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Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll stories aren't always just tall tales! Join us as we count down our picks for the wildest musician rumors that were actually confirmed. From snorting ashes to biting bat heads, these shocking music industry tales turned out to be completely true. Which outrageous musician story surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments!
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00:00Manson desperately wanted to get into the rock and roll business.
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 20 wild, wacky
00:12and downright disgusting rumors about musicians that were eventually confirmed to be true.
00:19A Brinks truck bringing a little white box in which were, you guessed it, four vials
00:25of real kiss blood, which were summarily dumped into some printing ink for the old comic book.
00:31Isn't that wonderful?
00:34Number 20.
00:35Keith Richards Snorted His Dad's Ashes
00:38Grief affects everyone in different ways.
00:41For the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, his father's death ended up contributing
00:46to one of rock and roll's most infamous rumors.
00:49As the story goes, Richards mixed his dad's ashes in with that old white powder he used
00:54to be so fond of and snorted it up his nose.
00:58At first, it just seemed like a classic case of rock star myth-making, until Richards himself
01:16confirmed that it was true.
01:18For a pretty bizarre epilogue to this one, he went on to reveal that he granted his own
01:23children permission to do the same to his own ashes one day.
01:26Funny how that works, right?
01:29Others of more reason thought was ingesting your ancestors has been a very, very, very important
01:37thing throughout history.
01:38Many ancient cultures do that.
01:42Number 19.
01:44Little Richards Fired Jimi Hendrix This one might sound a little confusing on the surface,
01:49but hear us out.
02:00Jimi Hendrix was already a damn good guitarist by the time 1965 came around, earning a spot
02:06in Little Richard's backing band.
02:08But there was a problem.
02:09Hendrix was clearly a budding superstar.
02:12Everything from the way he carried himself to his ability to draw attention on stage didn't
02:17sit well with Little Richard.
02:19In other words, Jimi had a habit of upstaging the iconic performer, which is a big no-no
02:24when your job is to disappear into the background.
02:27Sure enough, Jimi was ousted from the band shortly after his appointment.
02:36And the rest, as they say, is history.
02:39Number 18.
02:40Van Morrison recorded 30 songs in one day.
02:44Want to know how it sounds when a legendary soul singer sings about his desire to purchase
02:49a Danish pastry?
02:50You want a Danish?
02:52No, I've just eaten.
02:54Well, then you might want to check out the infamous recordings that brought his time with
02:59Bang Records to an end.
03:01Morrison won it out of his contract, but owed the label a total of 36 songs.
03:07And so, in a truly petulant move, Morrison picked up a terrible-sounding guitar, took to
03:12the studio, and made an album off the top of his head in a single day.
03:17Obviously, Bang Records listened to them and realized they were totally unreleasable.
03:21So, in the grand scheme of things, Van got his way.
03:25A year later, he released his masterpiece album, Astral Weeks.
03:29Whoa, whoa, whoa, the street thing.
03:34Number 17.
03:36Graham Parsons' friend stole his dead body.
03:39Graham Parsons is a hero of his era, known best for his time with the Birds and the Flying
03:44Burrito Brothers.
03:46Graham Parsons was one of the great lost talents of 60s and 70s American music.
03:51But he broke musical boundaries, and today his work is still hugely influential.
03:56Like many musicians who burn bright, his life was cut short due to an overdose at the age of 26.
04:03One major rumor that followed his death was that a friend of his stole his body in an attempt
04:08to cremate him and spread his ashes at the Joshua Tree National Park.
04:12Supposedly, this stemmed from a deal the two of them had made.
04:15Turns out, the story is true.
04:17His road manager Phil Kaufman and another friend stole the hearse, poured gasoline on the coffin,
04:23and set it ablaze.
04:24They kind of felt their obligation to their friend to do what they had to do, and I think
04:30Graham probably would have loved the whole idea.
04:33They were fined $750 for their theft, and Parsons was eventually brought to Louisiana.
04:40Number 16.
04:41David Bowie smuggled illegal substances into rehab for Iggy Pop.
04:45The mid-70s were a dark time for rock and roll legends David Bowie and Iggy Pop.
04:51Bowie wanted to clean himself up, and I don't know where you were in that relationship.
04:55Well, also cleaner than, cleaner than before.
04:58Each of them was fighting their own personal battles with substance use disorder, but it was
05:02Iggy who checked himself into rehab first, speaking about that point in his life.
05:07He recalled being very worried about Bowie's health and mental states.
05:11What we later found out was that the thin white Duke himself was actually visiting Iggy and smuggling
05:17substances in for him to take.
