1. ROCK STAR DEATHS - It doesn't get more shocking
than rock stars dying under tragic circumstances. One such case would
be the unforgettable day that Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain decided
to end his life. Before the event, Nirvana were enjoying worldwide
success and were seen as the band that first brought grunge music
to a mainstream audience. But Cobain had problems coping with success
and drugs became his saviour - much like his band were the saviours
of rock music. On April 5, 1994 the 27-year-old Cobain had clearly
had enough and died instantly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound
to the head. People from all parts of the world felt the impact as
their hero was gone. Grunge was pronounced dead. Three years later,
the music world had lost yet another high profile frontman when Michael
Hutchence of INXS hung himself in a Sydney hotel room after being
in a depressed state. More recently, Crowded House drummer Paul Hester
was also said to have been suffering from depression when he ended
his life by hanging himself in a Melbourne park. Other famous and
tragic deaths that changed the music world include: Elvis Presley
from a drug overdose in 1977, Bon Scott who choked on his own vomit
in 1980, John Lennon who was murdered by a crazed fan also in 1980,
Marvin Gaye who was murdered by his own father in 1984, 2Pac who was
murdered in 1996, Jeff Buckley who presumably drowned in 1997, and
ex-Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell who was tragically murdered by
a disgruntled fan in 2004.
2. MILLI VANILLI EXPOSED - The Milli Vanilli
saga of 1990 remains as one of the greatest scams in music history.
The duo, made up of Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus, sold millions
of records worldwide in the late 80s before going on to win a Grammy
award for Best New Artist in 1990. But what the world didn't know
was that they were hiding a major secret. The fact is that the duo
were merely models who hadn't sung a note on any of their songs and
were put together to be the faces of a musical group with an unmarketable
image. When they continually kept pressuring their brainchild and
producer Frank Farian to let them sing all the vocals on their next
album, Farian had had enough and in late 1990, dropped an absolute
bombshell. He finally revealed to the world that the duo were fakes.
A major backlash ensued and fans universally started crushing their
Milli Vanilli collections while the duo became the first act to be
stripped of a Grammy. Pilatus never quite recovered and was found
dead in a hotel room in 1998 after overdosing on a combination of
drugs and alcohol. It was a shocking end to a shocking story.
3. GG ALLIN'S ONSTAGE ANTICS - Without a shadow
of a doubt, the most shocking stage show in music history belonged
to prolific punk rocker GG Allin. The man, who was often described
as disgusting, disturbed, and vile, had been arrested more than 50
times due to his act. Song titles such as 'I'm Gonna Rape You', 'Expose
Yourself to Kids' and 'Suck My Ass It Smells' were enough to earn
him the vile tag but the stage show was even more shocking. Some of
his onstage antics included performing naked, mutilating himself,
fellating his own brother, and urinating and defecating on stage and
then throwing the results at audience members. Sometimes he ate it
too. Often he would attack band and audience members and publicly
vowed to commit suicide onstage on many occasions. But he never got
the chance when he was put to rest in 1993 after a heroin overdose.
He was 36.
4. SEX PISTOLS CAUSE OUTRAGE - Even though they
only released one studio album, the Sex Pistols changed the world
and did their best to shock while they were at it. One of the most
memorable moments came in 1976 just after they had just signed a deal
with EMI. The band were scheduled to do a prime time TV interview
with presenter Bill Grundy to talk about the growing punk movement
at the time. But things took a turn for the worse when Grundy started
provoking the group to say something outrageous. This turned out to
be a career ending move for the presenter when the snotty nosed bunch
of punks retaliated by swearing throughout the whole interview and
becoming the first band to say the "F-word" on national
TV. It was unheard of in 1976 and the band became household names
after the incident. But it all came to an abrupt end in 1978 when
lead singer Johnny Rotten left the band. More shocks followed soon
after when bassist Sid Vicious was charged with murdering his girlfriend
and then tragically died of a drug overdose while he faced those charges.
He was only 21.
5. WHACKO JACKO SHOCKERS - Michael Jackson may
have produced one of the greatest selling albums of all time in 'Thriller'
but his behaviour has often overshadowed his musical genius. The gloved
one's addiction to plastic surgery has been well documented - as have
his denials to have ever had any. But it was in a 2003 documentary
with journalist Martin Bashir that Jackson finally admitted to having
"one or two" operations - although it was clear that there
were multiple others that he had failed to mention. But it was another
admission in the documentary that really stunned viewers all over
the world. Jackson, a grown adult in his 40s, revealed that he often
shared his bed with children - including a young cancer patient. Shock
turned to horror when Jackson talked about it being a perfectly normal
thing to do. Other Jackson shockers have included: carelessly dangling
a baby over a balcony, reportedly offering $US 1 million for the remains
of the Elephant Man, and other whacky antics such as turning up to
court late recently in his pyjama pants.
