Today's Blind Items - Blitzed
I debated writing this blind, not because it isn't worthy of the spot, but because I'm not sure how many people will actually be able to guess who it is. He is foreign born. In his home country he fronted a band which was definitely A list there. In the US, they never really rose above B- list maybe. They could fill venues with 2,000 seats or so in the US while they were filling arenas back home.
The subject of our blind has never shied away from the fact he spent a lot of his early earnings on coke to the point where the only reason he works today is trying to recoup the nearly $1M he spent on coke over his career. Back at the height of their fame, the band was touring here in the US and made a stop in LA. This must have been well over a decade ago now. Our singer was blitzed on coke. There was a woman at the show who maybe was about 18 or so and flashed her breasts at the singer. He immediately sent someone to bring her backstage for after the show. Also at the concert was a female who was probably in the 14-16 year old range. She had some backstage passes she won from a radio show contest. She attended the show with her parents, but she was the only one who went backstage. So, after the show the singer is doing lines and meets the 14-16 year old and thinks she is the one who flashed her breasts. The person who did flash her breasts was hooking up with the road manager. The singer starts telling the young teen to show him her breasts again and when she refuses, he starts hitting her and calling her a tease for flashing him earlier and not following through now. She tried to explain and he kept getting more aggressive and then forced her to her knees and proceeded to orally rape her. Someone walked in at that point and pushed the singer off the girl who ran out of the room crying. This was not a dressing room or anything. It was a fairly open backstage area. Our singer was so wasted he still had no idea what had happened and who was who. A member of the radio station was there and he got into a fight with the road manager who had finished having sex with the 18 year old and explained what happened. Then the police were called. The parents showed up backstage and it looked like the singer was going to be arrested but the parents didn't want anyone to know what happened to their daughter and thought she might have to testify so they decided not to press any charges.
The subject of our blind has never shied away from the fact he spent a lot of his early earnings on coke to the point where the only reason he works today is trying to recoup the nearly $1M he spent on coke over his career. Back at the height of their fame, the band was touring here in the US and made a stop in LA. This must have been well over a decade ago now. Our singer was blitzed on coke. There was a woman at the show who maybe was about 18 or so and flashed her breasts at the singer. He immediately sent someone to bring her backstage for after the show. Also at the concert was a female who was probably in the 14-16 year old range. She had some backstage passes she won from a radio show contest. She attended the show with her parents, but she was the only one who went backstage. So, after the show the singer is doing lines and meets the 14-16 year old and thinks she is the one who flashed her breasts. The person who did flash her breasts was hooking up with the road manager. The singer starts telling the young teen to show him her breasts again and when she refuses, he starts hitting her and calling her a tease for flashing him earlier and not following through now. She tried to explain and he kept getting more aggressive and then forced her to her knees and proceeded to orally rape her. Someone walked in at that point and pushed the singer off the girl who ran out of the room crying. This was not a dressing room or anything. It was a fairly open backstage area. Our singer was so wasted he still had no idea what had happened and who was who. A member of the radio station was there and he got into a fight with the road manager who had finished having sex with the 18 year old and explained what happened. Then the police were called. The parents showed up backstage and it looked like the singer was going to be arrested but the parents didn't want anyone to know what happened to their daughter and thought she might have to testify so they decided not to press any charges.
Bloc Party?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like Pete Doherty and the libertines but a lot of people know of him.
ReplyDeleteIt almost has to be him and either the Libertines or Babyshambles. I say this only because he or the band were at least big enough for a US rock station to hold a backstage passes contest.
DeleteFirst bought was Justin Hawkins from the Darkness
ReplyDelete*thought
DeleteSorry Troy I didn’t see this at first. I’m liking this guess.
DeleteBeen around him in a festival setting in a city, where everyone from Metallica to the Strokes & KOL and John McEnroe were. He was very sweet and flirtatious with my sister, and gave off nothing of a violent vibe. Not even particularly egotistical.
DeleteThe Chemical Brothers? Maybe their height was before this time frame.
ReplyDeleteoh oli sykes
ReplyDeleteor*
ReplyDeleteOasis
ReplyDeleteNoel Gallagher
Lol is this Liam guessing here?
DeleteLol exactly cap'n... No way this was
DeleteMy original guess would have been way too past this: Simply Red👌
ReplyDeleteThey also had two huge #1s in America plus a few minor hits. They were very well known here.
DeleteAlex Turner/ Arctic Monkeys??
ReplyDeletePffft.
ReplyDeleteEnty underestimates his sleuths
I think Gogol Bordello were American guys.
ReplyDeleteDie Antwoord
ReplyDeleteNinja does likenl them young.
DeleteRobbie Williams?
ReplyDelete+1 sounds exactly like him
DeleteThis could be a lot of people,especially given the Enty ratings.
ReplyDeleteDude there are a lot of foreign born singers like that. Everyone's a big fish in a little pond.
ReplyDeleteOasis is A+.
ReplyDeleteFranz Ferdinand? They were huge in europe not sure if also in USA
ReplyDeleteor
Pete D's other band Babyshambles?