05:18It's just interesting that people who make those explorations,
05:24if they go through the cusp of those explorations, they do tend to come out the other side.
05:30In a way, that's the people for it, you know?
05:35Eventually, both men cleaned up and achieved sobriety.
05:38But they certainly didn't make things easy for themselves.
05:42Number 15.
05:43Drake having a son.
05:45In 2018, when Pusha T released the diss track The Story of Adidon,
05:50he revealed to the world that Drake had been hiding the existence of a son he had fathered.
05:55Talk about taking a beef to the next level, right?
05:58And my point with that is, just saying, we couldn't, we can't even know about something
06:04that's like so precious.
06:06We can't even know about the kid, right?
06:09But we can know about it when you roll it out with your alleged new Adidas deal.
06:13You can roll out, you know, that information with a sweatsuit and some sneakers.
06:19Talk about taking a beef to a new level, right?
06:22It didn't take long for the media pressure to force an answer out of Drake.
06:26Not too long after Pusha's track dropped, the Canadian rapper confirmed that he had
06:30a son named Adonis on his album Scorpion.
06:33He also claimed that he wasn't trying to hide his son from the world.
06:36All just fabricated, so just to make it more interesting.
06:39The story's actually not really that interesting.
06:41The biggest part of it is that I have a son.
06:42Instead, he was attempting to protect him from all of that attention.
06:46With the cat out of the bag, Drake has at least embraced being a bit more open about it all.
06:5214.
06:53Ozzy Osbourne bit off a bat's head.
06:56Peeta, look away now.
06:58The late, great Ozzy Osbourne certainly had a few wild stories to tell over the course of his career.
07:03You don't look like a madman.
07:05Look in the shoe I am.
07:07Maybe the most famous onstage moment of all came when Ozzy was thrown a live bat by a fan and
07:13proceeded to bite its head off.
07:15He obviously didn't think it was real, because why would anyone throw an actual bat at a rock star?
07:30Either way, the damage was done.
07:31He even had to go to get checked for rabies after the show.
07:35He spoke candidly about it in the years that followed.
07:37But this did become one of the most discussed myths in rock history for a while.
07:4213.
07:44Van Halen banned brown M&Ms on their tour.
07:47On the surface, Van Halen not wanting brown M&Ms anywhere near them backstage sounds like the
07:53most rock star diva thing imaginable.
07:56After years of the band being ridiculed for such a ridiculous entry on their tour rider,
08:00the truth emerged.
08:02Removing the brown M&Ms was actually a subtle way for the band to make sure
08:06that the organizers of each and every venue they played were being professional.
08:10Van Halen had a pretty elaborate stage show at the time with a whole bunch of pyrotechnics,
08:15meaning that they couldn't take any chances with mistakes.
08:18So if a venue were diligent enough to remove all of the brown M&Ms,
08:23they probably had a solid attention to detail.
08:25It's kinda genius.
08:2712.
08:27Axl Rose used real, intimate sounds in his song.
08:33Axl Rose is the type of rock star who splits people down the middle.
08:37And when Appetite for Destruction was released in July of 87,
08:41it bombarded fans with a brutal sonic diary of five musicians hanging on the edge by a thread.
08:48If there's one thing that even his biggest haters can't take away from him,
08:52it's that he definitely doesn't care what people think.
08:54And so, when Guns N' Roses were in the process of recording the song Rocket Queen,
09:00Rose decided to go above and beyond to be as outrageous as possible.
09:04What did he come up with?
09:05Well, he decided to record the sounds of him getting intimate with his bandmate
09:10Steven Adler's girlfriend in the studio and place the audio right in the middle of the song.
09:15I had no idea that it was gonna be rock and roll history, that it was gonna be a legendary act.
09:22Yep, you heard us right.
09:23They actually added some very risque noises to the track's midsection.
09:28Number 11.
09:29Mackenzie Phillips' relationship with John Phillips
09:33For many people, it's hard to think about the iconic folk rock vocal group The Mamas and
09:37The Papas without their thoughts drifting to the dark backstory that followed their second iteration.
09:43And, uh, it was just absolutely upsetting.
09:46When the original lineup disbanded, group leader John Phillips created the new Mamas and The Papas.
09:52Initially, it was seen as a success, especially on the touring circuits.
09:57But when rumors began to swirl about an inappropriate relationship between
10:00Phillips and his daughter Mackenzie, it changed things.
10:04Years later, Mackenzie would reveal that she had first taken illegal substances as a child,
10:09and that her father had been abusing her since she was a teenager, just one night before her
10:15wedding to her first husband.
