Exploring the infamous X-rated Butthole Surfers concert, 1986
Emerging from the 1980s hardcore scene were the Butthole Surfers, formed by frontman Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary. Despite their constant changes in line-up and the melting-pot of influences that comprised their sound – refusing to be pigeonholed into one genre – the band remained a cult favourite. The group found commercial success in the late 1990s upon releasing their seventh studio album, Electriclarryland. The album scored the band their first top 40 hit with ‘Pepper’ and, around the same time, their music began appearing in mainstream media, such as Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet.
However, in the 1980s, the Butthole Surfers were an underground favourite, aided by their reputation as one of the most insane live acts of the decade. Many people flocked to see the band perform live, wondering if their shows were as intense as others claimed. Of course, they always were. The band had a penchant for arson, usually setting equipment like cymbals on fire. Nudity was a common occurrence from most members of the band, but always from Kathleen Lynch, a naked dancer that they hired to perform alongside them between 1986 to 1989.
However, one specific show has since gone down in Butthole Surfers’ history as the most legendary, with differing accounts of what really went down floating around the internet. It was early 1986, and the band took to the stage at the Danceteria in New York. They got absolutely wasted, and a debaucherous night ensued. For several people in attendance (according to YouTube commenters), they were never the same again after that night.
A 1993 article in Option Magazine recalled how “Gibby got caught drinking and tripping with his pants down.” According to Haynes: “Ten minutes into the show, I’d put on ten dresses – you see, I used to put dresses on and then tear ’em all off. But I’d gotten so trippin’ and so drunk. I forgot to put on my underwear. So I got down to my last dress, and, goddamn it, I was naked.”
He also claimed that “Cabbage had come out from behind the drums, and she had this Fred Flintstone plastic baseball bat filled with urine and was sprinkling it on the crowd. Kathleen was totally naked and bald”. In 1991, Leary told Phoenix New Times: “I walked around with a screwdriver and started playing samurai with every single speaker”. The rest of the report claimed: “By the end of the gig, almost all of the Buttholes were naked, including Gibby and Kathleen, who were fornicating at the foot of the stage”. Lynch has since denied that the pair had sex on stage, but other members (and video footage) suggest otherwise.
In Our Band Could Be Your Life: Scenes from the American Indie Underground 1981-1991, Leary claimed: “During that show, it was just complete bedlam… after only a song or two, Haynes picked up a beer bottle and viciously smashed Leary over the head with it. Leary’s eyes rolled back in his head as he crumpled on the floor. Then he quickly got up and resumed playing. It was a stunt bottle, made out of sugar. Then Haynes picked up a real bottle and heaved it the length of the room, where it exploded above the exit sign. Soon Haynes had set fire to a pile of trash in the middle of the stage.”
The extract also describes some explicit sexual acts that occurred between Lynch and Haynes, which culminated in the frontman “mounting” her. He also partook in making a “piss wand”, which he sprayed onto the audience. In 2011, Haynes recalled more of the night, explaining: “I tried to burn one of our amps, and it wouldn’t stop working, it was just burning! And I tried to kick it with a bare foot and stubbed my toe! I was totally naked, and I remember looking over at Paul was behind the drum kit without any clothes on with two drumsticks playing with his dick!”
No one knows what happened for certain that night – it’s highly unlikely that there were any sober people in the room. However, it cemented Butthole Surfers as one of the most notorious live bands of the era. Although the club manager eventually forced them out of the venue, shouting, “You’ll never play New York again!” the band played the iconic CBGBs just two weeks later “for more money,” asserts Leary.
Check out blurry footage of the night at your own risk:
