The late Layne Staley of Alice in Chains modeling the proper reaction to someone throwing up Nazi salutes. Image source.
 
As the world seems to still need a reminder that Slap-a-Nazi-Day should be observed every damn day, let’s take a look at the example set by the late Layne Staley of Alice in Chains when he spotted one in the crowd of an AIC show in Stockholm in February of 1993.

The band was in Stockholm to play a gig at Cirkus during their two-month tour of Europe with Screaming Trees. During the band’s set, Staley took notice of a skinhead close to the stage, acting like a whirling dipshit, creating a one-man moshpit of sorts, beating members of the audience and throwing up Nazi salutes. Once AIC finished up “It Ain’t Like That” (Facelift, 1990), Layne addressed the crowd with the endearing line “We love you fucking Swedish people!” and proceeded to walk to the edge of the stage to speak to a member of Cirkus’ security team. He gestured to the skinhead who had been assaulting people in the crowd and asked him to come up on stage, telling him, “Come on, man. Come join the band—have a good time.” Randy Biro, a contributing vocalist to AIC, was there (as told in the book Alice in Chains: The Untold Story by David De Sola) to see the look on the Nazi numbskull’s mug as he responded to Layne’s invitation asking “Me?”

Staley’s showstopping moment was a puzzle to everyone including the rest of AIC and the Cirkus security team. Biro recalls wondering “why the fuck” Staley was extending an olive branch to a “douchebag” skinhead. During the confusing stand-off, Layne kept encouraging him to come up and join the band on stage, which he finally did. When the skinhead was close enough for Layne, he reached down and pulled the punch-happy asshole up on stage. He then struck him in the face twice so hard the annoying Nazi fell backward into the crowd, who were collectively having a good laugh over what they just witnessed (feel free to insert your “they did Nazi that coming” jokes here). As if Layne’s impromptu romper-stomp of a skinhead’s face wasn’t enough, as the Nazi was being taken away by security, he returned to the microphone and yelled, “Fucking Nazis DIE!”, finishing the rest of their set incident-free.

I wish this was the part where Layne Staley and the band were then shuttled off to the king of Stockholm’s gothic castle to receive the key to the city, but that didn’t happen. And that’s because it’s not actually legal to slap someone (even an aggressive, Sieg-Heiling Nazi) in the face. Layne was in trouble, and he and the band knew it.

After the gig, people were nervously ruminating about the consequences of Layne’s Nazi-slapping incident, and they were right to. John Sampson, Staley’s personal security guard, took the vocalist to a ferry bound for Finland to avoid arrest. As the rest of AIC were leaving their hotel, the local authorities showed up after getting a call from the skinhead Staley had slapped. They confiscated the band’s passports and went to apprehend Layne, who was already on the ferry. The cops boarded the ferry and arrested Staley for the incident at the show. In yet another interesting twist to this story, the skinhead’s brother (who was at the gig), had also gone to the police not to defend his sibling, but to make it clear that his brother had been “picking” on people in the crowd and Layne had stopped him. Since this story really does have a happy ending for everyone except the Nazi, the police congratulated Layne and the band and sent them on their way to the next stop of their tour, Oslo, Norway . Footage of Staley setting a skinhead straight follows.
 

Footage of Layne Staley slapping an aggressive Nazi during an Alice in Chains show in Stockholm on February 8th, 1993.
 
HT: Screaming Trees official FB page.

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
A super glam-looking Layne Staley performing with his high school band ‘Sleze’ in 1985
‘Experiencing Nirvana: Grunge in Europe, 1989’: Sub Pop co-founder Bruce Pavitt on his new book
‘Hype!’: The 1996 documentary that captured grunge’s explosive rise (and immediate co-optation)
Ultramega OK: Soundgarden destroy the Whisky a Go-Go, 1990
‘No Nirvana’: Jane’s Addiction, Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees & more live on UK TV in the early 90s
Blistering, previously unseen Nirvana footage captured the night before ‘Nevermind’ was released

Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen in 1978.
 

“Without Tony, heavy metal wouldn’t exist. He is the creator of heavy! Tony is a legend. He took rock and roll and turned it into heavy metal.”

-–Eddie Van Halen telling the world how he feels about Tony Iommi.

Not long after the second departure of Ronnie James Dio (as well as drummer Vinnie Appice) in 1992, Tony Iommi began formulating his plan to re-assemble Black Sabbath. In his revealing book, and in this fan’s estimation, one of the best rock bios ever, Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven and Hell with Black Sabbath, Iommi discussed in detail his experience of rebuilding Black Sabbath yet again. In the process of auditioning new UK-based timekeepers, Iommi got a call from a fellow former bandmate of Dio’s, Brooklyn native Bobby Rondinelli, who was very much interested in the gig. According to Iommi, Rondinelli flew out to play for the guitarist, and Iommi hired him on the spot. With Tony Martin back on vocals (for the first time since 1990), long-time Sabbath keyboardist Geoffrey Nicholls (RIP) and Geezer Butler firmly in place on bass, this version of Black Sabbath began the process of writing and recording their seventeenth album, Cross Purposes, at the Monnow Valley Studios in Wales. While Sabbath was busy working, Van Halen (or Van Hagar, as it was 1993) was close to wrapping up the European leg of their Right Here Right Now Tour, stopping at the National Exhibition Centre on April 25th,1993. This time, when Iommi’s phone rang it was Eddie Van Halen on the other end, asking Tony if he had time to hang out while he was in town. And this is where one of rock’s riffiest rumors got its start.

