The Tragic Story of Hanoi Rocks
What’s going on my fellow rock n’ rollers. Don’t forget to smash the bell notification
icon to be notified every time I put out a new video on my channel.Now formed in Finland
in 1979 by singer Mike Monroe and guitarist Andy Mccoy Hanoi rocks shared more in common
wit htraditional rock n’ roll, glam and punk than the LA hair metal scene that they
are associated with. While yes they would play an important role in the hair metal scene
of the 80’s it was more having to do with who they influenced including Guns N’ Roses,
Skid Row and Poison. In fact someone had to show those bands the way and Hanoi Rocks was
up to the challenge. . And Hanoi Rocks could’ve went on to become one of the biggest bands
of the 80’s had it not been for a terrible tragedy that served as the catalyst to derail
the band. Stay tuned to find out the band ‘s full story.
Hanoi Rocks frontman Mike Monroe was born as Matti Antero Kristian Fagerholm in 1962
in Finland. His father was a famous radio and TV personality. Monroe would reveal in
his autobiography thatsHis real first exposure to rock n’ roll was seeing Black Sabbath
perform a show in paris on TV and that memory would stay with him for the rest of his life.
Also influencing monroe at a young age was the first wo concerts he ever went to as a
kid which was the band slade and sweet. And in 1976 Monroe would play in a band called
Madness and he just happened to share the same rehearsal space and drummer with guitarist
Andy Mccoy Who played in a punk rock band named Briard. It was there that the two met
and started talking and started hit it off and Monroe at one point almost joined Mccoy’s
band, but was told he had to cut his hair. While Monroe was against cutting his hair,
the seeds of Hanoi Rocks were being carefully planted as he would tell Louder Sound “the
punk thing was great, but you can join our punk band if you cut your hair. What? To be
in punk fashion. Im not going to be a slave to fashion he’d remember so i said no and
me and andy talked about putting a real band together the way we thought a cool rock band
should be and that’s how Hanoi started.After skipping the army I wasn’t going to cut
my hair just to be in a band he’d say
Monroe eventually left home and moved to Stockholm, Sweden and started another punk band called
Nymphomaniac. The band would quickly fell apart and Michael moved back to Helsinki.
By the summer of 1979 monroe was back again in Sweden and would meet future hanoi rocks
rhythm guitarist Nasty Sicide through Andy McCoy. Andy was in a new band at the time
named Pelle (pellay) Miljoona but was still interested in forming a band with monroe.
Riding the bus one day Andy suggested the band name "Chinese Rocks" named after the
Johnny Thunders song and then "Hanoi Rocks" and well the rest was history.
And Hanoi Rocks would be formed in 1979, but funny enough Mccoy wasn’t in the first incarnation
of the group because he was still playing in his other band. But Mccoy did have an understanding
with Monroe that he would eventually join Hanoi Rocks. The only members of the classic
lineup who were in the first incarnation of the band were mike monroe and nasty sicide.
The band soon hit the Finnish club circuit playing a mix of Cheap Trick, MC5 and The
Police covers along with songs Monroe and Mccoy had written. At one of the band’s
early shows a fellow named Seppo who was responsible for bringing iggy pop and the stooges to finland
was in attendance and showed an interest in managing the band. We’ll talk a little more
about him later.
When Mccoy was ready to join the group they would relocate to Sweden and have drummer
gyp casino and bassist Sami Yaffa joining the band. This is where things got difficult
for the band. Most of the members were literally living in the street as Monroe would tell
loudersound
When we started Hanoi Rocks we were homeless. I had a few hundred Finnish marks, not much,
when I left home and ended up in Stockholm. So me, Sami Yaffa and Nasty Suicide were living
on the streets for the first six months, begging for change. We’d beg enough to get a hamburger
to share, or a bottle of wine to forget about the hunger. We befriended other homeless people.
