Worst Rock & Roll Urban Legend

[Beware the Beast Man]

None of these are true, BTW.

[StopTheMorans]

1. Marilyn Manson, only b/c i must have heard that a few thousand times

in high school. and then there was the failed attempt to remove one of my own ribs...

[underpants]

2. Rod Stewart

That's my vote

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

54. I heard that one as a kid with Elton John as the stomach pumpee, too...

[Lavender Brown]

3. I like the one about Marilyn Manson

being the kid who played the older brother on "Mr. Belvedere."

[Union Thug]

8. I heard he was the nerdy friend on Wonder Years

Was it "Paul"?

[DelawareValleyDem]

14. Paul, yes

played by Josh Saviano, now practicing law in NYC

[bobbobbins]

9. I always heard he was the main characters best friend on the Wonder Years

[StopTheMorans]

10. *gives Lavender Brown a swirlie*

[Lavender Brown]

29. *attaches "Kick Me" sign to STM's back*

[StopTheMorans]

33. why is everyone kicking me?!?!? STOP KICKING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

[Left Is Write]

4. I chose Mama Cass and the ham sandwich.

Partly because it helped perpetuate all those Mama Cass/Karen Carpenter jokes ("If only Karen Carpenter had eaten Mama Cass' sandwich, they'd both be alive today.").

[sundog]

17. yup

Mama Cass died of heart failure. For some reason the ham sandwich thing always irritates me. Pretty cruel stuff. I think she was a great singer.

http://www.casselliot.com/facts.htm

[slackmaster]

5. Rod Stewart and the stomach pump was the first thing that "came"

to my mind.

:puke:

[Mike Daniels]

40. Well Rod "sucks"

as proved by the last 25 or so years of his career.

[ProfessorGAC]

45. Yeah, Ever Since Stay With Me

Last song he did that i cared about, except MAYBE the one with Jeff Beck.
The Professor

[BBradley]

6. I got into an argument in 6th grade over that marilyn manson story

It's sad that people are still willing to believe every stupid story about musicians they hear, especially when it involves sex.

[Union Thug]

7. Wasn't there a plethora of urban legends about Alice Cooper..

For example, when I was younger, I remember hearing something rumor about taking a dump onstage and either him or a fan consuming it.

I also remember another bs rumor that KISS stomped baby chickens to death on stage with their evil, satanic, high rise boots.

Oy...

[Beware the Beast Man]

13. Well, the Alice Cooper chicken story is true, to an extent.

Somebody threw a live chicken on stage. Not knowing any better, Alice threw it back into the crowd, thinking chickens could fly. The crowd tore it to pieces, and the next day the press reported that he dismembered the chicken. Frank Zappa told him not to refute the story. :)

[Union Thug]

34. Gotta love Zappa. =) /eom

[dolo amber]

11. I don't know the Mars bar one

Do tell...

[Beware the Beast Man]

16. When Keith was busted for drugs,

there was a story that the cops found Mick and Keith (I believe), violating Marianne Faithfull with a Mars Bar.

http://snopes.com/music/artists/marsbar.htm

[dolo amber]

20. Oh dear

Woulda been funnier if they'd used a Snickers. :D

[Beware the Beast Man]

22. Or a Butterfinger

:evilgrin:

[RandomKoolzip]

12. For sheer banality, the Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight" urban legend

has them all beat. C'mon, Phil's not that deep....although I wouldn't put it past the little midget to actually watch someone drown.

[Debbi801]

35. LOL. I remember this one!

[last_texas_dem]

56. That one I actually believed

I usually caught on to these as false pretty quickly after I heard them (especially that utterly stupid Marilyn Manson was Paul on the Wonder Years one!) But I actually bought that "In the Air Tonight" one for a while. Plus, it got renewed life when I was in high school after Eminem referenced it in one of his songs. I don't know whether he believed it to or just felt like passing it along to see how many gullible people would get it going again!

