While most people’s job on a musician’s tour is to air out the band’s dirty laundry, it is Hans-Jürgen Topf’s job to actually clean them.
He told The New York Times that back in 1982, he saw that Ted Nugent’s bus was lost so he offered to give them directions. In return, they gave him free tickets to the show. Thus, he asked them if they wanted him to do their laundry and the rest is rock’n’roll history.
He has washed the costumes of everyone from U2 to Madonna to Janet Jackson to Elton John. Has he had any mishaps? Joe Cocker was mad when a line showed up in his pants. He accidentally shrank a pair of David Hasselhoff’s pants, and we know there is no room for shrinkage.
While most rockers’ attires are covered with sweat and aluminum dust, some are little dirtier than others. Who had the dirtiest clothes of them all? That honor goes to…Slipknot. He said, “were coveralls worn by the metal band Slipknot that had been sprayed with beer, cream and fake blood, and left in garbage bags for three days.” I don’t even want to know what it smelled like when he opened the bag. Probably as bad someone who goes to a 3-day festival and never changes their clothes.
The dirty world of rock’n’roll is a little cleaner thanks to Hans-Jürgen Topf.
