All alone, the broadening skies
Under thee, every night, I lie
Scratch and claw and grip the rails
Every day, my living hell
Oh God, you know I've tried
I know how hard I've tried
You know I've tried
Hello?
Hello, Shannon?
Hi.
How are you doing?
I'm sleepy.
Sleepy? All right.
Well, I'll try and keep it simple then.
Let's see. First of all, how old are you?
I'm 25.
25. Okay.
Hey.
I do too. I gotta sleep.
I will be checking out at three, though.
Because we're going to mix the John Lennon song.
What time is it right now?
Lisa.
Hurry!
Back in Lafayette.
We're cruising out in the county.
Indiana. Open road.
The Amish part of town.
See.
I went to the dentist today.
My fucking
gums are all swollen,
my whole side of my face right here is numb.
But anyway, what I'm getting at is that
I'm doing the video camera work here, so,
and driving.
Trying to keep my focus.
And you know,
I probably get more out of...
more out of it than you do.
Let's see your earrings. Mom, mom.
Oh my God, Shannon.
Holy...
Oh, hon, why did you have such big holes
put in your ears?
Am I on...
Is this on?
Can I have a cigarette while we're in here?
If I can smoke a bowl.
Hell, no.
Oh, shoot, dad, give me a,
do me a favor.
Grab that camera.
Right there is the house of a judge.
He's shied me since I was about 13 years old.
Here's my senior picture over there.
Where's Lisa?
Yeah, where'd my girlfriend go?
You suck.
Stop it, Shannon.
Turn it off.
I hate people with video cameras.
Turn it off.
My girlfriend, Lisa,
we've been together for like 10 years.
Went to senior prom together,
all that sweet Midwest bullshit.
Say hi.
Say hi!
Hi.
That's Lisa.
This is her dad we're going to watch.
There's another competitor right there.
Look at that.
He's just pulling the shit out of that thing.
Good job, Shane.
Good driving.
All that I feel is the air that I breathe,
All that I need are the things I don't need
All that really matters is what matters to me
I never took singing seriously until
I graduated from high school and reality hit me in the face
that I didn't, you know, I didn't really want to go
to college.
I worked in the local factory job in Lafayette.
I kind of had backed myself into a corner and wanted to move
out of Indiana
because I just was getting into much trouble there.
I also brought...
some mushrooms, ladies and gentlemen.
Yes, moldy ass,
yucky looking mushrooms.
My god.
Maybe I'll see.
Maybe I won't.
Maybe you ought to just mind your own fucking business.
Maybe that's what you ought to do.
See, there's no one here.
So you're the only person I have to talk to.
I'm quite bored, and I love to talk.
I was being very self destructive.
I'm preparing to go get this hand x-rayed again.
For the second time.
First time I hurt it, I hit the wall
because I gacked out a note.
The second time I hurt it was just the other night,
keeping myself from hitting a gacked out guitar player.
Instead I hit the wall, but the pain is still subsiding.
I'm going to go to Saint Elizabeth Hospital,
where I was born.
Get it x-rayed.
You know you're supposed to wear that when you work.
Well, I'm working.
Being in the presence of you and mom arguing
is a job.
Your mother and I don't argue.
Channel 17, all right.
Hi, I'm Tabitha Soren, with MTV news.
We've got a cyber stuff report for you, now.
The Beatles 1965 classic, "A Hard Day's Night,"
Has now been playing on a computer near you.
"A Hard Day's Night" is the first feature film
to be released on a computer CD-ROM disc.
You know, MTV needs to leave the Beatles alone.
Where I was raised, TV was about the only thing
that I really had to show me what
the outside world was about.
The big bands and the small bands you
wanted to see they never even came to our hometown.
I wanted to see it all hands-on,
and Los Angeles is definitely a place to see a lot of
what's going on.
I went to Hollywood searching
for them dreams that everybody says comes true.
He's recording!
Hmm?
He's recording.
Hey Brad, what's that band you're in?
I don't know yet.
Okay, bye.
Bye.
This is Hollywood Boulevard,
because we don't have snow out here,
we have these things all over the streets.
As you can see we can walk right out here in traffic,
right out here, just about to get hit
by cars and shit.
I don't feel the sun's coming out today.
It's staying in
It's going to find another way
I met Rogers and Brad, like,
the first month that I moved there.
We hit it off pretty good.
We had a lot in common.
I don't think I'll ever, no, Lord
See the sun from here
Hey, Shannon.
Oh, there he is.
We're all from very much
repressed environments
Very small town, community backgrounds.
Okay guys, here's a question.
What are you each going to do with your first million?
Buy lobster.
I'm going to buy my lawyers off, back home.
I'm going to buy this pool.
Pressure's on you, Rog.
Now you see, I'm watching everything I do
And they're watching everything I say
So they will leave me be
Whoa, leave me be
Unity is something that I've held sacred.
My family was broken up, you know, when I was like 16
or 17 years old.
When you're getting ready to decide
on what you want to do with your life.
And then all of a sudden, you know, my family split up.
Now, in my corner
I got their stealing in my eyes
And arms holding up my knees
And, man, rocking back and forth's my life
I didn't mean to feel this way
When I walked into the door
You then ripped away my memories
And I can't remember
Who I was before
And when I left home, I left on cracked ice.
I didn't care about life.
I didn't care about my family.
