Whether it’s biting the head off a bat, or performing with a 20-foot python around your neck, a live rock and roll show should be a thoroughly complete experience. Thankfully, the seemingly dying art of showmanship is not totally lost. We’ve still got fire-breathing demons, man-eating worms and mysterious masked rockers. Whatever the guise, we’ll take ‘em all!
Here are five of our favorite shock rockers who’ve put the “show” back in rock show!
KISS
The elder statesmen and forefathers of all things blood and fire, KISS cut their teeth with a reputation for consummate onstage showmanship and blazing glam infused hard rock. Their live records—KISS Alive volumes I – IV—don’t do justice to their onstage spectacle. Bassist Gene Simmons’ fire breathing and blood spewing are legendary, not to mention his 13-inch tongue. Ace Frehley’s sunburst Les Paul actually smokes when he solos! Barring several lineup changes and an ill-advised makeup-less period in the ’80s, the band has remained virtually intact, and still the standard by which all other showy rock stars are measured.
Watch this …
GWAR
If KISS are the forefathers then GWAR (short for God What An Awful Racket) are their unholy demon stepchildren. Clad in costumes that would make a Hollywood prop designer blush, band members Oderous Urungus, Beefcake The Mighty, Flattus Maximus and a revolving cast that has included Jerry Springer and Marilyn Manson look-alikes, have been grossing out fans since the mid-1980s. Their live shows include, but are certainly not limited to, giant man-eating worms, projectile blood, vomit and bile, in addition to their comedic brand of thrash metal. Over the years the band have tangled with local authorities, and have even battled obscenity charges. And – if you can believe it – they’ve even garnered a Grammy nomination.
Watch this …
Slipknot
If GWAR was ever to tone down the shock and turn up the rock, they’d be close to approximating the stage show of Des Moines, Iowa’s Slipknot. Now seven albums deep into their career, Slipknot has managed to outlast the mid-1990s nu-metal boom and find its place among the theatric metal mainstays. Their blistering sound is made all the more powerful by an added percussion section that stands on the side of the stage and pounds oil drums, creating an unholy racket. For years the band were only seen in their ghoulish Hellraiser-esque masks and costumes, its members known only by a number. Today, they live by the mantra, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix.”
Watch this …
GG Allin
There are few names more reviled in the music world than Littleton, N.H.’s original rock and roll terrorist, GG Allin. GG started his career fronting the mildly offensive bar band the Jabbers but quickly progressed to become rock and roll’s most depraved outlaw. Flirting with punk rock, metal and a Hank Williams-inspired country period that saw him team up with North Carolina’s Antiseen, Allin added another bristly edge to the shock rock canon with his onstage self-mutilation antics and free-flowing bodily fluids demonstrations, which often left audience members in shock and covered in real blood and guts. His reputation garnered spots on talk shows like Jerry Springer, and he was often used as canon fodder for the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC). Here is one the tamer online clips of GG performing “Bite It You Scum” with special guest Dee Dee Ramone.
Watch this …
Dwarves
Garage rock icons the Dwarves have made a career using GG Allin’s lurid stage show as a jumping off point. Band members Blag Dahlia and He Who Can Not Be Named have remained constant while members of Queens of the Stone Age and Urge Overkill have come and gone. Onstage, they may be one of the most dangerous acts going. Broken glass, fire and a barrage of lighthearted physical and verbal abuse are the norm. The band was even dropped by Sub Pop in the mid-1990s after perpetuating a hoax that He Who Could Not Be Named was killed. The Dwarves seem to break up as a publicity stunt every few years but as of this writing they are preparing to embark on yet another “reunion” tour. Here is a taste of a standard Dwarves live show, which was broken up by police for a laundry list of reasons.
Watch this …