3 Established Bands That Were Threatened by Their Opening Acts

An artist’s place in the industry is perpetually on shaky ground. One minute you can be riding high and the next you’re usurped by the next big thing. It’s a sobering reality many have had to face. What makes that horrible situation worse? When the next big thing is your opening act…Find three established bands that were threatened by their opening acts, below.

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Led Zeppelin / Vanilla Fudge

Even casual rock fans will know the name Led Zeppelin. There are likely fewer that know the name, Vanilla Fudge. While the latter band certainly laid the groundwork for extended rock jams that would later become commonplace, it’s Led Zeppelin that reined supreme in their era.

However, at one point, Zeppelin was only the opening act for Vanilla Fudge. In fact, when they first started on the road together, Zeppelin was dismissed altogether in favor of the more established act.

“When they went on, the audience was yelling, ‘Bring on The Fudge,’” drummer Carmine Appice once said. “It was hilarious. I remember telling Robert Plant he should move around more on the stage…Then they became so big.”

As the tour went on, Zeppelin became the calling card. Appice later recalled that Zeppelin “Blew them off the stage.”

“We played with Hendrix, Cream, The Who, and at times, we blew everybody off the stage,” he continued. “We were a very hard act to follow. We were known for being very aggressive live and different from anyone else. We were wondering who was going to blow us off the stage – it was Led Zeppelin.”

Hey lady, you got the love I need
Maybe more than enough
Oh darling, darling, darling, walk a while with me
Oh, you’ve got so much
So much, so much

The Clash / The Who

Next up on our list of bands threatened by opening acts, we have The Clash and The Who. Many fans consider The Who predecessors of punk. While their sound was certainly still classified as classic rock, their onstage antics inspired many younger, punkier bands. In fact, Roger Daltrey once described being “left alive” by the punk movement, despite being apart of “the establishment.”

“We were getting incredible accolades from some of the new punk bands,” Roger Daltrey once said. “They were saying how much they loved The Who, that we were the only band they’d leave alive after they’d taken out the rest of the establishment! But I felt very threatened by the punk thing at first.”

According to Daltrey, a lot of that intimidation came from touring with The Clash. Daltrey found himself trying to measure up to his opening act. This is a major compliment, given how established The Who were. They played with many bands, but it was The Clash that made them clutch their rock crowns a little tighter.

Now the King told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin’ to the top
The Sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a cruisin’ down the ville
The Muezzin was a standing
On the radiator grille

AC/DC / Van Halen

Though AC/DC wasn’t technically opening for Van Halen, the latter band did have to follow the former during a festival gig. Both bands were formed around the same time and they were both known for their electric energy on stage. While we’d give anything to see either of these bands live in their heyday, Eddie Van Halen once described being terrified to follow AC/DC in the lineup.

“I’m onstage watching AC/DC and 80,000 people in the crowd were just jumping up and down because they got that infectious sound,” Van Halen once said. “I’m going, ‘Holy s**t, we gotta follow these guys.’ So we didn’t blow them away.”

Rode down the highway
Broke the limit, we hit the town
Went through to Texas, yeah, Texas, and we had some fun
We met some girls
Some dancers who gave a good time
Broke all the rules
Played all the fools

(Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)