When I moved out to Los Angeles, I realized
that a lot of things that I didn't care
about were a lot of things that I needed to
at least make me want to, you know, make it through the day.
I only wanted to be 16
And free
I like Shannon because he knows Axl.
Shut up!
All right, here you go.
This is the Record Plant.
This is where me and Axl been working on vocals together.
How'd you get hooked up with
Guns N' Roses?
He was a friend of my sister's
and there's like a little tribe
of people out in California from Lafayette, Indiana.
I've been running around with Slash, mom.
That's why I haven't been in jail.
All right, Ax.
You're talking to Nel Hoon,
the Nel Hoon that I popped out of.
Yo, Merry Christmas.
I been good, haven't I, Ax?
Well...
Anyway, mother, seeing as your son has no money,
no money...
Hold on a second.
This was all I could give you.
I love you, mom.
It's Shannon!
Shannon Hoon?
It's Shannon Hoon, the singer for Blind Melon,
the guy from the Guns N' Roses video.
Hey, weren't you that guy
from the Guns N' Roses video?
Yeah!
That's you, man?
Yeah!
Speaking of your whole deal
with Guns N' Roses,
Yeah?
And "Don't Cry,"
It's something that's completely separate
from Blind Melon.
Our music and Guns N' Roses' music
is completely different.
Holyman, you don't understand
So, I mean, apparently, you recorded a demo,
and it was almost immediately kind of, you know,
people started piling on.
What was that like?
One of our tapes got into a lawyer's hand and he called
us and wanted to legally represent us and
when we, you know, we were like "There's not much to
legally represent here."
We barely got enough
songs to even get through a showcase.
He's the singer.
We had only written, like, what?
Five songs? Is that about all we had?
Yeah.
So to get a deal, we were just
blown away.
I don't know where the good karma came from
because...
March 18th, we signed with the tower tribe.
The beginning of the rest of their lives.
It's raining out today, beautiful day
in Holly-weird, California.
Right up there's the sign, Jack.
Get the sign, get the sign.
What sign?
This sign.
Come on, God!
What's going on over here?
Brad, did you look through it?
Signing it already?
Yeah.
This is it.
Signing it all away!
What a happy guy, look at him. Oh, God, he's so happy.
No more drinking for Shannon Hoon.
I know! I mean...
You don't do any substances?
You do marijuana, like, constantly.
Are you asking me or telling me?
Okay, I'm asking you.
You don't have to say this, we can...
Well I mean, you know...
Press pause.
I mean, there's...
Some people do some things and some people
do other things. Having control of what you do
is the question, you know? Yeah, definitely.
I quit drinking alcohol, like, about a year ago.
It was bad for me.
Yeah.
There's certain things for certain people.
And alcohol was something that I couldn't deal with.
And neither could anybody around me
and neither should they have to deal with it.
You better take care of him.
Believe me, we try.
It's hard to, though, when you're drinking.
But none of us are as bad as he is, drinking-wise, so...
We don't turn into Mr. Hyde.
Except on occasion.
So he has a dual personality?
It's my...
My rage tends to come out.
Feel any better?
Or different?
I don't have to call and apologize
for the night before so often now.
So...
It kind of makes it a little better.
I think of how much happier my life
could have possibly been.
If I would've known what was going on.
Yeah.
I don't want to sit here and waste my time.
The same way that you don't want to waste your time.
What is the date today?
What?
What is this, Shannon?
This is two years later now?
Yeah.
You get your whole fucking life on video now.
Nobody else, you know,
before us could do that.
Yeah. Well...
Like now, here we are filming our life.
Shannon Hoon.
Live here in beautiful Seattle, Washington.
We're going to find out exactly how the progress
and everything like that with their album number one.
Their first little creation.
So I guess you would be considered the loser
at this point, Shannon.
Well, consider that you fucking-
So you're the loser.
Can you hear me?
Do you, you need to get a mix and all that shit?
All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
I like watching the puddles gather rain
And all that I can do
Is just pour some tea for two
And speak my point of view
But it's not sane
It's not sane
Did you get it, Rick?
Hi, I'm the cameraman, I'm the one that's not
getting videoed that much
because I'm making sure that everybody else has
priceless video footage for the future.
We're in New York.
I shaved my eyebrows off.
I'll zoom you in here, hope you can see.
If you can't, don't worry about it.
I'll show you later.
But, we're in New York,
it's the 22nd of April, 1992.
Getting ready to go out to eat.
I haven't taken you to New York yet.
And I'm sorry I've been abusing you visually,
but that's just the way it goes when I own the camera.
I own the camera.
So you are the watcher.
So shut up and watch.
There's the World Trade Center,
looming in the distance.
How many floors?
112, or something like that.
It's one of the seven modern wonders.
Trump Plaza, ew...
Don.
What inspires you most lyrically
in the process of writing songs?
A lot of, a lot of different things.
You know?
I mean, the way it phone's sitting on a counter
might inspire me.
I mean, I can't, I don't know.
I can't...
To hear the story of someone who's been dealt
a bad hand, you know,
just to be sane and insane inspires me.
Well, actually...
He now speaks...
We're at the St. Moritz hotel,
across from Central Park in New York City
where I've just broken my first hotel mirror.
and the fire's burning-
Holy shit. Holy shit!
Over the decision a jury reached hours ago
There are riots all over L.A..
Police are shown in this video tape
beating a black motorist, are not guilty of any crimes.
