The most outrageous on-stage moments in music history

Not all the featured moments on this list were staged, self-inflicted or done simply for a reaction or publicity. Like during this Metallica concert in Montreal from 1992, when singer/guitarist James Hetfield became a victim of a misplaced and mistimed pyrotechnic malfunction. During a performance of the classic "Fade to Black," Hetfield was in the wrong spot on stage and became engulfed by flames following a planned explosion. Hetfield suffered second- and third-degree burns, but, thankfully, made a full recovery.

Swedish indie/dance singer-songwriter Tove Lo has remained an international success because of her music, but also as a champion of female empowerment. For years, Lo was known to flip up her top and flash audiences during her live shows, traditionally during her hit 2014 hit "Talking Body." Sure, she doesn't mind the attention, but it's also been received as a statement of confidence.

Whether frontman of the Dead Boys or the Lords of the New Church, punk pioneer Stiv Bators usually delivered an unforgettable stage presence. From getting naked on stage at CBGB or throwing food at audiences, Bators embodied the ethos of punk to the fullest. Though he tamed down with the Lords of the New Church, where he earned some critical and mainstream acclaim, Bators could still shock. Like when he ended that band's existence during a 1989 concert in London.

Saturday Night Live has provided some memorable and infamous musical performances, like this infamous one in April 1996. Prior to coming on stage for a heart-stomping performance of "Bulls on Parade," members of Rage Against the Machine tried to hang inverted American flags in the stage area in protest of host Steve Forbes, a Republican presidential candidate at the time. Those efforts were thwarted, and the SNL/NBC brass canceled the Rage's second song and reportedly had security escort the band from the building. 

Live television can be great viewing when things go wrong — like when hair metal gods Poison unraveled during the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. Tensions had been rising within the band, especially between singer Bret Michaels and guitarist C.C. DeVille, and the two traded blows backstage after a disastrous performance at the event. DeVille, reportedly heavily under the influence, was out of control, abruptly halting his performance during "Unskinny Bop," then starting into a stilted and disjointed version of "Talk Dirty to Me." Michaels ended the gig by proclaiming, "It ain't perfect, but it's rock 'n' roll." DeVille was fired from the band shortly after the incident.

"Let's Spend the Night Together"  was not even a Top 40 hit for the band in the United States. However, it remains another iconic Rolling Stones tune and, again, among its most controversial, notably for having to change the lyrics of the song to ' let's spend some time together' in order to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in January 1967. That stipulation did not sit well with Jagger and Co., who nonetheless had some fun with the request, often refusing to sing the edited line or even mouth the word "night."

At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Kanye infamously stormed the stage during Swift's acceptance speech for the Best Female Video award, grabbing the microphone. West's outburst was apparently in protest that Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” should have won. It was on from there. President Barack Obama called West a "jackɑss," and Swift has long been rattled from the event. Things appeared to warm between the two, until West's single "Famous," which seemed to take shots at Swift, who, in turn, got some indirect revenge via her "Look What You Made Me Do" track.

During Guns N' Roses' heyday back in 1991, Axl Rose's volatile nature was one of many issues that ultimately broke up the band. At a 1991 gig at St. Louis' Riverport Amphitheater, the famed frontman became enraged when he saw what was reported to be an unauthorized photographer snapping shots of the group from the crowd during the set. Incensed, Rose jumped into the audience to confront the person with the camera. Upon returning to the stage, Rose quipped "Thanks to the lame-ɑss security, I'm going home!" He left the stage, ending the set, and a riot among the fans quickly ensued, causing numerous injuries and a hefty amount of property damage. Rose was charged with inciting a riot by local authorities, but was never convicted. 

Dance-pop act Milli Vanilli was all the mainstream rage in the late 1980s, and especially on MTV. The duo of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus even won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1990. However, rumors had circulated that the two attractive, European performers were actually lip syncing the lyrics to their popular songs, with other musicians doing the actual singing. The world saw this to be true during a July 1989 show, sponsored by MTV, when the two artists panicked as the recording of their hit "Girl You Know It's True" skipped and started repeating the same lyric. Though the duo survived that moment, pressure to come clean grew. By November 1990, producer Frank Farian, who created the act, publicly outed their lip sync betrayal, ending the group and turning Morvan and Pilatus into industry pariahs. Sadly, Pilatus died of an accidental overdose in 1998.

There was no truer punk personality than Allin, who might have been the most dangerous musician on the planet. Beginning in the late 1970s until his death from an accidental heroin overdose in 1993, Allin took shock rock to the extreme. From defecating on stage to fighting with fans or threatening to kill himself at a live show, Allin was both disgusting and enthralling while performing with several obscure underground and hardcore punk bands.

