When I was in the 8th grade my most beloved favorite band in the world was Slaughter. Back then a favorite band was serious business. Every Friday we (my BFF and I) would religiously watch MTV's Top 20 countdown, and kept track of where Slaughters singles would be from week to week. We would rack up charges on my parents phone to call in and vote a dozen times when they were up for a viewers choice pick that week. OK, well we only did that once before my parents said no more, but you get the picture.
We had the name Slaughter scrawled across all of school book covers. Pages were carefully ripped out of Metal Edge magazine and plastered all over our Junior High lockers and our bedrooms at home. We watched their home video "From The Beginning" all the time, and Stick It To Ya was always in the cassette player. We waited desperately for the tour in support of Stick It To Ya yo come to the Bay Area. Then one day it happened. They were coming to the Concord Pavilion, and opening for Poison!
After borrowing against my allowance we were finally going to see Slaughter in concert. My dad dropped us off right in front of the Pavilion and we made the long walk up to the gates. We found ourselves a perfect spot on the lawn. Being that we were little eighth graders, it was easy for us to make our way to the very front of the lawn section where we had a perfect view of the stage. Slaughter came out and kicked ass, just as we knew they would. When they started Up All Night my BFF and I started screaming and singing the song like our very lives depended on it. I can imagine what we must have looked like. Apparently, we looked kind of cool.
As Slaughter wrapped up there set we noticed 2 bleach blond LA looking women come out from the backstage area. They were dressed like they were supermodels who hung out with rock stars, and wore these tall high heeled boots, and lots of laminated passes around their necks. We noticed them immediately, and wondered who they were, and how lucky they were to be backstage. As we continued to watch them walk through the crowd, it became clear they were headed straight for us. Slaughter was doing their encore, and my BFF and I were frozen as these two glamorous ladies came up to us and asked, "Are you guys big fans?" Stunned we both said uh huh. "Well it sure looked like you were having fun, and I think the guys might like to hear about it." With that she handed us two backstage passes.
By this time the Poison groupies, (dressed like strippers) who were around us, started to ask the ladies for passes too. They just smiled and said no. They told us to give the guys about 20 minutes then go to the backstage door, and show our passes. When we said thanks, she winked and said "No, thank you". Needless to say we started screaming, and continued to scream for the next 20 minutes. We RAN for the backstage door. There was a group waiting there already, all of them girls our age, most with their parents. Finally the ladies came out and escorted us all into the green room. I asked her why she had given us the passes. She said that she worked for the band and they loved meeting their fans. She motioned around at all the girls giggling and waiting anxiously, and said "their REAL fans".
After a few minutes the guys from Slaughter came into the room. I was standing by the door as they came in, and as the crowd cheered Mark Slaughter leaned down to me and said "Wow, there sure are a lot of people in here, huh?" My BFF and I spent the next 30 minutes or so with the guys. We got each one of there autographs. They talked to all the other girls too, AND their parents. Mark even talked to me for a few minutes and asked how I liked the show. I of course raved & raved. He said, "Now THAT'S what it's all about right there". Tim Kelly (guitar player) smiled and said "Definitely". Before they left Mark even told me that if I wanted to go backstage at their next show, to join the fan club and they would send me two backstage passes. He even wrote down the address.
I did join, and a year later I got backstage and met them again when they toured with Ozzy. Rock bands always have a reputation for being sleazy. Now I can't say what the guys from Slaughter did that night (either of those nights for that matter) after all of us glam metal teeny boppers left. I don't really care. The fact was that I can say with no hesitation, that the guys in Slaughter appreciated me. I worshipped them and their music, and they loved me for it. Me and every other girl who bought their records and went to their concerts.
Those guys made my whole pre-teen life that night. In the years that have followed that amazing night, I've dealt with a few rock stars. None of them have ever displayed the sincere gratitude and understanding towards their fans as the guys from Slaughter. The guys in Slaughter could have sent those ladies out into the crowd to find a bunch of the stripper looking Poison groupies that had filled the pavilion that night, but that wasn't who they wanted to spend some time with. In the rock world, there has never been a cooler group of guys.
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