10 Most Shocking Moments In Rock Music History
Jaw Dropping Backstage Moments.
The idea of the music industry being dangerous doesn't really happen all that often. No matter what kind of hardship you have to face when at the mic, the idea of you suffering some serious injury or dying for your art isn't necessarily the first thing on your mind. When you aren't careful though, things can take a turn for the worse really quickly.
Across every generation of rock music, rock stars have managed to put themselves through hell in order to get their music to the largest audience possible. Whether it be through something they said or what they actually did, these artists caused quite a stir once the news of their actions reached the public. While some of these turned out to just be scary for their time, the thought of any of these happening in the present day is pretty much inconceivable.
From near-death experiences to the most devastating losses that the rock world has ever faced, these are the wounds that the rock community has sustained that we will never fully recover from. For as much as we move on with our lives, these things aren't going to be forgotten any time soon. It may be about the music, but this is where things get ugly.
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers' Socks
Ever since rock and roll started, artists have wanted to push the boundaries for what you could do onstage. Hell, you could argue that acts like KISS and Alice Cooper have made entire careers out of making your gimmick the forefront of every show. While Red Hot Chili Peppers don't really fall into that category, their encores in the early days said something different.
For the most part, the Chilis were known as just a fun funk rock act for most of their career, with no real aspiration to break out of the LA underground. Though albums like Blood Sugar Sex Magik ended up blowing up, their initial club tours got a bit testy when Anthony Kiedis got an idea. Going into their final songs, Kiedis' idea of leaving an impression resulted in the entire band going onstage completely nude, with nothing but socks to cover up their more delicate bits.
Ironically enough, this actually brought the Chilis to a whole new level of fame in the greater LA area, giving them a distinctive look unlike any of the hair metal bands going on around the same time. Though the rock world has seen much crazier (and sexually charged) stuff since then, the idea of having four naked men onstage was certainly enough to get people talking in the music world.