Here's a link to the Stones photographs I mentioned. selvedgeyard.com/2013/11/23/rolling-stones-flea-market-find-photos-found-tumbling-through-the-south-in-65/
Yep, I’m 70 and I remember hearing about this years ago. I quit college and was working in a factory and after work at 7 am a bunch of us guys would jam somewhere. It scared the heck out of me thinking I’d get killed. Years later as an ER nurse 3 electrical workers were brought in for an electrocution. Two were dead and the other had a large entrance wound and a large exit wound. Only Keith would survive.
I was playing back in the 70s, 80s and 90s and it was standard practice to first touch the mic with your guitar strings, to test the ground of the equipment. We each learned this by experience, getting our own personal lip fry, which no one would ever want to repeat.
Thanks for this Otis! The Grateful Dead famously shared the disaster that was Woodstock for them. They aren't in the film for a good reason. While they were playing, sheets of electrical lightning rolled across the stage. Every time Bob Weir sang, he got shocked. The equipment had been set up by their sound tech, LSD King, Owsley Stanley. He had his own ideas of how to do things. Enough said.
I was playing guitar for Gordon Waller(of Peter & Gordon). I had my guitar on and was holding it while Gordon handed me his guitar to tune for him. His amp was on a different circuit and it was out of phase from my amp. I could feel the juice going through my arms and I couldn't move. Gordon grabbed the guitar which lessened the flow of electrecity. This was at an old Moose Club in Riverside Calf. for an event called "VoxFest" for Vox Amps. Had to be 2001 or 2002.
Been shocked enough in the old days that to this day when playing an electric guitar even UNPLUGGED I still let go of strings when doing things like turning on light switches or grabbing mic stand LOL
This actually used to be quite common, especially on some Fender guitars - and why some models(like Strats) had wires soldered to the bridge - or the tremolo hook the springs attached to in the back(to hide the wiring mod) - to ground the guitar properly. Unfortunately, sometimes these electrical connections were altered by guitar player who worked on their own guitars, and getting shocked was common. I had 6 parallel lines lightly burned across the inside of my left-hand while holding my Strat while snagging a beer from the fridge in the garage where I practiced. So many guitarists(and bass players) of that era learned to be careful around microphones, and while holding their guitars. Keith Relf, who played harp and sang for the Yardbirds, died in 1976 while he played an electric guitar and sang. And the manufacturers literature for tube amps(the kind most guitarists prefer) warn the owners DON'T CUT OFF THE GROUND LUG on the electric plug(that plugs into the wall) BECAUSE YOU MIGHT DIE. Tube amps use Current, not Voltage, to amplify the guitar pickup's tiny output signal(this is why tube amps have those damned heavy transformers in em), and the high-current capacity of those amps is what does the killing. But mostly(because it was so common, and because in those days many bandstands were wired by a friend of the club-owner - and not inspected) the musicians just learned to be super-careful when dealing with the music equipment that was connected to electricity, and to "take it in stride." Because "The Show Must Go On."
I've heard the story about Keef getting shocked in the Sacramento Bee - about an incident at that year's concert in Sac, but I SAW him reach for the mike stand saw the arc between it and his hand - and saw him get thrown back about six feet and land on his ass in front of the back line. It was DAMN dramatic but what I've always remembered as the most miraculous aspect of the incident was that Keef kept playing RIGHT on time through the whole thing - on his ass - rising up to his knees - and then standing back up on his feet, like nothing had happened. A pro's pro. He earned a lifetime of respect from me in that moment. Upon my immortal soul, I saw every bit of this with my own eyes - only it happened in SAN JOSE at the old San Jose Civic Auditorium on their first US tour. I was 12 years old - my mother drove me to the concert and dropped me off. Paul Revere and the Raiders opened, and there was ZERO PA - just individual amps as a backline - and Mick and Keith both feeding into a Fender Twin. And it was LOUD - it was the loudest thing I'd ever heard in my life until then - my ears rang for a good long time after the show. Tickets were $3.50. That show changed my life - I STILL play the electric guitar at 71 and am one of the original Deadheads - 200+ shows. But San Jose - not Sacramento - I never saw a show in Sac until the Dead started playing at Cal Expo years later...
Old tube amps ( tv’s and radios too) used to ground one side of of the Mains power to the chassis. Since the ac plugs weren’t polarized ( could be plugged in upside down ) or grounded to earth, you could easily get the full 120 volts touching someone or something connected to another amplifier if they weren’t plugged in identically.. Electric Guitar players were particularly vulnerable as the guitar strings were wired into the amplifiers ground and you generally had a hand on the strings. Modern equipment and mains wiring is safer now being polarized and properly grounded. However There are still some old amplifiers in use that can cause shocks.
My third story of ungrounded electrocution is growing up in my parents house, I was given my oldest brothers big beautiful room. Some of the outlets were two prong, some were three prong. For years, (1974 to 2005) I had been telling my father, a plumber and havac man who built the house and had his friend wire the electric in the addition in early 60's, that the electric was noisey and I was getting shocked sometimes. This showed up really bad when I started to record demos with lots of equipment in the room. I had endless level changes and noise even with grounding strips and etc. So... 2004 they had a big flood, my Dad was VERY I'll by then and had to call in an electrician to fix something that was wrong in the addition. My Dad tells me later on in the week that the electrician took him downstairs and showed him that the electric was never properly finished in the entire section... everything was ungrounded and that was three rooms... So from 1960 to 2005 that electric was just a temporary wire. After that my Dad finally took me at my word!🤣😳😂
Hey Otis, yes I've been bitten by a ungrounded microphone a few times, generally by playing through an unfamiliar amp. I now carry in my gig back a socket checker that will tell by three lights if the electrical socket is wired correctly and then also by holding the guitar strings after it's plugged in of course, and then touching the microphone windscreen with my hand to feel any "tingle". Just my two pennies, keep up the good work.✌️
I remember back when I was playing out in the 70s and 80s a regular pre-show ritual was touching the vocal mic to see if you were grounded correctly. Often you were not! Don't play as often these days but yeah it's been a while since I received a good shock.
Thank you so much for this channel.. recovering from surgery and I’m binge watching your channel!! Love the stones stories .. love Kenny Vaughan..love all of this!!
I had never heard of Kenny Vaughn before coming across this channel. Now I think he is a national treasure. What a great story teller! And does anyone have a better voice and cadence than Otis? I could listen to these old stories for hours.
Great vid OG. Chuck Leavell (pronounced Luh Vell) is a legend in his own right. Before The Stones, he was with the Allman brothers through the 70s and played keys on Brothers and Sisters. Also played keys on Shake Your Money Maker - Black Crowes, Unplugged - Eric Clapton, Aretha-Aretha Franklin, Drops of Jupiter- Train, Live at Pompeii-David Gilmour, Born and Raised-John Mayer.
I recently saw a video on TikTok of Elvis being shocked in the studio by his microphone, Elvis was playing Electric guitar sitting on a stool when the microphone popped him in the mouth, they were recording Little Sister. Have you ever seen this video?
Oh man. getting shocks?!? Oh the memories. So back in the day, 14 or 15 years old (1977/78) practicing in my friends grandma's garage, we had a handful or amps, some tube, and because we had no PA, one of the guitar amps would get demoted to microphone duty while we practiced on the cement floor with a mic hockey-taped to one of those cheap folding music stands.. Yea, sometimes we'd get shocks and we anticipated it and would always lightly touch the mic to see if it was electrified and we often would refrain from touching our lips to it. But of course, if you found "the zone" and things were grooving one would eventually close their eyes (as one does) and sing from the heart where the natural thing to do is to lightly brush the lips against the mic to establish your proximity while playing. With all amps plugged into different outlets around the garage, and none of us with any knowledge of just quite how electricity works in an environment like that ... I touched my lips to the mic, saw 'my Jesus' and fell to the ground. Came to with a burn't lip, had a beer, put a foam pop filter on the mic and tried the song again. We had to ... we had a gig coming up. These days I know more about electricity and when I set up a rig everything is in phase and works correctly but I still feel mics and anticipate the 'buzz'. ROCK ON.
