The Most Dangerous Slot on the Bill
When AC/DC played St. Louis in September, the opening act was the Foo Fighters. That’s a band with a Rock Hall plaque and Wembley on its résumé, playing nine songs before the house lights were all the way down. Dave Grohl called it his childhood dream. Rock history has a lot of opening acts that upstaged the headliner, and this episode walks through the best of them.
It starts with the worst booking in rock and roll. In 1967 the Jimi Hendrix Experience opened for the Monkees, playing “Purple Haze” to a crowd of twelve-year-olds chanting for Davy Jones. He lasted seven shows. Hendrix lost that tour, but history settled the score: one act got a statue in Seattle, the other got a lunchbox. Fourteen years later Prince opened for the Rolling Stones at the L.A. Coliseum and got hit with bottles, fried chicken and a grapefruit. Three years after that he put out Purple Rain.
Then there are the openers who flat-out won. Black Sabbath asked for “a bar band from L.A.” and got Van Halen, and Ozzy admitted for the rest of his life that they blew Sabbath off the stage. In 1986 it happened to him again, this time with Metallica touring Master of Puppets. Kiss had it rough in the other direction, because headliners like Queen and Aerosmith didn’t want to follow a band that set the drum riser on fire.
Some tours were a takeover in real time. Guns N’ Roses opened for Aerosmith in 1988 while Appetite for Destruction climbed to number one, and Rolling Stone’s Aerosmith cover story turned into a Guns N’ Roses cover. In 1991 the Red Hot Chili Peppers headlined a bill with Nirvana in the middle slot and Pearl Jam playing to people still looking for parking. And at the Cow Palace in 1973, Lynyrd Skynyrd opened for the Who with eight inputs and closed with “Free Bird.” Later that night Keith Moon passed out and a nineteen-year-old from the crowd finished the show on drums.
The opener is the last place in music where you find something you didn’t pick. No algorithm, no playlist, just a band you never asked for. Mark has been that opener himself, sharing bills with Marcy Playground, World Leader Pretend and Steel Train. The job is simple. Find the one guy halfway back who’s nodding along and play the whole set to him.
The Songs
“In The Gold Room” by Superfan has some Radiohead in its DNA but more rawness, with cello, guitar, drums and a bit of noise that all land in the right place. It’s a close-your-eyes track. It comes off the new album My Piledriver Heart, and the rest of what’s been released so far is just as strong.
Good straight-ahead rock is rare. “Take It All” by Elephants and Stars gets it right, with a raspy vocal, a crunchy riff, keys filling the verses and an actual guitar solo. This one turned up as a social media ad, which is why ads are worth a listen now and then.
“How to Have a Good Day” by Basement Alchemy is a one-man band doing it Prince-style, playing every instrument himself. The choices in the mix are tasty, and the main guitar run recalls Carbon Leaf’s “Backmask 1983.”
Most modern country is hot garbage, so “In My Prime” by Theo Lawrence stands out even more. It’s part crooner, part alt-country and part 1960s, with a great voice and sharp lyrics.
Aussie favorites The Grogans come back, first heard way back on episode 34, with “Country Mile.” Layered guitars bounce from speaker to speaker, slide guitar rides on top, and the swing makes it impossible to sit still. Don’t bother trying.
