Welcome back to the ROX-TV Concert Rewind Series. As the returning readers know, I like to re-examine shit that went down a long time ago. Tonight, I will be taking the readers back to the 1990’s for one of the more unique concerts I attended. On September 30th, 1998 I went to see a show at Auburn Hills called “The Family Values Tour”. It was a little gig put together by a nineties titan called KORN. I’m sure you’ve heard of them if your a fan of the greatest decade since the sixties. KORN was able to achieve a very interesting and groundbreaking thing, when they built the tour.

The tour included different types of music, which included rap, nu-metal, alternative metal, and even a crazy ass group from Germany called Rammstein. I will talk more about that particular performance in the coming paragraphs, but for now, I must continue on with the introductions. 1998 was a special year for me because I had just graduated high school that June. The whole world was ahead of me and life had not been lived yet.

Having been a lover of music since my single digits, I had come of age in the 1990’s and found myself in a wonderful place to experience a lot of what was going on at the time. “The Family Values Tour” had an epic lineup, with artists and groups that were peaking in popularity and most definitely relevant in that moment. The roster included KORN, which by then were absolutely on fire and promoting “Follow The Leader” (Released August 18th, 1998. The album was their most successful album commercially and hit #1 on four different charts including the Billboard 200. The sales surpassed 260,000 albums sold in the first week).

“Follow The Leader” was burning up the charts with two dynamite singles which included “Got The Life” and “Freak on a Leash”. Both singles charted and the album would eventually sell more than fourteen million copies world wide. To say that they had the album of the Summer that year would have been a safe bet.

The roster continued with Limp Bizkit, who at the time were still promoting “Three Dollar Bill Ya’ll”, which had dropped July 1st, 1997 (the album would eventually sell more than two million copies in the United States, going platinum x 2). For those of you that were alive and old enough to listen to music at that time, Limp Bizkit had some fire burning with their rendition of George Michael’s song “Faith”, which currently has over 25 million views on YouTube.

As far as I remember, during 1997 and 1998, “Three Dollar Bill Ya’ll” was hot among alternative types in society. For me personally “Faith” was the best track on that album but that’s just me. Although I never really got into Limp Bizkit as whole or even as a side, they were making noise and no one could deny that. To each is own as I like to say.

One of the acts that I was dying to see though was the infamous Ice Cube. The former celebrated artist for N.W.A. and also a prolific solo artist, you could say this guy had been on my bucket list for shows. This man needs no introduction. His work on “Straight Outta Compton” was legendary and helped propel N.W.A. as one of the most important gangster rap groups of all time. I would argue the most groundbreaking and successful as well, but again that’s only me.

Ice Cube was/is a brilliant rhyme writer and wrote some of Dr. Dre’s parts as well as most of Eazy E’s on “Straight Outta Compton”. The album was released in 1988 and by July of 1989, the album had gone platinum. Recorded for about $8,000 dollars, the album would go triple platinum in the United States alone with more than three million copies sold.

As a solo artist he didn’t stop dropping amazing music. He released “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” in 1990 (going platinum in September of 1990), “Death Certificate” in 1991 (which also went platinum that December), and one of my all time favorite Ice Cube albums “Predator” in 1992. I had a copy when it dropped and it really set the tone and pace for rap in America for sometime to come. With songs like “It was a good day”, “Check yo self”, and “Wicked” it was no wonder that the album would eventually go platinum x 2. I loved that album and still do till this very day.

I had gotten lucky by catching Ice Cube early in the tour because he would leave the tour on October 27th, 1998 to continue filming “Next Friday”, the follow up to the blockbuster “Friday”. If you smoked weed in the 1990’s then you celebrated this film. Tokers still do as of 2022. Ice Cube would be replaced by Incubus for the remaining dates, which if you had to replace someone, was a pretty decent replacement but under the circumstances it could have been argued otherwise. How could you replace Ice Cube? It’s a tall order.

Another group on the lineup was a band called “Orgy” which I was completely unfamiliar with at the time, but who put on a nice set. They had just released their album called “Candyass” which was inspired by a drag queen the band knew. The release featured a cover of “Blue Monday” (which was a New Order song from 1983. New Order has a special place in my heart because they were the remains of Joy Division after Ian Curtis took his own life. Another story for another time) which was pretty dope.

And then there was Rammstein. The odd and unique band from Berlin, Germany which formed up in 1994. They were a big deal in their home country although at the time, I didn’t know what the fuck I was looking at, but more on that in a bit. They had an album called “Sensucht” which had gone number one in Germany (released in August of 1997). Their music would be accused of fueling violence later on, when one of the Columbine shooters was pictured wearing their shirt, another time in Russia, and a third incident in 2014 by way of California.

The allegations were never confirmed other than the shooters and bad actors enjoyed their music, but no other connection was ever established. Some people will look for what they want to see everywhere but holding an international band accountable for street side violence is fucking bullshit.