Some of the old two-prong plugged amps were good for a zappin’. My early-1965 Vox Pacemaker hasn’t been converted to 3-prong yet and it still lights me up in the studio sometimes when I power it on.
Had that problem a lot as a youngster in the 60's and 70's. I'm lucky to be alive. When I could afford it i got an SM57 with the "presidential windscreen" in self defense. The problem persisted through a string of rural clubs and juke joints in the 80's. the problem got so bas I put EMG's in my Strat because they didn't need a string ground and prevented ground loops via yours truly from happening. That stuff was no joke. Two notable guitarists (Stone the Crows, Family) bought it due to that phenomenon.
You're account of what happened is exactly right. I was there! Sitting in the balcony on the same side of the stage as Keith. I was really excited to see the Stones and a couple of songs in I saw him touch the Mike stand with his strings, a flash, and down he went, right on his back. It didn't sound like a gun shot but I knew instantly what had happend. I haven't thought about that for years. Thanks for the story.
It has become very popular in the woodworking community to make DIY Lichtenberg machines to "fractal burn" wood. People take the transistors out of microwave ovens and wire them up with the ends off jumper cable ends, wet the wood and burn designs. It is beautiful but also very deadly. There is enough voltage to basically create a electric chair effect right on top of your workbench. Point being... electricity scares me!!
Howdy Otis, I absolutely love your very informative videos! Back in the 90’s, our country band was performing for an outdoor event in Western Wisconsin. My Father In-law who played a Fender Stratocaster had one hand on his guitar strings while touching his vocal microphone..he received such a shock that it sent him flying back into the drum kit! -Ken Nelson
They got rid of the ground switch on Fenders so that helped with grounding. Funny, I used Fenders for decades before. I heard that switch can kill ya, but not till 90's. My friend (Beano,PBUH) was rehearsing in a damp basement. He leaned up against a metal pole and starting getting electrocuted. Someone kicked his arm and it dislodged
I live in Sacramento, Mick Martin is big on the Northern California blues scene. He plays harp. He hosts a blues radio program on our NPR station, KXJZ. Mick emceed and sat in on Matt Schofield’s gig over a year ago.
Read somewhere that if you wanted to be a roadie for Peter Frampton you had to submit to touching an ungrounded mic - this was back in the 70s. A lesson to be learned, regardless of the decade, I guess.
Had this happen to me with a 69 Bassman with the old ungrounded plug. Grabbed a mike stand and the low e string lit up like a light bulb filament just before it knocked me on my ass. I still have the scorch marks on my Olympic White strat.
Yeah I remember playing this little hall in Northern MI it was raining that night we were setting up. I got a little one and cautioned everyone at soundcheck the singer got shocked pretty good.
Happens all the time still. Usually has to do with not sharing a common ground with the sound system. Nowadays the backline is always powered by shared power from the audio and separate from lighting, and its a good idea to carry a small electrical meter to check for current, even minimal, between guitar and mic. I once received a 240 hit in Copenhagen by wiring a transformer incorrectly, then checking for signal with a hot lead in one hand, connected to 100w Marshall stack, the reaching out to push down a Morley volume pedal with the other hand. Blew me across the stage! Always checked since then. Nobody really knows anything about electricity. Anything can happen.
I’ve been shocked a few times mainly back in the 90’s when I was playing in dirty punk rock clubs back in Bakersfield. Never been knocked out just stunned for a few seconds.
Hi Otis thanks for the great videos! I used to sing what are euphemistically known in England as "football harmonies", = rough. I never waned to sing but got roped into it many times. Yes I got the blue lightning belt from the mic a few times, mostly on tour in France where the electrical setup was usually somewhat suspect. Our sound guy would try to disguise my awful mumblings, along with the equally bad drummer's howling, in a huge hall reverb, so it sounded like two guys stuck down a well. The last time I did the football harmonies was nearly the end for me. It was at a Festival in France, I was pretty stoked to be playing to 20,000 people and got a bit carried away. I played lead guitar, and when I came to play a solo I realised I had not got my bottleneck for the slide solo. I grabbed a mike stand and was going to use it as a slide, a trick that looked pretty good usually. I got a belt that knocked me flat on my back, the mic stand wasn't earthed so when the strings touched it BOOM. The Tour manager ran across the stage to assist me. "Are you alrightI?" he asked. "Yes. I am from Manchester" was my reply, as if being from Manchester imbued me with mystical power over electricity. I lived to tell the tale, no more football harmonies and always have two slides, one on top of the amp taped on with gaffa! Hope you like the story, perhaps you could have a thread where musicians can tell their stories of wierd and wild things that have happened during a performance. I have been head butted mid solo by a random nuttter, (the solo wasn't that bad!), who walked on stage, I jumped off stage at Newcastle City Hall and tore my cruciate, the worst thing was the story of the curtains....but perhaps I have said enough. Keep up the great work man!
Yep---old clubs and bars with bad electric + old guitar amps with 2 prong plugs = a shocking performance. I got zapped so hard one night there was a black mark on my nose, I had broken 3 strings at once, and one flew back and cut my hand--didn't knock me out, but boy howdy did it hurt!
You’re not hallucinating Otis… as a 75 year old picker and still playing out some I can’t remember how many times that use to happen… started playing live in 1963 so I’ve had my share of “shocks” 🤯
More from that last article: "In my mind the crowd was very receptive to the Rolling Stones, but more so to the Beach Boys. You've got to remember the Beach Boys had been performing since 1960 or 1961 and they'd been on a jillion tours and had lots of hits. Looking back, the Beach Boys were as big a draw or more so than the Stones. I'm pretty sure the Beach Boys went on last." "When the Beach Boys played there were limousines parked right around the end zone. So when they did their final number there were steps doing down off the stage and they started walking to their limos and people spilled out of the stands - there was not much security or anything - and started running after the band. And so then the Beach Boys started running and you've got thousands of teenagers chasing you. The guy in the back was Dennis Wilson, who was the drummer for the Beach Boys, and some people tore off his shirt. They had on these red and white stripes shirts. And my little brothers got a big piece of it and were tearing it into little sections about two inches square and selling it to some of the little teenybopper girls for a dollar a piece. They got more than their price of admission back for selling pieces of Dennis Wilson's Beach Boys shirt to the other kids. [Laughs] They did make it back to their limo. I don't remember anything like that happening to the Stones though." www.al.com/entertainment/2016/09/stoned_in_alabama_a_history_of.html
Otis, I enjoy your channel. Especially enjoy the interviews with Kenny Vaughan. I am a guitarist and singer-songwriter. I was playing in Washington, NC for a July 4th celebration with several other performers and we were all sharing our pa. Just as we were finishing setting up a bolt of lightning shot through the gazebo we were under. We were on the Pamlico river. We all ran for cover, as best we could. When we thought it was safe we resumed and my microphone was not working. We smelled rubber. The lightning had fried my brand new mic cable. Luckily, I had several more. That really scared everyone, but we all performed, but it reduced our performance time, as we were running late, due to the delay. I enjoy your channel!
I was there sitting in the balcony.. They took Keith off stage closed the curtains and of course ended the concert after only a few songs.. And no, we didn't get our money back...