[Florida_Geek]

15. lol did not vote

most of these I have never heard of... :D

[Magrittes Pipe]

18. My favorite is the Led Zep/shark story.

Of course, nobody seems to remember whether or not it's true, and nobody seems to remember exactly what was supposed to have happened.

Drugs are fun. :D

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

43. Zep and The Mud Shark

True. Got the skinny from a Zep roadie.

[tjdee]

68. Um, what's the story?

Do I want to know?
:scared:

[Beware the Beast Man]

75. Some of the guys in Zep, and their crew,

allegedly "did things" to a groupie with a mud shark. No one can confirm nor deny that it actually happened.

[tjdee]

83. oh my lord, I don't even know what a mud shark is.

I'm so sheltered!

[tigereye]

82. I thought that one was true

I seem to remember reading about that in Hammer of the Gods at one point.

[Touchdown]

19. What about Ozzy biting off a bat head?

Is that a legend or true? Sounds like Bullshit to me, but my co-worker said he thought it was a rubber bat, but was real.:shrug:

[Beware the Beast Man]

21. That is true.

But he thought the bat was fake, because it wasn't moving. And he also bit the head off a dove during a CBS Records exec meeting.

[tuvor]

23. Band name acronyms

KISS = Knights In Satan's Service
AC/DC = Anti-Christ/Devil's Child

That's all I can think of.

[fishwax]

28. for AC/DC I was always told

it was After Christ/(the) Devil Comes.

My mom was sure it was true, but I hated AC/DC so it wasn't much of an issue. We did argue once over whether or not there were masked satanic messages on various rock tracks, until I showed her an article in which a preacher claimed that Elvis had masked satanic messages into "hound dog." I don't ever remember her mentioning backmasking after that (don't mess with elvis, man).

[Beware the Beast Man]

30. Even the investigator in the Richard Ramirez case

said that the AC/DC cap had no significance in the Nightstalker case apart from the fact that they were looking for somebody in an AC/DC ball cap.

[last_texas_dem]

59. There are actually some legitimate backwards messages in rock songs

I did a report on this in college once because I've always found it very interesting. Some rock songs (and actually a handful from other genres of music as well) actually do have some backwards messages inserted into them. However, most were intentional and most were also tongue-in-cheek; the groups weren't satanists and few had any involvement with the Church of Satan to any extent (Led Zeppelin and, I believe, the Eagles are a couple of exceptions) but often inserted the messages to get preachers and hysterical parents up-in-arms. Groups from Blue Oyster Cult to ELO to Queen have alleged backwards messages; some are so blatant that it is obvious that they were inserted intentionally (Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", the Eagles' "Hotel California", The Beatles' "Revolution 9") some are probably pure coincidence due to how muddled they sound (Styx's "Snowblind", Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust"). But all in all, it's a very interesting topic and it's amazing how up-in-arms many folks got about it. Not that long ago, I read a very interesting book by these two anti-rock "crusader" preachers, Dan and Steve Peters. It was written in the early eighties and includes dozens of examples of "evil" rock lyrics (forwards and backwards) and "evil" artwork from album covers. These guys made actually made their names in the religious community bashing rock. I guess now people like this have moved on to focusing on TV and video games, but in the early eighties rock was seen as the biggest enemy corrupting the minds of impressionable teenagers.

[fishwax]

73. The Eagles?

It is a pretty interesting subject, I'll agree. I haven't studied it as much as you have, but I've heard the bit with Stairway, Queen's "It's fun to smoke marijuana" and, of course, Pink Floyd's "Congratulations, you found the hidden message" on Empty Spaces (I was a big Floyd fan back in the day).

But I've never been able to catch a message in Hotel California (granted, only tried to listen once or twice, and this was years ago), and I think that most of the rumors about them being affiliated with the church of satan stemmed from the discredited (though oft-repeated in my adolescence) allegations that the cover of Hotel California featured Anton LaVey welcoming unexpecting guests to Alistair Crowley's mansion. (In fact, the cover features neither.)

[frictionlessO]

85. I could've sworn Crowleys manison was in the Thousand Islands

area???

