MTV used to have contests with rockstars where you could meet and party with them. Some of the more famous contests include the “Evict Axl Rose” contest in 1990 where you would win his Los Angeles condo and he’d throw you a housewarming party.
Then there was one that happened years earlier when one lucky fan and a friend could win a chance to party with Van Halen over 2 nights in 1984. “The Lost Weekend with Van Halen” was one of the greatest MTV contests ever.
A Tumultuous Year for Van Halen
1984 was a tumultuous year for Van Halen. The band released their record 1984, which was a massive hit and gave the band their first #1 hit single with “Jump”. It also was the source of a lot of creative tension between guitarist Eddie Van Halen and front man David Lee Roth. Eddie wanted the band’s music to grow and evolve, while Roth wanted to stay in the gutter.
The band members seemed more splintered than ever. Roth was making it clear in the press that he may not be around in Van Halen forever. It was no surprise a year later when he was finally out of the group.
While the band was dealing with creative differences, the tour to support 1984 was massive. It got so bloated that drummer Alex Van Halen admitted that the band made no money on it.
The Lost Weekend With Van Halen
Van Halen had teamed up with MTV to give 2 lucky fans a chance to party with the band. The contest was called “The Lost Weekend with Van Halen”. The grand prize was to hang out with Van Halen for 2 days on the road.
Other prizes included $1,000 cash, a Honda NightHawk motorcycle, a video camera to film the adventure, an Atari video game system and a private screening of the movie Footloose on the lear jet that would take you to meet the band.
Winner of the Contest
MTV received over a million postcard entries for the contest. Kurt Jefferies was the winner of the contest. He was 20 at the time and lived in Pennsylvania. Jefferies had a girlfriend at the time who he didn’t take to meet Van Halen, but maybe that was a good thing.
After Jeffries was announced as the winner, he received hundreds of offers from women offering their bodies, while men offered him money and even motorcycles to tag along for the weekend.
Instead, he would end up choosing one of his friends, Tom Winnick. According to the Van Halen News Desk, even after he picked his friend to tag along, Jeffries was inundated with requests from people to get as many souvenirs as possible from the band. The whole thing was taped by MTV to air on their channel.
The Flight to Detroit
The pair was picked up from their home by a limo and then flown on a lear jet to Detroit where Van Halen was playing two nights. According to the Van Halen News Desk, prior to landing in Detroit, the pair had already started drinking and by the time they disembarked from the plane their blood alcohol limit was twice the legal amount in the state of Michigan.
Upon landing in Detroit, they were picked up by another limo and taken to their hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, groupies who were waiting for the band recognized the contest winners and tried to cut some deals with them to get access to the band, but nothing was agreed to.
The pair was shuttled to their suites where they found various pieces of Van Halen memorabilia including tour jackets and guitar picks. They headed off to Van Halen’s concert at Cobo Hall that same evening.
“Treated us like one of the guys and really paid attention to us.” – Kurt Jefferies
Jefferies recalled being “nervous as hell” but fondly remembered how the band, according to him, “treated us like one of the guys and really paid attention to us.”
The pair drank with the band, posed for photos backstage, and Jeffries was brought on stage by the band where he was sprayed with champagne and hit in the face with a cake. The real party though started after the show.
Groupies, Alcohol and Drugs
There were groupies, alcohol and drugs. According to one Van Halen crew member, the antics that weekend were “x-rated” and Jeffries would spend some time with a famous groupie named Tammy thanks to David Lee Roth who set the whole thing up.
Unbeknownst to the people of MTV, Jefferies had suffered brain trauma a couple of years earlier, as a result of falling 13 feet in a stairwell while drunk. He had been in the hospital for some time in a coma and it probably wasn’t wise for him to be drinking.
“I blacked out, and the next thing I remember is waking up in a hotel room bed.” – Kurt Jeffries
Jeffries was taking anti-seizure medication and he would remember the end of the night saying, “I blacked out, and the next thing I remember is waking up in a hotel room bed.” The second night saw a food fight happen, while Winnick was found locked in a closet wearing a bra with him remembering, “I was in recovery and shock for many days afterwards. They were so friendly and entertaining, as huge as they are. It was the best time of my life.”
“I’m in an anonymous program now.” – Kurt Jeffries
So what happened after the contest? Jeffries revealed in the book, I Want my MTV, “I’m in an anonymous program now. I was drinking oil tankers of booze, smoking plantations of marijuana and heading to be buried. My parents gave me an ultimatum.”
Today he works as a facility manager at a school and does maintenance work. Sadly though, he’s also legally blind and diabetic.
Like this story? Check out Van Halen’s Disastrous Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame Induction
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