Rock stars in the 1960s through the 1980s are known for their rowdy antics, but most of the stories I’ve heard seem too insane to actually be true. I decided to do some research, and it turns out, some rock stars are just as crazy as the rumors say they are. These are my three favorite classic rock stories that, surprisingly, actually happened.
Have you got it yet?
David Gilmour, Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Richard Wright – these four names will forever be known in music history as the legendary progressive rock band Pink Floyd. But as many fans know, the band once had another member: Syd Barrett.
Barrett, one of the band’s
founding members and its original lead vocalist, was only with Pink Floyd for a relatively short period of time. He left the band in 1968, just four months after Gilmour joined in 1967.
That brief five-member period in Pink Floyd’s history is where this story takes place.
Toward the end of his Pink Floyd days, Barrett’s mental health took a nosedive due to his extensive experimentation with LSD. As one can imagine, this made him a nightmare to work with. At a rehearsal one day, Barrett announced he had written a new song called “Have You Got It Yet?” He proceeded to teach the other band members the song’s chorus, in which he repeated the phrase “Have you got it yet?” over and over.
The first time Barrett played the song, it sounded fairly simple, but to the band members’ frustration, they couldn’t seem to get it right. Time and time again, they would try to play along with Barrett, but they just couldn’t do it.
Finally, the band members realized that every time they tried to join in, Barrett would change the melody ever so slightly — not enough to be immediately noticeable, but just enough to make it impossible to learn. And the entire time, he had been taunting them with the phrase “Have you got it yet?” knowing full well that they never would.
And that’s the story of the last time Syd Barrett ever played with Pink Floyd.
Bob Dylan introduces the Beatles to marijuana
Judging by the band’s music, it’s pretty obvious that the Beatles smoked; however, that wasn’t always the case. In fact, it took a certain someone to introduce them to the drug that would later be their muse – and that someone was Bob Dylan.
The date was Aug. 28, 1964. The Beatles were hanging out with Dylan in a suite at Delmonico Hotel in New York City when Dylan suggested that they light up. Nervously, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr looked at each other before admitting they had never smoked marijuana before. Dylan didn’t believe them at first.
“What about your song about getting high?” Upon seeing the Beatles’ confused expressions, he started singing the lyrics to “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” only he mistook the verse “I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide” for “I get high, I get high, I get high.”
After Lennon corrected his mistake, Dylan rolled a joint for everyone in the room and then looked on with amusement as they smoked for the first time. McCartney had a particularly hilarious reaction. He told anyone who would listen, “I’m thinking for the first time!” and he had the Beatles’ road manager, Mal Evans, follow him around and write down everything he said.
The next day, Evans handed McCartney a piece of paper. All that was written on it were the words, “There are seven levels!”
Keith Moon and the exploding toilets
The title of this one says it all, but a little bit of background information couldn’t hurt.
Keith Moon, drummer of The Who, had a reputation for being a little crazy, earning him the nickname “Moon the Loon.” He was known for his hilarious antics, such as a famous performance where he filled his set of transparent drums with water and goldfish and dressed up like a cat.
This was probably the least destructive of his behaviors. Moon had a habit of trashing hotel rooms – a habit that got him banned from several chains, including Holiday Inn, Sheraton and Hilton. He would throw furniture out the window, light things on fire and more.
But his favorite activity was blowing up toilets. It’s estimated that Moon caused about $500,000 worth of damage to hotel toilets and plumbing systems alone. Once, he even blew up a toilet in front of a hotel manager’s face.
If that’s not a great reputation to leave behind, I don’t know what is.
