Even in the pre-internet days, it was easy for a baseless rumor about a given musician to gain traction. Indeed, artists spanning the musical spectrum from Rod Stewart to Frank Zappa to Stevie Nicks have all been the subject of some pretty wild rumors, some of which persist even after the advent of Snopes.
Having said that, truth is stranger than fiction, and some of the things said about famous musicians that sure sound like crazy rumors are 100% true. Here’s a list of 10 that have been confirmed, as unbelievable as they may seem.
Image Credit: H. Michael Karshis/Flickr.
1. Van Halen & the brown M&M’s
The legendary hard rock band Van Halen was known for excess, musical and otherwise. One true story that made rounds was that they would ask for bowls of M&Ms on their tour riders for the backstage area, with the provision that the brown ones all had to be removed. While this story was interpreted as a sign that they were self-indulgent jerks with unreasonable demands, the real reason for the request was that it helped them determine whether the staff at that night’s venue had read the band’s rider.
Image Credit: GHOSTRIDER2112 / WikiMedia Commons.
2. Johnny Cash & the ostrich
In 1981, Johnny Cash was attacked by an ostrich he owned and kept on his property. The singer wrote in his memoir that he tried to defend himself with a stick, but the cranky bird made contact with the Man in Black and broke his ribs. Cash wrote that, but for the sturdy belt buckle he was wearing that day, the ostrich could have easily sliced him open, with fatal results.
Image Credit: Wikipedia.
3. Keith Richards snorts his father’s ashes
Wild celebrity rumors are much easier to confirm when the celebrity in question is willing to go on the record about them, which is precisely what Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards did in 2007. Speaking with New Music Express, he revealed that his father had been cremated, and the guitarist snorted some of his ashes, which he combined with “a little bit of blow.”
Image Credit: Raph_PH / Wikimedia Commons.
4. Charles Manson wrote a song repurposed by the Beach Boys
Apart from being a deranged psychopath, Charles Manson was also an aspiring songwriter. Before the murders for which he became infamous, he made the acquaintance of Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. Manson wrote a song called “Cease to Exist,” and according to Wilson, the future cult leader gave away his songwriting credit for some money and a motorcycle. The song was then radically changed and released as the B-side, ‘Never Learn Not to Love.’
Image Credit: Louise Palanker / Flickr.
5. Stay away from Harry Nilsson’s apartment
Harry Nilsson was a singer-songwriter best known for the song “Everybody’s Talkin,” which appeared on the soundtrack to the movie ‘Midnight Cowboy.’ He also lived in a London apartment in the 1970s where not just one but two famous musicians passed away. The first was Cass Elliot of the Mamas and the Papas, who died of a heart attack in 1974 while she slept at his house. Four years later, Who drummer Keith Moon died of a drug overdose in the s
Image Credit: Wikipedia.
6. Gram Parsons’ dead body was stolen
Gram Parsons was not a massive star, but he’s credited with bringing country music to psychedelic rock and roll in bands like the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. He died of a combination of morphine and alcohol in 1973. His road manager Phil Kaufman and assistant Michael Martin had overheard Parsons saying that when he died, he wanted to be cremated at Joshua Tree National Park, so they stole the coffin containing his body and took it to the park, where they set it on fire. The events are depicted in the 2003 Johnny Knoxville movie “Grand Theft Parsons.”
Image Credit: Wikipedia.
7. ‘You Make Loving Fun’ was not about a dog
In its most famous incarnation, Fleetwood Mac consisted of drummer Mick Fleetwood and two couples on the rocks. One of the couples consisted of keyboard player Christine McVie and bassist John McVie, and the keyboard player wrote the song “You Make Loving Fun” as a poorly veiled tribute to Curry Grant, one of the band’s lighting directors. When her husband asked her about the song, she told him it was about her dog. The ruse did not last long.
Image Credit: Weatherman90 / Wiki Commons.
8. Iggy Pop drugged Bebe Buell’s dogs
Bebe Buell is a singer and model romantically linked to rock royalty like Todd Rundgren and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler. She was also linked to Iggy Pop, whom she described as “excellent” with her two dogs, making her comfortable leaving them with him at her home while she was away for a few hours at a modeling job. She returned to find all three of them sleeping in the bathtub, and Iggy said he had given the dogs a tiny amount of Valium because they had been “hyper.” After getting the dogs medical attention, she learned they would be fine, and she was unequivocal that Iggy was always great with animals and still is today.
Image Credit: magicinfoto / Deposit Photos.
9. Nikki Sixx died, woke up, and did more heroin
Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx has always been open about his struggles with heroin during the 1980s, and to hear him tell it, the situation was pretty dire. It sounds like a rumor, but Sixx confirmed that it was true — in 1987, he had overdosed on heroin and was pronounced dead in the ambulance, only to somehow wake up at the hospital. As if that’s not unbelievable enough, he checked himself out against medical advice, went home, and immediately did more heroin. Today, he’s working on a children’s book, which one assumes is not about heroin.
Image Credit: Wikipedia.
10. The first KISS comic had the band members’ blood in the Ink
During the 1970s, the members of KISS were the subject of every stupid rumor you can imagine, but one that is true is that in 1977, Marvel made a comic book about the band depicting them as superheroes, and each band member had blood drawn by a registered nurse that was put into the ink. The good people at Snopes confirmed this and even ran a photo of the band members in the middle of the act.
This article was produced and syndicated by MediaFeed.
Image Credit: H. Michael Karshis/Flickr.
More from MediaFeed
The sad stories behind these popular songs might just make you ugly cry
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/the-sad-stories-behind-these-popular-songs-might-just-make-you-ugly-cry/ss-AA1e4hB5#image=2
- This forgotten Gen-X actor is the richest movie star of all time
- 10 of the wildest UFO stories we’ve ever heard
Like MediaFeed’s content? Be sure to follow us.
Image Credit: Amazon.