Bad people do bad things. If they had eaten at McDonalds before the killings, would Mickey D’s have some form of liability, perhaps with bad service that contributed to the bad people going over the edge? No. And like I’ve always thought, people kill people, the instruments are not to blame, but the people who do horrendous things are. If a serial killer didn’t have access to a gun, I’m assuming he would eventually move on to knives. If no sharp object were available, perhaps a blunted object like a bat. If no bat were available, I’m assuming hands would do the trick. Do we ban guns, knives, bats, and rocks? Only a dumb fucking idiot would push for that type of logic. Should we ban bricks, hands, and water? Common sense should prevail. But now I’ve veered into the woods, and I don’t want to. Getting back to the story…ladies and gentlemen, I give to you “The Family Values Tour” experience…

“The Family Values Tour”

Venue: The Palace of Auburn Hills

Location: Auburn Hills, Michigan

Date: Wednesday September 30th, 1998

Ticket Price: $29.50

Seat: Section 102, Row Q, Seat 6

Parking: Shitty

Acts: KORN, Limp Bizkit, Ice Cube, Orgy, Rammstein

Time: Show opened at 7:00pm

At the time, I was rolling with the Knob Hill Gang (not actually a gang, just a group of rowdy party types who liked to have a good time and get reckless) and had just turned 18 years old. I had graduated from high school in June of 1998 and had spent my first summer as an “adult” partying my life away. I had been pouring concrete with the “Great Lakes” concrete company out of Fowlerville Michigan and waiting for the fall semester of college to begin in Flint.

I was young, with my whole life ahead of me. I had recently had some trouble with the police and almost blew up my life before it began, but after some community service and a promise to attend Mott Community College in Flint, the judge took it easy on me and my charges were reduced from felonies to misdemeanors. It was a chapter in my life that was fast, furious, troubled, and I was looking to move on from my troubles.

I fell in with my girlfriend’s older brother and the Knob Hill Gang, and together we blew the fucking doors off that summer (and many more to come I might add). Concerts were one of the ways we stayed busy and it was a tribe event each time the call to arms rang. We would load up with our crew, usually numbering 8 to 10 people for shows, and do our best to achieve nirvana and not get arrested.

To be honest, I can’t remember who heard about the concert first but once the idea was introduced…we knew we would be there. Why? It’s just what we did. We partied on the lake, in the country, in the city, at raves, cars, and everywhere in between. Concerts were one of our favorite places to be, and so it went. Tickets were procured after money was rounded up.

There are times in our lives were we can’t envision anything else going on ever, and this was one of those times in my life. I didn’t think too far ahead, maybe a few days at most and like others lost in their youth, I figured life would continue like that forever. The sad truth is that nothing stays the same forever. People drift away, some go away mad, and others vanish. At that time though, everything was right where it belonged. We would live forever and by our own terms.

(Author’s Note: I do not condone drug or alcohol abuse, nor is addiction a cool thing. Many people I have known in my life have struggled with these type of things and its caused a lot of headaches over the years. We did what we did. People will do what they do. I can’t judge them because I took the road myself, but I don’t want to advocate for substance abuse and addiction. Addiction fucking sucks. Fair warning)

4:30pm

Like so many other shows, we decided to “warm up” before the show. By 1998 I had got in good with the neighborhood party store and they sold me beer. I suppose coming in with the concrete crew, caked in cement, was enough to look 21. Maybe they just didn’t give a shit either. I was a local and had been able to buy beer there (for better or worse) since the beginning of the summer. We had a few beers at the crib on Knob Hill (street) before we ran out. We needed to hit the “store” one more time and then it was time to rock and roll down the road.

I was making about $8.00 bucks an hour then, which wasn’t a bad wage normally, but pouring basements meant that you earned that eight bucks an hour. We didn’t have a boom truck (a truck with an arm and a bucket) so we had to pull the eight and nine foot panels out by hand. It was one hell of a way to earn a living if you are familiar with the concrete business. Modern places all had the boom trucks, but we were old school. I don’t think any of our trucks had  valid plates or insurance, some didn’t even have plates. Old school.

I had about seven bucks to my name and opted for a couple of jumbo’s of malt liquor (jumbo’s were 40 ouncers, sometimes referred to GIQ’s by older cats). For some reason I passed on the usual Mickey’s Malt for Magnum. I’m not sure why, but it didn’t matter in the long run. The ride down was about 45 minutes or so, so I had just under an hour to down them.

The ride

We chose to ride in a van, not the big kind, but the Astro van kind. There was a shit load of us in that fucker and I wound up in the very back, between the last row of seats and the back door. It was a tight fit and there was smoke and beer sloshing everywhere, but we headed out for destiny. Ok, that’s a little dramatic, but we were road bound. I was crammed but it didn’t get in the way of my beer. Everyone was smoking and before long, it was a fucking smoke box in that Astro van.

Arrival

We landed in Auburn Hills without too much trouble. The crew had been pounding drinks the entire time and I had to piss. Never the less…we had made it in one piece. For the record, it was Christina’s van and she drove. She could scare you at times, but I don’t remember this ride being bad at all. Then again, I couldn’t see shit from the back and had beer to drink. If it had been a scary journey, I sure as hell couldn’t tell by the time we got there.

