Former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar has recently released his biography book called “No Encore!” that reveals some of the most interesting details from his career.
An excerpt from his book has been shared by LouderSound which reveals what Sammy Described as “the two most embarrassing moments in my career.”
One of these two stories involves Hagar opening for Kiss as a solo artist back in 1977 over at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
Although people knew about the band Montrose, not many people at that moment were familiar with Hagar as a solo artist so it was definitely a difficult task for him to keep the Kiss audience satisfied.
As he remembers, when he got up on the stage “the place immediately starts f*cking booing.” The third song in and the crowd is flipping him off.
The excerpt reads:
“I was looking out at the crowd, and I stopped the song. I yelled, ‘You f*cking a*sholes! You didn’t even give me a chance. You started booing me before hearing the music. F*ck you!’
“Everybody in the audience was dressed up like KISS. As far as I could see, they had all the makeup on too. Since it was New York, I said, ‘I see they’ve flown in an audience from Los Angeles for this show.’ That really pissed them off, and they started throwing cups at me. I pulled down my pants, dropped my drawers, and pulled out my d*ck. I shook it at the crowd, then smashed my 1961 Stratocaster to pieces, and walked offstage.
“Gene and Paul were standing backstage, as they had heard all the commotion and wanted to know what the f*ck was going on.
Bill Graham, God bless him, was in New York on his way to the airport. He heard on the radio that I had been added to the KISS show, so he had told the driver to turn around and take him to the show. So he’s backstage and had just walked in during my meltdown. He’s shaking his head, and his hand is covering his face. Gene and Paul were doing the exact same thing.
“I unloaded on them, too, saying, ‘F*ck you guys too!’ And that was it. I didn’t do any more shows with KISS. I stomped away to my dressing room. Paul was saying, ‘You can’t talk to people like that, man! You gotta go out and prove yourself. You can’t do it like that.’ I’m still going, ‘F*ck you and your makeup and your fans!’ Bill Graham was in my face, but I was furious.
“That night almost made me want to quit the business. It was humiliating and disheartening, and my poor band didn’t know what to do. One of the guys, my rhythm guitarist who was the newest to the band, quit after that show.”
6 comments
Things that didn’t happen for $200.
Lol… I don’t believe it, either.
How much did the 61 Strat weigh?
Go Sammy, Kiss are overrated anyway and up their own @rses.
Only people incapable of logical thinking would boo an opening act because people capable of logical thinking realize that the headliner will be on stage later. Prove me wrong.
opening bands get booed all the time. you have to prove yourself. the good news is Sammy did just that in time. one of the best voices in rock.