Love the channel and content Otis. And Minnie is a charmer. My wife and I go for a 2.5 mile walk most mornings and I take a pocket full of peanuts in the shell. We have squirrels running up to us and Blue Jays calling out to us - they have us trained! The record is feeding 15 squirrels along the way. Cheap fun. 👍🏻🥜
Here's How it happens...First off, let's state that it doesn't happen from an un-grounded amp or microphone. You get shocked when you touch both sides of a service outlet, simultaneously. That's the first concept to understand...basically touching positive and ground at the same time. So, when you're touching an electric guitar, you are touching the ground of the room, IF and its a big IF the amp is plugged into the wall in the proper direction. This can get reversed when using a 2-prong cable that is plugged in backward. Following? When it gets mistakingly plugged in backward, you are now touching the HOT of the room. That's not a problem in itself, until you simultaneously touch another component, like a microphone or another guitar that is plugged into the wall properly, in which case you are now touching POSITIVE and NEGATIVE at the same time...SHOCK!!
I can’t speak to electrocution issues, but regarding ticket prices, I saw the Stones ten years later in ‘75 on the Tour of the Americas, and the ticket price (still have the stub) was $10. Seemed like a lot at the time.
Not sure if anybody else has confirmed yet, but yes, Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa is still around. Northport is right across the Black Warrior River, just north of Tuscaloosa. That is some fine eating indeed. If you're ever in Tuscaloosa, I highly recommend it.
Oh yeah. Used to play a club in Pittsburgh called The Electric Banana, and would get shocked there every time until we learned better. That place also had a coked out sound guy who would show off his karate moves on stage after the gig. Also notorious for the owner Johnny Banana pulling his gun on bands who had the audacity to want to be paid. His wife was awesome though. Good times.
I had to have a buddy run to a nearby store and buy me some rubber soled boots about 20 years ago. My leather soled cowboy boots had soaked through and they were shocking me every time I’d try to sing. I’m still careful when I first step up to a mic. Eeks.
It happened to my friend and then-bandmate, Paul Anderson, at a Chicago bar gig c.1990. He was running a harp mic through my p.o.s. Standell amp which only had a two-prong power chord. Went to sing on a different vocal mic, must have completed the circuit, and wound up horizontal. Coincidentally, Paul lives in Indy now - look him up - one of the greatest performing songwriters no one’s ever heard of.
How's this for a truly cosmic Rock and Roll synchronicity: Keith Richards is electrocuted onstage on December 3, 1965, and the reason he survived was the RUBBER SOLE in his hush puppies shoes which absorbed some of the shock, and it happened the same day the Beatles released RUBBER SOUL.... how's that for strange days and even stranger magic?
Saugus was the name of an unincorporated portion of Los Angeles County. It was layer incorporated as part of the city of Santa Clarita. No doubt that swap meet was at the former Saugus Speedway.
Otis, the craziest story that I've ever read about that sort of thing, was when Ralph Emery was manning a small town radio station. One morning at this station, a local gospel singer and his family were getting ready to do a live show. The microphone in the studio had not been properly grounded. As soon as the guy touched the strings of his guitar, and opened his mouth to sing, he suddenly found himself connected to the mic by a bolt of electricity. He began to howl at the top of his lungs "EYOWWWWWW!!! EYOWWWWWW!!!!!" His little family band, Ralph Emery in the control room, and listeners at home, first thought he had been overcome by the holy spirit. When his wife realized what was actually happening, she ran up behind him, and with her best karate chop, hit him right between the shoulders, breaking him free from the electric current. Keep in mind, all this was going out live over the air. A stunned Ralph Emery then told the listening audience "One moment please" followed by dead air. After Ralph helped to settle the preacher, the station manager called and demanded to know just what in the hell was going on. After Ralph told him, the station manager was laughing so hard on the other end of the line, that all Ralph could do was hang up.
Years ago I had a 100 watt American Guild amp.... I gigged with it for 2 years....Damn glad it never "Jolted" me!!! Had a cherry Gibson 335.... it was a nice rig!
Seen a guy get hit by lightning once when I was in the military. Not a direct hit but the fireball was so close he disappeared from view and ended up on the ground about 20 feet away from the ladder he had been on - chaining down aircraft during hurricane warning. By the way he lived and I’m not sure if he had any problems after that but he was “basically ok”
Yeah... getting shocked by microphones was a thing in the 80s and 90s. I still have a few of those foam windscreens, in black, of course. Digging the Rolling Stones history, might need to go back and listen to their older stuff. Happy Saturday, Otis. Thank you 🤍💛🙏🏻
One of your best videos, Mr. Otis. An interesting journey into the past, with clear appreciation of artists of all genres. Mary Robbins and the Stones, indeed! Thanks for posting!
Yeah. I got one hard shock on my lip that actually drew a little blood. Also I played a Fender amp in the Florida Keys where after continual mild shocks checked the fuse on the back of the amp. They had filled the fuse slot with solder. As long as you had a pick and didn't touch the strings with your hands at the same time you were ok. Sones week is GREAT!! Thnkx Otis
Great video as always Otis. I started gigging in the mid 70s then was a live sound man as well as gigging musician through the early 2000s. I’ve been shocked many times, but the worst were mic to lips (yes blue arc) but thankfully never knocked down/out. We all carried adapters which we could flip as a last resort if ground switches didn’t fix the problem. You weren’t hallucinating, there were many shades of color on foam mic covers. We used our own cuz the clubs’s were usually pretty nasty. Definitely the nicer the club and PA the less risk of shock. Always test mic stand & mic with back of hand while touching strings with amp & PA on & up! Much love to ya brother
Last time I got bit Good was on a church gig. I and then uttered a word I shouldn’t have uttered in church. 😂 I use a 50 foot stage cord with outlets all around for our band gigs. With everything plugged into one circuit you don’t get zapped.
I've had a couple of shocks over the years, the one at Chubby's Club LaSalle back in '92 was the worse. That one definitely felt like a solid punch in the mouth. I was playing through a '63 Bassman at the time and found out later someone had flipped the ground after we had sound checked. I didn't see it but I heard there was a huge blue arc when it happened.
A lot of those old tube amps had what was mirthfully nicknamed " the death capacitor" inside them back in the day. Touch it accidentally, even if your amp hasn't been used for a week or two, and you were likely a goner...
Ooohhh, yeah! We played a gig in the '80 where a wet t-shirt contest was held in the middle of the show...on stage...where we stood...at the mic stands... Got back on to do the next set, first step forward to get to the mic sent me 10 steps back... They happened to have rubber mats to put down...
In 1965 our band, The New Englanders, did a show at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. I played an electric guitar plugged into my Fender BandMaster amplifier. The old Fender amps had two-prong plugs and a "ground" switch (common on most guitars and p.a. amps at the time) that basically changed the phase and killed the AC hum. All of this was pre-GFI. I started singing The House of the Rising Sun and I bumped the auditorium's microphone with my lip and a huge spark lit up the stage. I jumped back and stood there stunned for a minute or two while the band kept going through the chord changes. Finally I regained composure and finished the song. About a month later the Rolling Stones did a concert on the same stage and Keith Richards had a similar but near-fatal run-in with the microphone. He was rendered unconscious and hospitalized overnight. (A couple of years ago an 8mm film of the Richards’ mishap sold for $26k to a rock memorabilia collector.) I later found out that the public address system (god, that sounds archaic!) was 220v and had no ground. This was all before most electric devices started being designed and sold with three prongs.
