The fatal accident that destroyed Hanoi Rocks....

Before a fatal car crash put a tragic and untimely end to Hanoi Rocks' career, the band was on its way to the Olympus of fame... By December 1984, bursting onto a dim rock scene tainted by the hollow new romanticism and austerity of post-punk, the five glamour-soaked sonic thugs of Hanoi Rocks were about to go global....

After finally securing a major label deal with CBS, the band had just released their fifth and most assured studio glam album to date, Two Steps From The Move. And as the second single from it, Underwater World, crept down the chart, Hanoi Rocks prepared for their first U.S. tour.

The background to the tragedy ...

In the dreary and monochrome depression of the mid-80s, Hanoi Rocks seemed like a scorching bright flash! Their reputation as a live band was impressive... Japan had already fallen at the feet of Hanoi Rocks, and it seemed the United States would follow. MTV was overflowing with clips of the five glam members, tickets for their concerts were selling out at the speed of sound, and even Andy Warhol himself was looking forward to their welcome party in New York...

Everything seemed to be going smoothly! But soon something happened that Hanoi Rocks never recovered from.....

Michael Monroe's fracture ...

Curiously enough, very often the most catastrophic chain of events can come to a head because of a factor that is seemingly small and insignificant....

At one of the first concerts of the ill-fated American tour in Syracuse, a beer bottle fell off the top of guitarist Andy McCoy's amp. Its contents spilled over the right side of the stage... Just a few moments later vocalist Michael Monroe jumped out, slid on the puddle and... broke his ankle. To his credit, Monroe finished the show before he was rushed to the hospital.

After being misdiagnosed with a "severe sprain", the tour continued for four more shows: Toronto, Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland. Monroe, now in constant agony, eventually sought help from another specialist. Eventually, the vocalist was discovered to have a fracture! He was put in a cast, which forced the band to take a break.

Hanoi Rocks' unquenchable passion for partying inevitably led them into the orbit of Los Angeles band Mötley Crüe. Drummer Razzle vaguely knew Crüe vocalist Vince Neil... While the two bands were never the closest of friends, they did have an unhealthy appetite for self-destruction. So it's no surprise that as soon as the Hanoi Rocks touring car - temporarily derailed - arrived in Los Angeles, Mötley Crüe threw an impromptu welcome party for their glam colleagues.

And while Monroe lay in his hotel room, McCoy, Razzle, Jaffa and Nasty Suicide had a giant Crüe bender that was forever destined to end in absolute disaster....

The tragic accident, Razzle's death ...

According to the sketchy recollections of those present, about three or four days after the party started, namely on the evening of 8 December, the alcohol supply ran out. The question of buying more booze came up. Vince Neil, heavily intoxicated (and not just because of the alcohol) but wanting to show off his brand new red Ford Pantera 72, went to the shop with Razzle as a passenger.

After almost an hour, Andy McCoy became worried that the couple still hadn't returned... Together with the band's road manager, he set off on a hot trail... On the way, they passed a car accident, not far from Neil's house in Redondo Beach. Moments later, when it dawned on them, they returned to the scene and found Vince being questioned by the police and Razzle's motionless body being loaded into an ambulance...

Apparently, shortly after leaving at 6.38pm, Neil lost control of his steering on a wet road, going round a stationary fire engine at 65mph. His Ford Pantera then veered into oncoming traffic and was hit by two other vehicles.....

Vince Neil miraculously escaped serious injury (only broken ribs and small cuts on his face), but Razzle was pronounced dead....

Neil was taken to the police station where he was immediately arrested for DUI and manslaughter.

Subsequently convicted in July 1985, the singer was released on $2,500 bail. He served only 20 days in jail! He was ordered to pay $2.6 million in victim compensation, perform 200 hours of community service and attend lectures... And that was the end of it. The life of a promising drummer, the fate of an entire band, was valued at 20 days and 2,500 quid....

Hanoi Rocks without Razzle

The day of this tragic accident - 8 December 1984 - marked the first day of National Drunk Driving Awareness Week in the US. Neal's blood alcohol reading was 0.17, well above the legal limit of 0.10. To make matters worse, neither he nor Razzle were wearing seatbelts on that unfortunate evening....

What about the band? Alas, even after all these years, the remaining members of Hanoi Rocks could not recover from what had happened. Their glittering careers were out of the question. Razzle's death was the end of everything they had been working towards for so long.....

"I had completely cleaned myself up and we were going to work hard! Some people had a different attitude to the whole thing: for them it was party, party, and party, and party some more until you drop... Mostly it was Nasty and Razzle. I remember Zeppo, our manager, saying to Razzle: "You'll kill yourself if you keep partying like this!" And I remember a drunk Razzle quietly listening to him and then looking up at him and saying: "You know, I don't care if I die or not. I just gotta get to L.A." And he got to L.A. The American dream had come true, for crying out loud..." - Andy McCoy recalled nineteen years after that fateful day....

 

"...About a month before he died, we saw a picture of a wrecked car - people killed while speeding. It was like a grim omen that looked just like the crime scene... Why? Because, damn it, it was a crime! Not only did Razzle die, two young men were crippled. And this bloke sat in jail for 20 nights and got away with it!" - commented Andy McCoy.

To say that there is a fierce antipathy between Andy and Vince is to say nothing. It's based on an inexcusable lack of remorse:

"He never apologised..."

 

"...He's afraid of me. Every time he sees me, he runs away. But that's not what's important to me. There are certain moral values and things to respect. The other guys from Mötley Crüe apologised, even though they hadn't done anything wrong. They were so angry at him that they almost broke up the same day as a band! Yes, we could have sued and got millions, but I was against it. I said: "How the hell can we put a price on a brother, a family member? Money alone isn't enough... Let him live with it, karma will get him sooner or later...""

Many people don't believe in karma, but if you study Vince Neil's biography, you can't help but think about it... The early 1990s were the most difficult period for the musician. A scandal with Mötley Crüe, a divorce from his wife, and... the death of his little daughter Skylar. The girl was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in her abdomen. Doctors fought for the little girl's life for five months. At one point, it looked like the disease had receded. But! 3 days after the last operation to remove the cancerous tissue from the only remaining kidney, Skylar died... After her death, Neil went on a binge.

This fateful tragedy, which killed Razzle and left the other car's two passengers with brain injuries, was one of the key scenes in the film Dirt.