; I think they are vocally one of the most pleasant groups to listen to. I like nothing more than a warm bath, a good book, and my Lilith Fair CD.”
Eh?
(BTW, I don’t think he’s a member of the SDMB, but just in case…I’m not actually attributing the above quote to Henry Rollings.)
So what, exactly is your point? That because henry Rollins can hold an actual conversation on a wide range of topics including Top 40 music that he can’t be “hardcore,” but is instead a “candy-ass?”
I think all that is necessary to be “hardcore” is a strong, uncompromising nature. Anyone in the music business- where conformism and wealth go together- that sticks to their creative vision is hardcore. Kenny G is hardcore. I sure wouldn’t to meet him in a dark alley. Not with his saxophone…
:eek:
I’ve seen Henry Rollins give interviews and such, and he always seems so coherant and just so…I don’t know-intelligent? Or am I imagining things?
He seemed very normal, almost.
BTW, what was the deal with GG Allin? I read about him years ago-didn’t he used to wear diapers on stage and crap himself or something? And fling his feces at the audience?
