We sat down with Buzz Osborne and Steve McDonald of the Melvins to talk about their favorite music memories as fans seeing Iggy Pop and The Rolling Stones. While the punk band is on their Escape from LA fall tour dates creating music memories for their own fans, watch our exclusive Marquee Memories episode with Melvins below:
Iggy Pop
"I was a huge Stooges fan. Iggy fan, from the late 70's. I lived way out in the woods, so I never got a chance to see him until the early 80's. It was at this place in Seattle, it was a theater sort of. It was packed, 600 to 1,000 people. I couldn't wait for this concert, I couldn't wait. And it's full of people who are obviously huge fans of his. So waiting, waiting, waiting, hits the stage, and you can tell just looking at him- I'm really close, I'm right up front. He is just whacked out, ripped out of his ass on something. He just looks completely psychotic. And his hair is poofed and he had somebody poured glitter all over him, so it was pretty funny. He starts playing, and they play that song "Gloria," it was amazing- the band's really ripping. People are getting on stage, and finally the security are stopping 'em, and he stops song songs and he's like "Anybody who wants on stage can get on stage, I don't give a f*ck." So the next song starts and people just pour onto the stage. And the PA was set up, it was like a theater, So the PA is set up on the edge of the stage right on the front, you know? So people are climbing up the side and climbing up the PA columns. All of a sudden I notice the PA columns on one side start falling, as the one falls, and as the one falls, the cables pull the three full stacks right into the audience, just crushing people. So we're standing there, it's just chaos, all of a sudden there's cops, and ambulances and people just getting dragged out, people covered in blood- it was this total nightmare. I remember thinking to myself, this punk rock thing is alright. I love this. *laughs*"
The Rolling Stones
"My first try to see The Rolling Stones in Los Angeles, I think in '81, I think on the Tattoo You tour, and we went down to the LA Coliseum I think my friends and bandmates. Because we were told on the Saturday there were tons of scalped tickets and they were really cheap, like two bucks, they couldn't get rid of 'em. So we went down there of the Sunday, and there were none. None to be had. We just had to circle the Coliseum all day long, cause the cops wouldn't let you hang out. So we were so pent up from not being able to get tickets so we hopped into our friends pick up truck and we headed straight for San Francisco because the Stones were going to be playing at Candlestick Park the next day. It was a day time concert, so we drive all night. We don't leave until 9 o'clock that night and we don't get there til 9am at Candlestick Park and there was tons of scalped tickets there. We bought our tickets for about $4. The Stones come on, they open their set with "Under My Thumb," and I remember the sound was so weird you couldn't even tell what song it was. We rushed to the front of the stage, and it was a fun concert but it was not remembered as the best Stones concert. I saw them years later and they were way better. I would definitely say the Sones were not peaking in '81 as a live band. So that's my Rolling Stones Marquee Memory."
