"The LAPD chased down some of the miscreants and beat them to the ground with their nightsticks." How one of the worst riots in the history of music got a legendary metal band banned from a major Hollywood venue

Modern fandom can certainly be toxic. We’ve all seen Swifties, The BTS Army and more ganging up on music critics over a middling review, punishing other artists for any perceived slight on their faves or just generally being a bit weird about their heroes.

But in terms of sheer manic intensity, no other fandom can hold a candle to Slayer’s. It's a fact perfectly encapsulated by one frightening night in LA that saw police called to one of the thrash legends’ concerts and left them banned from one of the city’s most prestigious venues for a quarter of a century.

Having established themselves as the fastest, most aggressive and most intense band on the planet with 1986’s Reign in Blood, Slayer began to attract an obsessively devoted fanbase. Their shows became infamously wild, a dangerous place for casual observers and, particularly, for support bands that had committed the cardinal sin of not being Slayer.

“I used to hate to watch friends just get pummelled,” Slayer guitarist Kerry King told Full Metal Jackie in 2015, speaking on his fans' reaction to any band that dared to open for Slayer. “I remember Alice In Chains were opening and they got destroyed by the fans – and they were awesome. I was out there almost every day, and it would put me out to see gallon jars of shit being thrown onstage.”

Slayer released the slower, more brooding, but no less intense South of Heaven in 1988, and promptly went out on tour to support the record, with special guests Danzig and Junkyard in tow. The tour included a stop at the 4,000-capacity Hollywood Palladium in Slayer’s hometown of LA on August 12. Which is where things would turn nasty.

It was later alleged that the folks at the Palladium got a little bit careless with their ticketing system and oversold the venue by around 200 people. By the time the doors were opened on the night and the first 4,000 hardened Slayer fans were ushered into the venue, it became clear that there were still a lot of pumped-up, ticket-holding devotees straining to get inside.

“I knew something was up when I went to use the ATM in the office building at the corner of Sunset and Vine, just west of the Palladium, shortly before the show,” recalled former Billboard writer Chris Morris, who had been sent to review the show. “As I was withdrawing my cash, I heard a commotion in the adjacent lot. I peeked my head around the corner, and discovered what looked like dozens of LAPD officers in full riot gear.”

Unsurprisingly, those fans stuck outside the venue were not the type to just shrug their shoulders, curse their darn luck and mosey on home to tuck themselves up in bed for an early night with a good book. They were missing Slayer, and they were pissed.

Morris noted the “angry, fucked up youths” milling around outside the venue as he entered. Before heading up to The Palladium’s balcony to watch “the largest mosh pits I’d ever seen in my life”, he also described how “Slayer’s unrelenting blare poured from the PA, while two enormous whirlpools of humanity circulated on the floor. The crowd was in constant, violent motion for the show’s duration. Just watching the action from a distance was dizzying.”

But as Slayer raged inside, the frustrated and furious crowd left outside had taken matters into their own hands, exacting revenge on the venue that refused them access to their favourite band, they began to smash the glass front doors and start a massive circle pit in the middle of the street. Footage from the night also shows Palladium security staff rushing out into the street armed with sticks to protect the venue from further damage.

When Morris stepped outside after the gig, he remarked on how even the intensity of seeing Slayer live “was nothing compared to the action in the streets outside at the show’s end.” It wasn’t long before the LAPD entered the fray.

“I stepped out into a full-blown confrontation between the cops, who had been lying in wait for something to detonate, and the fans who had been shut out of the show,” he said. “A police chopper illuminated the Palladium parking lot as the LAPD chased down some of the miscreants and beat them to the ground with their nightsticks. I hadn’t seen anything like it since my street fighting days at the University of Wisconsin.”

By the time the rioters were dealt with and the police regained control of the area, three concertgoers were injured and another three people had been arrested - two for throwing missiles at the police and another for allegedly trying to run over an officer with his van.

Slayer bore the brunt of criticism in the aftermath of the riot and were banned from playing at the venue for 25 years. In fact, the closest the band got to The Palladium during that time was when a memorial was set up at the venue in the direct aftermath of guitarist Jeff Hanneman’s death in 2013. Fans were invited to come and pay their respects and listen to speakers such as Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel and Kerry King, who was quick to point out the irony of picking that particular building.

“We got a lot of history in this joint,” he said as he opened his speech. “Me and Jeff got banned here for 20 years, so it’s kinda ironic.”

Only a few months later, Slayer were finally allowed to return for a show at The Palladium; with special guests Gojira on October 28 2013.

“So basically, things didn’t go well the last time we played there,” Slayer bassist and vocalist Tom Araya chuckled to The Orange County Register in 2013. “Hopefully this time it will be a bit more docile. We are 25 years older after all.”

Of course, it was. But it says everything about Slayer and their fans that “a bit more docile” just meant “not an actual riot”. To this day remain the most committed, and just downright scariest, fanbase on the planet