I'm glad you brought up the Melvins opening up for Primus in.. 1993? I was a teenaged Primus fan -- totally into Primus and various alt-rock offerings of the early 90's. Anyhow, yeah. That's where this all started for me. I saw that tour and was among the dorks chanting for Primus while the Melvins were doing the Prick thing, ya know -- Feedback, droning, backs turned to the crowd. Dale making cacophonous beats. They did that for about a half hour. The crowd was FOAMING with hatred. Chants of "PRIMUS! PRIMUS!" and "YOU SUCK", "STOP!". So, a half hour goes by -- I'm along with crowd until about 20 minutes in... something started to stir in me. I didn't know what it was. I went from hating it to being completely enthralled by what they were doing. I was confused and frankly -- a little scared. Then after about 25 minutes -- they turned around and played their cover of "Goin' Blind" and CRUSHED in a way I have never experienced since. I've been a fan ever since. That performance from the Melvins opened the doors to all the music I am into today and beyond.

In my own experience I've seen many more club-sized shows than arena-sized shows, though plenty of both. Plenty in both types of venues where the headlining band I paid to see would have 1 to 3, sometimes even 4 opening acts. I don't know at what 'level' a band has to be at where they have total control on the question of who opens for them, vs. bands just stuck together on a bill because they either share the same label, sound vaguely similar (genre), or purely politics and backroom finagling. But whether it's been a headliner-endorsed opener, or completely random selection, I'm surprised by how few of those bands I experienced for the first time in that context- have stuck with me or become later favorites. Not any off the top of my head. For the most part it's been the endorsement of friends (or friend in a band, and you like their music) who turn me onto to new bands & sounds.

I'll admit to being annoyed or even angered over a shitty band who just would not end before 'my' band hit the stage. But I never throw shit or aggressively boo and berate them until they leave. There are other ways of dealing.

Awesome story, hochi666! That's the shit I love to hear!


Another shitty example was when British folk rock guitar legend Bert Jansch opened for Neil Young's solo dates in 2011. Despite posters hung throughout the lobby and stairwells requesting that patrons not yell out/whistle etc. during the performances, plenty of bonehead Neil fans, who I guess felt empowered by the amount of money they spent for the experience, couldn't resist hootin' and hollerin' the entire time. One fucking piece of shit heckled 'Neil Young!' during Bert's set, prompting Bert to respond 'He's coming!'. Utterly disrespectful and uncouth, made even worse by the fact that Bert ended up succumbing from cancer less than 6 months later. I read that Neil had to chastise his audience at the recent Carnegie Hall solo shows he did, fucking unbelievable.

Not to mention any Neil fan worth their salt knows what an influence Jansch was on him.

I would add Faith No More to the list of bands that were good, but blew it. I know quite a few will disagree, but Mike Patton's non-FNM projects (Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas) just don't do much for me. On the other hand, all four FNM albums that Patton sang on were unbelievable in my opinion and then after Album of the Year came out in 97, they just called it quits. Bummer if you ask me.

I'd agree on Faith no More but they blew it for me post-Angel Dust. King for a Day had a handful of good tracks, but was pretty weak compared to the previous two.

Both King for a Day and Album of The Year were both big time growers for me. Years later I dug them even more, especially the synth/atmospheric stuff. There's a darkness to both of those albums that's definitely appealing for these ears. Actually, The Real Thing has never done much for me, than and now. I found it...kind of immature, especially compared to Angel Dust, which was an amazing hurdle forward, and as about as EPIC as anything that came out in the 90s, no pun intended.

I'm also on board with not being on board with Patton post FNM stuff. Have dabbled in just about all of them, including Peeping Tom. I at least thought I'd dig Tomahawk with the Stanier connection, but nope. As unbelievably creative as FNM could be, post Patton is mostly just too weird for good songwriting. That is what's so brilliant about FNM in their prime. They could combine both aspects seemlessly

I guess my affection for The Real Thing is because it was such a breath of fresh air to a fifteen year old in 1989, especially compared to the trad metal and glam I'd been listening to. I'd just discovered Voivod, Soundgarden, early COC, DRI, Bad Brains etc so there's a big nostalgia factor for me. But yeah, it's probably been twenty years since I've played it front to back and I have a feeling a lot of it hasn't aged super well.

FNM definitely lost a lot when Jim Martin left the band. I was a big fan of the band and saw them with three various guitarists (Martin, Dean Menta - the Spruance fill-in and Jon Hudson) and a huge void was left behind after Martin's exit.

The Real Thing may seem kind of immature compared to the stuff that came after it, but a lot of those songs ROCKED live (Zombie Eaters, Woodpeckers from Mars, Surprise! You're Dead!) and none of the other guys could bring the swagger to the stage live that Martin did with that stuff. You know, his first band in high school was with Cliff Burton, so that's the school he was coming from, where I think his replacements were a bit more civilized. Maybe because of my live experiences, I'll always consider The Real Thing a top shelf album.

I like King for a Day a lot too. It's too band Spruance didn't stick around for that tour. Even without him and Martin, they were always great live over those last two or three years at the end. The modern reunion hasn't come anywhere near me and I haven't check much out online. I'm sure it is excellent.

As far as post-FNM Patton stuff, Fantomas was off the hook when they were playing. Tomahawk was really cool, but didn't resonate with me as much. I saw them a couple of times. I managed to see something like the third or fourth Fantomas show in a tiny club in Portland, like six months before the first album dropped and it will remain one of the top ten shows I'll ever see in my life. Avant garde Slayer, which was exactly what I was looking for at that time in my life. Also, the metalized soundtrack 'The Director's Cut' was a great idea with great execution as well, but after that I can take or leave the Fantomas stuff.

Kind of feels like Patton was everywhere for a few years and now you hardly hear from him at all. Or else I'm totally out of that loop now. The Dillinger Escape Plan EP he did was very cool.

One of the subjects of this article, The Cows (or at least 3/4 of them) are reuniting in July to play a show with the Melvins, of all things.

http://blogs.citypages.com/gimmenoise/2 ... ash_15.php

OMG !!! Someone has shitty opinion(s) i don't agree with?!? Whaaaaat? Even "Rock Stars" ?!?! Really?!? !!! OMG! My life is O-V-E-R !!!

heh.

Cool story! :) I saw The Melvins at Slim's in SF in late 2000 and Melt Banana opened. Seemed like most of the crowd were there for MB but Melvins still crushed the set.

I can't imagine how Primus would ever be better than The Melvins circa 1990's. I kinda wish they'd go back to being a one-drummer band though. They were really good before they hooked up with Big Business and after that I sorta lost interest. Still a great band nonetheless,but my favorite line-up of the Melvins was when Lorax was on bass.

They are back to being a one drummer band. Pinkus/Butthole Surfers on bass.

Pretty much my philosophy on freedom as well.

Agreed. The best revenge is to stick around, enjoy post-job life and keep fit doing it.