The verdict was shocking because of
a central piece of evidence, an amateur photographer's
videotape. The Los Angeles Police beating Rodney King
in March of last year.
This is how we're going to tell America
that our generation is conservative.
Our generation is Republican.
I'd like to introduce a new band that I like a lot
and they've got a different style
and I think you're going to like them a lot.
And you're definitely going to hear about them a lot.
They're called Blind Melon.
Oh goodness.
Probably one of the most original album covers
I've ever seen.
It's Glen, our drummer's sister.
It was a family picture on the grand family wall.
Getting ready to do a big tour, I hear.
We're on our way to Missouri.
It's my birthday.
We're going to rock out with fucking Oz.
And Alice in Chains. With Rog in the back seat.
And...
What, Lisa?
How you doing? We're Blind Melon,
we're the opening act.
Go on in.
Okay, thank you.
Reach in like that.
And then when you want to stop recording,
you push fader again, and you'll see fader come
up on the screen. See it?
And then you push fader, fade out.
I see stars, man. I'm just like so pumped up.
I just have tunnel vision.
You know, like you're looking through a couple of straws
and wear myself out to where I can't even breathe right.
Just from my adrenaline racing through my body
like a frigging freight train.
The best mind candy to thread the cutting edge.
They may not hail from Seattle,
but Blind Melon is destined to be one
of the new Nirvana's.
I came here with grand delusions
of backstage groupies and look where I am in the hotel.
I've been eating chocolate chip cookies
and then I ended up hanging out
with Shannon once again in a hotel room, it was lame.
Goodnight, Rog.
Goodnight, man.
Christmas '92.
My dad is going, he's going to go to jail
for DUIs tomorrow night. Are you there dad?
And then they take your license?
Yeah, then they take them.
For how long?
10 years.
You don't need a driver's license
to drive a golf cart, do you?
No. But I sure as hell
can't drive a golf cart to work.
Goddamn it.
That'd be the talk of the town. It already is now.
Everybody feels like it's safe to go out now.
Yeah, mm-hmm.
So you proposed to mom again last night.
I did not! I just told her
if she wanted to get married and have insurance,
she'd have it.
Well both of you are too goddamn crazy to find
anybody else to love you.
Do solemnly swear
That I will faithfully execute the Office
of President of the United States.
That I will faithfully execute the Office
of President of the United States.
Mulholland Drive. This is where
all the big stars live.
Big stars.
Rogers, you're going to be out here on Sunday,
and we had to binge before you got out here.
'Cause I haven't binged in a long time.
We were out for fucking...
Too many days.
You tell me that drugs aren't good sometimes.
Broke my sobriety of 11 months.
10 months, I mean.
In Lafayette.
Been sent down, started drinking in L.A..
Now I'm...
getting my head clear.
Been clear for a minute now.
In the interview you did before
you said something like, you know,
you weren't really happy.
Your childhood wasn't very happy.
Your parents were divorced.
I had a lot
of problems with alcohol in my family that, you know,
that ended up being a problem for me.
And it's priceless success to me, worth more
than any thing will ever mean to me, to be able to
establish healthy relationships with members of my family.
Well, I gotta go.
All right.
See you this afternoon. If it rains, I'll be home.
I'll probably be asleep.
I'll try to stay awake.
I'm so annoyed right now, I can't fucking sleep.
I'll see you later on, Pop.
Okay, hon.
Have a good one.
You too.
Ain't nothing good about working.
Getting off.
Yeah.
What time is it?
Now, as I open my eyes
To start another day
In a pile of puke, empty bag of excuses
My love for friends and family
So much I need them
Under a sun that's seen it all before
And my feet are so
And I can't believe that I have
To bang my head against the wall again
Oh, well, the blows
They have just a little more space between them
I'm gonna take a breath and try
And try again, again
I mean, I know I'm not the only person
who feels the way I feel.
So it's just a matter of me
being able to communicate with people through songs.
Ah! The sun is out!
Here comes the sun.
Yeah.
I got playback, please.
Great video from Blind Melon.
An unusual video for the hit track "No Rain"
It's the feel good video of the 90's
Yep, the song that's on everyone's lips
is the very song that has zipped Blind Melon's album
up Billboard's Top 200 chart to number seven.
A pretty remarkable feat for an album that was released
a year ago.
Things are getting really kind of crazy.
We're going to put that in brainwash rotation!
All I can say
Is that my life is pretty plain
Buenos Dias.
Shannon, can we take a picture with you real quick?
Yeah.
Oh, cool, you're so cool. Okay.
Thanks so much.
Oh, my God, you're so cool.
I'm so excited.
Oh my gosh, I'm so happy.
I'm just a regular guy, I swear to God.
This is just the beginning.
This track is going to last, you know
hopefully two, three months long.
Well, at some point when you guys get a little...
get a little break, we're going to have to go in and
try to lay down a few songs.
'Cause I've been talking to some producer types.
You know what, Tim?
I guess we'll have to try
to write some more songs.
I don't know if we can do it...
Tim, in order to do those new songs, man, we need
a new, another cash advance from capital.
You do, huh?
Yeah. Like non recoupable, $90,000 cash advance.
Well, let me ask you this.
See, I have this image.
I have this image that I've got
everybody perceiving me as, and it's really expensive,
and I've run out of money.
Yeah. It's hard to maintain that...
that rockstar lifestyle, you have, isn't it?
You're going to be very busy
over the next couple of months.
