Owings Mills, Maryland, has probably never been mentioned in the same breath as rock ‘n’ roll landmarks Woodstock, Coachella, and Knebworth. But to hear author Doug Brod tell it in his fun new book, They Just Seem a Little Weird, our unassuming Free State suburb was ground zero for one of the great rock feuds of the 1970s.
In this heavy-metal version of the Hatfields and McCoys, it was where KISS roadies squared off against Aerosmith roadies in a battle that would frame “four bands that showcased a new kind of rock star: preening, clowning, sometimes spitting blood (and fire!),” Brod writes.
Whether it’s an account of messing with a competitor’s lighting before their first number or cutting an opening act’s time short if they threatened the headliner’s hold on the audience, Brod gives us an insider’s chronicle of a concert scene often ripe with petty sabotage.
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