We’d sometimes go to a bar and I’d chat up some girl, and when she’d invite me to
her house, I’d say: “Do you mind if my friends come along?” Then when we got to
the house we’d head straight for the fridge. He would go on to reveal that
Andy would live with his girlfriend during the time and Gyp had an apartment during their
time in Sweden. It was life on the streets that would eventually shape the group’s
attitude, image and sound. And According to Monroe, Sweden was merely a stopover for the
band whose final destination was London, England because as he saw it that’s where the centre
of the music scene seemed to be at the time. He would go on to reveal to Loudersound that
the band got no love from their home country saying
In the late seventies in Finland, looking like us was sicide. The general atmosphere
was negative, people were very narrow-minded and intolerant of anything different. Hanoi
changed a lot of that. We added a little colour and forced the Finnish people to be more open-minded.
They hated us until we started getting famous abroad,
After the band had been in Sweden for six months, Seppo who had previously expressed
an interest in managing the band came to Sweden to check out the band and was so Impressed
he decided to become their manager and he began booking shows for the group and that’s
when they finally started to make money. In 1980 the band struck a deal with the finnish
record label who helped he band put out their first single titled "I Want You / Kill City
Kills", Later that same year the band headed into
the studio to record their debut record titled Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks.
Originally released only in the Scanadanvian countries, the album became a top 5 hit in
their Finland. The album would be produced by both mccoy and monroe under the name the
muddy twins. And while the album is held in high regards by the public, both McCoy and
Monroe have had mixed feelings about the record with Monroe claiming he can’t listen to
the record since he wasn’t a fan of his voice on the album. Perhaps the most famous
song off the record was a track called Tragedy which would foreshadow the band’s future.
Following their debut album’s release the band eventually found their way to london
to promote the album and record their follow up 1982’s Oriental Beat. When the band arrived
in London they were the antithesis of what was going on in the music scene. Post-punk
was popular and many in the press labelled them as just another glam band, which Monroe
resented. Oriental beat was a monumental album for the band’s career as it opened up new
markets beyond the scandanavian countries as the group who would become hugely popular
in the UK and Japan. Also helping the bands popularity in the UK was that Kerrang Magazine
published their first article about the band when they reviewed the album, Oriental Beat,
which they praised. For the rest of the band’s career kerrang covered the band heavily.
It was during the tour to support the record in Japan, the band would sign a deal with
Mercury Polygram. And as the band’s star was rising the band began indulging in excesses.
The band members started to partake in drugs especially drummer Gyp Casino who got into
heroin. It was also during this time that the band found a new home in london in 1982
where they would play a memorable gig at the zig zag club in june of that year.A member
of the crowd would accost mike monroe claiming the was a better drummer than gyp casino.
That audience member would turn out to be future drummer Nicholas Charles Dingley or
Razzle The band gave him a shot. Up until this point Monroe knew Razzle already as they
had met several times prior including at a johnny thunders show. And Razzle came to the
attention of the band at the right time because they were tired of Gyp’s pension for heroin
and Andy mccoy didn’t think his playing was up to snuff and just didn’t like him
personally. The pair even got into a fight onstage. So Gyp would be eventually fired
and replaced with Razzle.
Prior to Razzle joining the band, Hanoi Rocks were in a bad place and on the verge of breaking
up..Monroe would reveal to loudersound that the addition of razzle made the band perfect
and that his attitude, his spirit, brought us back to life. The band was at a low point
around that time. We were getting into some seriously bad shit with Andy hanging out with
hard-core junkies. Razzle wasn’t great technically, but he had that gung-ho, up-against-the-world
attitude and fit in with the band’s style perfectly. I loved that he was totally determined
to be in the band, and when he joined we were a real gang.
Before the end of 1982 the band would release Self Destruction Blues, their third record
which mostly consisted of singles and b-sides recorded over the past several years.