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ReplyDeleteHope this isn’t meant to be Stereophonics/Kelly Jones..
ReplyDeleteCuz I’d be sad...
The Kills / Jamie Hince?
ReplyDeleteTokyo Hotel?
ReplyDeleteIs Blitz a hint at German?
DeleteShane MacGowan/Pogues?
ReplyDeleteI thought Noel Gallagher, but they were well beyond their peak a decade ago, if not already split. They were a bit shit, so I don't know.
ReplyDeleteDoherty is a good guess but she could have smacked him back, he could pull the scab off a blister, the weak wristed fucking bellend, she would have sent him through a wall.
True, but "Don't Believe the Truth" was a huge album in 2005 with an extensive tour.
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ReplyDeleteThe Script (Irish)?
ReplyDeleteCan't be Bloc Party. Lead singer is gay, not bi.
ReplyDeleteI also thought Simply Red but that would've been close to 30 years ago lol. They were huge when I was living in France but barely heard a peep out of them in the US.
ReplyDeleteThey won a grammy in 2010, so might be too big, but i thought of Phoenix (French)...big song "Lisztomania"? Thomas Mars is singer, i know nothing about him
ReplyDeleteThat was a very ugly mix-up! Guy got very lucky with press-shy parents. Poor contest winner is probably still traumatized
ReplyDeleteNever done hard drugs. Can coke cause a mindfuck like that?? I thought crack was the one that causes rage and confusion.
ReplyDeleteCan't speak from using-experience, but I've been around some guys who get enraged about their drug-induced ED, blaming it on everything but the coke. Never done blow myself.
DeleteRick James said its a helluva drug, though. Helluva drug.
Cocaine ia a helluva drug.
Deletegonna guess Primal Scream. They were very big in the UK (maybe they still are?) and frontman Bobby Gillespie is apparently a hot mess of a human being (there's an interview with Stevie Van Zandt somewhere where he talks about wanting to bring Primal Scream on a tour to get them a bigger US audience but he said they were too fucked up).
ReplyDeleteKeane?
ReplyDeleteMy guess would be Oasis, but not Noel. I think it was Liam. And the OP who described Oasis as a "bit shit" is clearly clueless about music. They were the most successful band, globally, of the nineties.
ReplyDeleteGorillaz? Damon doesn't sound the rapey type though..
ReplyDeleteJarvis Cocker from Pulp? I believe he dated Chloe Sevigny for a while?
ReplyDeleteI am going to guess Gavin Rossdale/Bush. Foreign born, pretty popular in the UK but not as big here (though the few tracks that hit the radio were bangers).... really bad into everything back in the day, so I would not be surprised if this was him. (forever long lurker here, hello folks!!)
ReplyDeleteDefinitely think this is Justin Hawkins/The Darkness. They were pretty hughe in the UK from 2003-2005/06 ish. Only had one minor hit in the US, never were well known here. He had a known coke problem.
ReplyDeletePer wikipedia "Hawkins revealed spending 150k euros in three years on cocaine after entering the charts in 2003."
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ReplyDelete@Vita Thomas Mars has been with Sophia Coppola since the mid 2000s, he's pretty mellow and don't think it would be him
ReplyDeleteI like that The Darkness guess up there, pkelly491.
ReplyDeleteGonna toss out German rock band UFO, lead singer Michael Schenker.
Oasis were definitely above B list in the US in the 90s. Liking pkelly491 guess.
ReplyDeleteDoherty is a complete waste of oxygen.
ReplyDeleteOasis played in LA 2008. I'm going to go with Liam, he's a massive prick. I can see it being him and its why he still churns out the shite he does now and puts his name to that Pretty Green clothing co. Although that's gone bust now.
ReplyDeleteThey are A+. No way. He nay be a jerk ..but hitting a kid and assault is just evil.
DeleteI would never consider the Staples Center a 2,000 seat venue.
DeleteThis is yet another "Tale That Never Happened", because one of the ents had a hard on for musicians. There is no way a 14 year old got backstage, everyone checks IDs, has for over 20 years. Stopped buying any of the story right there.
ReplyDeletePete Doherty is more a heroin man, right?
ReplyDeleteI say Blur singer Damon Albarn.
Good thing her parents were there to stop their 14 yo from getting sexually assaulted at a rock concert.
ReplyDeleteThis was 10 years ago, not 20. The late 90's were the era of Bush and Oasis and Chemical Brothers (all of which were huge in the US - no idea how folks think otherwise? Get Busy Child is still one of my favorite Chem Bros songs and they headlined many parties in the early 00's). Phoenix, the Darkness, Franz Ferdinand, etc would be better guesses.
ReplyDeletePete D. was infamous for dating Kate Moss and then linked to Amy Winehouse, so folks would have known who he was for sure.
The Darkness broke up in 2006 and the last time they played in the US was 2004. Gonna have to dig for this one a bit.
I thought of Savage Garden but the main guy is gay. Although he wasn’t out at the time and at some point, had a wife.
