ZZ Top Why They Fired The Black Crowes On Tour

The time the Black Crowes got fired by ZZ Top on Tour.

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#zztop #theblackcrowes #chrisrobinson

What’s going on my fellow rock n’ rollers. Don’t forget to hit the bell notification icon to be notified every time i put out a new video on my channel. The Black Crowes Singer Chris Robinson is never afraid to let his opinion be known even if it lands him in hot water. That’s exactly what happened when in the early 90’s his band The Black Crowes opened for The Texas Rockers ZZ Top and got fired from the tour. Stay tuned for the full story.

At the beginning of the 90’s The Black Crowes were one of the hottest new bands having released their debut album 1990s Shake Your Moneymaker which spawned four big singles including their cover of Otis Redding’s 1968 song Hard to Handle,, She Talks to Angels, Jealous Again, Twice as Hard and Seeing Things. The band’s debut album was certified 5x platinum just in the United States by the middle of the decade and peaked at number 4 on the charts. Also bolstering the band’s image was their anti-establishment attitude, which also created headaches for them along the way.

As part of the tour to support their debut album they landed a prime spot opening or the Texas trio ZZ Top in early 1991.. ZZ Top were out supporting their 1990 album Recycler which went platinum but failed to garner as much commercial success and fan fare as their previous releases Eliminator and Afterburner.

The tour to support ZZ Top started in January and was supposed to go until May but unraveled halfway through. The Black Crowes claimed their dismissal had nothing to do with music, but rather business disagreements. The tour was scheduled to make a three date homecoming stand in Atlanta at the Omni Coliseum in Mid March, but after only two nights the black crowes were let go.

Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson would appear on MTV’s Rockline to tell their side of the story and they pointed the finger at ZZ Top’s Manager Bill Ham. They claimed Ham was upset with remarks Chris had made on state criticizing ZZ Top for using corporate sponsors on their tour, more specifically Miller Brewing. According to the LA TImes who ran a piece about the dismissal in 1991 claimed

That the band ran into trouble when ZZ Top’s management company Lone Wolf Productions who warned Chris to stop making statements between songs about corporate sponsorships. For example one of the lines Robinson told a crowd at a show was “This is live rock ‘n’ roll being brought to you commercial free.” The brothers would appear on MTV’s rockline immediately following their dismissal and discuss what happened as you can see here.

Following the band’s dismissal ZZ Top’s management company issued a statement to the press that read

This decision was arrived at entirely within this organization and not as has been suggested as a result of corporate pressure,” the company said in a statement released Tuesday. “Miller Brewing has been a partner in this tour since its inception and has been very accommodating to ZZ Top and has asked absolutely nothing of the opening acts which have appeared. It is out of a sense of common decency and courtesy coupled with a moral and ethical obligation that this action has been taken.”

The Black Crowes guitarist Rich Robinson disputed these claims and even went on to say the band basically dared Miller to throw them off the tour telling Q Magazine in 1991

Miller said, 'You don't say that, and if you do, we'll throw you off the tour.' We said. 'Hey, we don't have a contract with you. We thought we were going on tour with ZZ. If you wanna throw us off, throw us off.' And they did," "Miller faxed ZZ, saying, 'Get rid of them, we don't want this press.' ZZ had no idea themselves; it was their manager Bill Ham. He sees Miller giving them millions of dollars, and then sees those millions being pulled away if he doesn't do something. So we were thrown off.”

Of course since the firing happened in The Crowes home state of Georgia, the story quickly picked up steam and made up a lot of the band’s press coverage around this time.
Both bands appeared to leave the tour unscathed as ZZ Top continued to tour with a variety of openers replacing the Black C
Sources:

[jeanluc]

Signs on a corporate label, gives interviews to and poses for corporate magazines, and criticizes the corporate sponsors that pay artists.

[Ihitthings]

I didn’t have to even watch this video to know that it was Chris Robinsons’ mouth that got them fired.

[tomomalley]

When you're playing at the highest level and you self-destruct because you can't keep your mouth shut.

[mchristr]

ZZ Top occupies an entire chapter in the annuls of rock history. The Black Crowes are pretty much a footnote in the back of the book.

[kirkshairpiece]

I saw The Black Crowes get fired by Heart in Edmonton in 1990. The Black Crowes official website does not even list the concert at Edmonton Coliseum, but I and 16, 000 witnesses were there. Chris Robinson berated and swore at the audience for not coming to the front of the stage and dancing. At the end of the set, he took a swig from a bottle and spit it at the audience in the front rows. When Heart came on for their set, Ann Wilson apologized to the audience and said The Black Crowes were off their tour and would never again play with Heart.

[BornToBeALiveWire]

I remember in the late 90s, the Crowe’s were part of The Furthur Festival in Camden NJ. They were slated second to last, prior to Ratdog. We were front row, and watching intently and with heavy scrutiny, the Black Crowes. Jerry had passed just a year or two prior, and rumors were circulating that Chris Robinson was steering the Crowes live performances into a “We’re too cool to play our hits”, attitude. Deepening the disdain, was also the reports that the Black Crowes were trying to fill the jam band void (save Phish), so to speak. The Crowe’s setlist that day in NJ, was top to bottom unrecognizable songs. Not one FM staple out of their dozen or so was to be heard. I distinctly recall people shaking their heads in confusion. “Can’t find a groove” was overheard by people desperate to dance. I stared directly at Chris, who sang most of the music with his back to the crowd. When their set was over, the band left the stage without saying a word. Chris had already left minutes before. It was awkward, odd, and angering. I don’t recall the crowd even clapping. It was probably the douchiest performance in all my years of attending live shows from Melissa Manchester to Kid Rock, several hundred performances from 100+ artists. I’ve seen sleaze, I’ve seen my heroes disappoint me, I’ve seen Jerry Garcia solos which literally made grown men cry. I’ve never however, seen anyone shit on a an audience the way Chris Robinson did that day in NJ. It ranks as my number one miserable concert experience.

[TheBassTroll]

"We signed up to go out and play music" 3:40 Okay, then play music; don't proselytise.

[JayJay-iiun]

You were the warm up band. When you have your own tour then you can do what you want.

[badsteed]

Chris' brother Richlooks like he was pissed at his brother for ruining a gig. "What's this we crap, bro?"

[englishandcompositionlearn]

Rich's facial expressions during the MTV interview..."Here goes my brother and his big mouth again" lol!

[steelydan]

Rich looks perpetually annoyed at Chris.

[TheChef]

"I didn't think they would do I was really stoned and don't remember much"

[buckodonnghaile]

Nothing says Anti-Establishment like appearing on MTV...right Nirvana?

[luckyhaskins]

I saw this tour at the pontiac silverdome....chris walked on stage and said "this band is not sponsered by budweiser" i will never forget it....they got fired soon after that gig

[JL-rcro]

I saw this tour when I was in high school at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago. This was early 90s, I want to say 1991. ZZ Top was so good live. I didn't know who the Black Crowes were before the show, but they were good too.

[shawnwhalen]

To bad Heroin doesn't sponser anything! Then Chris Robinson would probably change his tune.

[TheDefeatest]

His brother looks so pissed off at him in that interview.

[Atomykpimp]

I’m surprised they aren’t opening up for the Spin Doctors at a local fair.

[paulrevere]

“Sometimes it’s best to remain silent allowing folks to suspect one is IGNORANT than to speak removing all doubt!” Mark Twain

[ronlitton]

Black Crows owe me money, back in the 90’s they walked off stage in Louisville after a song and a half. Never forgotten, Never forgiven