Yeah, we just, we just got the Neil Young tour,
Neil Young and Soundgarden.
And that's definitely the rock and roll utopia tour for me.
If we listen-
Why that sounds like Neil Young
playing my acoustic guitar.
The value of that guitar is increasing exponentially
right now.
You know, when you have, like,
one of those moments when
you're watching someone play and everything is perfect
to the point where you're so overwhelmed
that you fucking, you just get all emotional
and your eyes tear up and shit?
Oh, yeah.
Man, last night I was...
Neil was getting ready to play "Helpless."
Man, he-I mean...
"There is a town,"
right when he started, man, my eyes just went "whoop."
Rolled right back in my head, man, I was fucking,
I was tied.
Fucking A.
He was healing me.
There is a town in North Ontario
I mean, it's just...
It feels good to know that that still exists.
That people can still give those kind of feelings
to other people, you know?
And I'm sure your music
does that to people too. And will do that.
I mean, especially as you get old-get on.
That song was written in, like, 1967, I think.
That's pretty timeless.
Think about that.
Think about your record that was written in 1992...
jacking some kid in 2010.
That is pretty funny.
To get you the good news before it happens,
we are at 975 units.
Therefore, the way sales have been,
we should be Platinum by sometime tomorrow.
It's been more like a waterfall now, I guess.
Is it easy, now, to step back?
Because when you are...
That's why I've got a video camera
There's so much happening now,
I can't really sit back and soak it all in right now.
So I'll just have to watch it and do it later.
The sun was setting, we made it up here.
Little pieces of time that I'll never have back.
On that balcony part
Don't!
Don't be a stinker pot.
Don't.
No.
Right on your face.
Ooh, shh. We can't tell that.
We'll tell it, you gotta protect your future.
God damn-
It's just, these things are just the best, man.
I can put in a tape.
You have no idea what's on it.
You know, because it's just a collage of many things.
Holy macaroni.
Unbelievable.
It pulls you back.
Right into the moment.
So, Shannon, what are you doing?
I'm getting ready to deliver a pizza
in front of 50,000 people nude.
He's doing it.
A crystal ball.
I wish my girlfriend looked like that right now.
I might even just call it Shannon, you know.
I'm not just saying that.
Totally wonderful.
Mr. Jagger and Mr. Watts would like to meet the band
if we're not busy, and they just so happened to
catch us at a time when we really weren't that busy.
It's my birthday, Glen.
Have to take everybody for an actual walk over here
across the Abbey Road crosswalk, so...
here we are.
See if you can feel the aura.
They were going this way?
Oh, I went the wrong way.
Do you want me to record, even in between songs?
Yeah.
Okay.
So what shows should Lisa
videotape the whole songs on?
I don't know.
It's fading in, and now do you turn the
fader off?
Now as the LE STB wide, turns to-
To record.
To record, okay.
Now the fader automatically goes off.
Okay.
Fader.
Fade.
Why isn't it fading out?
Because you can't-it's stuck.
Oh, I do have to go here?
No, you keep-you're just pushing the...
On the count of three I want everybody to throw
whatever it is they're going to throw up here, all right?
So, I want to see all kinds of shoes
flying from all your stinky fucking feet, all right?
On the count of three, everybody now take them off.
No cheating, no cheating.
Ready?
Is everybody ready?
One, two, three.
This is a song called "Holyman."
Can you believe I did it?
When you watch this back, I don't know.
Give me the video.
Give it to me, Shannon.
If you're going to make fun of it
put it away right now.
Seriously. I'm serious.
Ouch.
Ouch?
Did you hear my bones breaking?
That was me, dummy.
You're not filming anything, Shannon.
The light's not on.
What am I going to do today?
Hey Shannon, it's Chris.
I just wanted to
let you know that
90... 95% that we're going to get a cover now.
So it looks really good.
They also need to do a session with just you.
Which we will talk about that.
So give me a call when you get in.
See you man, bye.
Boy, I'm really disappointed.
I'm sorry. I was fucking really excited about
being on the cover of Rolling Stone
How do they want just Shannon?
I don't know.
They've wanted it for a while.
So is Shannon going to do it?
Yes.
I think he will.
Yeah.
I think it's totally wrong
for the perception of the band.
Shannon's not going to refuse to do it?
I don't know, I think he should though.
He's saying "Well, I'm doing what's best for the band."
'Cause they're going to cut the article, right,
If we're not on the cover.
I think it's a load of crap
because Soul Asylum was all the whole band,
I mean, Spin Doctors...
They're saying there's been
too many bands on the cover.
Well, we're a band.
They need to get somebody else to do a cover story on.
Yeah.
Today was the day.
Today was the day, early this morning where Shannon finally
realized that he was the driving force behind the band
and was going to be on the cover of Rolling Stone
because he deserved it.
Then after discussing it with the end of Brad's bass,
Brad decided that that was no longer the case,
all for one, one for all.
Shannon finally decided that
the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts.
Today was the day that Shannon Hoon finally realized
that the four of us are always right.
And he's always wrong.
It's as simple as that.
I've got to hear what this guy's got to say.
Brad, don't be fucking throwing your bass
at that camera there, boy.
Yeah...
No, what sucks is I hit my fucking Ampeg.
He did more than hit his Ampeg.
I just went out and looked at his Ampeg.
Now who caused all this?
Rolling Stone Magazine caused all this.