In early 1983 Hanoi Rocks would play their first gigs outside of the Europe touring across
Israel, India, Hong Kong, Japan and Thailand. In fact Hanoi Rocks was the first band to
play the Indian capital of New Dehli. And the nation of Japan is one of several countries
where Hanoi Rocks became superstars. The fans were so rabid in Japan that they broke into
the group’s hotels to see the musicians and the ticket prices were as expensive as
the bands who filled up stadiums. On top of that some phone booths in Tokyowould play
hanoi rocks songs in tokyo.That’s not to say that the band was well received everywhere
they went. The band’s shows in Israel were especially noteworthy. . The band was booked
to play during passover, which meant that the countries citizens could not buy or sell
yeast, which meant no beer. The band’s manager though had made a deal with the promoters
that the band could consume free alcohol throughout the entire duration of their stay. Also complicating
matters was that Israel had only started promoting rock concerts a year earlier and had never
witnessed any band remotely resembling hanoi rocks.
Monroe and most of the band had trouble leaving the hotel because of their appearance. Local
residents thought the band were scantily dressed women and began to harass them and spit on
them. Monroe would look back at the gig in israel recalling
: “What am I going to wake up to next?” “What have the guys done now?” I’m amazed
we got out of Israel without being thrown in jail. They were drinking twenty-four hours
a day. Not trying to get a reputation – it’s just the way they were. Maybe it’s part
of being Finnish. They’d always get into situations that’d get out of control. I
mean, Nasty Sicide… On May 16, 1983, the band released their critically
acclaimed album Back To Mystery City. And it was the first album to feature new drummer
Razzle and the band followed that up by recording their concert at London’s historic venue
the Marquee in December of that year titled All Those Wasted Years.
This success set the stage for Hanoi Rocks to get the attention of a major US label and
that they did. The band would sign a 3 record deal with CBS Records the same year for 150,000
pounds . CBS would push for the band’s next album titled Two Steps From the Move , to
feature a hit song which just happened to be a cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival
song Up around the bend. The album would be produced by Alice Cooper’s Bob Ezrin in
Toronto Canada and New York City and It would also sadly be the last album to feature drummer
Razzle. The album would be released in the fall of
1984 to coincide with the group’s first US Tour that owuld begin in November. The
band was on a roll, their single up around the bend was getting play on MTV and on much
music in Canada and the great reviews came pouring in.
It was during their tour of the United States that the members of band excluding Mike Monroe
took their inebriated behavior to new heights with Monroe recalling to Classic Rock magazine
“On that American tour everyone was fed up out of their minds 24 hours a day, mainly
drinking,” the singer says. “So I was not having much fun, but I would sit there
and drink my orange juice and just put up with it. It was boring, really, because whenever
we would go to rehearsals, after half a song it would be: ‘F it, let’s go to the pub’.”
“Nasty was the one who was a really the heavy drinker He ended up in a kidney machine.
Once he drank my aftershave because the mini-bars were empty.” he’d remember
It was during their tour of the States, during a gig in New York frontman Mike Monroe broke
his ankle after jumping off a drum riser. The injury wouldn’t stop the band from continuing
on with the tour The band soldiered on playing through a series of dates across Detroit,
Chicago, Cleavland and Boston but the pain for Monroe got so severe the band cancelled
their show in Atlanta and the label would send the group to LA to do press for the record.
The band’s show in Boston would be the last gig with Razzle but also waiting in Los Angeles
for the band were their friends motley crue who had befriended the band earlier in the
year when Motley Crue played the monsters of rock festival. Motley Crue were having
a party in honor of Hanoi Rocks first US tour. And the band including Razzle were hanging
out at Vince Neil's house partying when they ran out of alcohol. Neil and Razzle both of
whom were reportedly drinking decided to drive to the liquor store. Neil who was in the driver’s
seat was driving down a winding road in hollywood and lost control of the vehicle and smashed
into an oncoming car. All of the people involved in the collision suffered injuries, with the
exception of Razzle who was taken to the south bay hospital where he was declared dead. He
would pass away at the young age of 24. Neil would be sentenced to only 30-days in
jail and be let out 10 days early for good behavior. Neil would also have to pay millions
in damages to the families impacted by the accident and do public service announcements
and Neil would tell Blender magazine how he expressed remorse over the incident claiming
I wrote a $2.5 million check for vehicular manslaughter when Razzle died. I should have
gone to prison. I definitely deserved to go to prison. But I did 30 days in jail and got
laid and drank beer, because that's the power of cash. That's f---ed up" he’d conclude
And in a 2006 interview with Metal Express, Hanoi guitarist Andy McCoy gave his own account
of the incident revealing "I was there, what happened was Razzle disappeared, so did Vince.
