Four Of The Nicest Rock Stars – Part 1: Meltdown
Last week I posted the question on my socials about some of the nicest rock stars you’ve been able to meet. I get the question a lot about the biggest jerk-offs, but I’ll be 100% honest, a vast majority of my encounters are overwhelmingly positive. Maybe someday I’ll post about dicks I’ve meet, it won’t be a very long piece, but there are some.
The guy who pops right to the top of my head is Ronnie James Dio. I only met him once and he could not have been nicer. He signed every one of my CD inserts and even hugged and thanked me for coming when I left. One of the inserts he signed “For Meltdown, Best Witches” After about fifteen minutes he started to roll some joints. I felt like I’d taken up enough of his time and told him I was going to split. He looked at me and said that I didn’t have to leave because of the weed. That was October 9th, 1994, during his Strange Highways tour. Just a joy to be around.
Dio
Next is Lzzy Hale and the guys from Halestorm. It’s funny, she went to the Dio school of how to treat fans, and she told me about it. She said that Ronnie told her that she might never remember the names, faces, or where she met any of her fans, but they’d always remember meeting her, so be nice to everyone. Great advice that she carries with her to this day. Just the best!
James Hetfield. Just a solid dude. I’ve met and interviewed him several times and he’s always nice. He never rushes out of the room when we’re done, which says a lot. He’s stayed behind and just BS’d with us on multiple occasions. James is one reason why you SHOULD meet your heroes. Watch our last conversation here and you’ll know what I mean.
Bret Micheals. I’ve had the pleasure of being around him a few times and he’s always very friendly. I recall getting to Pine Knob for my live broadcast about ten years ago or so. He was throwing a football in the empty parking lot with a roadie. He came over to where were broadcasting from, started throwing us the ball and then took pictures with us. After he left, his roadie came back with guitar picks that Bret told him to give us.
He also treated my wife, and about thirty other women waiting to meet him after a show, very well. I watched as his handler tried to get him out of the backstage area. He continued to stop and take pictures until every person was taken care of. Just a great person!
That’s enough for now…..I’ll do a part 2, 3, 4 and so on, later…I have lots more!
-Meltdown-
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