Because they just see the band
as commodities and products and marketing.
They don't realize there's real human beings
with real feelings involved.
I'm nervous.
Are you Rodgers?
Oh, no!
Shannon's got a roll.
I'd been doing my drinking.
Kept it at the maximum.
Rolling Stones
Stone
Five copies for my mother
500.500.
On the cover of a Rolling Stone
Are you filming him?
Is that thing on?
Mm-hmm.
I thought you said it was fucked up.
Well, I'm trying to play...
I feel like I'm at camp.
I just got a weird flashback of a thing at camp.
Well, I'm pissed because
I'm playing some tapes back
from a long, long time ago.
And, like, while they're in play mode
and I'm watching, watching them back through here,
the screen just starts breaking up and starts...
Wait, hold on a second.
I'll get it. I'm going to get it.
Can I have one of those earrings?
Man, everything's-
Can I have your necklace?
No way.
My mom gave me that.
Melon head till I'm dead.
Damn.
That's commitment.
I saw you on TV.
Hello! We are Blind Melon,
and this is our video, "No Rain."
She's in Milwaukee.
You know what?
People like you need to get out of here.
You're a fucking smart ass.
I'm fucking security
You ain't going to do nothing to me, man.
You're not gonna do one thing to me.
Not one thing.
Not one thing. Not one thing you fucking...
So, I'm sitting here, in the courtroom.
I'm not sure what's going to happen.
No rain is probably one of the best self-esteem videos
I've ever seen.
And I think that's why a lot of people really love it is
because this little girl who was just doing her stuff
and thought she was so much in her glory and her pride
of just being herself was laughed at until that moment
of revelation.
When she looks through the gates and she goes,
"Man there's people just like me."
It's cute.
It is cute.
I hate cute.
Cute is killing you.
I can tell.
I don't really...
A bee!
Cheryl!
A bee.
Oh, no.
Boy.
The bee.
Bigger than the band.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Blind Melon.
All I can say
Is my life, it's pretty lame.
I think people are analyzing it way too deep.
You know what I mean?
That's the problem with, with a lot of things, you know
is that like day to day, I'm asked to
analyze how I got to where I'm at and you know,
not really paying attention to it is the beauty of it,
you know? And then all of a sudden you're asked to
analyze it,
So, you know, I mean, I don't want to figure
out how I got to where I'm at.
As quickly as it might have come,
it can be gone that soon.
This is just a timeframe we're dealing with.
We're not going to be here for forever.
I like writing music and I like doing things like this,
but at the same time, it's like
there's other things that I have just as
much enthusiasm doing.
What do you want to do?
I want to get into film.
It's just that all this,
everything is so serious now.
It takes up too much time.
A year in legal violations began in January
with the arrest of Ted Nugent
who violated Cincinnati's fire code
by shooting a lit arrow onstage.
David Lee Roth was arrested for possession of marijuana.
Shannon Hoon was caught with his pants down
and charged with indecent exposure
for urinating onstage during a Vancouver concert.
We wanted important things for people
to get mad about.
I don't know.
What do you want to do?
I'll take whatever someone doesn't want.
How's that?
I've got to fucking wait here.
I scored some smack.
I ended up getting some smack.
Doing the pee thing, you know, tells...
That's what we're doing.
Tuesday 9:43 PM.
Shannon, this is Lisa, again.
This is third time I've called you
wondering where you're at.
I don't know.
Just trying to get ahold of you.
Didn't get to talk to you
for the last couple of days at all, really.
If you're around, you can call me later tonight.
End of message.
Hello, this is Chris Jones.
Just thought I'd call and
see if you were still alive today.
We're up to a 1.1 million records sold.
So, I just thought I'd give you a little bit of
business news so you can feel great today.
That's it, brother.
Shannon, it's your mom just calling to say hi.
Talk to you later. Bye.
Been trying all day to get you.
This is about the millionth time I've called.
Don't know where you could be.
I'm not going to call you anymore.
You can call me. You know. Bye.
Message discarded.
Been a very lazy boy.
I didn't tape anything in L.A.,
nothing on the Christmas show with
Porno for Pyros, Smashing Pumpkin tests, Cranberries,
Cracker, Henry Rollins read "The Night Before Christmas,"
which was the highlight of the whole evening.
That's all.
I can only tell you about it because
I didn't videotape any of it.
Sorry.
Frosty, the snowman
Was a very, very soul
Hi, look at you. You look adorable.
Are you taking a picture for me, too?
Hurry!
Oh, the train?
No.
Where are you going?
Hurry, Uncle Shannon!
Alrighty.
No, this way!
What's down there?
There's a ugly beast who will eat you up.
There's a big ugly beast,
gonna eat me up?
Uh oh, we've got to be quiet.
Shh...
Make sure the big ugly beast doesn't hear us.
Fade away
Oh, you know, I never thought
I'd lay in the shade
I was much too clever
But one of these days I'll sever you some truth
Yeah
And then I'll sever you
It's New Year's Eve.
Happy New Year's everybody.
Woo-wee!
What are you looking at out there, Crouse?
Okay, so, right now in Japan
people are paying attention to the kind of music
by Pearl Jam, and of course by yours and Nirvana,
or, you know, what we call alternative sound.
What do you think about their music?
I think that bands like Nirvana
and Pearl Jam have really helped a lot of people
deal with whatever it is
that a young person deals with today.
Music is a very therapeutic thing.
