Sure, you could torpedo your chances for a place in the rock’n'roll pantheon with drugs, alcohol and your choice of sexually transmitted diseases. But where’s the fun in that? The following bands found new and interesting ways to bring that dreaded day job a little too close for comfort.
Sabotaged by: Music Video
Boston rocker Billy Squier was the lone hard rocker still charting when synthesizers and drum machines crowded everything else out of 80′s radio. With the excellent “Don’t Say No” and “Emotions in Motion” already under his belt, record executives were salivating over the chance to market his 1984 album “Signs of Life”. For the music video of the leadoff single “Rock Me Tonight”, they convinced him to dance on a bed wearing a pink tank top. The album sold gangbusters but the video lost Squier his fan base–as well it should (his dancing was compared to a French pastry chef whose souffle had fallen). The shame of it was that in concert, Billy just strapped on a Telecaster and ROCKED. Subsequent albums predictably fizzled. The rather un-masculine video clip is above.
Sabotaged by: Japan
After three critically acclaimed/poor selling albums, Cheap Trick was ready to launch their best record with “Dream Police”. But then their quickie live set in Tokyo went uber-platinum. Shelved for a year, “Dream Police” sold well when it saw the light of day, but critics complained the band had abandoned their Budakon sound (even though the concerts were recorded AFTER Dream Police was already in the can). Desperate for another hit, record executives paired the band with producer after producer, even though nobody knew why the live album sold when the studio versions didn’t. The band tried to sue their way free and received a package in the mail. It was their ass. The A&R boys called the shots from then on, so you can thank them for “The Flame”. Only after their contract expired did Trick get their edge back on “Cheap Trick ’97″ and “Rockford”, both on independent labels.
Sabotaged by: Trash Talk
Quiet Riot has the dubious honor to be the very first heavy metal band to score a top ten hit with a cover of Slade’s “Cum On Feel the Noize”. But they’d shot their wad creatively, having to release ANOTHER Slade cover as a follow-up. The band probably could have weathered this, but when lead singer Kevin DuBrow insulted the more popular and (I can’t believe I’m writing this) more talented Motley Crue, he angered fans on all sides. Heavy metal found its first pariah in a movement supposedly populated by outcasts. Oh, the angst!
Sabotaged by: Reality Television
Oh, he’s all warm and fuzzy now, but back in the day Ozzy was a bat-biting, ant-eating, dove-killing badass backed by guitar whiz Randy Roads on “Crazy Train”, “Over the Mountain”, and “Flying High Again”. But by letting MTV into his LA mansion (instead of the creepy dungeon we all pictured him in), Ozzy cashed the last of his credibility in for a permanent Trivial Pursuit mention and assloads of cash.
Sabotaged by: Napster
As file sharing made anonymous, consequence-free theft easier than copping a squat, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich stood up for musicians by refusing to sell Metallica content digitally. Musicians applauded the stand, but the fan base saw Metallica as out of date and hypocritical, since mix tape trading was largely responsible for Metallica’s getting noticed by the major labels. It took five years and group therapy before the band recovered most of its reputation. Long time readers of Listverse will well know how hated the band is here.
Sabotaged by: Urban Legend
You know the one, don’t you? Sure you do. About how Rod Stewart had to have his stomach pumped because he had a gallon of human semen in it. Regardless of which way Rod swings, he claims his career was unaffected. For the record, Rod later married model Rachel Hunter, and she’s Stacy’s Mom (who definitely has it goin’ on). Incidentally, the same urban legend has also been applied to Elton John, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Jon Bon Jovi, Alanis Morissette, Britney Spears, and Lil’ Kim.
Sabotaged by: Jesus
In a press interview, John Lennon made a cynical off-the-cuff remark that the Beatlemania had made his band “more popular than Jesus now”. The backlash was instantaneous and resulted in mass record burnings and protests. Management quickly scheduled a press conference, and Lennon recanted according to a script we’re all too familiar with these days. Me? I think Jesus let him off with a warning.
