A German man renowned in the music industry for his laundry skills says the grossest garments he ever washed belonged to Slipknot. The revelation comes in a charming New York Times profile of Hans-Jürgen Topf, founder of Rock ‘n’ Roll Laundry, a service that has cleaned touring artists’ clothes since 1982. The Times reports Slipknot’s coveralls in question were “sprayed with beer, cream and fake blood, and left in garbage bags for three days” when Topf was tasked with salvaging the wreckage.
It’s one of several bits of dirt shared by Topf about the sartorial cleanliness of touring musicians, which turns out to be kind of interesting. Topf has serviced U2, Madonna, Elton John, and Beyoncé in his time. He claims he’s “more likely to to find an herbal tea bag” than drugs in the pockets of today’s artists, unlike in the company’s early days. The most common stains, he says, are sweat and aluminum dust, the latter soaked up by performers rolling on stage in the filth dredged up by equipment-case wheels.
Topf also shares the times he accidentally shrunk David Hasselhoff’s golden pants, ruined Janet Jackson’s vest, and took a verbal beating from Joe Cocker over a line of discoloration. Like I said, kind of interesting. Read the full profile here.
