# The Top Five Most Evil Musicians **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2014, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542 "2014-07-07T14:19:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/21 "2014-07-07T18:33:45Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Jimmy Webb and Richard Harris. 😃 > > Writer and singer-_Macarthur Park_ If we’re going _that_ route (crimes against the ear), then the top of the list must surely be occupied by the Sherman Brothers, composers of _It’s a Small World (After All)._ ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/22 "2014-07-07T18:54:13Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Do you really want to split this hair? It sounds like he copped a plea; that doesn’t mean the things he pled guilty to are the only things he did. > [@Kimstu](#): > > Missed this part, which I think is where the “baby rapist” epithet comes from: > > Moreover, Watkins [“admitted to the attempted rape of a baby”](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-25412675). “Baby rapist” doesn’t seem like an unwarrantable exaggeration here. I’m not defending the guy at all, just pointing out that, no, he’s technically not a rapist, just like O.J. Simpson isn’t a murderer. I think O.J. Simpson committed 2 murders, but if I were to publicly call him a murderer, I would be incorrect. Attempted rape isn’t rape. Attempted murder isn’t murder. It would be wrong to refer to someone who tried to become an airline pilot as an airline pilot. It would be wrong to refer to someone who has not finished medical school as “doctor”. Wouldn’t it? And really, **Marley** , is that your default view? I mean, we could say that about anyone and anything. Just because someone got a speeding ticket, that doesn’t mean they didn’t kill a family while driving drunk, right? MURDERER! :rolleyes: Is he vile? Disgusting? Warped beyond all ken? A pedohile? Remorseless? Dangerous? Abso-fucking-lutely. No argument. None at all. Keep his crazy locked away until he dies, IMO. But there’s no need to try and apply labels that simply can’t factually be justified. That’s all, and it’s only my opinion. If others are so disgusted or upset by his alleged actions that they want to excoriate him, I guess that’s their business; sorry to have been semantically pedantic. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/23 "2014-07-07T19:09:14Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > G.G. Allin was not so much a musician as a garden variety sicko heroin addict. There is nothing garden variety about [G.G. Allin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GG_Allin). G.G. started out as punk rocker with some decent (meaning pretty good) material, then devolved into…whatever it was he became. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/24 "2014-07-07T19:13:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I’m not defending the guy at all, just pointing out that, no, he’s technically not a rapist, just like O.J. Simpson isn’t a murderer. I think O.J. Simpson committed 2 murders, but if I were to publicly call him a murderer, I would be incorrect. No, you would not. You would be incorrect if you called OJ a convicted murderer because he wasn’t convicted. If your view is that he murdered two people, that’s a defensible opinion and it’s only wrong if he didn’t kill those people. And yes, I understand you’re not actually defending this horrible creep. I’m not saying you are. I am saying there’s no need to make the objection you were making because we don’t need to use those words in those restrictive ways. If I call someone a murderer, I’m saying he murdered someone - not that he was convicted of murder. Based on a really-quick-because-I-don’t-want-to-get-nauseated reading of the Watkins thing, it’s not unfair to say he raped a child. He just didn’t plead guilty to it. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/25 "2014-07-07T20:10:21Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > There is nothing garden variety about [G.G. Allin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GG_Allin). > > G.G. started out as punk rocker with some decent (meaning pretty good) material, then devolved into…whatever it was he became. I just read that Wikipedia page. What a sad, sad story. With that childhood, he never had a chance. It looks like his crimes against other people were a possible consensual sadomasocistic session with a woman, hitting a woman on the head when he threw a beer bottle off the stage, and throwing feces at his audience (don’t know that that’s a crime, and they probably knew to expect it). Disgusting, but not exactly evil. Self-mutilation and destruction is sick, but not evil. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/26 "2014-07-07T20:55:49Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Famed session drummer Jim Gordon (killed his mother) Gordon is severely schizophrenic and murdered his mother while under an illness-caused delusion. He lacks the mental competence to be considered truly “evil”. As for musicians who _are_ evil, I suppose you could always go with the various members of “White Power” or “Racist Rock” groups. However, they’re often so stupid and untalented that they’re more pathetic than evil. ---
**Author:** ![bldysabba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@bldysabba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bldysabba)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/27 "2014-07-07T21:28:09Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Chuck Berry (Voyeur and pervert convicted of filming women in rest room at his restaurant) Is there a term for how the word ‘evil’ has lost all meaning? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/28 "2014-07-07T21:31:34Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Gordon is severely schizophrenic and murdered his mother while under an illness-caused delusion. He lacks the mental competence to be considered truly “evil”. > > As for musicians who _are_ evil, I suppose you could always go with the various members of “White Power” or “Racist Rock” groups. However, they’re often so stupid and untalented that they’re more pathetic than evil. I didn’t know the details of Gordon’s crimes- if your account is accurate, this is a sad story of a very sick man, rather than a story of evil. I’m sure there are some truly despicable “white power” bands, but I’ve never heard of any of them, and few have attracted any kind of large audience. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/29 "2014-07-07T21:34:08Z")
There was an old-time country singer named Spade Cooley who beat his wife to death- trivia buffs often bring up the fact that he’d recorded a country hit called (no joke) “You Clobbered Me.” Beating a woman to death is evil. NOTHING Marilyn Manson (or Anton LaVey or even G.G. Allin) has ever done begins to approach that. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/30 "2014-07-07T21:40:05Z")
