How Three Hitchhikers Made Rock History – National

Hitchhiking can be dangerous for both the good Samaritan and the person sitting on the side of the road with their thumb out.

Just look at the history of serial killers. Ted Bundy, Edmund Klemper, Donald Gaskins, Ivan Milat, and the still-unknown Santa Rosa killer are just a few examples of murderers who preyed on people who just wanted to please themselves.

These horrific stories overshadow the countless times when giving a stranger a lift was not only a kind gesture, but a life-changing event in the best possible way. Here are three examples from the annals of rock history.

On July 13, 1985 at 5:20 p.m., U2 took to the stage at Wembley Stadium to perform at Live Aid. At the time, they were still a medium-sized band. Joshua tree The breakthrough was still two years away, so they knew that a powerful performance in front of more than a billion people would do wonders for their careers.

Each act was about 20 minutes long, so U2 carefully chose three songs. They would start with Sunday Bloody Sundaymove in Badand then end with a rousing rendition of Pride (In the name of love)their biggest single so far.

Things started well, but during BadBono noticed a woman in the crowd named Melanie Hills. According to Bono, she appeared to be in distress. (This is disputed; it is more likely that Bono was trying something on for the cameras.)

As the band played, Bono jumped into the photographers’ pit and then into the audience, after which he pulled the woman on stage with him to engage in a very slow, intimate kind of dance.

He then tried to reach Hills’ sister, Elaine, but security guards were unresponsive. A third woman, Kal Khalique, 15, is pulled from the crowd for another slow dance.

It was a great TV moment, but the slow dance number between Bono and the women took so long (Bono also struggled to get back on stage) that U2 had to go silent. Bad for 12 long minutes. By the time the song ended, their time was up. They never got to play Pride.

The rest of the band were furious and there was a huge argument backstage. It was terrible. “We’ve ruined everything!” they said. Bono, chastised and angry, went back to Ireland alone to brood with his wife at his in-laws’ house in the country. He was sure his bandmates were so angry with him that U2 was finished. Maybe he had just quit.

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But fate intervened.

In the week following Live Aid, the general consensus was that U2’s set (along with Queen’s) was the highlight of the Wembley leg of the concert. They hadn’t blown it. In fact, Bono’s effort to break down the barrier between the band and their fans was something of a career-defining moment.

Second, it is said that while Bono was on his way to visit his in-laws, he picked up a hitchhiker who had seen Live Aid and exclaimed how much they had loved U2’s performance. It was the validation Bono seemed to need. Within days, all was forgiven and mended. U2 was saved.

Is the story of the hitchhiker true? I’ve heard it many times over the decades. It’s also said that the band broke up in 1981 because they couldn’t reconcile their religious beliefs with their rock star careers. Bono is said to have taken a drive through the countryside, picked up a hitchhiker, and had a long conversation that made him realize there was a way to compromise.

Which story is true? Both? Neither? Take your pick.

This hitchhiker story is completely true. While walking around West Vancouver in 2011, Bono and his assistant were caught in the rain. Sticking out his thumb, a car driven by Edmonton Oilers center Gilbert Brule pulled up.

Bono and his assistant piled into the car with Brule’s girlfriend, the German shepherd, for the ride back to the hotel.

As a thank you, Brule and his girlfriend received backstage passes to U2’s upcoming show at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton.

The death of Kurt Cobain devastated Dave Grohl. He was so distraught that he could no longer play an instrument, let alone think about making music and performing on stage. He had come to terms with the fact that his musical career was over.

Escaping to Ireland, Dave contemplated his future as he drove through the Ring of Kerry countryside. Then, on the side of the road, a young man needed a ride. He was wearing a Kurt Cobain t-shirt. His name was Lorcan Dunne. When he got into the car, Dave had a revelation. “It was Kurt’s face staring back at me in the middle of nowhere.”

The Nirvana thing had been so big, so influential, that Dave could never outrun it for the rest of his life. That’s when he decided to get back to work. The result was the Foo Fighters.

Dunne’s cousin tells the story in the tweet below.

This last story isn’t as heartbreaking as the previous two, but it’s still pretty cool.

In May 2012, an indie band called Here We Go Magic was on their way to another concert in Ohio when they noticed a tall, thin man with a thin mustache asking for a ride near the I-70 on-ramp. He was wearing a hat that said “Scum of the Earth” and holding a sign that said “To the End of Rte. 70,” meaning somewhere in Utah.

At first, the band just kept going, thinking it was another homeless man. But half a mile later, the band’s sound engineer said, “John Waters.” One of the band members said, “Yeah. Definitely John Waters.”

The van took the next exit, turned around and found the man still there. It was indeed director John Waters. He had been hitchhiking for a few hours and no one would pick him up.

What was a famous Baltimore filmmaker doing begging for parking on the side of a highway? Hey, he has to get to Fort Cove, Utah, for some reason.

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