10:16I don't believe he had malicious intent.
10:19I believe that he was a man who was ravaged by drugs and alcohol.
10:23Number 10.
10:24Prince evangelized door-to-door for Jehovah's Witnesses
10:28For the better part of his remarkable career, Prince was known for defying societal
10:33expectations with his brazenly provocative music.
10:40For that reason, many were shocked when he decided to become a Jehovah's Witness in 2001.
10:45The iconic musician was said to have taken his newfound faith very seriously,
10:50and it was once reported that, like many members of the religion, he practiced door-to-door evangelism.
10:56Prince was honored by members of his religious community at the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom
11:01Hall in Minnetonka, Minnesota on Sunday.
11:04While that remained a rumor for years, a Minnesota couple later confirmed that Prince
11:08once knocked on their door to proselytize to them. Apparently, the purple star would wear
11:13disguises and introduce himself as brother Nelson to evade being recognized. But when you're as famous
11:19as Prince, that can be a pretty daunting task.
11:29Number 9.
11:30Rihanna and A$AP Rocky's Relationship
11:33Rumors of a romantic relationship had followed music stars Rihanna and A$AP Rocky for years.
11:42The two had been friends for a long time, with A$AP opening for her Diamonds World Tour in 2013,
11:48and Rihanna starring in his Fashion Killa music video later that year. The rumors intensified after
11:54that, but with both musicians getting romantically involved with other people, they slowly died down.
12:00Rihanna was asked whether she's in love. She replied, point blank, of course I am.
12:06However, after Rihanna parted ways with her Saudi billionaire boyfriend Hassan Jamil,
12:11the gossip mills began churning once again. Their relationship was confirmed in 2021.
12:17After A$AP referred to Rihanna as the love of my life in an interview.
12:21The couple welcomed their third child together in 2025.
12:26And not long after, a source confessed to ET, Rihanna already wants more, saying quote,
12:31Rihanna always dreamed of being a mom, and she takes a lot of pride in it.
12:35She would love to have more children with A$AP in the future.
12:38Number 8.
12:39Nikki Sixx's Near-Death Experience
12:42As the co-founder and bassist of the heavy metal band Motley Crue,
12:46Nikki Sixx was a rock music staple throughout the 80s.
12:56But at the peak of his career, Sixx struggled with substance use disorder,
13:00which gravely affected his personal and professional life. In fact, at one point,
13:05it was rumored that the musician had overdosed on heroin and died. This was technically true,
13:11for two minutes.
13:13You see the light? You know, people say they see a light.
13:15I can tell you things I saw that I shouldn't have been able to have seen. Like I saw
13:21the hotel hallway, I saw the ambulance, I saw the limo that was there.
13:26According to reports, on December 23, 1987, Sixx was rushed to the hospital after overdosing on the
13:32substance. He was pronounced clinically dead for two minutes before a paramedic pumped him with
13:37two shots of adrenaline and revived him. The out-of-body experience reportedly inspired Sixx
13:42to write the band's 1989 anthem, Kickstart My Heart.
13:53Tupac's Friends Smoked His Ashes
13:56The world lost beloved music icon Tupac Shakur on September 13, 1996.
14:09The late rapper was reportedly cremated the next day, and there has been so much speculation as to
14:14what happened to his ashes. For years, there was a long-standing rumor that members of Tupac's group
14:20Outlaws had smoked his ashes to honor him. In 2011, members of the group gave credence to the
14:26news by confirming in an interview that they did, in fact, do that.
14:30Is that true?
14:32Yeah, it's definitely true.
14:33According to them, they believe the rapper explicitly asked for it in the lyrics of his
14:38posthumous song, Black Jesus.
14:40Now, with how serious he was about it, we took the shit serious.
14:44Although they claimed to have done so in the presence of Tupac's mom, the Shakur family later
14:50released a statement denouncing their actions.
14:536. Michael Jackson Wrote Music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3
14:58The video game Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was released in 1994 to critical and commercial acclaim. While
15:04many fans were in awe of the much improved gameplay, some others noticed striking similarities between
15:10the music and that of pop music icon Michael Jackson.
15:21Jackson's involvement in the Sonic soundtrack remained a rumor for years, until it was
15:25seemingly confirmed by one of the game's creators, Yuji Naka, in 2022.
15:30This was never something confirmed by Sega, even though multiple developers and people close to
15:35Jackson have said that it's true.
15:37Apparently, Jackson and his team had recorded complete tracks for the soundtrack.