Sabotaged by: Yoko Ono- NOT
Bands have always had to tolerate the singer’s girlfriend, but damn, this was The Beatles. Post Yoko, the rift between John and Paul grew unbreachable, leading to the group’s demise before they could get old and start sucking. Wait…
Sabotaged by: Marriage
Just as his star was burning brightest (“Whole Lotta Shakin Goin’ On and Great Balls of Fire were established hits), Jimmy Swaggart’s cousin Jerry Lee Lewis had the brainstorm that marrying his thirteen-year old cousin was a really good idea. As you can imagine, it was career suicide, but it’s hard to appreciate how much of an outrage it must have been in the 1950′s. Let’s try: today, Marilyn Manson can vivsect a leopard seal in a gradeschool crosswalk and nobody bats an eye. But we all still abhor Jerry Lee Lewis. Yeah. It’s that bad.
Sabotaged by: Plastic Surgery
How bad must you be to beat Jerry Lee Lewis in a creep-out contest? Try cosmetic surgeries numbered in scientific notation, resulting in a bleached, noseless rictus that makes the old guy from Poltergeist 2 look huggable. And if that doesn’t seal the deal, throw in cash settlements for pedophilia charges and dangle a blindfolded baby out a window. At his obese and addicted worst, Elvis looks angelic next to this abomination of too much fame, money, and wasted talent.
micheal jackson creeps me out. he’s a surgery addict, he’s going to keep finding things to change. i think.
ozzy is still cool!
Agree with Jacko being number one – creepy
i thought that jacko was the king of pop, not a rock act at all?
Michael J. number 1 indeed…
why was jacko allowed to keep his kids? if there was all that stuff about peadophilia and he was doing stuff like dangle his kids out of windows? surely hes an unfit father?
Never heard about that urban legend with Rod Stewart before!
But I must say that those who hate Metallica deserve such urban legend applied to them!!
Yes, thats right… I said it!!
I agree with nipper, I don’t think Michael Jackson belongs on a rock acts list…even though he certainly is more creepy than all the other on the list..
I suspected that MJ would be number 1 – cool list
lol skin disease my ass!
You should make another one with more modern acts, though that’s basically all of them nowadays.. It’s just that they don’t care or are too stupid to realise it.
Pretty good list all in all. I remember the Metallica / Napster deal. Good stuff.
At the end of the day though, I still listen to Michael Jackson. Not an everyday thing, but I can play a lot of his music and enjoy it. Nothing against his cases, surgeries, short-comings, yadda, yadda, his music is still good.
Thriller gets a lot of play from me. Love it.
I got all my Michael Jackson on Napster
how bout lane staley ruining it with drugs? a real waste
On one of the “I Love the ’70′s” shows they were talking about Yoko Ono and Tom Arnold said that he knows what it’s like being in a celebrity relationship and that everything that goes wrong gets blamed on the less talented.
Along with some of the other posters, I still listen to Michael Jackson. Just the Thriller and Bad albums, but they are still good albums. I just try to disassociate the pedophiliac white woman from the black man that I’m listening to who’s on the covers of the albums.
Please, get your facts straight about Michael Jackson.
The reason his skin has changed from black to white is very simple, yet incredibly unknown, even though it’s on his Wikipedia article. Michael Jackson is a sufferer of vitiligo and lupus. Both illnesses make him sensitive to sunlight, and the treatments he uses for his condition further lighten his skin tone, and, with the application of pancake makeup to even out blotches, he can appear very pale.
Concerning the pedophilia charges, I will quote directly from Wikipedia:
Jackson was accused of child *****ual abuse by a 13-year-old child named Jordan Chandler and his father Evan Chandler.[78] The friendship between Jackson and Evan Chandler broke down. Sometime afterward, Evan Chandler was tape-recorded saying amongst other things, “If I go through with this, I win big-time. There’s no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever…Michael’s career will be over”.[79] A year after they had met, under the influence of a controversial sedative, Jordan Chandler told his father that Jackson had touched his penis.[80] Evan Chandler and Jackson, represented by their legal teams, then engaged in unsuccessful negotiations to resolve the issue in a financial settlement; the negotiations were initiated by Chandler but Jackson did make several counter offers. Jordan Chandler then told a psychiatrist and later police that he and Jackson had engaged in acts of kissing, ***** and oral *****, as well as giving a detailed description of what he alleged were the singer’s genitals.[81]
An official investigation began, with Jordan Chandler’s mother adamant that there was no wrongdoing on Jackson’s part. Neverland Ranch was searched; multiple children and family members strongly denied that he was a pedophile.[81] Jackson’s image took a further turn for the worse when his older sister La Toya Jackson accused him of being a pedophile, a statement she later retracted.[82] Jackson agreed to a 25-minute strip search, conducted at his ranch. The search was required to see if a description provided by Jordan Chandler was accurate. Doctors concluded that there were some strong similarities, but it was not a definitive match.[82] Jackson made an emotional public statement on the events; he proclaimed his innocence, criticized what he perceived as biased media coverage and told of his strip search.[78]
Please, get your facts straight about someone before you place them on a list.
