Great White book on the Station Fire

All I know, is that if King Diamond, Motorhead, or Axl Rose was performing in that club, at that time, and it burned downed and killed fans - would you still feel the same way about THEIR music? Happened to be Great White. Personally, I think it impacted Great White and the family of the fans that were there that night, way more than you.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

All I know, is that if King Diamond, Motorhead, or Axl Rose was performing in that club, at that time, and it burned downed and killed fans - would you still feel the same way about THEIR music? Happened to be Great White. Personally, I think it impacted Great White and the family of the fans that were there that night, way more than you.

Oh yeah, no doubt, but still, to this day I don't listen to GW's stuff anywhere near as much as I used to. There's too much "bummer" attached to it.

I can't listen to Pantera without hearing gunhots either. But you and I Keith, ain't that shallow.

UNCLE SAXON'S KICKASS CDS wrote:

I can't listen to Pantera without hearing gunhots either. But you and I Keith, ain't that shallow.

Yeah, probably a little shallow. But man, when I turned on the news the morning after that Rhode Island thing and saw the footage of that damn place goin' up in smoke, all I could think of was "There but for the grace of God go I."

I was never huge Great White fan in the first place, but the fire did taint my listening pleasure for these guys.


Years and years ago, at an AC/DC show, four fans died, the band were devasted, thou they were not at fault, they accepted that maybe they should have looked over things better with management (the safety of festival seating etc) and as Angus Young said on Behind the Music regarding their tragic event at their show " At the end of the day, its our name on the ticket"

Read your book review, and it changed my mind, at first I had no interest in reading this book, ti I read your hub.

manny wrote:

Read your book review, and it changed my mind, at first I had no interest in reading this book, ti I read your hub.

Cool, Manfred. Glad you dug.

I wasn't first introduced to Great White until a few years after the tragedy, so fortunately I can still enjoy they're music.

Really sad story though, did anyone see the episode of Larry King Live where the band talked about the tragedy?

So I'm about 2/3 through the book and I can safely recommend it. I was a little worried that this might be exploitive or relish too much in the horrible details (as many books of this kind do) but the writer does an excellent job of describing the horror but in a very tactful way. I'm getting into the court stuff now. And as FF mentioned it goes into a ton of legal detail. I'd even go so far to say that seems to be the emphasis of the book and the motivation of the writer.

Thus far this has what stuck me most....

-as negligent and careless as the events leading to the fire were, equally bad were the A-holery from the various people afterwards in CYA mode. One thing to act a certain way not knowing the consequences, a whole other deal to do so with one hundred dead due to those actions (or lack of action). From Russell claiming on Larry King that he was dragged out unconscious when the tape showed otherwise. To the cameraman claiming he stopped shooting the scene to help rescue people. He did stop shooting long enough to call the TV station to claim "he was getting everything" while people were still inside the burning building struggling to get out. Then of course there is everything with the Derderians. No idea how some of these people live with themselves.

-Saddest thing of all is that this was so preventable if only someone had taken the action they should have. A lot of blame to go around in that regard.

-Seems like the Rhode Island authorities did a good job of recognizing the emotional trauma of not only the victims and families but also the responders. I can't even begin think what that must be like. I hope they are all still getting that PTSD support.

-Anyone who thinks tattoos have no value needs to read the book. I'm needle phobic with no ink on me but even I'm considering getting something on my foot for my family's sake.

It's a tough read no doubt but I feel it's a well done book and worth checking out. Oh, and it doesn't make me never want to listen to Great White again.

Quote :

-Saddest thing of all is that this was so preventable if only someone had taken the action they should have. A lot of blame to go around in that regard.

Yeah, I was amazed at the sheer number of people who dropped the ball or were negligent, not just the club owners and the band but the government of West Warwick as well. It seemed like everybody knew the place was a dump and an accident waiting to happen, but nobody gave enough of a sh*t to do anything about it.

It boggles my mind that the place didn't even have fire sprinklers (due to its being built prior to sprinklers becoming required by law, it was "grandfathered") ... I'm surprised the townspeople didn't track down the fire marshal and string him up after the blaze.

Mega-Ancient Necro Thread Bump

A documentary on the Station Fire, based on the "Killer Show" book, was released last year on the REELZ cable channel. "The Guest List" can now be streamed on Tubi, I watched it a couple of nights ago. Pretty harrowing stuff, obviously.

Just recently - for a year - I began listening to my Great White CDs.
I thought about going to the show - but it was a work night - Tuesday ?
I didn’t want to drive home buzzing at 2am - etc
But I was shocked. Even now. Cant even read the book. No way.
Nobody really talks about it either. It was that horrible.
The worst concert of fatalities ever.