Also I seem to recall that Jimmy Paige was actually a pagan and not a Satanist though he made have visited and did a pub shot with Lavey (I actually heard he was into the OTO).

Anyone got the real truth on this?

[dean_dem]

48. Don't forget KMFDM....

Kill Your Mother and Father For Drug Money or
Kill Motherf--king Depeche Mode (Hah!)

[MemphisTiger]

24. What is the Elvis urban ledgend

[Beware the Beast Man]

27. Someone claimed he said a racial slur.

Here's a link:
http://snopes.com/music/artists/presley1.asp

[fishwax]

25. Marilyn Manson is the Paul kid from The Wonder Years

I remember in the 90s friends and relatives always asking me if that was true.

Of course, my father-in-law told me that he remembers a rumor in the 70s that Alice Cooper (I think) was Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver, so this is just a recycled legend.

Makes me wonder who today's stars will grow up to be.

[underpants]

26. Mr.Greenjeans was Ted Nugent's father

That was going around for a while too.

[regularguy]

57. I thought the rumor was the Mr. Greenjeans was Zappa's dad.

He (Zappa) had a song called "son of Mr. Greenjeans".

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

31. You can kiss my ass on that Bob dig!

:)

[Debbi801]

32. I had to pick Mama Cass...

If for no other reason than my father went to high school with her. :-)

Debbi

[OldLeftieLawyer]

60. My friend's parents took her in

Her own parents were pretty weird, and moved away from Alexandria when Cass was in high school, so my friend's Mom and Dad said she could stay with them while she finished high school.

Turned out she was a raging bitch of a kid, and that set-up didn't work out. A real mean girl, poor Cass.

[Union Thug]

36. I heard that Ritchie Blackmore once...

seriously stomped..beat him to the point of broken bones... a stage hand for turning on the lights before the encore. Ritchie always did have a 'tude, but I never believed this one.....

[Strawman]

37. Zappa ate poo onstage in a "gross out contest"

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/grossout.htm

[Union Thug]

39. That's a variant of the Alice Cooper one... =)

Maybe everyone ate poo during the 70's? Having been there (well, becoming a teen in the late 70's, anyway), I don't remember eating any, but I suppose it's possible. Probably smoked some at one point or another.. but who knows.. =)

[boilerbabe]

49. I heard the same thing be attibuted to Iggy Pop...

I know that dogs like to eat kitty poo out of litter boxes....(the legend here is that they are missing some nutrient that only kitty poo provides...)

But didnt Divine also eat poo in Pink Flamingos?

[meegbear]

38. Frank Zappa, Alice Cooper, David Bowie ...

2 of them hold a "gross out" contest on stage. Either:
Frank Zappa vs Alice Cooper
Frank Zappa vs David Bowie
Alice Cooper vs David Bowie

One shits on stage and the other eats it. In the first 2 cases, Frank is the shitter. In the third case, it's interchangable.

[chenGOD]

47. And then GG Allin comes along and outgrosses everyone...

lol

[JVS]

67. GG rules!

[JVS]

41. So how did Mama Cass die?

[the Princess]

46. From what her daughter says

Her heart gave out. There was no stupid ham sandwich.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

62. She had been dieting

And gaining and losing and gaining and losing, and that yo-yo dieting just wore her out, I guess. She was grotesquely obese when she died.

[mcscajun]

52. Report from Snopes...

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/mamacass.htm

[JVS]

42. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull & a Mars Bar kicks ass!

That's a great Urban Legend and we should cherish it

[mitchum]

84. Hey! I have fantasized many times about Marianne and a Mars Bar!

Okay, maybe not QUITE as often since she has become an aging, Weimar wannabe. But still...:)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

44. Other: "Stairway to Heaven" played backwards is a Satanic prayer (nt)

[Zenlitened]

51. Someone recently posted a link to a Stairway-played-backwards clip...

... and it cracked me up so much, I bookmarked it:

http://www.abum.com/?show_media=876&file_type=Animations

Here's to my sweet Satan! :D

[last_texas_dem]

63. Good stuff

I always think it's funny that in the backwards "evil" parts on "Stairway to Heaven" Robert Plant's voice sounds like an indignant southern preacher. "Hair's to mah sweet Satan", "The first power is Satan", "Thar's no escapin' it", etc.