Since when is Wikipedia considered to be credible?
Cool list!
13. Equinox : This list is about destroyed reputations, facts don’t really matter, just what everyone thinks about these people is what is important – and I must say that MJ deserved #1 for that, definitely… And IMO the vitiligo thing is a bit smelly, I don’t notice anyone else who has it that is affected as severely as Michael, just pointing it out *cough* full of sh*t *cough*, excuse me, I have a cold
Funnily enough I always thought – being only a youngin’ – that Ozzy trying to kill his wife was what destroyed his rep. I mean, if you get high enough to kill all of your pets, how many fans are you going to have left?
I think plastic surgery is the least of Michael Jackson’s problems.
@jfrater if you’re around; could you please reply to my email. Thanks
Haha his nose cracks me up! Lol
Ryan – I don’t have an email from you – try frater at gmail
How about Judas Priest… ruining it with his “gayness”!!!
Here are some of the lyrics from JUDAS PRIEST`S songs "The mirror on the ceiling was reflecting and collecting all the heavy bodies trapped in leather straining for some action… this scene has screwed me up," etc.
He also mentions FIRE ISLAND?! Hello- for those who don`t know, Fire Island is a gay hot spot. The references were always there, Rob said so himself – they always rocked regardless.
I was kind of expecting to see Guns ‘N’ Roses on the list. Either from the loss of Slash, or more importantly the amount of time it took to release Chinese Democracy. Both points have made them more of a joke punchline.
Fun list though.
@19. Travis
Judas Priest was really popular because of his “gayness”. Since it was the leather, at the time a gay thing, that made them so popular. Besides, him coming out didn’t really lose them any fans, no one cares that much.
@Trigun472 : OH yeah lets sing songs for satan worshipers and bikers and then go to jimmy choos to buy the new sandals!! Thats some credentials for ya!!
In Oz at least, Cheap Trick were one of the first touring bands to be pinged for lip-synching/taped music, I don’t think they’ve recovered here from that, even though it was from back in the late 70s.
That seemed to be Robert Plants plan right? Funny the classic rock guys that seem so straight, dress so feminine. Then
Halford and Mercury who dresses in leather and is seen as so straight turns out to be gay.
I’d never heard the Rod Stewart one but it sounds rancid lol
& the Jerry Lee Lewis/thirteen-year-old cousin thing? Just pure gross… even grosser than the thought of a gallon of human semen sitting in somebody’s stomach…
I do laugh at him a lot but I do find myself feeling sorry for Michael Jackson…
I mean yeah, saying you share your bed with young boys, mangling your own face and dangling your baby over a balcony are definately not some of the best decisions ever made.
But I don’t believe he molested any kids.
And that really is one of the worst things you can be accused of.
But yeah, a lot of things he brought upon himself…
*****y list as always
Still keeping my free periods at college interesting.
Much love
xxx
PS – Don’t tell Metallica but I downloaded the whole of Death Magnetic a few months ago.
Don’t think they’d be best pleased.
Seriously though suing Napster was really *****ting on their own doorstep.
That Billy Squier video was BAAAAAAAAAADDDD!!!
Ohhh Metallica…they sound good, but they are hypocrites, what with the mixed tape thing. Pretty much all metal bands had to do that when the genre first came out.
And I thought being in a band was about the music, not the money?