ReplyDeleteFUCK THOSE PARENTS
ReplyDeleteenty says at one point, 'this must have been 10 years ago'
ReplyDeleteso 2009...the guesses above a lot of them are older bands than that, so cant be them
Did some quick googling for bands not super popular here and also thought “Troy, what bands would have fans that are 14-18”?
ReplyDeleteI’m throwing in ‘5 seconds of summer’ into the hat
Low level U.S. success for U.K. Artists and massive coke use go hand in hand, don’t they mate?
ReplyDeleteI hope it is not the band Supergrass. I like that song "Caught by the Fuzz."
ReplyDeleteGot some possibilities:
ReplyDeleteDevin Townsend
Kelly Jones/ Stereophonics
Tom Chaplin/Keane
and these two I really hope not
Daniel Johns/Silverchair
Brian Molko (yes, foreign born)/Placebo
Gavin/Bush were the reverse; popular in the US but always struggled commericially back home in the UK
What about Snow Patrol? I know they had a hollywood following, but they never could seem to rise to arena status here in the states...
ReplyDeleteDepeche Mode? I loved them, but they weren't considered headliners in the states...
The Smiths? Morrissey has alwasy been kinda a douche....
What about Muse? One would never expect that from Kate Hudson's Matt Bellamy..... they were actually formed in the early - mid 90s
Depeche Mode, The Smiths / Morrissey. Big time in Amerikkka. We blacks lub 'dem.
DeleteLOLOL...
adding one more... Radiohead
ReplyDeleteYou are clueless if you think that Radiohead (who won grammies), Depeche Mode (who sold out the Rose Bowl in the late 80's) and the Smiths and Morrissey never made it above B list in the US.
DeleteAlso, Morrissey is gay and quite out.
At least make educated guesses!
Ginger/The Wildhearts. Popular in the UK never broke very big in the US. Ginger is and has been a hot mess for years.
ReplyDeleteAll that co-caine, I feel dirty...
ReplyDeleteDepeche Mode were HUGE what are you talking about!!!Radiohead too!
ReplyDeleteRicky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs. Song at the time was Ruby.
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ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteBarenaked ladies: Steven Page
https://people.com/crime/barenaked-ladies-singer-arrested-on-drug-charges/
Song: "If I had a million dollars".
linkin park
ReplyDeleteGauloise-- thanks for info!
ReplyDeleteJeff-- I think you may have it with Kaiser Chiefs... Band was around before ten years ago, but that song was out then...they won British music awards, but aren't known that well here. And, don't know if it's an intentional clue or not, but blind is called the "Blitzed"...blitz and Kaiser both german based words?😕
Vita - Their song ‘I predict a riot’ was in Rock Band: Blitz. Kind of reachy, so I like the German angle you picked up on.
ReplyDeleteMike Peters/The Alarm?
ReplyDeleteThat’s 100% likely to be the Darkness singer. He had a terrible coke problem and went on record saying he blew 1m on coke. The band originally broke up because of it. All the other people that people are naming do not fit.
ReplyDeleteI hope it isn’t Ricky Martin of Kaiser Chiefs, but I fear it may be, That poor teenage girl. So excited to see her idols and then that happens.
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ReplyDeleteCanadian band Hedley. The lead singer is on trial for assaulting young women.
ReplyDelete@Tricia13 the lead singer for Bloc Party is gay.
ReplyDeletebrett anderson from Suede
ReplyDeleteLol @suede
ReplyDeleteThey had one song played on 120 minutes 25 years ago and that was it. Plus, pretty sure the frontman is gay.
@Jeff are you kissing me?!
ReplyDeleteI'm assuming that "one song" you're talking about is "Beautiful Ones".
But MTV (at least MTV Asia) used to play a lot:
"Filmstar"
"Lazy"
"She"
"Saturday Night"
"She's in Fashion"
If anyone's just got one song, it's the band that did "Bittersweet Symphony" (the song in the funeral scene of "Cruel Intentions").
I can't even remember the name of the band, just the song "Bittersweet Symphony".
Had to look it up: THE VERVE.
*kiDDing me (not kissing wtf)
ReplyDeleteI'm with troy, justin from the darkness. By the way i'm reading some really bad options..
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I thought this had Dirty Pete D, written all over it.
ReplyDeleteMy 1st though when I read this was richard ashcroft lead singer of the verve. huge druggy and judging by his appearance on tv last year he is still is. I met him once and if looks could kill I'd be dead. He was with his mum watching Status Quo and so was I with mine! he lived locally to me at the time.
ReplyDeleteAs for kelly of the stereophonics an old work colleague of mine had a bit of a fling with him over a decade ago. She is the same age group as him so nothing dodgy there. What was funny is that he's about 5ft nothing and she is 6ft. She would go bright red when their songs came on the radio and didn't want to talk about it.
ReplyDeleteMartin Kemp
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ReplyDeletePerson- Martin Kemp
ReplyDeleteBand - Spandau Ballet
Song referenced in title: Blitz Club
No way is it Justin Hawkins. He is not rapey and the Darkness have been back together for a while.
ReplyDelete