15:41But just as production on the game was underway in 1993, the musician was hit with assault
15:47allegations. This seems to have played a part in Jackson receiving no credits for his involvement.
15:585. Ozzy Osbourne and the Ants
16:01Heavy metal icon Ozzy Osbourne has admittedly done a lot of outrageous things throughout his long,
16:07storied career. But this one takes things to a new level of extreme.
16:16While on his Bark at the Moon tour in 1984, Osbourne stopped over at a Florida hotel alongside
16:22opening acts Motley Crue. The story goes that on one particular afternoon, the former Black Sabbath
16:28frontman took a straw and snorted a line of ants with it. While this may horrify the average person,
16:35it probably won't be much of a surprise to anyone familiar with Osbourne's antics.
16:40The rumor was confirmed in the band's autobiography, The Dirt, and depicted in the
16:44same titled Netflix film. 4. Kiss inject their blood into comic books
16:58In the 1970s, New York band Kiss took rock music by storm. The original four-man lineup was known for
17:05their signature white-and-black makeup and comic book-style costumes.
17:15In 1977, at the height of their popularity, the group teamed up with Marvel's Stan Lee to
17:20create a series of Kiss comic books. Seemingly as a marketing ploy, each member of the band was
17:26reported to have drawn a bit of their blood, which was then mixed with the printing ink for the comics.
17:32Turns out, this was, in fact, true, as confirmed by Kiss founding member Paul Stanley and Lee himself.
17:39I said, you guys are out of your mind. He said, no, no, it's great, it'll get a lot of publicity.
17:44If that's not the most shock-rock-esque thing to ever happen in the comic book universe,
17:48we don't know what is.
17:493. Cass Elliot and Keith Moon died in the same apartments
18:01While their paths may never have crossed, Cass Elliot and Keith Moon shared more similarities
18:06than they could imagine. Not only were they members of music groups, but they both met their
18:11untimely demise at the age 32. My friend called me to say that Cass Elliot passed away in her sleep.
18:20I was stunned. Even weirder, this reportedly happened at the same apartment, only four years apart.
18:28They announced the death of Keith Moon, who died from a drug overdose.
18:33The Mayfair London flat belonged to Harry Nilsson, a singer-songwriter, mutual friend of theirs,
18:38who was mostly on the road and rented it out to his musician pals.
18:42Elliot died there on July 29, 1974, while in London for a concert.
18:48Four years later, Moon moved into the apartment, where he also passed away from a drug overdose.
18:53Of course it's sad, you know, when somebody that huge, that bombastic, that alive is no longer on the planet.
19:02Unsurprisingly, Nilsson moved out of the flat and sold it off.
19:062. Mick Jagger and David Bowie's Intimate Relationship
19:11Two revered icons, Mick Jagger and David Bowie are both regarded among the most influential musicians
19:17of the 20th century. The two were first linked in the early 70s and soon grew so close that rumors
19:28of an intimate relationship between them filled the media. They even released a duet cover of the song
19:34Dancing in the Street, which hit No. 1 in their home country of the UK.
19:44In 2012, journalist Christopher Anderson released a shocking biography of Jagger,
19:49in which he seemingly confirms rumors of an affair. According to the book, Bowie's then-wife Angie
19:55found both men naked in bed together. While she didn't seem to interrupt anything, Angie was
20:02absolutely dead certain something had, in fact, happened between them.
20:06So we had a lot of fun times and yeah, so it was nice to remember them.
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20:281. Charles Manson Wrote a Song for the Beach Boys
20:32Before he founded and led the infamous Manson Family cult, Charles Manson was a struggling musician
20:38hoping for a big break. Manson went to Los Angeles for no purpose other than to become a rock and roll
20:46star. After leaving prison in the late 1960s, Manson made the acquaintance of the Beach Boys drummer
20:52Dennis Wilson, who hoped to sign him to a recording contract. Although that never came to fruition,
20:57Manson actually wrote a song titled Cease to Exist for the band. The lyrics were eventually reworked
21:03and released in 1968 as Never Learned Not to Love. This served as the B-side of their moderately
21:14successful single, Bluebirds Over the Mountain. The initial idea may have been Charles' but he
21:21had given it to Dennis and been compensated for it and the Beach Boys were taking it and embellishing
21:30it as they do and making it their own. In the end, Manson received no writing credit for the song
21:36and a little over two years later he was convicted of the Tate and LaBianca murders. What musical rumors
21:42do you think deserve a place on our list? Be sure to let us know in the comments. He wanted to have live
21:50sex sounds on a song he was mixing.
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