I lurve this list. Almost every one brought up a memory. 10: Who? (hahahahahahahah), 9: Poor Cheap Trick, they had so much potential. I used to listen to “Lap of Luxury” nonstop as a kid. 8: They still have street cred. 7: I kept hearing about the Osbornes, tuned in, and the first thing I see is him drooling on a loaf of bread. Sad, sad, sad. 6: They delay the inevitable. Don’t tell me their concerts aren’t profitable, why such a wah fest? They can’t be as upset as the regular record exec, surely. 5: I heard that rumor, but about David Bowie. Best part? Didn’t stop me from loving his music. Hunky Dory can beat most modern records with a crudely shaped spoon. The liner notes are a bunch of the gayest shots you’ll see, and I don’t give a sh*t. Bowie is a god. 4: … but they were! 3: Ev’rybody’s talkin’ ’bout
Revolution, Evolution, *****, Flagellation, Regulation, Integrations, mediations, United Nations, congratulations… All we are saying is give peace a chance. 2: It’s a bit creepy, but a young Winona Ryder makes it more bearable, and that’s the first I’d heard of it. 1: His fans are not normal fans. Be afraid.
Also: 13. Equinox: Wow. Denial is not a river in Egypt.
18. jfrater: Hi. Be grateful, for I had a large amount of material ready to submit when my comp crashed, erasing everything. What did I do first? Try to email you about it. I’ve thought better of it now, and you are one less drunken email.
20. Trigun472 Here, here! Except the long awaited Chinese Democracy blew.
I was expecting to see an April Fools list today…Good stuff nonetheless.
I love Ozzy, but I couldn’t stand watching that bloody tv-show. Whatever makes Sharon and their two rotund kids “stars” has got to to be wrong. Still, he got a bundle for the trouble.
This Billy Squier guy did what everyone did in the 80′s, I think. Everything went downhill for 10 or so years, before good old rock n roll came back. Who can blame him for trying to fit in in the landslide ?
Metallica is a band I’ve never understood, really. Boring rock, boring guys, just plain boring.
Jackson is the obvious choice for number 1. That guy has been so weird for such a long time, people just don’t bother to bat an eye any more.
i’m not taking Metallica’s side… coz I download everything too… but one must understand their point of view… imagine someone came up to you and said well we’re gonna take 25% of your earnings cos ppl are sharing stuff you made… f*ck I’d get *****ed off too!
The only thing that EVER sabotaged the Beatles was breaking up. They were untouchable by anything but themselves.
#4, The Beatles/Jesus controversy is stated a little inaccurately, but I understand your point. However it actually happened, it was a serious blow to their Midas touch. My big sister gathered every Beatles item we had in our home (Beatle boots, Beatle dolls, Beatle lunchboxes, Beatle posters, Beatle LP’s and 45′s, etc.) and sent them to a Birmingham radio station in 1966 to be burned.
Oh, the humanity!
warrrreagl (34) – Lol owned. That stuff would be worth a fortune now.
i love mj
warrrrrr…Beatles the flamethrower?
I’m gonna go run and hide under my chair after saying this, because it’s not even close to rock, but Britney Spears did some major damage to her career. I still like her though.
Yeah, MJ doesn’t belong on this list of ROCKstars.
Perhaps another one could be made about pop music? You could put Britney Spears on there too.
Metallica was cool when I was in elementry school 20 years ago, they lost it before napster when they released the load album and cut their hair.
@ 13 Mr. or Mrs. Jackson your first paragraph proved you wrong, because it´s never Lupus!
On the other hand MJ didn´t do anything worthwhile in about a decade beside riding the courtcircus, yet he´s still debated without having to remind everyone who he is, which means he´s still got to have something going for him in some way…
Have heard and am aware of all of these, but a good write up on them. For anyone that needs further proof that Metallica is a bunch of whiny, pretentious a-holes, just (try to) sit through their embarrassing moments on Some Kind Of Monster. I lost all respect for them (Lars whining that they 4 bars that he played which will be sampled, cut and pasted for the entire song was too difficult), and was told that he needs to practice it so that he can actually perform it live).
Sorry to thread jack, but we’re trying to do a Listverse version of a Flashmob on the Listverse Forum.click the link at the top of the page and come on over……..whooo hooo.
we now return you to your regularly scheduled programming
lets just get one thing straight, according to most music establishments (the grammys included) Acts like Minivinili (or however you spell that ridiculous mess), britney spears or indeed Micheal Jackson are considered Rock and roll. I personally consider these pop music, but It is not technically wrong to call such acts “Rock and roll”.
