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.

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-

7 Memorable Rock Star Acting Cameos

• Alice Cooper – 'Wayne’s World' (1992)

  There are few scenes more quotable than this gem that finds Wayne and Garth backstage hanging out with Cooper. Cooper says fans still come up to him this very day to reenact it.  The best part?  He actually obliges!

• Billy Idol – 'The Wedding Singer' (1998)

  Idol playing himself in The Wedding Singer is simply brilliant.  Plus, the disdain with which he says “CD players” is something that always gets a laugh.

• Eddie Vedder, Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament – 'Singles' (1992)

  Who could forget Vedder, Gossard, and Ament as members of the Matt Dillon-fronted Citizen Dick in Singles?!  However, that’s still not the best grunge musician acting cameo of all time…

• Jerry Cantrell - 'Jerry Maguire' (1996)

  …because the title of “Best Grunge Acting Cameo” will always be Alice In Chains’ Cantrell as “Jesus of CopyMat” in Jerry Maguire.

• Meat Loaf - 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' (1975)

  Sure…Eddie’s fate was grizzly, but Meat Loaf’s performance is easily the most underrated number from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

• Alanis Morissette – 'Dogma' (1999)

  Morissette doesn’t utter a single word in her role as God in Dogma, arguably Kevin Smith’s best film.  (Yes, better than Clerks!  I said it!)  Nonetheless, she makes the most of her screentime and is remarkably powerful.

• David Bowie – 'Zoolander' (2001)

  In addition to being a musical genius, Bowie had incredible comedic timing.  As if we all needed another reason to miss him!