With a principal stage line-up of Crimson Scorching Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Ministry, Soundgarden, Ice Dice, The Jesus and Mary Chain and Lush, 1992’s Lollapalooza pageant featured an excellent stronger invoice than the inaugural occasion. However essentially the most talked-about act on that summer season’s roadshow wasn’t a principal stage artist, or perhaps a musician: as a substitute it was The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow, an ‘various freakshow’, who made essentially the most headlines… with somewhat assist from their rock star buddies.
Rose’s troupe included The Wonderful Mr Lifto, who would droop heavy weights from his nipples and penis, Slug The Sword Swallower, The Torture King and Bebe the Circus Queen, but it surely was Matt ‘The Tube’ Crowley, a former pharmacist from Montana, who grew to become arguably the troupe’s most notorious performer.
Crowley’s act concerned swallowing a seven foot size of sentimental plastic tubing, connected to a hand pump: Jim Rose would fill the pump with a combination of liquids – beer, ketchup, eggs, chocolate syrup, no matter – pump it into Crowley’s abdomen, and suck it again out once more, then supply the gross combination to an viewers member to drink. And when rock stars – Crimson Scorching Chili Peppers bassist Flea, MInistry’s Al Jourgensen, Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder amongst them – accepted that problem, they unwittingly began a (mercifully transient) craze for vomit ingesting amongst America’s youth.
“Chris Cornell was the primary rock star to devour the contents of my abdomen.” Crowley recollects in Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Historical past of Different Rock’s Wildest Competition, a wonderful new overview of the pageant from writers Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour.
“Jim most likely invited me to return up and do it,” recollects Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil. “And I stated, ‘Nooooo’. After which he invited Chris as much as do it, and Chris stated, ‘Certain!’ After which Chris obtained Eddie [Vedder] to do it…”
“By that summer season, Eddie was the largest star on the planet,” recollects Lollapalooza co-founder Don Muller. “After which he will get up there and drinks bile…”
In keeping with Matt Crowley, Pearl Jam’s frontman swallowed his abdomen bile a complete of 4 instances on the tour.
“Simply searching for consideration I assume,” Vedder explains within the guide. “Each metropolis there’d be some previous good friend, or my spouse’s mother and father, and I might get to gross everybody out.”
“As soon as Eddie reveals up and does it, nicely, that makes it on MTV,” Jim Rose recollects. “Now after I supply it to the viewers, fucking half the gang comes up. All of them need to drink vomit. And that was turning into a safety downside. So I needed to cease providing it. I imply, hell, one time they only principally knocked the stage over attempting to get to our vomit! We began this complete factor the place all people’s attempting to out do one another and be the freakiest they are often.”
The Jim Rose Circus Sideshow went on to hitch 9 Inch Nails. Marilyn Manson and Pop Will Eat Itself on NIN’s 1994 Self Destruct tour, probably the most infamously debauched excursions in fashionable rock historical past.
Not an ‘various’ music pageant, Lollapalooza’s 2025 headliners embrace pop star Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, nation singer Luke Combs and Korn.
