Hollie Anderson, a City Paper account executive, has quite a history with metal musicians. In her previous life as a radio personality, she worked at alternative stations in Little Rock, Ark., and Milwaukee, Wisc., before coming to Charleston in 1991 to work at the legendary 96 Wave. During that time, she accumulated a whole lot of rock memorabilia and a stunning collection of backstage photos. She drank beer with Kurt Cobain, hosted Smashing Pumpkins at her house, and partied with Bret Michaels from Poison (she assures us he was “a sweet, sweet guy”). We asked her to tell us about a few metal (and not-so-metal) treasures from her photo album.
Van Halen (Above)
“That’s ‘Van Hagar,’ not long after Sammy Hagar took over as the lead singer of Van Halen, at the Monsters of Rock show in Memphis in 1988.”
Tommy Lee, Mötley Crüe
“I played pinball with him, Fourth of July, 1987, in Arkansas.
He had his shirt off the whole time. Some of the other pictures, his pants were so low it looked like he had no pants on.”
Jon Bon Jovi
“It used to be that bands would do a meet-and-greet at a hotel right before the show.”
Marky Ramone at 96 Wave
“That was the day they played Desperado’s in November 1993.”
Adrian Vandenberg, Whitesnake
“That’s the Zoorilla from the radio station I worked for in Little Rock.”
Steven Tyler, Aerosmith
“The reason my eyes are closed and I’m laughing is he had just taken his tongue out and licked my entire face.”
Ice-T
“I would say this is probably ‘89. Ice-T was signing my chest.”
Prince
“Prince’s old bodyguard Chick is there in the back looking over everyone. Dez Dickerson is in the Marilyn Monroe shirt; he was in Prince’s band.”
Stay cool. Support City Paper.
City Paper has been bringing the best news, food, arts, music and event coverage to the Holy City since 1997. Support our continued efforts to highlight the best of Charleston with a one-time donation or become a member of the City Paper Club.