Ridiculous moments seem to be a fairly common thing that runs throughout rock ‘n’ roll. One google search can literally bring up hundreds of crazy bizarre things musicians have done as either an act of drug-induced stupidity or possibly just for attention. Growing up as an avid musician, I had many influences that helped me develop the skills to become a live performing musician. Although I really wanted to be a rock star, I’m not quite sure I would have wanted to be part of a few of these outrageous times. Throughout this list of ten ridiculous moments, we’ll take a look at a few of my personal influences as well as some of the most iconic moments in rock ‘n’ roll history.
In no specific order or ranking, we will get started with the most well-known, American blues musician from the early 20th century, Mr. Robert Johnson. Johnson, Mississippi born and raised, lived a short life as street corner performer. Little was documented about his short-lived life but at some point, he gained a remarkable amount of attention for his talent. Rumor has it that Johnson’s success was due to a trip to the crossroads where he allegedly sold his soul to the devil. In return, he would be able to play the blues like no other. Although the myth hasn’t been officially confirmed, his music and influences still live on. Johnson has been an influence on not only myself but many blues musicians over the past century. With his impressive mastery of the Delta blues style guitar, Johnson has earned the title as THE most important blues musician to ever live by many popular musicians.
When I was about 6 years old, my dad would run around the house banging on a parlor sized guitar while singing Elvis songs and old country tunes. Although he couldn’t actually play, I wanted to be like my dad so much that I learned how to play guitar. At that time, Elvis became my first real influence. 
I started with a few big hits like “Jailhouse Rock” and “Don’t be cruel”. Then, I moved onto “Heartbreak Hotel” and “I’m all shook up” and just kept going down the list. I was too young at that time to realize any of the real-life stuff about Elvis, his drug habits and the fact that he could never play the guitar either. Until I got older, I never even realized the amount of attention that was drawn to his dance moves. Around the mid-1950’s color TV was far from the only interesting thing that hit public television. It only took a few months before Elvis was one of the most talked about musicians and celebrities with his sex-driven, hip gyrating dances. Although Presley’s dances were swooning the ladies in town left and right, the town’s men weren’t so happy with this outcome. His hip movements gained so much attention that a local, juvenile court judge wrote up a warrant threatening to put Elvis in jail if he did so much as shake his leg during a 1956 performance in Jacksonville, Florida. It was unknown for the most part what Elvis was going to do or not after being threatened. After making to the Ed Sullivan show, the cameramen were instructed to only captured him from the waist up in fear that he would whirl his hips on national TV.
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As the 60’s and 70’s rolled around, merely being able to master the guitar and wooing the ladies with your dance moves wasn’t enough. The music had grown more aggressive, more loud, and especially more obnoxious. Some musicians even began to destroy their instruments to set themselves apart. Pete Townshend, of The Who, can be credited for the first guitar smasher of the century. In 1964, Townshend claimed that he accidentally smashed the headstock of his guitar into a low ceiling during a small local performance snapping the headstock of the guitar he was playing. After realizing he had broken it, he decided to roll with as if he had planned it all along continuing to smash the guitar into the ceiling. This ultimately created an intense and exciting moment for the crowd. Pete then grabbed his spare guitar and continued with the show. Keith Moon, who was already known for the destruction of property, also wound up dumping his drum kit over at the end of the show. It wasn’t until a few years later that Townshend decided to make this ‘guitar smashing’ part of his act with his band and an undeniable force in the1960’s British invasion.
While destroying instruments was becoming a trend in rock-n-roll, smashing them wasn’t the only way. One of my biggest influences and also for many other musicians was Jimi Hendrix. His style and talent quickly gained recognition. His guitar licks were incredible. He was explosive! He is arguably one of the best guitar players of all time. He never seemed to be a violent individual, but in 1967, he decided that he would set his guitar on fire. During the end of his set at the Monterey Pop Festival, Hendrix placed takes off his guitar, places it flat on the stage, and proceeds to douse it with lighter fluid. After lighting it on fire, the flames blazed high into the air. He then began to do some kind of voodoo procedure on it. Hendrix claimed that his destruction was a sacrifice. He said that he loved his guitar so much that he had to set it ablaze. Hendrix was taken to the hospital after the show with burns to his hands as the flames unpredictable reached them during the act. No doubt did this act go on to help set the precedence for his fame.
With guitar skills mastered, dance moves taken, instruments smashed and burned, there wasn’t many more options left to stand out. If your mind thinks like mine, you’re probably thinking the next insane act would have to be to literally blow everything up. Well, in 1974, Ritchie Blackmore, of Deep Purple, was so displeased with a decision to go on stage hours earlier than originally planned that when they did go on stage he decided to soak his amps with gasoline. 
