Why Rick Nielsen Kept the Raincoat Nikki Sixx Peed On, and Why It Is Finally Going to Auction

The most memorable item in Rick Nielsen’s upcoming auction is not a guitar, a sweater or even a checkered tractor. It is a black rubber raincoat tied to one of the strangest stories to come out of 1980s rock, a night when Nikki Sixx followed through on a drunken threat and then realized he had done it to one of his heroes.

The moment that turned a coat into rock memorabilia

At a hotel bar in London, Roger Taylor was talking with Rick Nielsen while Nikki Sixx sat on a stool behind them. According to Sixx’s account in The Dirt, he climbed onto his knees on the stool, pulled down his leather pants and did what he had been talking about doing all night. He urinated on Nielsen’s jacket.

Nielsen did not immediately understand what was happening. Sixx wrote that the Cheap Trick guitarist only realized it when it began running down his pants and onto the floor. Sixx said he found it funny in the moment. Back in his room, his mood changed. He wrote that he felt terrible because, as he saw it, he had just done that to one of his heroes.

That ugly, absurd little episode did not disappear into rock folklore without a physical trace. Nielsen kept the coat. Now it is being offered for sale as part of a large auction of his belongings, giving collectors a chance to bid on an object that sits somewhere between wardrobe, punch line and cautionary tale.

A London show, a rough stretch and a dinner that kept escalating

The story traces back to Valentine’s Day 1986, when Motley Crue and Cheap Trick were on the same bill at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. Motley Crue was touring behind Theatre of Pain, and Cheap Trick had joined the run as the opening act, including that Hammersmith date.

Sixx later described that period as a bad one for him. In his memoir, he called himself a vengeful, self-hating junkie. In his recollection, a dramatic chain of events after the concert led to a heroin overdose. It did not become the turning point it might have been. A couple days later, he was back out again.

This time, Nielsen wanted to introduce him to Queen drummer Roger Taylor. Taylor had invited members of both bands to dinner at a Russian restaurant he said had long been a favorite for Queen and the Rolling Stones.

Sixx painted the scene in detail. The group sat around a large antique wooden table and went through vodka shots in one flavor after another, including sweet, spicy, raspberry and garlic, before eating a Russian meal. Nielsen, meanwhile, was wearing the rubberized black coat that would later become infamous. Sixx wrote that, for reasons he could not explain, he kept telling Nielsen he wanted to urinate on it.

Then the night lurched even further. Dessert arrived on silver platters, one for each guest, and Sixx wrote that each platter held seven lines of cocaine. By the time the gathering shifted to the hotel bar, the tone of the evening had already been set. What happened there became one of the more bizarre stories attached to either band.

Nielsen’s version: ugly coat, unforgettable memory

Years later, Nielsen was able to laugh about it. In a 2021 interview, he cracked that the incident had been “Euro-pee-in’,” then confirmed that the story was true.

He explained that the coat was rubberized, which helped. He said he had been wearing it around the time punk styles were in the air. He liked it because it was a rubber coat and, in his description, it had the look of a Gestapo coat. He also paired it with a Norton rubber belt featuring a Norton motorcycle insignia.

Nielsen did not pretend it was a flattering fashion choice. He said it was awful, not really him and generally disgusting, but he had it anyway. That detail gives the story an odd second life. The coat was not treasured because it was beautiful or stage worn in some glamorous way. It survived because it was bizarre before the incident and permanently notorious after it.

His reaction also says something about the way old rock stories age. What must have been appalling at the time eventually became a joke he was willing to revisit publicly, complete with a pun and a shrug of disbelief that the coat had made it this far.

Why the coat is leaving now, and what else is in the sale

The raincoat is part of a much larger auction handled by Julien’s Auctions, which is set for Oct. 24 in Nashville. More than 300 items are being offered, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Anyone drawn in by the coat will find that it sits among a characteristically eclectic mix of Nielsen possessions. The sale includes many of his well-known sweaters, a large group of guitars and even a checkered John Deere tractor that feels perfectly in step with Cheap Trick’s offbeat visual history.

Nielsen, who is 77, has said the sale grew out of a push to reduce the sheer volume of what he owns. He credited the idea to his wife, saying she wanted the collection cut down to a more manageable size. He also joked that he used to tell people that when he died, his wife would probably sell everything for a dollar, only to add that he had lived longer than she expected.

His collecting habit, especially with instruments, got big for a simple reason. He has said he started buying guitars because cars were too expensive. Even with 70 guitars going into this auction, that only represents a small slice of what he has owned. Nielsen said he once had more than 2,000 different instruments and is now trying to bring that number down to about 600.

That scale helps explain why the raincoat ended up in the sale. When someone has spent decades accumulating stage clothes, instruments and curiosities, even the strangest artifact can remain in the orbit of the collection for years. What makes this one stand out is not rarity alone. It carries a story that links Cheap Trick, Motley Crue and Queen in one surreal London night, then loops back four decades later as a fundraiser lot.

For nostalgia-minded fans, that is the real hook. Not just that a famous musician kept a coat after an outrageous encounter, but that the coat stayed put long enough to become a piece of 1980s rock history in its own right. In a sale full of guitars and sweaters, the least elegant item may be the one people talk about most.