That's what I'm attracted to.
People get therapeutic value from listening to it.
Some people get it from playing it, it's a fix,
and it helps get a lot of things out of you
and helps you bleed.
We wish you good health and
more happiness and even more big success
for many years to come
for Blind Melon.
And final question.
I've noticed that...
religion has been a heavy theme in your music.
Songs like "Soak the Sin," and "Holyman," "Change,"
Is this something that affects you deeply?
I believe there's...
I believe in God, I don't believe in religion.
I mean, everybody finds themselves
sitting alone, talking to someone
at some point in time.
I get tired of talking to the mirror
every now and then, you know?
Here, Shannon, make a wish.
I have one more wish I gotta make.
So what do you think has been the
happiest moment in your life?
The happiest moment...
is probably yet to come.
Oh. What do you think
has been the hardest thing? The hardest moment?
The day after that girl took
a flying leap in Detroit.
We got done playing
over at Saint Andrew's Hall, which is right there.
And we've seen all these people down here on the corner
we realized there was a girl that was 20 floors up,
on the hotel edge up here.
Police were called, they blocked this whole street off,
and she jumped.
Hit the street.
Man, what'd y'all do
when you went back to the-
It was silent.
We left the show, you know, we didn't stay.
We canceled our after show thing, and we left.
Why?
I don't know why.
You're sort of ashamed that you've seen it.
You know what I mean?
You wonder, you just wonder all these questions.
You're bombarded with a million questions on
"why," you know, "why this?"
"Why that?" "If this," you know? "If that?"
You know? And it's something that...
that makes you grow somewhere.
Yeah.
It's just right now,
I can't pinpoint where, you know...
You think there's a song
that could come out of this?
I wouldn't even know where to begin. There's...
It's definitely something that I will never forget.
I can't tell you
How many ways that I have sat and viewed my life today
But I can tell you that I can't seem to find
An easy way
So if I see you walking hand in hand in hand
With a three-armed man
I'll understand
Should have been in my shoes yesterday
Been in my shoes yesterday
Excellent. Live Blind Melon,
and that song is yet untitled.
Why do we even pay-
why do people imitate what they see on television?
And why does the Jackson family get to hand out awards?
And why do billions of people go to see "Ace Ventura: Pet
Detective?" Why?
Our first guests, we're just going to
get right to them because they're such a hot band.
This is Blind Melon.
When this bizarre real life movie continues.
It's not going to hold me!
On the scoreboard, they're running a clock,
it's up to one minute and seven seconds.
Turn it into positive energy, Tanya.
Oh, God. Front cover of TIME right there.
Whether it's a costume, or-
More on the life and work of John Candy.
Several short stories and 1000 poems,
Charles Bukowski dead at 73.
Not a pretty day on Wall Street,
stock prices have fallen sharply-
Best New Artist.
Blind Melon
And the Grammy goes to...
Toni Braxton.
No!
You know, man, we are so fucking alternative
we couldn't even win a Grammy.
Yeah.
That's cool.
That's why we didn't win.
That's really cool.
It's all done. It's all done.
The whole tour's done.
Come on, Mr. Sun, get up.
Come on, Mr. Sun, pop up.
Oh, oh, you're right there.
You're right there on the edge
of the Goddamn fucking horizon, get up.
Give me another day. Give me another day.
Give me another day. Give me another day...
What is your first name?
Shannon.
Shannon? You must be Irish.
Yeah.
I knew he was smart.
Oh, my God. He's Irish.
I knew he was smart.
Are you saving your money?
Yeah, I'm a fairly simple person.
Well, you come from Indiana.
Yeah, and it don't take a lot of money to live.
I just, I want to have some kids.
That's the only thing I want to do.
Kid, save your fucking money. I'm gonna talk
like a beast to you. Save your fucking money.
Listen, here's what you do.
The world is cruel!
Cruel, cruel world.
Here's what you do.
Take a tip from us, we were all millionaires one time.
Look at us now, we're bums.
You're laughing. It's true.
Shannon.
The most important thing in this world
is to take it easy, don't sweat it, and enjoy it.
That almost made it out here!
Kurt Cobain died today.
Killed himself.
I think a lot of people
including his little baby girl, probably, are hurting.
Don't you think?
Kurt Cobain's body was found. He is dead.
A single shotgun blast to the head.
Not the answer. Definitely not the answer.
Your questions, 741-0997, your comments. Hello!
Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain, extraordinarily gifted
singer, songwriter, and guitarist was found
dead in Seattle.
Obviously very difficult for most people to understand,
why someone who had all his dreams come true
could still be in such incredible pain.
I want to hear...
Hear it from the beginning?
Yeah. See how it's just-
I'll pull the trigger
Make it all go away
I'll make it all go away
Make it all go away
Wait hold on, you know what?
Stop. Stop for a minute.
Let me think about this for a second.
So I sit and I think about...
You know, you just have this self-realization thing.
I couldn't sleep.
And I couldn't sleep for, for like, almost
like a day and a half, two days, because
I was just thinking about all these problems
I had encountered through my life
that I never really dealt with that I swept
under this mental rug in my head, you know?
And like I thought about, I thought about how
I wanted to get where I'm at now and how happy I would be.
How much I wanted to do music enough to leave my home.
And I thought about this feeling
that I would have when I got to a certain point.
And when I got to that point, I wasn't happy.