[AllegroRondo]

50. Frank Zappa's deep voice

I heard that Frank got his deep voice by accident. During one of his earliest concerts a fan threw a beer bottle at him. It hit him in the head and he fell off the stage. When he woke up, his voice was an octave lower.

[DelawareValleyDem]

53. That Sweet Home Alabama advocates segregation

[fishwax]

64. lol

I enjoyed the discussion here, which I assume you're referring to:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x2408608

[u4ic]

55. Remember 'Paul is dead'?

http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Obituary/paul.html

[GardeningGal]

74. Oh the memories.. I remember when this came out

It was on all the radio stations and was constantly replayed. We were all convinced.

[arwalden]

58. The Scream Heard In The Song "Roller Coaster" (Ohio Players) Was A Murder

victim being stabbed in the studio and it was was accidentally caught on tape. When the final verson was being edited, it was unnoticed by the person doing the editing.

That's the story that was going around my circle of friends in Hampton, Virginia (1977-ish).

-- Allen

[Beware the Beast Man]

65. Wow, I forgot that one!

But I thought it was "Fire."

[arwalden]

71. Perhaps... But The Debunking I Heard Was That The Scream Was

INTENTIONALLY added as a sound effect as though someone was riding a Roller Coaster and was going over the scariest and tallest part of the ride.

It could have been Fire... but the explanation I heard makes more sense for Roller Coaster. (Heh! I've still got the VINYL album of that somewhere around here!)

[u4ic]

81. Yes, it was for Love Rollercoaster

http://www.snopes.com/music/hidden/roller.htm

I remember believing that one, too. We didn't have all the access to information like we do now, and there was nothing to debunk it - or nothing I had read/heard at the time.

[nuxvomica]

66. I heard the same except it was The 5th Dimension

And the song, I think, was "Age of Aquarius".

[last_texas_dem]

70. Haha

I've heard that one... For some reason I always associate it and the urban legend about a "munchkin" hanging himself on the set of The Wizard of Oz in a scene where they're in the forest. (The fluttering that is supposedly a hanging is actually a bird.)

[last_texas_dem]

61. Two messed-up ones that aren't exactly "rock"

John Denver having been a sniper in Vietnam is a classic, of course. I think this same one was also used on Mr. Rogers.

A fairly recent one that was profoundly sick was that Bow Wow (the kiddie rapper formerly known as Li'l Bow Wow) was raped by a bodyguard. Kinda similar to the one about the rapper SPM molesting two little girls- except that one was actually true...

[nuxvomica]

69. Jimi Hendrix' death

The false story that I believed for years: He had choked on his own vomit after injecting heroin directly into his brain via a bone-piercing hypodermic.

[drumwolf]

72. I've also heard the Rod Stewart story attributed to Bowie and Elton John.

And I've read that it is physically impossible for such a story to happen to anyone in real life.

Another urban legend I've heard is that Jimi Hendrix and/or Syd Barrett used to put LSD in his bandanna when he played live onstage, and that the acid would dissolve in the sweat from his hair and get soaked through his skin.

[democracyindanger]

76. Phil Collins letting his wife's rapist drown

and writing a song about it.

[no name no slogan]

78. You beat me to it

But I didn't hear it was a rapist. I heard it was just some guy he saw.

[democracyindanger]

80. The way I heard it

was that the guy raped Collins' wife, was caught but got off on a technicality, then years later Collins saw him drowning in a lake.

I was surprised noone had posted it yet.

[derby378]

77. Peter Criss of KISS - homeless

While this homeless guy was telling everyone he fell on hard times after leaving Kiss, the real Peter Criss was living in a comfortable house with his centerfold wife in California. Ooooops.

[LoZoccolo]

79. Elvis "Shine My Shoes" comment

It was debunked like in the fifties by Jet magazine, and is a very unfair smear on him.