For the list, I don’t feel the reputation for the beateles was destroyed per se, but I feel that John was on to something that made overly fake religious types (my sentimate towards people who practice organized religion in this day and age) feel uncomfortable about themselves. Before that statement you could sell just about anything by slapping their mugs on it. Could you really do that with Jesus? I doubt it…
Glad MJ is #1…what a sick guy. (I still like his music though)
Theft? What exactly was stolen with Napster? Do tell.
37. callie_
Come out from under that chair! How dare you soil this thread with the BS.
– you must not have seen the clip I saw on the news this a.m. Dressed like a circus freak and the thunder thighs – she continues destroying her “career” har har
this list reads funny…too many cliches…
“The band tried to sue their way free and received a package in the mail. It was their ass.”
“But they’d shot their wad creatively”
“easier than copping a squat”
hmmm…not a bad list overall…but maybe not written as well as it could be…
rtr
Tex~
what’s wrong with thunder thighs? i have thunder thighs-if I where to clap them over your ears, you’d hear my thunder!
“leave Brittany alone”
hee hee…what a study in American life she is…
heres another one, Mr Bungle’s career getting ruined because of their feud with Anthony Keidis of Red Hot chilli peppers
great list!
I love The Beatles. I don’t think their reputation is ruined…
Although, to be fair, I wasn’t even born back then, so I may have missed something
48. rtr
bring em on – near suffocation in that fashion is nothing new to me!
Actually the BS was performing near here recently and they were showing footage – she does a Cirque rip off in a Ring Masters get-up – paaathetic.
omy thought Billy Squier was going to turn into Olivia Newton John. Not too long after this video…. rockers started wearing tighter pants to show of all curves … and more makeup than the wonderful drag queens….im sure some thnx will go to Billy for his impersonation of the sissiest man in the world.
A little real life experience – # 9
Went to see Blondie and someone else, Rockpile I think, anyway opening act, out walks Cheap Trick. No one I know had ever heard of them, fruity looking bunch. I mean
they didn’t really match up with the crowd. And man they were pushing themselves, doing really stupid looking crap on stage – and their promoter/***** was doing everything to sell them to a crowd that was not buying – gave out these little black Frisbees with a cheap trick sticker on them. Long story short – after about 10 minutes
a couple of the gimme discs start flying on the stage – 10 minutes later the band was dodging them as fast as they could duck – crowd shouting “CHEAP TRICK -
CHEAP TRICK “ and they weren’t referring to the bands name – I swear they cut the set two songs short and left, the crowd was laughing their asses off. .
This list is missing one of the biggest falls from rock grace -
Styx!!!!
They really screwed the pooch when the did their “Mr. Roboto”
tour. It was plain bad and nowheres near “Tommy” from The Who which they were trying to copy. (along with a little Queens- Night at the opera)
All in all tho an excellent list!
Hey JayK,
Just how do you “breach a rift”? (#3)
I’m with rtr here. I noticed throughout the list some crude cliches thrown in (for humor?). I’m not really prudish, but it just seemed out of place for listverse. More like a Cracked article.
13. Equinox: Please. First of all, the author’s main point was about the overabundance of plastic surgery he’s had. That alone would have damaged his career. True or not, those child molestation charges and his poor interactions with his children have all but nullified his fan base. To be honest with you, I don’t believe the lupus/vetiligo story. My brother has vitiligo. He’s had it for almost 10 years and it never spread. He just has it on the upper and side corner of the right side of his mouth. He’s well adjusted and doesn’t need pancake makeup to cover things up.
I do understand where Metallica is coming from, but my opinion would differ. Some day I will sell lots of my books. Someone will ask me, “How do you feel about people ripping off the covers and stealing them?” or “How do you feel about people copying the text and putting it on the internet?”. I will answer, “I feel great- people are reading my works.”
what about bowie and george michaels *****uality?
ummmmmm….I dont think that George Michaels is rock
51. Gina, although the overall legacy of The Beatles looks all shiny and pretty after almost 40 years since they broke up, they almost came unglued in 1966 with the fallout from John’s Jesus quote. For the first time since hitting it big, they didn’t sell out concerts in 1966 and had to cancel a lot of gigs because of death threats and protest marches about the Jesus quote. Everything they’d ever attempted between 1964 and 1966 turned to absolute GOLD, but this was the first crack in the facade.
Of course, they responded by giving up touring, retreating into the safety of the studios, growing up, and giving birth to a totally new direction in pop music.