King Diamond’s Ultimate Torture: A Herniated Disc
MTV.com reports: In KING DIAMOND’s 1986 single, “Halloween,” the Danish-metal prince shrieked about ancient rituals, torture and all things demonic: “Like in horror dreams, I want/ I command you to scream.” A full 22 years later, DIAMOND — who released his latest album, Give Me Your Soul … Please, in late June — is still doing plenty of screaming. Only lately, they’ve been screams of pain. And this Halloween he won’t be stealing any souls — or even trick-or-treat candy. He’ll be bedridden with a herniated disc.
“I can’t sit down, even on my couch, for more than a few minutes,” he said from his Texas home. “About a month ago I tried, and after 15 minutes, it started feeling like my left leg was getting set on fire.”
Just six weeks ago, DIAMOND had to stand on one leg to brush his teeth and was unable to bend over enough to spit toothpaste into the sink. Now, as long as he eats standing up and walks for 90 minutes between four-hour intervals in bed, he can get through the day without any major attacks of pain.
Of course, that makes touring impossible, and in late June, DIAMOND postponed his entire European trek. While he hopes to heal in time for the U.S. tour, which is scheduled to launch March 23 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and run through May 8 in Houston, he’s not entirely sure he’ll be able to play those shows either.
“It can take up to a year and a half for a severe herniated disc to heal properly, but it varies from person to person,” he said. “So, we are crossing our fingers and praying that we won’t have to cancel the U.S shows. Right now there’s not much more we can do.”
DIAMOND got a taste of what might happen if he hits the road too soon in September when director Bill Schacht from video company Aestheticom — which has also worked with AMON AMARTH — shot a video for “Give Me Your Soul,” the first KING DIAMOND clip in 17 years. “They limited what I had to do, of course, so I only did one day of shooting for 90 minutes, but just standing there moving a little bit in the full outfit was very difficult,” he said. “And afterwards, I got one of those sharp attacks of pain that I hadn’t had in a month and a half. The only thing I can compare it to is a really super-bad toothache or earache. And afterwards, I was like, ‘OK, I’m not ready [to tour] yet.’ ”
So, how did the pioneer of demonic metal injure his back, anyway — painting pentagrams in blood around the altar, strapping virgins into the torture rack in his basement? Nope, the 51-year-old rocker hurt himself working in his home studio on Give Me Your Soul … Please.
“I think the real damage happened mixing the record, because I did that three weeks straight for a minimum of 12 hours a day,” he said. “One of the last nights, when I was going to bed, I felt these pains in the sciatic nerves on each side, and I thought, ‘Oh what is this?’ The next morning I woke up and I couldn’t walk or stand. It was like being paralyzed. I can’t begin to say how painful it was. They say that’s the worst pain you can experience as a human being. Had I not lived on the ground floor in a house, I would have jumped out the window.”
If, as his detractors claim, DIAMOND is damned to spend an eternity in hell, at least he’ll have an idea of what it might be like. “In the beginning, these attacks were 15 minutes at a time, of unbearable pain. The first month after I had the accident, my left leg looked like I got out of a concentration camp. It was all thin and I lost all the muscle tone because I couldn’t put any weight on it.”
After undergoing an MRI, doctors determined that DIAMOND’s herniated disc wouldn’t require an operation but that he would have to undergo intensive physical therapy and plenty of rest if he was to properly heal. “Doing the exercises, at first, I would try to wiggle my left leg back and forth a little, but there was so much pain it was absolutely impossible. But gradually, I got to the point where I could move the leg pretty well and now I’m walking around and both legs are the same size again.”
In addition to religiously following doctors’ order, DIAMOND is now eating healthy and avoiding all medication — even Tylenol. “I take no painkillers whatsoever,” he said. “That’s the best way to heal fast, I think, because if my spine is in a slightly wrong position lying down, I feel the pain and I readjust the position of how I’m lying and then it slowly dies away. That way I know I’m not lying in a wrong position. If I feel the pain it’s a signal that, ‘Hey, you’re doing something wrong.’ ”
But while he’s being a good patient and focusing on his recovery, DIAMOND is itching to be able to get back onstage and perform songs from his new album, which he considers his greatest accomplishment yet as a solo artist.
“It’s very frustrating to be stuck here and not be able to do what I do best,” he explained. “I’d rather get shot in the leg because then I know I’d heal in a couple months and I’d be ready. I would love nothing more than to be able to play the U.S. shows, but of course, it’s much better to postpone the tour and heal properly than to go out and play some stupid hero with your own health and then find out it didn’t work. You got one week into the tour, and now you sit in a wheelchair and [your] career’s over. So, this is the only way to do it. And afterwards we have many, many more good years ahead of us. I just have to get better first.”
(+30 rating, 6 votes)
One Comment