6. MOTLEY CRUE SCANDALS - The members of Motley
Crue have enough shocking moments to fill a book - oh wait, that's
already been done in their autobiography 'The Dirt'. The drug and
alcohol problems of the group are legendary but the most shocking
incident came in 1987 with the overdose of Nikki Sixx when he was
pronounced dead but was then revived - only to overdose again the
very next day! Sixx once even set himself on fire - purely for entertainment
purposes. Drummer Tommy Lee also hit the headlines on many occasions.
There were numerous arrests over the years for charges such as disorderly
conduct, indecent exposure, abuse of his wife, and battery - to name
but a few. He hit the headlines again in 1996 when his sex video with
wife Pamela Anderson became public. Motley Crue took their sex, drugs
and rock 'n' roll very seriously and the fact that they're still alive
today is astonishing to many.
7. COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET - With the tremendous
stigma attached to being gay, the coming out of a gay artist will
usually lead to a media frenzy - just like in George Michael's case.
In 1998, the pop star was literally led right out of the 'closet'
when he was arrested by an undercover police officer for engaging
in a lewd act in a public toilet. The arrest made headlines all around
the world and forced Michael to publicly come clean about being gay.
Even more shocking was Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford coming out
of the closet in the same year. With homophobia rampant in the metal
community, fans were absolutely astounded at the thought of a heavy
metal frontman being queer. Equally as shocked were fans of Christian
metal band King's X when frontman Doug Pinnick came out through 'Contemporary
Christian Music' magazine - again, that very same year. There was
something in the air in 1998
8. OZZY'S BEHEADING MISDEMEANORS - Former Black
Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osborne is continually haunted by two separate
incidents that go down as some of the most memorable moments in music
history. The first occurred in 1981 during his first meeting as a
solo artist with the executives of his new record company CBS. His
manager (and later wife) Sharon Arden thought that it would be a good
publicity stunt for Ozzy to walk in and throw two doves into the air
to get a bit of attention. The stunt worked better than expected when
Ozzy received worldwide attention for the events that followed - but
things didn't quite go to plan. Apparently Ozzy had been on the drink
beforehand and when he walked in, he threw only one dove up in the
air while the other wasn't as lucky as he proceeded to bite its head
off. The other incident occurred during his 1982 'Night Of The Living
Dead' tour. In keeping with the theme, it was common for Ozzy to throw
raw meat into the audience at every show. Fans started reacting by
bringing their own dead animals to shows and would throw them right
back on stage. On one occasion, a fan threw a real live bat onto the
stage. Thinking that it was just a fake rubber bat, Ozzy picked it
up and bit its head off leaving the audience absolutely stunned. Ozzy
had managed to shock the world yet again!
9. MIKE PATTON'S HUMAN WASTE FETISH - Mike Patton
became well known for his antics during his time in Faith No More.
During one show, a fan threw a bottle on stage filled with urine.
The band had talked about it all night until one point in the show
when Patton picked it up and poured the contents all over his head.
Then during another show, he went a step further when he urinated
into his shoe and then proceeded to drink it. The audience could only
look on in horror. When Faith No More toured with L7, Patton defecated
into a carton of orange juice, resealed it, and put it in the band's
rider. A nice surprise no doubt for the band member that was unfortunate
enough to open it. He once even squashed excrement into a hotel hairdryer
and often claimed that the first band he was in was called 'Turd'.
The media jumped onto these stories and became fascinated with his
faeces obsession. The stories got so twisted that reports that he
was a 'shit eater' started to emerge and dogged the band for a number
of years. The band even joked about it in later years claiming that
the media would base their live show reviews on whether Patton ate
faeces or not.
10. SINEAD'S POPE MASSACRE - She may have been
one of the most successful artists in the year 1990 but things were
to turn sour for Sinead O'Connor just two years later. Booked to appear
as a musical guest on American TV show 'Saturday Night Live', O'Connor
was to perform the Bob Marley track 'War' - a song that said that
war was an appropriate response for victims of child abuse and other
cruelty. The song was performed without a hitch but it was her actions
right after the performance that caused eruptions right throughout
the world. She held up a colour photo of Pope John Paul II and then
proceeded to rip it to shreds in protest of the Catholic Church's
stance on abortion. If that wasn't enough, she then told the national
television audience that was watching to "fight the real enemy."
This outraged Catholic groups who called it patently offensive to
people of all religious beliefs. After receiving complaints from all
over the world, the performance was never aired again.
