Thirty years ago this Saturday (August 3), Lollapalooza ’94 roared into Quonset State Airport in Rhode Island, marking the travelling alternative music festival’s only New England appearance during the height of the alternative rock revolution.
And the lineup was, as expected looking back on it three decades later, just absolutely bonkers: Headliners Smashing Pumpkins and Beastie Boys led an iconic slate that also featured George Clinton, A Tribe Called Quest, The Breeders, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, L7, Boredoms, and a plucky, rising pop-punk band called Green Day, billed as the last band on all promotional posters. (And that’s to say nothing of Nirvana, who were set to headline that year’s Lolla before withdrawing over concerns of “selling out”).
For all the festival dates, Lollapalooza rolled out a magazine program called Teeth, cheekily named in such a ’90s kinda way because everyone’s got them and “everyone’s are different,” as the cover declared. The zine-like layout packed information on the main stage bands, the batshit insane “second stage” lineup (which throughout the summer included a pre-“Bitter Sweet Symphony” The Verve, Flaming Lips, Lucious Jackson, Guided By Voices, Girls Against Boys, The Pharcyde, Stereolab, and others), as well as set times, venue layout maps, and other highlighted amenities and oddities, like the Electric Carnival, which apparently previewed this new game-changer called “the internet” (of all things). The Milwaukee Record has a fantastic breakdown and some pages from Teeth that showcase just how weird and wonderful — and of its time — this little festival ‘zine was.
But perhaps the highlight in a sea of highlights is the Beastie Boys’ very own “Emergency Lifesaving Techniques: Mosh Pit DON’Ts and DOs for Lollapalooza ’94.” The page resurfaced in a post a few days ago by the Facebook group Beastie Boys Collection, and it just fucking rules — especially with the New England tour stop’s 30th anniversary landing this weekend.
The Beasties were riding high at the time, having released Ill Communication in May (the “Sabotage” video was everywhere that summer) and experiencing mainstream success with the support of MTV and alternative rock radio. But they still took the time to let folx know how to act, especially in a chaotic and hostile environment like a mid-’90s mosh pit.
There are six points in the DON’Ts, including this gem at Number 2: “…as Bikini Kill fanzine reminds us, ‘don’t think that cuz you are in the pit that you can get away with grabbing girls breasts or putting your hands down their pants or undoing her bra, etc. etc. Girls have as much right to mosh as anyone else and just cuz she’s slamming up against you doesn’t mean she is in LOVE with you.”
The DOs are admirable as well, with calls to help those in need, taking charge when necessary, and a plea to “don’t infringe on other people’s rights to enjoy themselves.”
And that makes sense, as after all, these guys fought for our right to party in the prior decade, and paved the way for everyone to have fun. That includes in the mosh pit at Lolla, or anywhere else. Take a trip down memory lane and peep the full page below.
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Feature photo by Masao Nakagami, via Wikipedia Creative Commons