So me and T-Bone, Tommy Lee, took his car and went looking for them. We drove past this
accident, and I was like, What color was the car they were driving? Because we just passed
a f---king accident with a bright red sports car. Then I saw Razzle's hat on the street."
And in 2011 Mike Monroe told sleazeroxx.com his feelings almost 30 years after the incident
saying "There was an accident, and unfortunately our drummer was killed. As far as Vince Neil,
I have nothing to say. It was an accident. What happened happened, and it can't be changed.
Everybody suffered from the whole thing.” The band was devastated by the tragedy and
the rest of the US tour was cancelled. The band did however have two gigs back home in
Helsinki, Finland that they were determined to play in memory of Razzle The concerts were
part of a television broadcast that was to happen in early january of 1985. It was reported
that Motley Crue drummer Tommy lee was going to fill in, but that never came to fruition.
The band would enlist ex-clash drummer Terry Chimes to play the gigs.b And Bootlegs of
both the gigs are available online. By this point in time Sammy had already made up his
mind that he was leaving the band even before the US tour ended and those two shows in Finland
would be his last with the band. Sammy leaving was the final nail in the coffin for Monroe
who would tell Classic Rock Magazine that Sami Yaffa leaving the band was another deciding
factor. Everybody was vital to the chemistry of that family unit, so without Sami there
was just me, Andy and Nasty left. The new guys had the wrong attitude. They’d have
been a disaster and ruined a good memory of a great band. That’s why it was crucial
to finish Hanoi Rocks [in mid-’85], put it to rest with integrity intact. If we’d
persevered and become one of the biggest bands in the world, it would have been even worse.
No matter how much money we’d have had, no matter how much fame, it would have been
cursed. He’d say Following the gig Andy Mccoy would leave with
his new girlfriend to Sri Lanka leaving behind Mike and Nasty in London to hire a new bass
player who they found in Rene Berg, The chemistry though just wasn’t there and Berg at one
point reportedly tried to call the shots in the band and was quickly replaced by Timo
Kaltio. Throughout all the drama Monroe planned to quit the band in early 1985, but the record
label convinced him to stay and do a short tour in Poland, where the single "Don't You
Ever Leave Me" was climbing up the charts and Monroe reluctantly agreed under the condition
that no live record would be released. The compromise was made where by semi-official
live album was released. Appropriately titled Rock & Roll Divorce, the album was slammed
by the band’s managers managers, band members and critics alike. And Monroe would eventually
have enough and call it quits. Monroe would go on to enjoy a successful solo
career and for his second solo record released in 1989 titled not fakin it would feature
guns N’ roses vocalist axl rose in the video for dead, jail or rockn’ roll. And Hanoi
rocks was a massive influence on the members of guns n’ roses and the band would lobby
their own label Geffen records to re-release Hanoi Rock’s catalog on their vanity label
uzi sicidal and get Tom Zutaut who signed guns n’ roses to oversee the project. Monroe
for his part would make an appearance on Guns N’ Roses use your illusion records and the
spaghetti incident The re-release of the band’s back catalog on guns n’ roses uzi suicidal
label in the mid 90’s only got the band more exposure and increased their fanbase
despite the fact the band was no longer active. And In February 2001, Monroe and McCoy would
reunite for the first time since 1985, in Finland. They toured again in the summer of
2001, under the name "Hanoi Revisited" Following the tour, Monroe and McCoy agreed
to keep playing together and the pair would refer to it as a rebirth and not a reformation
of the band as Razzle was dead, nasty sicide was now a pharmacist and sammy yafa was involved
with the new york dolls while gyp casino was done in music. The rebirth of the band would
write and record several more albums and the new incarnation would disband in 2008 where
they would play a series of farewell shows where nasty sucide would make an appearance..That
does it for today’s video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit hte like button and
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