Guns N’ Roses – Pissing on Baltimore

“October 1987. Guns N’ Roses began a two-week tour of clubs in the college-heavy northeastern United States, beginning at Long Island’s Sundance club in Bay Shore on October 16. After the next night’s gig at a club at the Allentown (Pa.) airport. the band fetched up at Hammerjacks, the famous Baltimore club where all the hair metal bands played. Izzy Stradlin, normally Dr. Kool, made a negative connection with the place almost immediately.

Ax!: “Izzy– he’s not usually the one to cause any trouble at all, but he got totally annihilated at this place called Hammerjacks –the most fucked place I’ve ever played. First, they got about thirty [uniformed] security guys that look like West Hollywood sheriffs. And Izzy got in arguments with them early in the day about some bullshit they were giving our crew, who were just trying to do their jobs. So Izzy got drunk, and was really hating this club. Then, right before we played, and there are more hassles, and Izzy’s fucking sick of everything, he walked into the club manager’s office and just whipped it out and pissed all over the guy’s desk-with the guy sitting there! It just blew their minds. Then we go on, and Izzy is so drunk we had to turn his guitar down, and when he realized what was going on, he unstrapped the guitar and threw it into the crowd.”

It took more of Doug Goldstein’s persuasive talents to retrieve the guitar and then avoid the Baltimore cops arresting Izzy for indecent exposure and urinary assault.”

Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N’ Roses, by Stephen Davis

This entry was posted in 1980s, 80s Rock, Baltimore Babylon, Hammerjacks, Pranks and tagged . Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Guns N’ Roses – Pissing on Baltimore

  1. thomas bryner says:

    i was at this show that night and axel was also being a class act -a- hole.it looked like they snorted up all the coke in baltimore idzy was so drunk some girl at the front of the stage almost pull him into the crowd while beating his butt.axl started breaking moniters that belonged to the club.i remember lou saying that they would never play hammerjacks again.my friend and i partyed on the bus with them after the show.and they were animals,they didnt think that everyday rules applyed to them.but they were the best heavy metal band out there at the time.it was a good show but could have been alot better.after that we never saw them again.everybody from that band grew up but to this day axel is still a class act_a- hole….

  2. Thanks Thomas, that is a great freakin’ anecdote, and Chinese Democracy is still a pretty bad album. Appetite for Destruction still holds up!

  3. Anonymous says:

    I was backstage that night. Axel walked right past me and pissed all over the vault while Slash was getting a favor on the desk. They were, without a doubt, the most wasted humans I’ve ever encountered.

  4. I worked at HammerJacks I was working backstage that night at the steps to the stage Axel body checked me hard and caused me to stumble hitting my head on a brick wall saying move chump. Him heading to dressing rooms. I waited and when he came back threw the door I punched him in the face a busted his nose bad. He went on stage saying look what security did to me the crowd screamed cheering it lol.
    So they where jerks and Zi have no regrets.
    The good ol days .

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