As Dave Chapelle could attest… Rick James was a pretty horrible human being. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/31 "2014-07-07T22:07:42Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > No, you would not. You would be incorrect if you called OJ a convicted murderer because he wasn’t convicted. If your view is that he murdered two people, that’s a defensible opinion and it’s only wrong if he didn’t kill those people. And yes, I understand you’re not actually defending this horrible creep. I’m not saying you are. I am saying there’s no need to make the objection you were making because we don’t need to use those words in those restrictive ways. If I call someone a murderer, I’m saying he murdered someone - not that he was convicted of murder. Based on a really-quick-because-I-don’t-want-to-get-nauseated reading of the Watkins thing, it’s not unfair to say he raped a child. He just didn’t plead guilty to it. Actually, he specifically denied it. I don’t know the case, only what I read at that link, but it does say he denied raping the child and the prosecution accepted his plea. \ To me, “murderer” is a concrete definition that requires a murder, same with “rapist”. “Jackass” is an opinion, “rapist” is fact. YMMV. I don’t seek to quibble with you, **Marley** , but you did challenge my statement and seem to want me to explain myself; that’s all I was trying to do. I hope I was able to do so to your satisfaction. ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/32 "2014-07-07T22:12:39Z")
I think that Roman emperor Nero would definitely be in the running. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/33 "2014-07-07T22:18:35Z")
1. Batshit crazy, but pretty evil. 2. Yup. 3. He likes to push buttons. But he’s hardly the worst in black metal. Hell, Euronymous, the guy that Vikernes killed, was shitty. Or Faust et al., who murdered a gay guy. Gaahl is incidentally quite gay and some in the scene could be hypermasculine. 4. Besides some bad covers, no. 5. He was also a piece of shit, but not evil. And his brand of Satanism was closer to Objectivism than the Devil. Which I’m not sure makes it any better! He’s often contrasted with Aleister Crowley - also a dick, but his legend is bigger than the truth. Phil Spector - murderer, probably somewhat crazy though. I don’t know enough about racist rock to know who is the worst/biggest influence. I’ll go with Ian Stuart Donaldson of Skrewdriver. It started as a standard punk band, but some members left and he eventually made it Nazi, thus giving the ex-members an uncomfortable gap to explain in their resumes. I think of Wagner like Gabriele D’Annunzio (not a musician) - both had unpleasant ideas, but they can be hardly blamed for evils that happened somewhat after their time (decades after his death, in Wagner’s case; almost 6 years before Hitler was a zygote). > [@astorian](#): > > As Dave Chapelle could attest… Rick James was a pretty horrible human being. Cocaine is a hell of a drug. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/34 "2014-07-08T00:18:23Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Beating a woman to death is evil. … Yep. Also: beating a man to death. Or a child. Or an animal. Pretty much the ‘beating to death’ thing is not really a virtuous act, any way you look at it. I’m surprised no one has mentioned Ted Nugent. Yeah, sure–politics. (Though is calling a mixed-race person a “mongrel” really a _political_ opinion? I’d think it would be more of a racist opinion, and not really, so much, a commentary on political positions or viewpoints.) [Outdoor Channel's Ted Nugent Says "Subhuman Mongrel" President Obama Should Be Convicted Of Treason | Media Matters for America](http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/01/21/outdoor-channels-ted-nugent-says-subhuman-mongr/197669) The thing is: ol’ Ted has, it would appear, done his best to rev up his none-too-bright fans to the point of doing violence, on more than one occasion. Here’s a link to one discussion of this: [Quote of the Day: Ted Nugent Threatens Barack Obama - The Atlantic](http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/04/quote-of-the-day-ted-nugent-threatens-barack-obama/256025/) Seems kind of evil to try to get other people to commit murder (neatly sidestepping responsibility for anything that may follow the ginnin’ up remarks). ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/35 "2014-07-08T01:25:50Z")
[Several musicians](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deal_with_the_Devil#Musicians) were rumored to have sold their souls to the Devil. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/36 "2014-07-08T01:54:13Z")
This afternoon this thread was right above the “yoko ono” thread. I have no problem with Yoko, but I thought that was pretty funny. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/37 "2014-07-08T02:04:31Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > If this was posted 20 years ago, it’d be Ozzy Osbourne and Judas Priest on that list, for about the same reasons. Pure tosh. … > [@johnpost](#): > > Alice Cooper > > glorifies death, executions, mutilations, dead babies > > but mostly > > he likes golf And if this had been forty years ago, you’d get the above. ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542/38 "2014-07-08T03:31:00Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > There was an old-time country singer named Spade Cooley who beat his wife to death- trivia buffs often bring up the fact that he’d recorded a country hit called (no joke) “You Clobbered Me.” Along the same lines, blues guitarist Pat Hare recorded a song called “I’m Gonna Murder My Baby.” In 1963, he fatally shot his girlfriend and spent the rest of his life in prison. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-five-most-evil-musicians/692542.md?page=1)