That feeling that I thought I was going to have
for all those years wasn't there, and I didn't know why.
And then all of a sudden for like 48 hours
I'm going back through my life,
and I'm thinking about all these things that I did wrong
how I could've dealt with them.
What are you videotaping?
I have the freedom to do this.
I know, I'm just asking a question
I'm not stopping you from videotaping, I'm just asking-
I know. You can't stop me from videotaping
because I am an American citizen.
Congratulations. Why are you videotaping?
And then you kind of almost
take yourself back to the frame of mind you were in
right before. Do you know what I'm talking about?
You're scaring me, okay.
But listen, you kind of
take yourself back to that frame of mind.
You can actually almost feel the same nervous feeling
that you had before you did whatever it was
you did that wasn't right.
And then you think about how you could have handled it.
And by doing that, man, it's like, you almost just
relived it.
You almost relived it.
I was overwhelmed.
I was so overwhelmed.
If I had waited until I was 50
before I realized these things, at least you realize it.
Hi, Lisa. It's Domenique calling.
I was checking in with you to see how Shannon's doing,
and what's going on and all that other stuff.
If you want to leave a message
if you're in now, my man. Let's party! Later.
Landy, I just got out of rehab. I can't.
I wish I could.
I just need to know if it's cool with you
if I give Mike McCready your phone number.
He is in rehab and he is
frightened about when he comes out and he was kind of hoping
maybe he could talk to you about it.
Hey Shannon, this is McCready again,
just calling to see what's up.
Just been kind of going up and down today,
having some weird emotions and
I don't know, I just wanted to call and see what's up.
If you have any of the same kind of feelings and stuff.
Damn. What a friendly message.
Hey, Hoon, this is Lyle. Just calling to see what
was up. Hadn't heard from you.
Heard they finally turned you loose,
and just wanted to give you a call.
If I don't hear from you, I guess I will
see you in Amsterdam.
It's next weekend.
Well, take it easy man. Talk to you later. Bye.
Hey Shannon Hoon, it's Paul Cummings.
I wanted to make sure you got your plane tickets
and that kind of stuff.
All right, we'll see you in a couple of days!
Give it a lot of light?
Okay.
Oh, gosh...
Okay. So, will the little green ever grow back?
I mean, I don't even care about the distortion
of the shape, I just want it to live.
So, okay. Thank you very much.
Bye-bye.
First he said it sounded really bad.
And then he changed his tune
because you said that if I can bend, you know what I mean?
If he bends and he just doesn't break
like if the limbs just don't break off.
He said, then there's probably still life.
Right.
Wow, I wonder what happened, then, I mean...
My sister's talking to her about the plant.
And she's lying. Saying she watered it,
when it's quite obvious that she didn't.
The ordeal has sapped her energy,
and the pain from the bite in her back leg is obvious,
as she keeps it from touching the other one.
She is totally vulnerable.
Well, why don't you fucking help her?
In concert news, Blind Melon has bailed out of the
final two and a half weeks of it's current
European tour, apparently because singer Shannon Hoon,
feeling somewhat depleted after a month long rehab stint
for alcohol and drug abuse, feels the band
isn't quite up to par right now.
"I don't feel it's right for our fans to pay
for something they might not want to see and hear,"
he says. Blind Melon is still scheduled
to do some opening act dates with the Rolling Stones
later this summer.
Yeah. We canceled our European tour.
I'm just tired of playing.
Yeah. We're getting along all right, but...
No.
Will I see a beluga at all?
Huh?
Will I see a beluga?
A beluga? Did you see that?
I don't know, they said there are belugas in here.
This is kind of a rude question,
but it comes straight from the mouth of my
13 year old nephew. Who, when the subject of Blind Melon
came up over the holidays, said
"Oh, one-hit wonders."
Well, you know what?
The way you want to think of it
and the way your 13 year old kid wants to think about it
is entirely up to you and your 13 year old child.
If you don't embrace it it's not going to break my heart.
You know, how come they always put the lights
right on that side?
Because I'm not the star.
Who is the star?
There's no stars here.
I read some juicy stuff in the Rolling Stone.
Jesus. Alcohol and smashing things in hotel rooms
and urinating on Canadian crowds?
To make your first record
and have it start doing well,
people are going to now see us
mature in a very microscopic situation.
A lot of people are offended because they believed
in what MTV portrayed us to be all about.
No one is going to know what I'm about
from one video...
and a bee girl
and a cute little story.
And it's up to the individual to realize
how much it has to do with reality.
You can't believe everything you're watching.
So wake up.
Wow.
230 to 250,000 people here now.
If there's not at least 500,000 people here by Sunday,
we're going to be surprised.
Five minutes before the biggest show of his career,
Shannon Hoon is playing with his video camera.
This is a song called "Soup."
The clothesline of cold eyes
Is washing away the face before
Now, tell me what's wrong
You see everyone's gone
You've got to do your best to decorate this dying day
This dying day
All over a bowl of bitter beans
And outside, way, way up high
I got a quarter moon mist hanging over me
And now I want that rocking chair out of there
'Cause it's no longer needed here
It's no longer needed here
All over a bowl of bitter beans
I got a corner story that's all the more
For me to praise upon the holidays
And now I'll close my eyes really, really tight
And I'll make you all go away
I'll make you all go away
I'll make you all go
Away
Well, I'll pull the trigger
And I'll make it all go away
I'll make it all go away
You talked about doing a recording situation
in New Orleans. I don't know if you're still on that track.