I had a Kustom 100 head and 2x12 cabinet and I was about 12 or 13 years old. I was still learning about grounding. I took my guitar and my Kustom amp over to my best friend and drummer's house.(from help with Dad, obviously I didn't drive yet) His house had a nice garage. The biggest mistake I made was putting the head, with it's metal feet, on the concrete floor and I went to turn on my amp and I became the circuit, getting fried while I was unable to move my hand off of the switch my eyes saw my hand "dancing" around the switch... Somehow my friend could hear me yelling pull the plug, pull the plug " Worst first practice ever... I was so shook up we spent the next hour sitting in the sun room listening to this new album called "Grand Illusion "? Or something like that.🤣l
Back in the early 60's after setting up you would have one hand on your guitar and then with the BACK of your other hand you'd brush the mic. That way if you got jolted your hand wouldn't contract and hold on to the mic electrocuting yourself. Now with three prong AC cables on everything it is no longer a problem. Thank God.
Early 70s, my country band was playing an ancient American Legion hall. I stepped up to throw in harmony vox and saw an arc of lightning coming at me in slow motion, and in a millisecond I was flat on my back! I was able to recover and carry on, but since that night I've always started the gig by holding the wooden bits of my geetar and touching the strings to the mic. Many a time it's saved me from a nasty shock.
I have been shocked with a blue arc from an old Bogen PA and it knocked me back about 5 feet. I was still standing and the band never stopped! I start the next verse but I was shouting from a good foot back! The bass player still talks about seeing that arc… I’ve been shocked many times in my life and I’m guessing I’ve cooked something but so far,so good…
Dude! So in 1975 I'm a Sophomore in high school and just got into electric guitar/bass. My dad was a preacher and the old church building - which I had to clean as I was a weekend janitor - had this old Bogen tube PA amp head junked in a closet and I found a 12" speaker to harvest. So I relocates these items to the basement workshop in our house. Unfinished concrete. It's summer so I'm barefoot. I then plug in a mic and connect the speaker to the amp...and...very soon after started doing the Mexican Hat Dance in cut-time towards the On/Off switch! I prob had all the wiring crossed up & was getting shocked and all, but as you know - :It's a long way, to the top, if you wanna Rock-and-Roll'!!!
I used to could not put my whole hand across all 6 strings playing through a 72 SG Amp because nothing was grounded. I still managed to muffle without killing myself.😂
I used an old kalamazoo amp that didn’t have a ground plug. The plug had a little rough spot on one side. You had to make sure the rough spot was turned the right way-I never could remember if it was up or down. If you had it the wrong way, it would lightly shock you while you were playing, but if you touched anything metal on something else that was plugged in, it would shock the crap out of you.
That's how stuff was made back then. "Hot Chassis". The exposed metal parts will be hot, depending on which way the plug is inserted in the outlet. Adding a polarized plug to old school equipment does not remedy this. It's still gonna be "hot" either when OFF or ON, though not both, and even then depends on how the outlet is wired all the way back to the pole.
Back in the 70’s I played some pretty bad/ sketchy places with really bad wiring. I had the absolute shit knocked out of me a few times back then. Mostly from the mic or mic stand but it also happened once when another guitar player wanted to hand me something on stage. Playing electric guitar is fun but acoustic is way safer.😂
Thanks for the recollection Otis,though I've never reached any level of notable fame I have experienced similar microphone electrical shocks while singing into a mic and playing electric guitar.I do believe the story of Keith's electrical shock is in "Life".Ace Frehley was once shocked while on tour with KISS in I believe 1977 when they had the stage set with a staircase on each side of the stage.While walking down one of the staircases(I believe stage right)Ace touched the railing and received quite an electric shock because of this.Thanks again for Keith's shock story and the other info you share in this video,interesting rock-n-roll history...I'm subscribing,take good care.
Yes I have been shocked... playing pool side at a keg party in high school I drunkenly tried to make some smart-ass remark grazed the microphone with my bottom lip and felt a massive zap like I just been slapped I turned to my bandmates grinning like an idiot and they were like dude somebody punched you in the face they split your lip I went to the nearest restroom look in the mirror and sure enough it looks like somebody had split my lip with tremendous Force that stuff is no laughing matter
Been shocked a few times way back. Now I always touch the mic with a tuner on the headstock while NOT touching anything metal on my Tele and look for any sparks. I`ve caught quite a few out-of-phase situations that way and not been shocked for decades. I wish the Stones would release an album of all their country songs,of which there are many. That would be a great album.
Keith will wind up being The Last Rocker that ever Was when all the rest are in The Dirt. He's got more Lives than a House Cat and Survives even Electrocution. He is a Testament to an Old Saying that came from The Sixties...' Better Living Through Chemicals...' Keith Lives it...!
The movie titled The Age of Adaline involves a lady hit by lightening who never grows old as a result of the lightening. Might the same be true of Keith Richards.
Hey man, been watching for awhile. Your vids are really needed today. For more reasons than the title of the vid. I got shocked (gig) last week. Bar built in 1965. Good job Otis! 🍀
A dozen times, mainly when I was starting out in a 70s rock band. You definitely never forget it and are a bit wary from then on approaching a microphone on stage. I grew up in Sacramento, and I’ve seen a bunch of shows at the memorial auditorium. The reason there was only 5000 people there was because that’s all it holds for a single show. I have a friend who used to sneak into band shows ever suggest it., yeah she was an attractive female…and she has black and white photos of the stones in the green room that night. I remember thinking to myself she could sell these for thousands, but she’s such a fan that I would never ever suggest it.
Thanks for the video Otis. Beautiful Stones photos.... Yeah, I have this memory of getting lip zapped playing a pbase through a ampeg portaflex. The amp had a two wire plug, and from what I've learned recently on YT the caps in that amp are to die for!
Ya it use to happen a lot back in the day and I still check to this day .Gilmour talked about getting shocked it in one of his solo gigs . I think you can find it in one where Bowie , Crosby , Nash was touring with him .
Here's a link to the Stones photographs I mentioned. selvedgeyard.com/2013/11/23/rolling-stones-flea-market-find-photos-found-tumbling-through-the-south-in-65/
Thanks, Otis!
great photos, oh, that pic of Keith was the last time he looked young.
There’s a fellow named Bob Bonis who has a social media presence and has published these photos. Can’t recall if he took them?
And to this day, electricity has a safety meeting before every show about the dangers of Keith Richards
Good one!!! haha
Lol. Good one
lol
Electricitys got a video on how he got Keith Richarded on stage.
That's awesome!
Yep, I’m 70 and I remember hearing about this years ago. I quit college and was working in a factory and after work at 7 am a bunch of us guys would jam somewhere. It scared the heck out of me thinking I’d get killed. Years later as an ER nurse 3 electrical workers were brought in for an electrocution. Two were dead and the other had a large entrance wound and a large exit wound. Only Keith would survive.
I was playing back in the 70s, 80s and 90s and it was standard practice to first touch the mic with your guitar strings, to test the ground of the equipment. We each learned this by experience, getting our own personal lip fry, which no one would ever want to repeat.
Yep, the lip fry will stay with you. You can taste the voltage for awhile afterwards.
Thanks for this Otis! The Grateful Dead famously shared the disaster that was Woodstock for them. They aren't in the film for a good reason. While they were playing, sheets of electrical lightning rolled across the stage. Every time Bob Weir sang, he got shocked. The equipment had been set up by their sound tech, LSD King, Owsley Stanley. He had his own ideas of how to do things. Enough said.
I was playing guitar for Gordon Waller(of Peter & Gordon). I had my guitar on and was holding it while Gordon handed me his guitar to tune for him. His amp was on a different circuit and it was out of phase from my amp. I could feel the juice going through my arms and I couldn't move. Gordon grabbed the guitar which lessened the flow of electrecity. This was at an old Moose Club in Riverside Calf. for an event called "VoxFest" for Vox Amps. Had to be 2001 or 2002.
