Rock stars have very interesting lives. The stories that are told are usually better than fiction. From a simple misunderstanding to the death of a beloved genre this is “Tales from the Cassette Tape.”

The day disco died

In the summer of 79’, a disk jockey named Steve Dahl, who had an intense and personal hate for disco, would destroy disco records on radio. People who tuned in usually got a big kick out of it. So much so that the White Sox baseball team had an idea to bring more people to their stadium. It was called “Disco Demolition Night” and it was just a simple explosion of a box of disco records after the first half. When they set off the explosion it was anarchy, the field was quickly swarming with members from the crowd and eventually a full-on riot started. A massive bonfire was raging in the middle of the field, which was used to burn even more records that were brought by the crowd. The police were called in to contain it, and the White Sox were forced to forfeit. Because of that event, disco’s popularity plummeted in just a day.

Contractually obligated M&M’s

David Lee Roth, the singer for the 1970’s hard rock band Van Halen, is infamous for his ‘dislike’ of brown M&M’s. He once destroyed a dressing room because he found brown M&M’s in his bowl of candy. However there’s a lot more to the story than people know. Often times when bands booked gigs at stadiums, the contract that the venue owner would sign often would be broken due to the owner not reading the whole thing. So Roth had an idea to make sure they read the whole thing. In the middle of the contract that states the snack requirements, he slipped in a warning that stated, “M&M’s (ABSOLUTELY NO BROWN M&M’s).” This was implemented as a test to see if they read the contract all the way through. When Roth found brown M&M’s in his bowl, he lost it because he was getting ready for the show when he found out they lied to the band.

Who is Scot Haplin?

Keith Moon, the drummer for the British-invasion band The Who, made many mistakes in his life, none more embarrassing than the band’s gig at Cow Palace, CA. Moon, right before the show, took a handful of horse tranquilizers that were given to him. Less than a minute in, Moon couldn’t stay up. He would fall over and pass out periodically within the span of minutes. After he was taken backstage, the band rushed to figure out what they should do. The singer, Pete Townsend, took a chance and asked the audience for help. They quickly threw Scot Haplin on stage as he knew all their songs and had the ability to play drums very well. Though it was an embarrassing night for Keith Moon, super fan Scot Haplin had the greatest time of his life.