# ‘Dark Angels’: the heavy metal game that turned AC/DC and Van Halen against Mötley Crüe

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/dark-angels-the-heavy-metal-game-that-turned-ac-dc-and-van-halen-against-motley-crue/
- Published: 2026-11-04T21:30:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-05T03:06:53+00:00
- Original publisher: Far Out
- Original article: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/heavy-metal-game-turned-ac-dc-van-halen-against-motley-crue/
- Topics: Celebrity, Entertainment, Offbeat, Weird & Viral

## Key points

- Mötley Crüe’s biting ritual triggered a 1984 hotel brawl.
- Eddie Van Halen and Malcolm Young were drawn into the clashes.
- The musicians were thrown out of Stockholm’s Grand Hotel.

## Summary

Mötley Crüe’s “Dark Angels” ritual of biting people they liked reportedly sparked a fight with members of AC/DC and Van Halen during a 1984 gathering in Stockholm. The incident illustrates how the band’s unruly offstage behaviour could turn a supposed display of affection into a serious confrontation.

Manager Doc McGhee said Nikki Sixx bit Eddie Van Halen, then Vince Neil tried to bite him, prompting Van Halen to throw Neil onto a table. Sixx later grabbed AC/DC guitarist Malcolm Young by the hair and slammed him against a wall after Young warned him not to bite; Tommy Lee and David Lee Roth were also reportedly fighting nearby. The musicians were thrown out of the Grand Hotel, and Lee later explained that they had bitten Van Halen because they loved him.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.