Oh, Saugus, Calif is part of the City of Santa Clarita just over the hill from the San Fernando Valley..
Been shocked enough in the old days that to this day when playing an electric guitar even UNPLUGGED I still let go of strings when doing things like turning on light switches or grabbing mic stand LOL
Doorknobs will get you too.
This actually used to be quite common, especially on some Fender guitars - and why some models(like Strats) had wires soldered to the bridge - or the tremolo hook the springs attached to in the back(to hide the wiring mod) - to ground the guitar properly. Unfortunately, sometimes these electrical connections were altered by guitar player who worked on their own guitars, and getting shocked was common. I had 6 parallel lines lightly burned across the inside of my left-hand while holding my Strat while snagging a beer from the fridge in the garage where I practiced.
So many guitarists(and bass players) of that era learned to be careful around microphones, and while holding their guitars. Keith Relf, who played harp and sang for the Yardbirds, died in 1976 while he played an electric guitar and sang. And the manufacturers literature for tube amps(the kind most guitarists prefer) warn the owners DON'T CUT OFF THE GROUND LUG on the electric plug(that plugs into the wall) BECAUSE YOU MIGHT DIE. Tube amps use Current, not Voltage, to amplify the guitar pickup's tiny output signal(this is why tube amps have those damned heavy transformers in em), and the high-current capacity of those amps is what does the killing.
But mostly(because it was so common, and because in those days many bandstands were wired by a friend of the club-owner - and not inspected) the musicians just learned to be super-careful when dealing with the music equipment that was connected to electricity, and to "take it in stride." Because "The Show Must Go On."
The show must go on.
Keith is and has the best Rock&Roll stories!
Thanks for your content Otis
I've heard the story about Keef getting shocked in the Sacramento Bee - about an incident at that year's concert in Sac, but I SAW him reach for the mike stand saw the arc between it and his hand - and saw him get thrown back about six feet and land on his ass in front of the back line. It was DAMN dramatic but what I've always remembered as the most miraculous aspect of the incident was that Keef kept playing RIGHT on time through the whole thing - on his ass - rising up to his knees - and then standing back up on his feet, like nothing had happened. A pro's pro. He earned a lifetime of respect from me in that moment. Upon my immortal soul, I saw every bit of this with my own eyes - only it happened in SAN JOSE at the old San Jose Civic Auditorium on their first US tour. I was 12 years old - my mother drove me to the concert and dropped me off. Paul Revere and the Raiders opened, and there was ZERO PA - just individual amps as a backline - and Mick and Keith both feeding into a Fender Twin. And it was LOUD - it was the loudest thing I'd ever heard in my life until then - my ears rang for a good long time after the show. Tickets were $3.50. That show changed my life - I STILL play the electric guitar at 71 and am one of the original Deadheads - 200+ shows. But San Jose - not Sacramento - I never saw a show in Sac until the Dead started playing at Cal Expo years later...
Old tube amps ( tv’s and radios too) used to ground one side of of the Mains power to the chassis. Since the ac plugs weren’t polarized ( could be plugged in upside down ) or grounded to earth, you could easily get the full 120 volts touching someone or something connected to another amplifier if they weren’t plugged in identically.. Electric Guitar players were particularly vulnerable as the guitar strings were wired into the amplifiers ground and you generally had a hand on the strings. Modern equipment and mains wiring is safer now being polarized and properly grounded. However There are still some old amplifiers in use that can cause shocks.
My third story of ungrounded electrocution is growing up in my parents house, I was given my oldest brothers big beautiful room. Some of the outlets were two prong, some were three prong. For years, (1974 to 2005) I had been telling my father, a plumber and havac man who built the house and had his friend wire the electric in the addition in early 60's, that the electric was noisey and I was getting shocked sometimes. This showed up really bad when I started to record demos with lots of equipment in the room. I had endless level changes and noise even with grounding strips and etc. So... 2004 they had a big flood, my Dad was VERY I'll by then and had to call in an electrician to fix something that was wrong in the addition. My Dad tells me later on in the week that the electrician took him downstairs and showed him that the electric was never properly finished in the entire section... everything was ungrounded and that was three rooms... So from 1960 to 2005 that electric was just a temporary wire.
After that my Dad finally took me at my word!🤣😳😂
Hey Otis, yes I've been bitten by a ungrounded microphone a few times, generally by playing through an unfamiliar amp. I now carry in my gig back a socket checker that will tell by three lights if the electrical socket is wired correctly and then also by holding the guitar strings after it's plugged in of course, and then touching the microphone windscreen with my hand to feel any "tingle". Just my two pennies, keep up the good work.✌️
Smart. Thanks for the heads up.
I remember back when I was playing out in the 70s and 80s a regular pre-show ritual was touching the vocal mic to see if you were grounded correctly. Often you were not! Don't play as often these days but yeah it's been a while since I received a good shock.
Thank you so much for this channel.. recovering from surgery and I’m binge watching your channel!!
Love the stones stories .. love Kenny Vaughan..love all of this!!
I had never heard of Kenny Vaughn before coming across this channel. Now I think he is a national treasure. What a great story teller!
And does anyone have a better voice and cadence than Otis? I could listen to these old stories for hours.
Play your guitar while you're in recovery..
Hope you get well soon. Yes, Otis is doing a terrific job here. Take care
I play guitar with Mick Martin and his Big Blues Band here in Sacramento. He still tells this story to this day!!!
Great vid OG. Chuck Leavell (pronounced Luh Vell) is a legend in his own right. Before The Stones, he was with the Allman brothers through the 70s and played keys on Brothers and Sisters. Also played keys on Shake Your Money Maker - Black Crowes, Unplugged - Eric Clapton, Aretha-Aretha Franklin, Drops of Jupiter- Train, Live at Pompeii-David Gilmour, Born and Raised-John Mayer.
And of course he “woke up” … it’s Keith 😂 he survives everything
1965 era before the 3 prong cable on amps Great Video Otis
Yes! Oh god it hurt. Zapped my front teeth. I sang from about 2 feet away the rest of the gig.
I recently saw a video on TikTok of Elvis being shocked in the studio by his microphone, Elvis was playing Electric guitar sitting on a stool when the microphone popped him in the mouth, they were recording Little Sister. Have you ever seen this video?
Oh man. getting shocks?!? Oh the memories. So back in the day, 14 or 15 years old (1977/78) practicing in my friends grandma's garage, we had a handful or amps, some tube, and because we had no PA, one of the guitar amps would get demoted to microphone duty while we practiced on the cement floor with a mic hockey-taped to one of those cheap folding music stands.. Yea, sometimes we'd get shocks and we anticipated it and would always lightly touch the mic to see if it was electrified and we often would refrain from touching our lips to it. But of course, if you found "the zone" and things were grooving one would eventually close their eyes (as one does) and sing from the heart where the natural thing to do is to lightly brush the lips against the mic to establish your proximity while playing. With all amps plugged into different outlets around the garage, and none of us with any knowledge of just quite how electricity works in an environment like that ... I touched my lips to the mic, saw 'my Jesus' and fell to the ground. Came to with a burn't lip, had a beer, put a foam pop filter on the mic and tried the song again. We had to ... we had a gig coming up.
These days I know more about electricity and when I set up a rig everything is in phase and works correctly but I still feel mics and anticipate the 'buzz'. ROCK ON.
Some of the old two-prong plugged amps were good for a zappin’. My early-1965 Vox Pacemaker hasn’t been converted to 3-prong yet and it still lights me up in the studio sometimes when I power it on.
