A look at the lineup for Hammerjack’s in October of 1988
Ask anyone who was young in Baltimore back in the ’80s and they’ll talk your ear off about how great it was to go see bands at Hammerjacks. The club, which was torn down in 1997 to make way for an M&T Bank Stadium parking lot, hosted some of the biggest rock and hair metal bands of the ’80s and ’90s.
This photo of Hammerjacks calendar from October 1988 is an eye-opener — and not just from the misspellings of band names.
Friday, Oct. 28, 1988, you could have seen “James Addiction” open for Iggy Pop. That was a little more than two weeks after Graham Parker played there. Not to mention Baltimore standouts “The Katatonix” (usually spelled “Thee”), Mannekin (they somehow got that one right) and of course, Kix.
Tuesday nights, Hammerjacks found a way to celebrate the female figure, including “Best Buns in Baltimore Contest,” “Centerfold Bikini Contest,” “Naughty Negligee” and “Wet-T Contest.”
You can’t understand this time and place in Baltimore nightlife without living through it, but this video will give you a taste.
Despite the big names, Saturday nights were reserved for a free party called “Laser Crazy Nite.” No video footage seems to have survived, but we can only assume it looked something like this.
