When he was fronting the Screaming Trees from the mid-Eighties through the Nineties, Mark Lanegan was a bit of a live wire. The late, great singer was a tortured soul who struggled with addiction and was known for explosive behavior like breaking equipment onstage and antagonizing venue staff. None of that happened on October 16th, 1992, but Lanegan did perform on late-night television with a visible black eye from a nasty bar brawl.
As the story goes, the night before the Screaming Trees were set to perform their breakout song, "Nearly Lost You," on Late Night With David Letterman, the band found themselves in a violent skirmish with some local hooligans at a bar in New Jersey. Punches were thrown, drummer Barrett Martin broke his arm and wasn't able to play the next night, but the band still went on TV to jam the song and show off Lanegan's fresh shiner on his left eye.
Screaming Trees still ripped and the frontman's vocal performance was killer, but he does look a little more dazed than usual and his face had clearly taken a beating. Major props to them for doing the rock & roll thing and following through with the gig. Watch it happen above via YouTube.