Had that problem a lot as a youngster in the 60's and 70's. I'm lucky to be alive. When I could afford it i got an SM57 with the "presidential windscreen" in self defense. The problem persisted through a string of rural clubs and juke joints in the 80's. the problem got so bas I put EMG's in my Strat because they didn't need a string ground and prevented ground loops via yours truly from happening. That stuff was no joke. Two notable guitarists (Stone the Crows, Family) bought it due to that phenomenon.
You're account of what happened is exactly right. I was there! Sitting in the balcony on the same side of the stage as Keith. I was really excited to see the Stones and a couple of songs in I saw him touch the Mike stand with his strings, a flash, and down he went, right on his back. It didn't sound like a gun shot but I knew instantly what had happend. I haven't thought about that for years. Thanks for the story.
I think there are b&w pictures of Keith laying on the stage from that event.
Yes. I started off playing lots of DIY punk shows in the 80s and this was a constant threat.
It has become very popular in the woodworking community to make DIY Lichtenberg machines to "fractal burn" wood. People take the transistors out of microwave ovens and wire them up with the ends off jumper cable ends, wet the wood and burn designs. It is beautiful but also very deadly. There is enough voltage to basically create a electric chair effect right on top of your workbench. Point being... electricity scares me!!
Un-grounded outlets in ungrounded buildings and the case for windscreens in the calm ...
Another great story(s)!
FYI Saugus is 25-30 minutes north of LA. Del Shannon was probably their most famous resident
Howdy Otis, I absolutely love your very informative videos! Back in the 90’s, our country band was performing for an outdoor event in Western Wisconsin. My Father In-law who played a Fender Stratocaster had one hand on his guitar strings while touching his vocal microphone..he received such a shock that it sent him flying back into the drum kit! -Ken Nelson
They got rid of the ground switch on Fenders so that helped with grounding. Funny, I used Fenders for decades before. I heard that switch can kill ya, but not till 90's. My friend (Beano,PBUH) was rehearsing in a damp basement. He leaned up against a metal pole and starting getting electrocuted. Someone kicked his arm and it dislodged
I live in Sacramento, Mick Martin is big on the Northern California blues scene. He plays harp. He hosts a blues radio program on our NPR station, KXJZ. Mick emceed and sat in on Matt Schofield’s gig over a year ago.
Read somewhere that if you wanted to be a roadie for Peter Frampton you had to submit to touching an ungrounded mic - this was back in the 70s. A lesson to be learned, regardless of the decade, I guess.
Had this happen to me with a 69 Bassman with the old ungrounded plug. Grabbed a mike stand and the low e string lit up like a light bulb filament just before it knocked me on my ass. I still have the scorch marks on my Olympic White strat.
Yeah I remember playing this little hall in Northern MI it was raining that night we were setting up. I got a little one and cautioned everyone at soundcheck the singer got shocked pretty good.
Happens all the time still. Usually has to do with not sharing a common ground with the sound system. Nowadays the backline is always powered by shared power from the audio and separate from lighting, and its a good idea to carry a small electrical meter to check for current, even minimal, between guitar and mic. I once received a 240 hit in Copenhagen by wiring a transformer incorrectly, then checking for signal with a hot lead in one hand, connected to 100w Marshall stack, the reaching out to push down a Morley volume pedal with the other hand. Blew me across the stage! Always checked since then. Nobody really knows anything about electricity. Anything can happen.
I’ve been shocked a few times mainly back in the 90’s when I was playing in dirty punk rock clubs back in Bakersfield. Never been knocked out just stunned for a few seconds.
Great story! Ace Frehley from Kiss is another story of a guitarist being electrocuted on stage. He wrote the song "Shock Me" because of it.
In the US, it took awhile to have code required grounded electrical outlets and device plugs.
Hi Otis thanks for the great videos! I used to sing what are euphemistically known in England as "football harmonies", = rough. I never waned to sing but got roped into it many times. Yes I got the blue lightning belt from the mic a few times, mostly on tour in France where the electrical setup was usually somewhat suspect. Our sound guy would try to disguise my awful mumblings, along with the equally bad drummer's howling, in a huge hall reverb, so it sounded like two guys stuck down a well. The last time I did the football harmonies was nearly the end for me. It was at a Festival in France, I was pretty stoked to be playing to 20,000 people and got a bit carried away. I played lead guitar, and when I came to play a solo I realised I had not got my bottleneck for the slide solo. I grabbed a mike stand and was going to use it as a slide, a trick that looked pretty good usually. I got a belt that knocked me flat on my back, the mic stand wasn't earthed so when the strings touched it BOOM. The Tour manager ran across the stage to assist me. "Are you alrightI?" he asked. "Yes. I am from Manchester" was my reply, as if being from Manchester imbued me with mystical power over electricity. I lived to tell the tale, no more football harmonies and always have two slides, one on top of the amp taped on with gaffa! Hope you like the story, perhaps you could have a thread where musicians can tell their stories of wierd and wild things that have happened during a performance. I have been head butted mid solo by a random nuttter, (the solo wasn't that bad!), who walked on stage, I jumped off stage at Newcastle City Hall and tore my cruciate, the worst thing was the story of the curtains....but perhaps I have said enough. Keep up the great work man!
Yep---old clubs and bars with bad electric + old guitar amps with 2 prong plugs = a shocking performance.
I got zapped so hard one night there was a black mark on my nose, I had broken 3 strings at once, and one flew back and cut my hand--didn't knock me out, but boy howdy did it hurt!
You’re not hallucinating Otis… as a 75 year old picker and still playing out some I can’t remember how many times that use to happen… started playing live in 1963 so I’ve had my share of “shocks” 🤯
More from that last article:
"In my mind the crowd was very receptive to the Rolling Stones, but more so to the Beach Boys. You've got to remember the Beach Boys had been performing since 1960 or 1961 and they'd been on a jillion tours and had lots of hits. Looking back, the Beach Boys were as big a draw or more so than the Stones. I'm pretty sure the Beach Boys went on last."
"When the Beach Boys played there were limousines parked right around the end zone. So when they did their final number there were steps doing down off the stage and they started walking to their limos and people spilled out of the stands - there was not much security or anything - and started running after the band. And so then the Beach Boys started running and you've got thousands of teenagers chasing you. The guy in the back was Dennis Wilson, who was the drummer for the Beach Boys, and some people tore off his shirt. They had on these red and white stripes shirts. And my little brothers got a big piece of it and were tearing it into little sections about two inches square and selling it to some of the little teenybopper girls for a dollar a piece. They got more than their price of admission back for selling pieces of Dennis Wilson's Beach Boys shirt to the other kids. [Laughs] They did make it back to their limo. I don't remember anything like that happening to the Stones though."
www.al.com/entertainment/2016/09/stoned_in_alabama_a_history_of.html
Otis,
I enjoy your channel. Especially enjoy the interviews with Kenny Vaughan. I am a guitarist and singer-songwriter. I was playing in Washington, NC for a July 4th celebration with several other performers and we were all sharing our pa. Just as we were finishing setting up a bolt of lightning shot through the gazebo we were under. We were on the Pamlico river. We all ran for cover, as best we could. When we thought it was safe we resumed and my microphone was not working. We smelled rubber. The lightning had fried my brand new mic cable. Luckily, I had several more. That really scared everyone, but we all performed, but it reduced our performance time, as we were running late, due to the delay. I enjoy your channel!
I was there sitting in the balcony.. They took Keith off stage closed the curtains and of course ended the concert after only a few songs.. And no, we didn't get our money back...
Love the channel and content Otis. And Minnie is a charmer.
