There have been many. I remember these clown rappers who opened up for Public Enemy who I believe were called "Angry Black Teenagers." They were white. And immensely sucky. I saw NIN right before they released "Pretty Hate Machine." They opened for Peter Murphy in NYC. Nobody paid much attention to them. And their synths weren't even plugged in.
I just recently saw Something Corporate, a decently known band. They had two opening acts, Vendetta Red and Steel Train. The Vendetta Red singer kept walking around pretending to cut his throat and his wrists and the best part, my girlfriend went to the show the next night and he said "Let's all have a suicide part with cyanide in our drinks" and when someone told them to get off stage "The next time I get off is gonna be in your face!" The music royally sucked though. Steel train was the worst by far. The music just wasn't good. It seemed very stale and the co-lead singer(who only sang) just stood and held on to the microphone with his eyes closed the entire time.
I went to see Top Petty on his Full Moon Fever tour at the Richfield Coliseum near Cleveland a long time ago and watched a guy get booed off the stage. His music sucked beyond belief and nobody could stand him. At first a few people were booing then others joined in until we all were just berating this guy and finally made him stop the terrible noise he was producing. It was awesome. The whole place came together for the common good. The guy didn't even get through his fourth song. Five months later he released Let Love Rule and those same people were probably loving Lenny then. His music, however, never got better.
Young Black Teenagers, actually. They were executive produced by Terminator X, which got them on the Public Enemy bill. Their DJ went on to become the equally lame club spinner DJ Scribble.
Tie: Red Red Meat, opening for U.R.G.E. Overkill at Toad's, years and years ago. Sucked. Jonathan Fire Eater, opening for Pulp at Lupo's, about 5 or 6 summers ago. Drunk, an hour late, and sucked.
I've seen some lame opening bands, but the problem with them is they tend to be so lame that I completely forget who they are. The only one I can remember is a band called The Stanford Prison Experiment', only because after every freaking song they said 'we are the Stanford Prison Experiment.' Effective, if they weren't so lame. They opened up for Rage (at Red Rocks, in the Denver area). Now that was a great show.... Someone once told me that Alice In Chains opened up for Megadeth and Slayer, and they got booed off the stage. Funny, because AIC blows both of them away, on every level (except maybe the screaming into the mic level).
by far the worst i ever saw was eye of the fatima or the fatima somethings (somethnig with fatima in it) - they opened for weezer and live in atlanta about 10 years ago - man they were so exceedingly awful and the crowd rightly booed and hissed throughout their entire set - to make matters worse, the frontman was an arrogant moron - the poor guitar player looked so miserable like he just wanted to get out of there - wonder how often that happened during the tour - never heard from that 'band' again
I went and saw Styx (yeah, go ahead and laugh) about 12 years ago..their first show since 85 I think. There was a comedian that opened up that took that not very funny, and man, did he take a beating. I'm sure he was used to getting booed and heckled in small comedy clubs....this was 5000 mostly drunk yuppies. I wouldn't be surprised if the guy killed himself after that. Also, I saw a group called Uncle Green open for the Black Crowes back in 1991. I was high as the moon at that show, but I vaguely remember them sucking. But the WORST has to be Faster ***************cat. I saw them open for Kiss on Halloween 1992 in Miami, and they sucked worse than a vaccuum. They all came out for an encore (why would they think people want to see more of them?) dressed up in psuedo rap gear. The singer, Taime Downe, splashed water on me and a couple of people around me (I was in the 3rd row, we were all sitting, and I don't think he dug that) and that just opened up the floodgates. We threw change, beer (I drank mine) the cats next to me were lighting cigarettes and throwing it at the guy. But they are easily the worst I've ever seen.
How Ironic, now theres a band out there called Fantomas who is led by the former Faith No More singer who sucks just like this one. Saw them open up for TOOL and they pretty much went up there and banged on pots and pans.
The Fun Lovin' Criminals opened for U2 at Soldier Field. About two thirds through their set, my friend Eric asked if there was an opening band. My response was "not really".
