SPRAY COUNTDOWN: Real Bad Boys Of Music
Then buzz it up
February 8th, 2008 at 13:00 by David Schwartz
Forget Liam Gallagher or Pete Doherty, meet the real bad boys of music.
Murderers, rapists and gun-toting maniacs, they make a night throwing TVs out of hotel windows look like a party at the Women's Institute. These are the people you really would not want to meet down a dark alley, just in case you got a Stratocaster wrapped around your head.
6. Jim Gordon
The former drummer of Derek and the Dominoes co-wrote Layla with Eric Clapton. He also murdered his mother in 1983 believing she was Satan (the one with horns, not Clapton). Thankfully, he is still locked up.
5. Spade Cooley
The self-dubbed 'King of Western Swing' killed his wife in 1961 after kicking her to death in front of his teenage daughter. Her crime? She wanted a divorce. He died of a heart attack soon after.
4. Hugh Whitaker
It's always the quiet ones. Looking at him, the former drummer of the Housemartins looks like he wouldn't say boo to a goose. He even took being sacked from the Hull-based group in good spirits. But something snapped in 1993, when he firebombed the house of former business associate James Hewitt and hit him in the head with an axe. Whitaker has since been released from prison and now lives in Leeds, where he occasionally drums with a local band called Percy.
3. Varg Vikernes
Norwegian Vikernes is described as 'the most notorious metal musician of all time'. And with good reason, the man behind black metal band Burzum was caged in 1993 for murdering Mayhem's Oystein Aarseth – a former associate. The reason behind the murder is still not clear. Before his spell in jail, he regularly enjoyed church burning. He is due for parole in April.
2. Jah Cure
The baddest of all reggae stars, Cure was jailed in 1999 for 15 years after raping a woman at gunpoint. He has since been released but was refused entry into the UK last year due to his criminal conviction.
1. Leadbelly
The original bad boy, controversial Blues star Leadbelly spent most of life in and out of prison. He was first jailed as an unruly teenager in 1918 for assaulting 'a truculent Dallas prostitute'. It wasn't long before he was back in the clink, this time for gunning down one of his own relatives. He was given a 35 years, but was let out after just two – allegedly because the governor liked his music so much. But he was jailed again in 1930 – this time for assault with intent to murder – and then again in 1939 for assault.
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February 9th, 2008 at 1:43 am
No Big Lurch?
February 9th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Let’s not forget about Charles Manson who co-wrote many Beach Boys Songs and was about to sign a recording contract before the famous helter skelter incident.
February 9th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
No Charles Manson? :/
February 9th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Wow, Spade Cooley killed his wife AFTER he kicked her to death?
February 9th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Varg also broke out of prison and evaded police for a day or two. When the police finally caught up with him they found him with a trunk full of guns and swords.
February 9th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Honestly, you left G.G. Allin off this list? Are you kidding?
February 9th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
What a shit-list! What about Jerry Lee Lewis, James Brown et al? There are a couple of hundred people you could have included here. Music journalism is easy as fuck to write but yous cunts have cobbled together a list in 5 minutes. Do yourself a favour and close this site down. It wasted my time.
February 9th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I’d have to agree with the above comment- I had never heard of Big Lurch but a quick Wikipedia search shows that he MURDERED AND ATE PARTS OF A FEMALE ACQUAINTANCE while high on PCP. Holy shit!
February 9th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Real Bad Boys Of Music…
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February 9th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
what about Champion Jack Dupree? if we’re going to allow blues singers in here - this guy is number-fucking-one!
February 9th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Or Charles Manson?
February 9th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
No mention of Mayhem, the only band I know of that killed each other, made necklaces of out of skull fragments, ATE EACH OTHERS’ BRAINS?
February 9th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Hail Varg Vikernes
February 9th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
what about chuckles manson? he was a musician ( kinda ) and he seems a bit worse for wear than leadbelly
February 9th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
No Darby Crash?
February 9th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Oh, and G.G. Allin should be #1, hands down - don’t even try and debate that
February 10th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Another vote for GG Allin. Jah Cure raped somebody? GG Allin ate his own shit on stage. That’s a whole ‘nother league of badness.
February 10th, 2008 at 5:13 am
“Let’s not forget about Charles Manson who co-wrote many Beach Boys Songs”
Dennis Wilson did hang out with Manson a lot, and they recorded one song of his, “Cease to Exist.” I think your overstating the case a bit. Unless one is many. And the jury’s still out as to whether Manson is a musician.
February 10th, 2008 at 6:19 am
G.G. Allin, totally. And Ghaal from Gorgoroth. He tried to murder a whole film crew, and I heard he skull-fucked a kitten one time.
February 10th, 2008 at 8:35 am
g.g. was notorious and probably should be on this list, but he never actually MURDERED anybody.
but Leadbelly did. several times. and sometimes with his BARE HANDS.
as for manson, he didn’t commit those murders himself. his cult did. he was never present during the massacre. look it up. that and he’s more known for being manson than actually being a musician.
one other note that the article left out… jim gordon used an axe on his mother.
that’s damn creepy.
February 10th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Wot? No Sid Vicious? way to break up with your girlfriend. Did anyone mention Charles Manson?
February 10th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
[...] Murderers, rapists and gun-toting maniacs, they make a night throwing TVs out of hotel windows look like a party at the Women’s Institute. These are the people you really would not want to meet down a dark alley, just in case you got a Stratocaster wrapped around your head. [link] [...]
February 12th, 2008 at 12:30 am
While Charles Manson may not be at all well-known for being a musician, I think his cult and his crimes kind of make him qualify for a “Top Ten Bad Boys” list of anything he was ever remotely connected with.
February 13th, 2008 at 12:56 am
+1 for Champion Jack.
February 15th, 2008 at 7:50 am
[...] Murderers, rapists, errrr, church burners! Forget Pete Doherty! These are the real bad boys of music.What? No Justin Timberlake?…View Full Story [...]
February 19th, 2008 at 5:57 am
i’m sure there were wandering minstrel murderers back in the day that would beat the pants off these guys.
never heard of them? that’s ’cause they were THAT GOOD
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:21 pm
[...] read more | digg story [...]
April 27th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
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