My wife and I go for a 2.5 mile walk most mornings and I take a pocket full of peanuts in the shell. We have squirrels running up to us and Blue Jays calling out to us - they have us trained! The record is feeding 15 squirrels along the way. Cheap fun. 👍🏻🥜
Here's How it happens...First off, let's state that it doesn't happen from an un-grounded amp or microphone. You get shocked when you touch both sides of a service outlet, simultaneously. That's the first concept to understand...basically touching positive and ground at the same time. So, when you're touching an electric guitar, you are touching the ground of the room, IF and its a big IF the amp is plugged into the wall in the proper direction. This can get reversed when using a 2-prong cable that is plugged in backward. Following? When it gets mistakingly plugged in backward, you are now touching the HOT of the room. That's not a problem in itself, until you simultaneously touch another component, like a microphone or another guitar that is plugged into the wall properly, in which case you are now touching POSITIVE and NEGATIVE at the same time...SHOCK!!
I can’t speak to electrocution issues, but regarding ticket prices, I saw the Stones ten years later in ‘75 on the Tour of the Americas, and the ticket price (still have the stub) was $10. Seemed like a lot at the time.
Not sure if anybody else has confirmed yet, but yes, Dreamland BBQ in Tuscaloosa is still around. Northport is right across the Black Warrior River, just north of Tuscaloosa. That is some fine eating indeed. If you're ever in Tuscaloosa, I highly recommend it.
Oh yeah. Used to play a club in Pittsburgh called The Electric Banana, and would get shocked there every time until we learned better. That place also had a coked out sound guy who would show off his karate moves on stage after the gig. Also notorious for the owner Johnny Banana pulling his gun on bands who had the audacity to want to be paid. His wife was awesome though. Good times.
This was late 80's into the early 90's.
I had to have a buddy run to a nearby store and buy me some rubber soled boots about 20 years ago. My leather soled cowboy boots had soaked through and they were shocking me every time I’d try to sing. I’m still careful when I first step up to a mic. Eeks.
It happened to my friend and then-bandmate, Paul Anderson, at a Chicago bar gig c.1990. He was running a harp mic through my p.o.s. Standell amp which only had a two-prong power chord. Went to sing on a different vocal mic, must have completed the circuit, and wound up horizontal. Coincidentally, Paul lives in Indy now - look him up - one of the greatest performing songwriters no one’s ever heard of.
How's this for a truly cosmic Rock and Roll synchronicity: Keith Richards is electrocuted onstage on December 3, 1965, and the reason he survived was the RUBBER SOLE in his hush puppies shoes which absorbed some of the shock, and it happened the same day the Beatles released RUBBER SOUL.... how's that for strange days and even stranger magic?
Saugus was the name of an unincorporated portion of Los Angeles County. It was layer incorporated as part of the city of Santa Clarita.
No doubt that swap meet was at the former Saugus Speedway.
All absolutely right on... Good memories man... 👍🏼👍🏼✌🏼💫🧡
The pics are great...
You can,t kill Keith Richards with mere electricity.. hahaha.
Love the stories man. Thank you.
✌️❤️😊
It's alive!
Brother Otis - You are definitely earning your (Semi) retirement ! many blessings for you and yours !
Otis, the craziest story that I've ever read about that sort of thing, was when Ralph Emery was manning a small town radio station. One morning at this station, a local gospel singer and his family were getting ready to do a live show. The microphone in the studio had not been properly grounded. As soon as the guy touched the strings of his guitar, and opened his mouth to sing, he suddenly found himself connected to the mic by a bolt of electricity. He began to howl at the top of his lungs "EYOWWWWWW!!! EYOWWWWWW!!!!!" His little family band, Ralph Emery in the control room, and listeners at home, first thought he had been overcome by the holy spirit. When his wife realized what was actually happening, she ran up behind him, and with her best karate chop, hit him right between the shoulders, breaking him free from the electric current. Keep in mind, all this was going out live over the air. A stunned Ralph Emery then told the listening audience "One moment please" followed by dead air. After Ralph helped to settle the preacher, the station manager called and demanded to know just what in the hell was going on. After Ralph told him, the station manager was laughing so hard on the other end of the line, that all Ralph could do was hang up.
Another Good'un, Thanks Otis~!💜
"Minnie" Squirrel, luv it. Great story Otis.
Years ago I had a 100 watt American Guild amp.... I gigged with it for 2 years....Damn glad it never "Jolted" me!!! Had a cherry Gibson 335.... it was a nice rig!
Seen a guy get hit by lightning once when I was in the military. Not a direct hit but the fireball was so close he disappeared from view and ended up on the ground about 20 feet away from the ladder he had been on - chaining down aircraft during hurricane warning.
By the way he lived and I’m not sure if he had any problems after that but he was “basically ok”
I read the book and listened to the audio book too.
Yeah... getting shocked by microphones was a thing in the 80s and 90s. I still have a few of those foam windscreens, in black, of course.
Digging the Rolling Stones history, might need to go back and listen to their older stuff.
Happy Saturday, Otis.
Thank you 🤍💛🙏🏻
You tell the best stories and know the best stuff. Just great to hang with you on this videos.
One of your best videos, Mr. Otis. An interesting journey into the past, with clear appreciation of artists of all genres. Mary Robbins and the Stones, indeed! Thanks for posting!
Yeah. I got one hard shock on my lip that actually drew a little blood. Also I played a Fender amp in the Florida Keys where after continual mild shocks checked the fuse on the back of the amp. They had filled the fuse slot with solder. As long as you had a pick and didn't touch the strings with your hands at the same time you were ok. Sones week is GREAT!! Thnkx Otis
Great video as always Otis. I started gigging in the mid 70s then was a live sound man as well as gigging musician through the early 2000s. I’ve been shocked many times, but the worst were mic to lips (yes blue arc) but thankfully never knocked down/out. We all carried adapters which we could flip as a last resort if ground switches didn’t fix the problem. You weren’t hallucinating, there were many shades of color on foam mic covers. We used our own cuz the clubs’s were usually pretty nasty. Definitely the nicer the club and PA the less risk of shock. Always test mic stand & mic with back of hand while touching strings with amp & PA on & up! Much love to ya brother
I had the mic to lips shock once.
The Last Time is one of my faves, too. In my younger days I was in a little garage band that covered it and it was my favorite song to play.
Last time I got bit Good was on a church gig. I and then uttered a word I shouldn’t have uttered in church. 😂 I use a 50 foot stage cord with outlets all around for our band gigs. With everything plugged into one circuit you don’t get zapped.
I've had a couple of shocks over the years, the one at Chubby's Club LaSalle back in '92 was the worse. That one definitely felt like a solid punch in the mouth. I was playing through a '63 Bassman at the time and found out later someone had flipped the ground after we had sound checked. I didn't see it but I heard there was a huge blue arc when it happened.
A lot of those old tube amps had what was mirthfully nicknamed " the death capacitor" inside them back in the day. Touch it accidentally, even if your amp hasn't been used for a week or two, and you were likely a goner...
I remember seeing Death Capacitor when they opened for Metallica.😆
Ooohhh, yeah!
We played a gig in the '80 where a wet t-shirt contest was held in the middle of the show...on stage...where we stood...at the mic stands...
Got back on to do the next set, first step forward to get to the mic sent me 10 steps back...
They happened to have rubber mats to put down...
In 1965 our band, The New Englanders, did a show at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium. I played an electric guitar plugged into my Fender BandMaster amplifier. The old Fender amps had two-prong plugs and a "ground" switch (common on most guitars and p.a. amps at the time) that basically changed the phase and killed the AC hum. All of this was pre-GFI.