Since Tony Iommi is a class act, he personally drove to Eddie’s hotel to pick up the guitarist to bring him to Sabbath’s nearby rehearsal space, just outside of Birmingham. On the way, they stopped at a local music shop to pick up a guitar for Eddie to play, setting the stage for the possibility that Eddie Van Halen might somehow become a part of Cross Purposes. Ever since this particular meeting of the twin guitar titans, there have been persistent affirmations from fans and websites that Eddie’s signature shredding appeared on the song “Evil Eye.” And why not? If Eddie Van Halen asks if he can come over and “play” with you, not only do you say “yes,” but anyone with good sense would also be sure to capture the moment in some way, shape, or form, or as they say, “it never happened.” So here’s the story straight from Iommi on Sabbath’s jam session with Eddie Van Halen one Sunday evening in 1993.

Noted in the book, on their way to the rehearsal space, Eddie asked if his new BFF wanted to pick up some beer. Since Iommi was driving, he declined to imbibe, but the seemingly very thirsty Ed grabbed a case of beer to bring along with him anyway. Before Eddie became, in Iommi’s words, “legless” (you know—when your legs stop holding you up because booze somehow broke all your leg bones), Eddie played a solo over Iommi’s original riff for “Evil Eye.” What happened next would echo back to Sabbath’s problematic “let’s do all the cocaine” days in the 70s when they were completely fucked up all the time, including while they were in the studio laying down music for an album. In an interview with High Times magazine in 1994 with both Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne, Ozzy recalled, quite remarkably, that the band would constantly “forget” what they were doing, including not remembering to hit the “play/record” button in the studio for hours on end! This time (noted in chapter 71 in his book), Iommi put the blame squarely on his own stone-cold-sober self—and the band—for not recording his and Eddie’s epic riff/solo collaboration:

“We (Eddie, Iommi, and Sabbath) had a jam, and he played on “Evil Eye.” I played the riff, and he played a great solo over it. Unfortunately, we didn’t record it properly on our little tape player, so I never got a chance to hear it! That was a funny day.”

Much more after the jump…

An ad and order form for the Racy Stripper doll, 1998.
 
Though it seems like a toy better suited for the 1980s, you know when strippers were as synonymous with heavy metal as a sweet Gibson Flying V, the Racy Stripper doll became a thing in 1998 thanks to a company called Racy Enterprises (or R.C. Inc.)

Billed as Racy Stripper (or Racy: The Naughty Doll), Racy had similar unrealistic proportions as Barbie, and, as I understand it, a carved out hoohah and pink nipples, something her kiddie-toy counterpart was without. As you might expect the 11.5-inch doll came with a few useful accessories, such as thigh-high stockings with a back seam, long black satin gloves, a stripper pole with a heart-shaped platform, a package of mini-100-dollar bills (because I guess this is one classy joint Racy works at), and a cassette labeled “Racy Strip Party” which I presume contains a rendition of Def Leppard’s 1987 stripper anthem, “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” Racy Enterprises produced two different stripper dolls—one with long platinum blonde hair and the other with long brunette hair which can be pretty easily procured out there on various Internet auction sites such as eBay for less than 20 bucks, depending on its condition.

I’ve posted images of the Racy doll below which are NSFW-ish.
 

 

The platinum blonde and brunette version of the Racy Stripper doll.
 

 
Continues after the jump…

An early shot of Jane’s Addiction.
 
The Late Show was a multi-topic program broadcast on BBC2 which featured issues of cultural importance such as art, books, films and segments dedicated to more socially conscience topics such as military conflicts and religion. Not to diminish such things, they also featured live musical performances by musicians and groups such as XTC, the ethereal Jeff Buckley and The Stone Roses who appeared on the show in during its first year in 1989. In 1993 The Late Show broadcast a special called “No Nirvana” that featured a collection of what is referred to as the all encompassing sounding “contemporary American rock bands” that had previously appeared on the show. 

The title of the show was allegedly intended to be a joke directed at The Late Show itself because for some reason the band had never appeared on it. Most likely because they had suddenly become the biggest band in the world after the release of their 1991 album Nevermind. The grouping for The Late Show’s late-night Contemporary American Rock lovefest delivered was to say the least, a pretty solid knockout punch when it came to the lineup. Though they were part of the original broadcast, performances by Pearl Jam (doing “Alive”) and Rage Against the Machine (performing “Bullet in the Head”) are not included in the footage below. What you will see are Jane’s Addiction pulling off a great version of “Been Caught Stealing,” Sonic Youth’s killer version of “Drunken Butterfly,” Seattle grunge heroes Screaming Trees led by a long-haired Mark Lanegan doing “Dollar Bill,” and more from the likes of Belly, Dinosaur Jr. (with a nearly unrecognizable J Mascis), Smashing Pumpkins, Minneapolis band Sugar, and R.E.M.

Watch after the jump…