I saw the Jesus and Mary Chain open for Depeche Mode years ago.....I was real excited to see them too. They SUCKED, I couldn't believe it. I also saw Marilyn Manson open for NIN about 9-10 years ago......thank christ it was only a 4 song set....I have never felt pain like that before.
t bone burnett opened for the who on their "farewell" tour (you remember, the 1983 edition?), and sucked donkey. also, i saw a band open for trip shakespeare in mpls back in the very-early 90's; the trips were no great shakes, in the grand scheme, but they were kind of local legends (see "semisonic" for their descendants). anyway, the opening band were already getting some decent press, but weren't yet "popular." apparently, their lead singer took offense to the fact that we 'sota rubes weren't paying him and his band their props, so he started swearing at us. a real profanity tirade, cuz we weren't worshipping him enough. that man? eddie vedder.
We saw live about 7-8 years ago, and a band called, "Thinkin Fellers Union Local 187" or something like that played. Possibly the worst band ever. Apparently they actually had a following on the Indie Circuit. Also, I went to Elastica a couple years ago, and "Peaches and Gonzales" opened up for them. They were so bad, it was funny. People were actually laughing. It was so funny in fact, that we went to go see them agiain when they came. Just as funny the second time.
I never saw or really heard them, and I don't doubt that they suck, but I always thought that Thinkin Fellers Union Local 187 was a really sweet band name.
It was probably the "Clash of the Titans" tour back in the early 90s (Slayer, Megadave and Anthrax alternated headlining, AiC opened up all the shows right after their first album came out). I saw it at the Cow Palace near SF, and AiC was, um, not warmly received. PS--Guess it's personal opinion, having seen all the bands multiple times, but AiC couldn't touch Slayer live, IMHO. At the same venue, around the same time, I saw Warrior Soul get booed offstage opening for Queensryche. People were pelting them with Cokes, rolls of toilet paper, shoes, and more. I think they got through like four songs before Kory Clarke started driving the crowd nuts doing some spoken word, which brought on the deluge. I didn't think WS were that bad, musically, but whatever. One of the worst things I ever saw was Tom Tom Club opening for the Grateful Dead at a New Year's Eve show in Oakland. Really weak live, and a half-assed performance. Even worse, because the crowd had a hard time tolerating it, was Ornette Coleman opening a Mardi Gras show for the Dead. He really lost the crowd and was annoying the ************ out of people with his off-kilter noise. People were heading for the concourse in droves. From recent years, I'd say it was Tricky opening for Tool at Shoreline. WTF? What really pissed me off is we got that crappy opener while other parts of the country got Meshuggah instead.
Worst opening act? Probably a tie between Prong (opening for Ozzy) and the Waterboys (opening for U2.) Best opening act, however, was undoubtedly The Outlaws, opening for Stevie Ray Vaughan. Two encores and a standing O for the opening act. I've never seen the likes of it before or since.
I'll vote for The Demolition Doll Rods. Jon Spencer seems to love these guys so during a period in the late 90's it seemed that the DDR were constantly opening up for the Blues Explosion or Boss Hog. It was painful. Musically, they are nothing horrible. They're just boring and vanilla. But theatrically, it was painful. They'd perform buck naked except for a pink tu-tu. Two women and one guy. It sounds wild but these weren't people you wanted to see naked. They all either had big bellies or were heroin-thin. So, not only did you have to endure the bland music, you had to find places to divert your eyes to for 45 minutes. Bad band. Murf
I'd guess you'd have to like Slayer to have that opinion.....I think they are one of the worst bands ever, the epitomy of a band that just screams into the mic and thrashes the guitar, without any sense of musical talent.
Re: Re: Lamest Opening Band That wouldn't be the only time an opening act got booed off stage at a Queensryche show. Worst exp. I had was having to sit through 45 minutes of set up and 35 minutes of Slaughter to see Ozzy one year.
I saw Stabbing WEstward, along with the Doughboys open for Paw in 1994. They were bloody terrible. Every third word was a curse that the singer thought added to his "intensity" but instead made him look like he didn't have much to say. the best --- Pylon, opening for REM, in 1990. Great forgotten Athens GA band.