Getting publicly hammered is bad enough, but it's worse when you do it in front of thousands
of people paying hard-earned money to see you perform their favorite songs.
Here are a few musicians who were way too wasted to perform live.
Billy Joel and Elton John hit the road together in 2002 and took their piano-fueled show to
Madison Square Garden in New York City.
Fans had been forewarned to not expect Joel at his best because he had a cold.
But that couldn't explain Joel's behavior — like when he went off on a weird rant
where he made fun of the Liberty Bell for having a crack in it and then yelled out the
names of major World War II battles.
When the music eventually continued, Joel was clearly compromised.
According to the New York Times,
"When he slumped forward on his bench and slurred, ”Don't, don't, don't try to save
me,” he sounded truly hopeless.
As he wailed he banged on his keys almost at random."
When John returned for a double-piano presentation of "Bennie and the Jets," Joel banged on the
keys nonsensically, and John visibly mouthed the words "Thank God" at its conclusion.
In June 2002, Joel entered a rehab facility.
Green Day may have reached commercial heights with power ballads like "Boulevard of Broken
Dreams," but deep down, they're still a band of punks.
Billie Joe Armstrong and company played the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas in September
2012.
While the band played its 1994 hit "Basket Case," a message flashed up on a monitor informing
Armstrong that he had just one minute left of stage time.
That awakened a righteous fury deep inside Armstrong, who cut "Basket Case" short to
deliver a remarkably profane rant to a bewildered crowd.
"I've been around since f---ing nineteen-eighty-f---ing-eight.
And you're gonna give me one f---ing minute?
You gotta be f---ing kidding me!"
Armstrong then declared that he wasn't "Justin Bieber" and decided to show organizers what
he could do with that minute: he smashed his guitar and stormed off the stage.
According to Rolling Stone, Armstrong, who was reportedly "blackout drunk" when he went
out on stage that night, entered rehab soon after.
Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil drank profuse amounts of alcohol — up until the night
in 1984 when he crashed a car while driving drunk, killing his passenger, Hanoi Rocks
drummer Razzle.
Neil checked into a rehab facility, but has struggled with sobriety, seeking professional
help more than once.
In June 2006, Neil was off the wagon when he took the stage for a solo show in Tampa,
Florida.
According to an eyewitness account published by Blabbermouth, Neil was already, quote,
"smashed" when his set started.
He stumbled around the stage and couldn't seem to remember any lyrics.
When the crowd started to boo, Neil yelled at them to shut up and went backstage.
His band brought out singer John Corabi, who was briefly Neil's replacement in Motley Crüe.
Neil followed him out and staggered around the stage for a few more minutes.
A few days after the fact, Neil told the Calgary Sun,
"I was pretty buzzed.
I tripped, fell off [the stage] — sometimes it happens."
Doors front man Jim Morrison's booze-soaked stage shenanigans are well-documented, but
two incidents stand out as particularly bad, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.
During a European tour in 1968, the band was playing a gig in Amsterdam with Jefferson
Airplane and apparently did all of the drugs and drank as much booze as possible.
Morrison took the stage during Jefferson Airplane's set and danced around for a little while before
collapsing into a pile and passing out.
As he was carted off to the hospital, the show went on — with their keyboardist taking
over on vocals.
At a 1970 show in New Orleans, he messed up entire songs and used a mic stand for support
throughout the set before finally just having a seat on a drum riser.
When drummer John Densmore prodded Morrison with his foot, the Lizard King got up, grabbed
the mic stand, smashed it to bits, and walked offstage.
It was the last show he would ever play with the Doors.
After playing just four songs at Headliners, a club in Toledo, Ohio, all the members of
Puddle of Mudd who were not frontman Wes Scantlin walked off the stage.
What happened?
According to MTV News, Scantlin admitted that he was, quote, "too f---ed" to perform.
Not taking the hint from his bandmates, the singer and guitarist remained on stage, and
for an agonizing and bizarre half hour, he staggered around, swore profusely, insulted
the audience, dodged stuff thrown at him by the hostile crowd, dropped his guitar and
sang songs that he reportedly seemed to be making up on the spot.
Finally, Scantlin threw in the towel and headed to his dressing room backstage.
Apparently his show was so terrible that it was illegal — Toledo police arrested Scantlin
on a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
He was released after paying a $150 bond.
A few days later, Scantlin told MTV News,
"I just got a little too buzzed to play my guitar and sing at the same time."
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