I started singing The House of the Rising Sun and I bumped the auditorium's microphone with my lip and a huge spark lit up the stage. I jumped back and stood there stunned for a minute or two while the band kept going through the chord changes. Finally I regained composure and finished the song.
About a month later the Rolling Stones did a concert on the same stage and Keith Richards had a similar but near-fatal run-in with the microphone. He was rendered unconscious and hospitalized overnight. (A couple of years ago an 8mm film of the Richards’ mishap sold for $26k to a rock memorabilia collector.)
I later found out that the public address system (god, that sounds archaic!) was 220v and had no ground. This was all before most electric devices started being designed and sold with three prongs.
I had a Kustom 100 head and 2x12 cabinet and I was about 12 or 13 years old. I was still learning about grounding. I took my guitar and my Kustom amp over to my best friend and drummer's house.(from help with Dad, obviously I didn't drive yet) His house had a nice garage. The biggest mistake I made was putting the head, with it's metal feet, on the concrete floor and I went to turn on my amp and I became the circuit, getting fried while I was unable to move my hand off of the switch my eyes saw my hand "dancing" around the switch... Somehow my friend could hear me yelling pull the plug, pull the plug "
Worst first practice ever... I was so shook up we spent the next hour sitting in the sun room listening to this new album called "Grand Illusion "? Or something like that.🤣l
My Grandma lived in Northport, and the skies were SO blue.
Back in the early 60's after setting up you would have one hand on your guitar and then with the BACK of your other hand you'd brush the mic. That way if you got jolted your hand wouldn't contract and hold on to the mic electrocuting yourself. Now with three prong AC cables on everything it is no longer a problem. Thank God.
Maybe that's why he starting taking his E string off. To lessen the shock.
Early 70s, my country band was playing an ancient American Legion hall. I stepped up to throw in harmony vox and saw an arc of lightning coming at me in slow motion, and in a millisecond I was flat on my back! I was able to recover and carry on, but since that night I've always started the gig by holding the wooden bits of my geetar and touching the strings to the mic. Many a time it's saved me from a nasty shock.
i believe Keith Relf , singer of the Yardbirds died from an ungrounded electric guitar a few years after the Yardbirds era..
I have been shocked with a blue arc from an old Bogen PA and it knocked me back about 5 feet. I was still standing and the band never stopped! I start the next verse but I was shouting from a good foot back! The bass player still talks about seeing that arc… I’ve been shocked many times in my life and I’m guessing I’ve cooked something but so far,so good…
Dude! So in 1975 I'm a Sophomore in high school and just got into electric guitar/bass. My dad was a preacher and the old church building - which I had to clean as I was a weekend janitor - had this old Bogen tube PA amp head junked in a closet and I found a 12" speaker to harvest. So I relocates these items to the basement workshop in our house. Unfinished concrete. It's summer so I'm barefoot. I then plug in a mic and connect the speaker to the amp...and...very soon after started doing the Mexican Hat Dance in cut-time towards the On/Off switch!
I prob had all the wiring crossed up & was getting shocked and all, but as you know - :It's a long way, to the top, if you wanna Rock-and-Roll'!!!
I used to could not put my whole hand across all 6 strings playing through a 72 SG Amp because nothing was grounded. I still managed to muffle without killing myself.😂
Those amps were pretty cool. The one at our high school had a built in phaser.
@@mikelundquist4596 yep mine did too
I used an old kalamazoo amp that didn’t have a ground plug. The plug had a little rough spot on one side. You had to make sure the rough spot was turned the right way-I never could remember if it was up or down. If you had it the wrong way, it would lightly shock you while you were playing, but if you touched anything metal on something else that was plugged in, it would shock the crap out of you.
That's how stuff was made back then. "Hot Chassis". The exposed metal parts will be hot, depending on which way the plug is inserted in the outlet.
Adding a polarized plug to old school equipment does not remedy this. It's still gonna be "hot" either when OFF or ON, though not both, and even then depends on how the outlet is wired all the way back to the pole.
Back in the 70’s I played some pretty bad/ sketchy places with really bad wiring. I had the absolute shit knocked out of me a few times back then. Mostly from the mic or mic stand but it also happened once when another guitar player wanted to hand me something on stage. Playing electric guitar is fun but acoustic is way safer.😂
"Well, either they wake up... or they don't."
Sounds like many ER docs I know.
Otis, love the great back stories that you've shared with us. Thanks a million man. 😉
Thanks for the recollection Otis,though I've never reached any level of notable fame I have experienced similar microphone electrical shocks while singing into a mic and playing electric guitar.I do believe the story of Keith's electrical shock is in "Life".Ace Frehley was once shocked while on tour with KISS in I believe 1977 when they had the stage set with a staircase on each side of the stage.While walking down one of the staircases(I believe stage right)Ace touched the railing and received quite an electric shock because of this.Thanks again for Keith's shock story and the other info you share in this video,interesting rock-n-roll history...I'm subscribing,take good care.
Yes I have been shocked... playing pool side at a keg party in high school I drunkenly tried to make some smart-ass remark grazed the microphone with my bottom lip and felt a massive zap like I just been slapped I turned to my bandmates grinning like an idiot and they were like dude somebody punched you in the face they split your lip I went to the nearest restroom look in the mirror and sure enough it looks like somebody had split my lip with tremendous Force that stuff is no laughing matter
Been shocked a few times way back. Now I always touch the mic with a tuner on the headstock while NOT touching anything metal on my Tele and look for any sparks. I`ve caught quite a few out-of-phase situations that way and not been shocked for decades.
I wish the Stones would release an album of all their country songs,of which there are many. That would be a great album.
Country Honk and Dead Flowers..what else is there ?
Far-away eyes
Sweet Virginia.
Keith will wind up being The Last Rocker that ever Was when all the rest are in The Dirt. He's got more Lives than a House Cat and Survives even Electrocution.
He is a Testament to an Old Saying that came from The Sixties...' Better Living Through Chemicals...'
Keith Lives it...!
I love dropping in to hear another legendary tale from Otis. His easy going demeanor and gentle voice are like a dose of benzos (in a good way!)
That's why newer amps have a grounded 3 prong power cord. Lots of folks have swapped out the two prong cord in their old amps.
The movie titled The Age of Adaline involves a lady hit by lightening who never grows old as a result of the lightening. Might the same be true of Keith Richards.
We called it gettin bit, and yell at the sound man loved ya for years, 👍
Hey man, been watching for awhile. Your vids are really needed today. For more reasons than the title of the vid. I got shocked (gig) last week. Bar built in 1965. Good job Otis! 🍀
Big 'ello from the UK, OG. Look forward to your next content drop!
Yes, we need more content featuring the Mayor of East Nashville, JB!
A dozen times, mainly when I was starting out in a 70s rock band. You definitely never forget it and are a bit wary from then on approaching a microphone on stage. I grew up in Sacramento, and I’ve seen a bunch of shows at the memorial auditorium. The reason there was only 5000 people there was because that’s all it holds for a single show.
I have a friend who used to sneak into band shows ever suggest it., yeah she was an attractive female…and she has black and white photos of the stones in the green room that night. I remember thinking to myself she could sell these for thousands, but she’s such a fan that I would never ever suggest it.
Thanks for the video Otis. Beautiful Stones photos.... Yeah, I have this memory of getting lip zapped playing a pbase through a ampeg portaflex. The amp had a two wire plug, and from what I've learned recently on YT the caps in that amp are to die for!
Ya it use to happen a lot back in the day and I still check to this day .Gilmour talked about getting shocked it in one of his solo gigs . I think you can find it in one where Bowie , Crosby , Nash was touring with him .