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Best band for fighting

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Because Eddie G’s post is screaming out for a sister post.

Best band in a fight? I’m saying Rammstein.

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  6. Cockney Rejects. Career choices was football, boxing or music.
    They chose music (or a variant of *) but were also handy boxers.
    And they knew the twins, and they were at Violet’s funeral

    * I like the Rejects and there are actually toons under the cacophony

  7. The Wu Tang Clan. At one stage the FBI were seeking to bring RICO charges against them for ” the sale of drugs, illegal guns, weapons possession, murder, carjackings, and other types of violent crimes”. They are, reportedly, nuthin ta fuck wit.

    I think the guy from Tool is a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and once choked out a stage invader while continuing to sing.

    There are a lot of Slipknot, some of them are pretty big and I seem to recall at least half of them are a bit handy.

    MC Hammer is built like a brick outhouse, reportedly hangs out with a lot of ex-navy guys and is meant to be someone who responds badly to you touching this.

    I have it on very good authority that the UK rapper Giggs got his start in the industry partly because he scared the crap out of an awful lot of people. Not some you’d want to meet in a well lit alley, let alone a dark one.

  9. Rose Tattoo. I remember going to see them at the (old Wardour St) Marquee and they scared the bloody life out of me. They just looked rough as fuck, not like the usual pantywaists you see up on stage.

    If weapons were allowed, I’m with Moose on the Boo-Ya Tribe. If they weren’t tooled up though, I’m not sure I’d fancy their chances quite so much.

  10. John Martyn and Danny Thompson would be the obvious choice, only two of them but hard as nails and slightly unhinged.

    Or maybe the original three-piece Motorhead.

      • The only band I’ve seen (may have been going to the wrong gigs) where there was an actual proper punch-up in the audience. Feline tour Manchester Apollo. Maybe someone was in the stalls in the melee?

        This seemed par for the course for Stranglers gigs …

        • The lairiest gig I’ve ever attended – admittedly, I don’t go looking for them – was, of all places, Cambridge Folk Festival. The Levellers. There were human pyramids of alcoholic instability making lurchsome progress towards the stage, but with intent.

          • The only time I’ve seen The Levellers was at Folk by the Oak a couple of years ago. We were close to the stage but to one side when we noticed a steady stream of people passing us as they escaped from the centre. The reason was that a few hardocre Lev’s fans were doing their best to start a moshpit/general melee. Chadwick had to tell them off from the stage. ‘You’re at a folk festival surrounded by kids and people are scared of you! Chill out for fucks sake!’

            • Surprising, given that – as Richey Edwards once said – “you could go to any Levellers concert, shout “Jeremy” and 75% of the audience would turn around“.

    • I disagree on that one. Dee Snider is a gentle, no-cuss-words, bible bothering, totally sober, drug-free, early to bed early to rise family man. Nothing wrong with any of that but he’d be useless in a fight. Too easy going.

      • Wasn’t always like that though. TS has about 7 years of playing dives in Long Island before they made a record, never mind becoming successful. While wearing make-up. They’re a good call.

      • The no swearing must be new? Post Twisted Sister he formed a band called the Sick Mutha Fuckers. He would routinely lead potty mouth chants on stage. His autobiography is a riot, and he would (according to him) wade into any auidence to “set straight” anyone he felt needed it. I’d be happy to hold his coat.

        • I remember him being a very good interviewee in the 80s. Zappa was uncharacteristically impressed with his turn at the PMRC hearings. Twisted Sister were shit, but hey you can’t have everything.

          • Dee is a bright guy but certainly took no prisoners if things got out of hand. There’s also Mark (The Animal) Mendoza as backup, along with the other guys. Saw them a few times back in the day and they certainly looked like the real deal.

  16. You sense both the Beatles and Stones would’ve been pretty useless in a fight. The original lineup of Dr Feelgood, though…let’s just say I wouldn’t have spilled their pint.

  25. Imagine you’ve just picked a fight with Iggy Pop!

    He’d grab a bottle by the neck and smash it on the bar in the time honoured fashion then he’d start gouging away with it at his own chest!

    That’s when you’d say, ” Ahhh…..never mind.” and back out of the room.

  26. Bananarama. I once saw them do over Siouxsie and The Banshees behind the bins outside Dingwall’s. Siobhan waded in first, hair immaculately tousled throughout, and Sara was garrotting Budgie with the straps of her dungarees, but it was Keren… My God, the anger, the whole unhinged fury of it. Talk about banshees. They never stood a chance. It’s always the quiet one you have to watch out for.

  32. The Polyphonic Spree? Who knows how ‘tasty’ they are, but if thirty-odd pile out of a large white van, the odds have got to be in their favour. Plenty of scope for ‘hidden-carry’ under those robes, too.

  33. I offended Henry Rollins from the mosh pit at one of his boisterous shows. Some good-natured banter about his mother backfired somewhat. He was steaming mad at me but I figured it’s all part of the theatre of the thing so I wasn’t worried.

    As I left the venue, I felt a presence behind me. Within a second, there was a hand over my mouth and I was expertly bundled into an alleyway, away from the crowd. Standing in front of me was Henry and he was very, very angry. Gulp!

    “You wanna piece of me, huh ?” (shoves my shoulder)
    Huh? Huh?! …Tough guy? (shoves my shoulder again) wassamata? Cat got your tongue?”

    I said “Er…funny you should say that Henry, because there’s a cat just there behind you. Perhaps it’s seen a mouse…?”

    Henry’s colour drained from his face.
    “ A m-m-m-mouse?!” and then squealed the most high-pitched squeal I have ever heard. He jumped into my arms in exactly the same manner that Scooby Doo does with Shaggy (or the other way round).

    I cradled Henry as he trembled. He instinctively plunged his thumb into his mouth, to calm himself down. I stroked his hair, saying “shhh…shhh…” and his sobs eventually became further apart. He had one final anxious look around, dismounted and started to strut confidently away.

    “Henry…” I said
    He turned round, his piercing eyes still bloodshot. “WHAT?” his rage seemed to be building once more.
    “There was no cat. There was no mouse.”
    Henry smiled broadly. “I know, man…I know”.
    With that, he disappeared into the night.

    I’d heard he was a complicated character, but blimey.

  35. All joking aside, the real answer is probably the Prisonaires. Older readers, or people with access to Wikipedia, will know that they were led by Johnny Bragg convicted at the age of 17 six charges of rape. Other members were Ed Thurman and William Stewart (both doing 99 years for murder), John Drue Jr. (three years for larceny) and Marcell Sanders (one-to-five for involuntary manslaughter).

  36. I have to say, as much as they seem like lovely chaps, I’d hesitate to cheek Iron Maiden too egregiously. Steve, Dave and Nicko between them seem like they’d take care of business while Janick and Bruce farted around discussing Andre Gide in the next room.

  37. Some 43 years ago I played on the same bill as The Pirates. After their soundcheck, we asked if we could move their microphones a bit. ‘No’ came the answer. Mick Green was a big lad who’d been around a bit. Frank Farley was even bigger and had worked as a bouncer. But the really scary one was little Johnny Spence, a man who looked like he would break your fingers for fun. The microphones stayed put.

  42. Apparently, John Weller, Paul Weller’s Dad, was a pretty handy guy for the Jam to have as their manager. He’d been a useful boxer in his youth (winning the Armed Forces boxing championship), and never took any nonsense from promoters, etc.

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