On This Day

Saturday 8th December 1984

35 years ago

Razzle, the drummer of Finnish glam rock band Hanoi Rocks, was killed in a tragic car accident. Born Nicholas Dingley, he was a passenger in a car driven by Motley Crue‘s Vince Neil. The two bands were at a party given in honour of the Finnish band’s first U.S. tour, when Neil and Razzle — both of whom reportedly had already been drinking — decided to make a run to the liquor store. As the car made its way around a winding Hollywood road, Neil lost control of the vehicle and smashed into another car. All involved sustained injuries, but Razzle was less fortunate. He was taken to South Bay Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. Two decades later, Neil — who was released from his 30-day jail sentence for the incident 10 days early for good behavior — expressed remorse and admitted that he got off too easy for driving under the influence, stating in an interview that “I wrote a $2.5 million check for vehicular manslaughter when Razzle died. I should have gone to prison. I definitely deserved to go to prison. But I did 30 days in jail and got laid and drank beer, because that’s the power of cash. That’s f—ed up.”