Before getting hired by Circus magazine, Mark Weiss was just a high school kid stuffing a camera under a baggy sweatshirt and paying the Madison Square Garden door guy three bucks to sneak in. He was literally selling 8x10s out of his locker before landing a gig shooting Van Halen at the Asbury Park Convention Hall on August 11, 1979. He eventually became their go-to guy. By the 1982 Hide Your Sheep tour in Chicago, David Lee Roth was calling Weiss's hotel room to demand he come take photos of him climbing a tree to rescue a stuck kite. It makes you wonder how much incredible, unauthorized rock history is still sitting in some guy's attic because he snuck a camera into a legendary gig. Who are the modern-day rogue photographers doing this right now at your local venues? Drop their names, I want to dig through their archives.

Think about the best local band you saw in high school. Did you think they were going to be the next Beatles? Lookout Records founder Larry Livermore did. In 1988, he watched Billie Joe and Mike play to exactly five kids in an off-the-grid cabin in Mendocino County. They were 16. It was their third show ever. Livermore decided right then to make a record with them. He eventually walked away from Lookout because the music business got too corporate—treating artists "like soap powder"—but not before launching the biggest punk band on the planet. Decades later, they looked him in the eye from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame stage and thanked him. What’s the smallest crowd you’ve ever seen a massive band play to before they blew up? Let's hear your best "I saw them when" stories.

Credit: Rock Feed
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The performance is really awesome!!

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Everyone talks about the massive 90s comeback or the Armageddon soundtrack, but early 70s Aerosmith out of Boston was entirely different. They were gritty, unpolished, and arguably the most dangerous rock band in America at the time. Look at any live shot from the 'Toys in the Attic' or 'Rocks' era—it's pure chaos. Are we in agreement that 1975-1976 was their absolute creative peak, or does someone want to make a serious argument for the late 80s 'Pump' era?

There’s a new exhibit in LA right now showing Kevin Cummins' photos of Oasis from 1993. This is right after they signed to Creation Records. Before Definitely Maybe, before the massive stadium fights, and way before the current reunion madness. Looking at these archives, the craziest thing isn't how young they look. It’s that Liam and Noel already carried themselves like they were the biggest band on earth, even when they were just playing tiny clubs in Manchester. The arrogance was there from day one. It makes you wonder about music photography now. We have a million iPhone videos of every indie band's first gig, but do we get iconic, raw documentation like this anymore? Or did the mystery die when everyone got a camera in their pocket? Who do you think is the most photogenic band of the 90s besides Oasis?

Credit: Rick Beato, Wolfgang Van Halen

Special collaborations with Soundgarden Matt Cameron

Credit: BMTH