When it comes to bands breaking up on stage, nobody did it better than punk/alternative icons The Replacements. The band's 1991 Fourth of July show in downtown Chicago seemed doomed from the beginning, as none of the four members seemed interested in being there. Eventually, the band members switched instruments with their roadies and walked off stage shortly after playing "Hootenanny" for an encore. The Replacements didn't play again for more than two decades. 

The infamous concert held Dec. 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway in northern California was a mess from the start. First, the site was essentially a last-minute location and stage/venue security provided by the notorious Hells Angels proved to be the root of the problems. Jefferson Airplane singer Marty Balin was punched by one of the gang members while trying to help settle a disturbance in the crowd. However, the brutal stabbing death of agitated and reportedly drugged-out concertgoer, 18-year-old Meredith Hunter, by another member of the Hells Angels, during the Rolling Stones' performance was the disturbing, unforgettable highlight of an event widely considered to be the "end of the '60s."

During the early days of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the band found a rather unforgettable way to draw attention to itself — like playing shows clad only in socks over their private parts. The practice, according to American Songwriter, dates back to the band's concerts in 1983 at the seedy Hollywood dive the Kit Kat Club, which also doubled as a strip club. Of course, RHCP was also known to break out the socks at times later in its career, too.

A year after Poison's forgettable performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, Nirvana did them one better in 1992. With the ongoing feud between Kurt Cobain's wife Courtney Love and Axl Rose of Guns N' Roses serving as a backdrop at the event, Nirvana delivered a blistering performance of "Lithium." At the end of the song, bassist Krist Novoselic tossed his bass guitar in the air, only to catch it with his head and seemingly fall unconscious off the stage. Then drummer Dave Grohl, the last man standing on the stage, yelled "Hi, Axl" into the mic before exiting.  

Leader of shock punkers The Plasmatics, Wendy O. Williams, dubbed in some circles as the "Queen of Punk," was better known for her on-stage antics than the lyrics that came out of her mouth. Some of of her most infamous stage antics included performing with electrical tape over the nıpples of her exposed breɑsts and simulating acts of mɑsturbation. She also chainsawed guitars, blew up cars and fired a shotgun on stage, all while earning a Grammy Award nomination. Williams, sadly, died at age 48 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in April 1998.

Green Day was on the rise as Dookie thrusted the pop punkers into mainstream stardom during the summer of 1994. But, the Bay Area trio was still childlike at heart in those early years, and certainly frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. Amid the muddy conditions of Woodstock '94, the young and likely over-stimulated, over-served crowd taking in Green Day's set continued the practice of pelting the performers with mud and patches of sod. Things hit a zenith during Green Day's set, which led Armstrong to fire mud back at the audience and moon them, to make for one of the event's highlights (or lowlights). 

Even the ladies can be crude when pushed. That was the case during rockers L7's set at the 1992 Reading Festival. Technical problems and sound issues forced the set to be halted, which did not please an already raucous crowd. As the delay drudged on, the irritated audience began flinging mud onto the stage and at the band members. In response, L7 singer/guitarist Donita Sparks dug into her pants, pulled out her tampon and flung it into the crowd, while chiding “Eat my used tampon, f---ers!” Now that's rock and roll.

Let's also give credit where credit is due, or place blame where it should be placed. Justin Timberlake ripped off Jackson's costume top, thus revealing her nipple-covered breast, during the halftime show of the 2004 Super Bowl between Carolina and New England, sparking controversy for days to come. It remains one of the most notorious live moments in the history of television, let alone music. The incident even overshadowed the game, which the Patriots won on a late field goal.

It can be argued that this 1992 performance from the late Sinead O'Connor is among the most memorable television moments of all time. While performing an a cappella version of Bob Marley's "War," the Irish singer yelled "child abuse" several times, held up a picture of Pope John Paul II and proceeded to tear it up as her own protest over allegations of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. The backlash was swift, all-encompassing and unfairly became the defining moment on O'Connor's public legacy.

Ozzy Osbourne was known for living on the edge off stage, but he took it to a new level on it. During a now-infamous 1982 show in Des Moines, Iowa, someone from the audience tossed a bat on stage. Going into full "Prince of Darkness" mode, Osbourne, thinking it was a rubber toy version, picked up the bat and bit its head off. He shortly found out it was real as the animal reportedly showed movement. Following the show, Osbourne was taken to a local hospital to receive several rabies shots. The bat, meanwhile, had been dead for a number of days and kept froze, according to the Des Moines Register.