After soaking the amps he began to smash his guitar and one of the smaller amps throwing both off the stage into the audience. Then, after grabbing another guitar, he played it for a second then placed it on the ground. With the feedback growling, he stepped back to his Marshall stacks and quickly returned to his guitar placing his foot on the strings. Without warning, the gasoline-soaked amps ignited causing a huge explosion, blowing an entire hole on the stage while the band continued to play like it was all part of the act. Blackmore only intended to catch them on fire. He had no idea that the amps would actually explode. The fire was put out quickly from a crew on stage with fire extinguishers as Deep Purple finished out the set. That night, It was smoke on the stage instead of the water.
At this point, It’s reasonable to wonder, not if, but how much drug use was responsible for some of these outrageous acts. Without a doubt, there must have been large amounts of drugs and alcohol consumed to contribute to such insanity. Things definitely didn’t stop or even slow down after the 70’s. As the 80’s came along, big hairstyles, colorful outfits, and thick makeup become a trademark of the decade. Not only did appearance become oddly interesting, the acts became a bit more strange as well. Although Black Sabbath and frontman Ozzy Osbourne had been successful throughout the 70’s, chemical dependant Osbourne chose to leave the band branching off on his solo career as the 80’s came along. In 1981, heavily drug-induced decided to bite not just one but three bird’s heads off. The first was two were doves prior to his release of ‘Blizzard of oz’ then, a bat later on at a live event. He claimed that he thought the bat was a rubber bat from a store. He was treated immediately after the show for rabies.
As the strange 80’s weirdness increased, so did severity of drug abuse and the variety of drugs. Things couldn’t have gotten any crazier when Motley Crue went on tour with Ozzy. There was so much booze and drugs involved that it practically became a competition to see who would do the craziest. Although Ozzy might have won the competition after snorting a line of ants on the tour, bassist for Motley Crue, Nikki Sixx, eventually took an unwanted ride a few in an ambulance a few years later. He apparently had injected enough heroin that it took two adrenaline shots to kick-start his heart back to beating. This wasn’t his first overdose and definitely not his last but ultimately inspired one of their biggest hits and one of my favorite hair metal jams, ‘Kickstart my heart”.
Finally, the 90’s had arrived. Grunge rock, alternative rock, and a whole bunch of heroin addicts had hit the music scene. Throughout the entire decade, we saw many great artists come and go. As the end of the decade approached, 
the idea came about to host another Woodstock, a 30 year anniversary of one of the greatest rock events in history. Woodstock ‘99 didn’t quite make the list for greatest unless it was on the disaster list. Things weren’t so bad until supplies and facilities became insufficient for the attendees. Songs from artist such as Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit fueled the crowd to wreak havoc on the facilities and booths creating mud holes and many large bonfires with debris from the destruction. During the fires, Red Hot Chili Peppers was chanted back on stage for an encore in which they decided to play a tribute to Jimi Hendrix. As if dancing around and performing naked wasn’t enough, they chose to perform the worst possible choice of cover-song at that very moment, “fire”. The cover was great, to say the least, but definitely the wrong place at the wrong time. Needless to say, there will probably never be another Woodstock.
In 2007, one of the best performers of all time was about to take the stage at super bowl XLI in the pouring rain. Prince was already known for always wearing his high platforms, his funky colored suits, of course, his famous sex symbol shape, purple guitar. The question was what was going to happen in the rain? He was contacted a few hours before the show by the producer with concerns. Prince replied ‘Can you make it rain any harder?’. Classic response and unquestionably one of the best, if not the best, halftime performance of all time. He went through 4 guitar changes, covered Dylan in the style of Hendrix, covered Foo Fighters, and finally went on to rock the stadium with his own ‘Purple Rain’, all in the midst of a heavy downpour without missing a beat. Although he is no longer with us, his legacy and this night will carry on forever.
Last but not least, Legendary guitarists/ songwriter, Peter Frampton makes the list with an interesting story. He wasn’t known for smashing or burning guitars, didn’t blow anything up or facilitate the destruction of an entire festival. He simply lost his guitar. He lost a custom Gibson Les Paul that was thought to have been burnt up in a cargo plane crash in 1980. This guitar, according to Frampton, was the best guitar he had ever played and was used on his most successful and one of the best selling live album records of all time. Come to find out, the guitar was never destroyed and had been plucked from the wreckage and played by a local performer for the next three decades. It finally surfaced and was matched to Mr. Frampton’s iconic 1970’s axe. In 2011, Frampton was finally reunited with this gem after 31 long awaited years.
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