# Best Rock-N-Roll Urban Legends **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2010, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982 "2010-10-13T12:01:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/21 "2010-10-13T17:08:51Z")
The lyrics to “Louie, Louie” are dirty. “Stairway to Heaven” includes backwards Satanic messages. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/22 "2010-10-13T17:10:20Z")
The story that “Mama” Cass Elliot choked to death on a ham sandwich. The autopsy found that she died from a heart attack and the coroner found no food in her trachea. The story got started because the police found a partially eaten sandwich in her flat and speculated she choked on it before the autopsy was carried out. Also, Cass was Jewish, and according to her sister, she followed Jewish dietary restrictions, so that made the belief that she was eating a ham sandwich highly suspect in her mind. Four years later, the Who’s Keith Moon died in the same flat. True story. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/23 "2010-10-13T17:17:53Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > I’ve always been suspicious of the Ozzy and the bat story. How does someone who’s done that much drugs and alcohol have such a perfect recollection of the event all these years later? Ozzy tells the story with air of someone who no longer remembers the actual event, but has the story memorized. Why the hell would someone bring a _live bat_ to a rock concert? How could they get it in and carry it around without a single person from staff or security noticing? I’ve seen some crazy stuff at concerts, but come on! “Excuse me sir, you seem to have a large wriggling mammal under your shirt” Why would someone bring a live _lamb_ to a rock concert, let alone present it to Jim Morrison? Yet we have photographic evidence that it happened. The Alice Cooper story, the way he tells it, is that someone gave him a live chicken, which he tossed into the audience. The audience proceeded to tear the unfortunate bird in pieces. Coop says that he assumed chickens could fly. (He neglected to preface his remarks with “As God is my witness…”) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/24 "2010-10-13T17:20:53Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Phil Rizzuto claims he didn’t know what the hell was going on when he recorded the announcer’s parts in Meat Loaf’s “Paradise By The Dashboard Light.” Meat Loaf says he knw exactly what the story was. Rizzuto did deny he knew what he was saying, but he’s not saying anything about it these days: he died three years ago. Anyway I believe Meat Loaf’s version of the story. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/25 "2010-10-13T17:45:58Z")
[Was Mr. Greenjeans Frank Zappa’s father?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/375/was-mr-greenjeans-frank-zappas-father) ---
**Author:** ![Yodalicious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yodalicious/32/8195_2.png) [@Yodalicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yodalicious)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/26 "2010-10-13T19:50:59Z")
Marilyn Manson had his lower ribs removed so he could blow himself on stage. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/27 "2010-10-13T19:54:38Z")
(Insert guitarist here) started playing the day Jimi Hendrix died. I’ve seen this claimed several times. I’m beginning to doubt it, to be honest. ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/28 "2010-10-13T20:24:24Z")
> [@Daddypants](#): > > Marilyn Manson had his lower ribs removed so he could blow himself on stage. And he’s also the kid that played Paul on _The Wonder Years_. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/29 "2010-10-13T20:56:12Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > The lyrics to “Louie, Louie” are dirty. > “Stairway to Heaven” includes backwards Satanic messages. The whole Satanic backwards message thing, PLUS that master tapes are “blessed” in occultic ceremonies so that copies printed off have spirits accompanying them. Of course, the last was an outright lie from the late ex-Illuminati hoaxster John Todd and passed on by his stooge Jack T. Chick. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/30 "2010-10-13T21:56:14Z")
Ozzy was so angry when Randy Rhodes announced his intention to leave the band that Ozzy put a satanic curse on Rhodes, which resulted in the plane crash that killed Rhodes. Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, and Tupac Shakur have all been rumored to have faked their own deaths. Courtney Love had Kurt Cobain murdered so he couldn’t divorce her and kick her off the gravy train. ---
**Author:** ![Fair\_Rarity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fair_rarity/32/153_2.png) [@Fair\_Rarity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fair_Rarity)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/31 "2010-10-13T22:32:55Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, and Tupac Shakur have all been rumored to have faked their own deaths. Stephen King swears he saw Jim Morrison after he died. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/32 "2010-10-13T22:33:49Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > > [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](#): > > > > Rod Stweart being rushed offstage directly to the hospital with a stomach so full of semen it required pumping? (No, it isn’t true) > > Also “credited” to Elton John, among others. And the version going around my high school was that it was Elton John’s semen that was pumped out of Rod Stewart’s stomach. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/33 "2010-10-13T23:26:21Z")
> [@D18](#): > > > [@Marley23](#): > > > > Also “credited” to Elton John, among others. > > And the version going around my high school was that it was Elton John’s semen that was pumped out of Rod Stewart’s stomach. I’ve heard this one about Kurt Cobain (found in his autopsy) and Lil’ Kim (after a night out with Puffy and Biggie), as well. This is one urban legend that gets around, eh? Not so much an urban legend as a bizarre coincidence: the large number of rock musicians who died at the age of 27 or 28. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/34 "2010-10-13T23:53:14Z")
The guy that played the piano track for BTO’s _Takin’ Care of Business_ just happened by the studio to [deliver pizzas](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/tcob.asp). ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/35 "2010-10-14T02:17:59Z")
Joan Jett was really a man and her real name was John Jett. Popular tale around '82. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/36 "2010-10-14T04:30:45Z")
Stevie Nicks supposedly blew out her nasal passages through cocaine abuse. So she would have one of her roadies inhale a straw full of cocaine and blow it up her vagina so she could get high. Amazingly, I read an profile on Nicks where the writer interviewed Nicks, repeated this story to her and asked for her comments on it. She left the room without responding. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/37 "2010-10-14T05:24:04Z")
> [@Ruby Sees](#): > > > [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > > > Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison, and Tupac Shakur have all been rumored to have faked their own deaths. > > Stephen King swears he saw Jim Morrison after he died. [Stephen King killed John Lennon](http://www.lennonmurdertruth.com/killersface.asp) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/38 "2010-10-14T08:16:37Z")
> [@Apocalypso](#): > > I’ve always been suspicious of the Ozzy and the bat story. How does someone who’s done that much drugs and alcohol have such a perfect recollection of the event all these years later? Ozzy tells the story with air of someone who no longer remembers the actual event, but has the story memorized. Why the hell would someone bring a _live bat_ to a rock concert? How could they get it in and carry it around without a single person from staff or security noticing? I’ve seen some crazy stuff at concerts, but come on! “Excuse me sir, you seem to have a large wriggling mammal under your shirt” I’ve taken my ferret to rock concerts. Nobody noticed me sneaking her in. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/39 "2010-10-14T08:20:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Stevie Nicks supposedly blew out her nasal passages through cocaine abuse. So she would have one of her roadies inhale a straw full of cocaine and blow it up her vagina so she could get high. > > Amazingly, I read an profile on Nicks where the writer interviewed Nicks, repeated this story to her and asked for her comments on it. She left the room without responding. Well, the first part of the claim is more or less true: she did end up with a damaged nasal septum due to years of cocaine use. I’ve read interviews where she has discussed this. But I’ve never heard the second part, and agree this sounds like something invented. ---
**Author:** ![Cinnamon\_Imp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@Cinnamon\_Imp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cinnamon_Imp)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982/40 "2010-10-14T08:53:24Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Well, the first part of the claim is more or less true: she did end up with a damaged nasal septum due to years of cocaine use. I’ve read interviews where she has discussed this. But I’ve never heard the second part, and agree this sounds like something invented. I’ve heard the second part attributed to Madonna, but it was being blown up her rectum, FWIW. With a golden straw, I think 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-rock-n-roll-urban-legends/556982.md?page=3)