If you'd like to do that for your next record,
and record in a house.
Daniel Lanois has a house in New Orleans.
He's already doing that.
Really?
Yes.
Hello?
New Orleans.
Is this thing wacked out of tune?
It's just kind of...
Kind of had it's best days, you know?
Yeah.
As far as intonation goes.
What gig is this?
Blind Melon.
Are y'all from here? Or you just brought in the...
No, ah, I like it down here, but it's
too much of a cesspool of things that I really...
There's a lot of cesspool shit.
I have to be an arm's length away
from most of it otherwise my metabolism,
fucking, is all fucked up.
They got me fucking...
they got me
accused of a lot of shit, man.
And all the way down to the police station,
I still was fucking thinking that
they should have arrested the other guy too.
I reaffirm myself how much I don't need to drink.
I wish Jeff would've just knocked me out.
I can't believe you're pregnant either.
The egg is in, like, one of the ovaries.
Or had just released from the ovary, and
it doesn't even attach or live off of your body
for, like, two weeks.
Huh? All right.
No, no, no, nothing.
Well, it's not too hard to figure out
that Lisa is pregnant.
Merry Christmas.
You know, I do my best to not make a mess of things.
Although, people would never know that.
What are you doing?
You want to go back?
What are you doing?
I gotta get all this shit home.
Right.
Well, that's fine.
We can always come back when we're done.
Do it then.
When I leave this city,
I don't ever want to come back to it.
I can understand that.
Amen.
Today is the day
we find out if it's a girl or a boy.
Does it feel like a boy or a girl?
It feels like a girl to me, but I really don't know.
But I guess I'll go with a girl...
Since you're going with a boy.
See who wins the bet.
Winner gets the kid.
Yeah, right.
There she is!
There's her little heart.
We're done now with our kitchen.
Got this area to do.
Which has been hit hard by Russian
shelling, the Chechens are still defying the odds
battling the latest Russian onslaught.
One, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, 10,
exhale, inhale, and push again.
Easy, easy.
Oh my God.
Little bit of a push, now.
Easy, easy, easy.
Push. A little harder. Easy. Good.
Oh, my God.
Stop. Okay.
Oh, my God.
So it is a she.
It is a she.
Oh, my gosh.
Here, let me get this for you,
our first phone call.
Hello?
Who is this?
Hi.
Oh, she's too cute.
Her lips are adorable.
Hi.
You've had a pretty busy day, haven't you?
Come over and see dad!
Hi! Hi, baby!
Oh, she's precious.
The last name's Hoon. H-O-O-N.
Okay. Are we recording? Whoops, I can hardly
read
Peek out at your momma.
Get your hand out of the way.
Hi.
You're a daddy now.
Say hi.
This is the face of a very tired breastfed baby.
As you can see, she can barely hang on
to her state of consciousness.
Sorts of gurgling sounds, possible overflow.
Mm-hmm.
Oh, I see.
Jerry Garcia was found dead today.
She will now never be able to go to
the Grateful Dead show.
We're very sad about that, aren't we, little baby?
We're getting ready to release our second album
which we have entitled "Soup" for lack of any better ideas.
You're dozing on me, bud.
You're dozing.
Are you with me, Shannon?
Huh?
Are you with me?
Yeah.
I'm sorry.
You know I made the dreadful mistake of
the end of the evening, you always run into that one person
who's holding that one thing that
you just...
really, really want to say no.
I'm not really ready to
jump back into this with both feet.
You know, I just want to be home with Lisa.
What's the response been so far with the record?
One and a half stars.
These reporters here want to talk to everybody
but the guys in Blind Melon.
Yep.
How many more days left?
Oh, please give me a little more
Your red light's flashing.
Why is it flashing?
Is that powering down? Something going on?
This city brings out the...
the mental monsters.
It's hard to put up with these guys.
And you know what?
Sometimes...
I wish all of these guys would just get out of me.
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear daddy!
Happy birthday to you!
And many more!
It isn't me
No, no, no, no, it isn't me
No, no, it isn't me,
No, it isn't me,
No it isn't
Planting her tree here,
to commemorate the baptism.
Look, Shannon. This would be a cute picture.
Look, Shannon.
We need to get a picture of that.
So will you hold her,
and et me go get my camera?
Just sit down and talk to her.
You're taller than the tree.
You're like 10 feet taller!
Aren't you?
You're 10 feet taller than the tree.
Now when I open my eyes to start another day
I'm in a pile of puke
Empty bag of excuses
Got love for my friends and my family
Don't you know I need them
Under a sun that's seen it all before
All before
And my feet are so cold
And I can't believe
I have to bang my head against this wall again
Well, the blows they have just a little
More space in between them
Oh, yeah
Take a breath and I will try and and try and try again
Oh yeah
I'm going to try again
Oh, yeah
I'm going to try again
Oh yeah
You know I'm going
To give it one more try again
Lisa!
Hurry!
Leaving me behind
Oh, just bring it to me
Hey.
I do too. I gotta sleep.
What time is it right now?
Well...
I want you to call me
and let me know about that flight as soon as possible.
Tomorrow. Tonight or tomorrow.
Yeah.
Yeah, but you know what?
I, like, really need to get off that fucking bus.
Yeah. If she says her first word I don't know
how I'm going to-yeah.
Is everything cool with my family?
Yeah.