Home Jambase Watch Gregg Allman Reminisce About Near Fight With Johnny Rotten On ‘Conan’

Watch Gregg Allman Reminisce About Near Fight With Johnny Rotten On ‘Conan’

May 26, 2023

While it’s no surprise that Gregg Allman had some wild stories, like the time he shot himself in the foot to avoid the Vietnam draft, one might think that three decades into your career you may have cooled it down a bit. Not Gregg Allman and his bandmate Dickey Betts. This is a story of Johnny Rotten.

Tomorrow marks seven years since the legendary Gregg Allman passed away. Eleven years ago, Gregg appeared on Conan O’Brien’s TBS show to promote his memoir My Cross To Bear, which is chocked full of great rock ‘n’ roll stories (a new Allman Brothers memoir is on the way). While not in the book, Conan added to Allmans lore by recalling when ABB played on NBC’s Late Night With Conan O’Brien in 1995.

In My Cross To Bear, Gregg describes being on a five-day bender when he appeared on Conan in ’95, a week that also saw ABB taping a Letterman appearance and being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. Gregg’s team would lead an intervention that would eventually lead to Allman getting sober. But not before participating in one last classic rock star story.

Before the band performed on Conan, the late night host had on the Sex Pistols’ Johnny Rotten. “He was saying things just to be outrageous,” Conan said, “and he started trashing The Allman Brothers Band. Started talking about you guys and saying very negative things. And apparently backstage, you and [fellow ABB co-founder guitarist] Dickey Betts jumped up and said, ‘let’s go get that English fella.”

While Gregg’s response is brief, it’s appropriate for a near dust-up with a British punk rocker. Elsewhere in the 2012 Conan appearance, Gregg looks back fondly on ABB’s landmark 1971 live album At Filmore East and guest Bill Maher reveals which track from the album he used as an aphrodisiac.

Watch a clip of Gregg Allman’s 2012 appearance on Conan O’Brien below:

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Watch The Allman Brothers Band Light Up ‘Late Night With Conan O’Brien’ In 1995
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Watch Gregg Allman Tell Graham Nash How He Avoided Draft With Foot-Shooting Party
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