The gang unloaded like a clown car, everyone was pretty buzzed and the excitement was building as we walked across the lot and into the “Palace of Auburn Hills”. It didn’t look like a palace really, but it was still impressive. The Detroit Piston’s were housed there and I had caught a few games and concerts there prior to this night. We dipped inside and made our way to our seats. I can’t remember exactly where the “Q” row was, but within a few minutes we had managed to get down to the first row, before the floor. We were off to the right side of the stage (if you used the performers view facing the crowd). It was on.

Performances

I don’t remember who went on first or exactly what order the artists came on. So I will just talk about what I remember from that night. The place was packed and the floor was wall to wall people. The energy was pretty heavy too, and I miss crowds from the 90’s. Everyone always thinks things were better when they were young, but in my case…as of 2022, I will say that our crowds were better, bigger, and more wild than today. There was a real pit and the artists didn’t have to beg the crowd to get it going either.

If I remember correctly, they were making people sign waivers if they were main floor because of the slam dancing and pit thrashing. There was a table and two people were sitting there with forms, but who knows. I’ve been to a lot of shows, sometimes fairly faded, so this could have been a melted memory from elsewhere, but I’m pretty sure it was at this show. Blasted Magnum Malt.

Orgy

I remember Orgy coming out and when “Blue Monday” kicked on, the place went fairly crazy. I didn’t know any of their catalogue at that time, so it was the only song that I remember. The stage presence was ok. But it was one of those one hit wonder bands in the making. History would prove that right.

Rammstein

Now these crazy MFERS I do remember well. I had no idea what they were saying because it was in German, but they brought some thunder to the stage. The lead man was pretty nuts and at one point was smashing his head with the microphone. I had only seen footage of GG Allin doing that prior to this, so it was impressive and confusing. Probably the weirdest thing was that during one of the songs, he had some sort of fake “dick” on and during the song, it sprayed continually into the crowd.

Again…that was pretty far out, and I hadn’t seen that type of antic before, but the dude believed in what he was doing and sold it. They had one song that had been on the radio called “Du Hast” and when they played it, things got rowdy. If I remember correctly there was some pyrotechnic type shit going on. This band had some serious energy. Later in Family Values lore, they played basically naked and were arrested for “public indecency”. In Massachusetts, they “simulated sodomy” and were arrested, fined $25 bucks, and spent a night in jail. Say what you will, there performance was enough for me to remember most of it for the last twenty four years. Never heard what happened to them, perhaps they took their crazy shit back to Berlin. Who knows? I don’t.

Limp Bizkit

I don’t remember these guys one way or another. I’m not sure why. They must have played and the crowd probably went wild, but I’m drawing a blank. Perhaps it was the Magnum and other things getting in the way? I simply don’t remember them onstage. Fuck it.

Ice Cube

I was an old school (new old school) rap fan. I had grown up with N.W.A. and had “Straight Outta Compton” and “One hundred miles and Runnin” in middle school. I remember their videos on MTV and Rap City. I owned the “Predator” and a Da Lench Mob cassette “Gorillas in tha mist”. The movie “Friday” was considered a classic shortly after its 1995 release. He had played “Doughboy” in the Boyz in the Hood movie, another classic (By 2020, Ice Cube had appeared in some forty movies to date).

To see him live was dope to me, because I had been listening to him for a while. Even in 1998, he was considered a legend. I remember him doing some type of chant with the crowd, where he encouraged the crowd to say “fuck you Ice Cube” or some shit like that. There were a lot of people there that probably wouldn’t have normally went to a rap show, but the beauty of “The Family Values Tour” was that it brought a lot of tribes together under one roof. The crowd loved him and the set was kick ass.

KORN

I want to say that KORN was amazing but I can’t really remember their set.

Have you ever heard the saying “if you remember than you weren’t really there”.

Well the cats in the 1990’s were still living by that credo, and by the end of the night, I was pretty much spent from drinks and smoke. They could have played the greatest show on earth, but my mind was floating out somewhere over Mid-Michigan by that time.

I would eventually see KORN in Flint, many years later and they were really great. So I can only assume they played a great show back in 1998. I do remember “Chutes and Ladders” because it had a bagpipe intro, but beyond that…you know what time it was.

Final Summation

Like so many other shows I went to back in the 1990’s, I don’t really remember leaving or getting home either. Intoxication can be one hell of a thing, its seems like a waste now on some level, but we went hard or not at all. It’s what people do when they are in their late teens and early twenties. Or at least that’s how it used to go. We didn’t have cell phones to get in the way of the shows and everyone would have gotten drunk and lost them anyway. I wish things went backwards in some aspects, because people weren’t living completely through their cell phones. There was nothing in the way to rob a person of the in-real-life experience. Cell phones can be great, but its OK to put them down once in awhile (just not when you’re reading my articles).

The final summation is this: we lived it up in the 1990’s. It was our time to shine. You could have rappers and rockers in the same room and it was nothing but a good time. I wish there was more of that today. Less division, more love for fellow human beings, because we all live on planet Earth. Throw dividers out the window and lets get down like we use to. Here’s to being human and the 1990’s….SO GOOD.

Signing Off,

Mike Shepard

kidvicious810

ROX-TV Head Writer

shepard2909@hotmail.com