Bands with Massive Controversies
With this list, we’ll be looking at massive controversies that have either defined a band or have been brought up in conversations about said bands.
Lostprophets were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, Wales formed in 1997. Founded by lead vocalist and lyricist Ian Watkins, bassist Mike Lewis, drummer Mike Chiplin and guitarist Lee Gaze, they were originally a side-project to hardcore punk band Public Disturbance. In 2013, welsh nu-metal group Lostprophets had to break up following reports that Ian Watkins, the lead singer, committed multiple child sex offenses. He was found to be in possession of multiple pieces of child porn, and had asked a woman for sex with her infant daughter.
Pedophile
Marilyn Manson is an American rock band from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Formed in 1989 by frontman Marilyn Manson and Daisy Berkowitz, the group was originally named Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids with their theatrical performances gathering a local cult following in the early 1990s.
The name of the band comes from famous sex symbol Marilyn Monroe and famous criminal Charles Manson. Manson joined these two names together because he wanted a name combined with good (Monroe) and evil (Manson). The other members of the band have their stage names combined with the first names of famous sex symbols and the last names of famous serial killers. Manson and his posse were already the scapegoat of everything wrong with American youth by those on the right side of the aisle, but the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School cemented their place in infamy for years to come.
How?
Manson was blamed for causing the shooting with his band’s lyrics.
This guy has been blamed for the Columbine High School Shootings.
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles formed in 1985. The classic lineup, as signed to Geffen Records in 1986, consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. Apart from hard rock they are also associated with heavy metal. ...read more. Guns and roses has had many controversies over the years. One of the first ones was the usage of the N-word in the song ‘One In a Million’. Then there was the St. Louis riot, in which Axl Rose assaulted a fan with a camera, the Montreal riot, which Axl caused after showing up late and cutting Guns N' Roses’s set short after co-headliners Metallica had already cut their set short due to a freak accident, the firing/quitting of all members (except for Axl), and even Axl’s brief outright ban of ANYTHING Slash or Velvet Revolver from his shows.
Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo, regarded as one of the pioneers of the Norwegian black metal scene. The band is also known for the infamous events surrounding them including the 1991 suicide of vocalist Dead (in which former guitarist Euronymous took pictures of Dead's corpse and used one of them as the front cover for one of their live albums) and the 1993 murder of Euronymous by former member Varg Vikernes, of Burzum. Euronymous and his black metal group, Mayhem, were infamous for many reasons, but I’m going to focus on one of them: Dawn of the Black Hearts.
Dead, the band’s lead vocalist (real name Per Yngve Ohlin), committed suicide in 1991, and his body was found by Euronymous (real name Øystein Aarseth). Euronymous then proceeded to further mutilate his bandmate’s body and take photos of the carnage. One of which would be used for the 1995 bootleg live album ‘Dawn of the Black Hearts’.
He used a shotgun to shoot Dead in the face, then proceeded to collect his skull fragments and make necklaces out of them and hand them out to other black metal musicians. In disgust with this, bassist Necrobutcher (real name Jørn Stubberund) left Mayhem, and was replaced by the infamous Count Grishnackh (real name Varg Virkenes).
Mötley Crüe is an American metal band formed in Los Angeles, California on January 17, 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, lead vocalist Vince Neil and lead guitarist Mick Mars. Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil is responsible for the death of the drummer of another band. During a cookout with members of motley Crue and Hanoi rocks, Vince Neil and Hanoi rocks drummer razzle went out to get more liquor. The car they were driving crashed, and razzle was killed. Neil was charged with DUI, and Hanoi rocks eventually disbanded, while Motley Crue went on to achieve a career high point, with ‘Dr. Feelgood’.
Cattle Decapitation is an American Deathgrind band from San Diego, California formed in 1996. Cattle Decapitation's songs protest the mistreatment and consumption of animals, the abuse of the environment and touch subjects such as misanthropy and genocide of the human race. Much of their music is based on putting humans in the situations that animals are subjected to, for example animal testing, slaughter, etc. While the band started with an entirely vegetarian lineup, only two current members are vegetarian namely Travis Ryan and Josh Elmore. Death grind band cattle decapitation is infamous for their music and lyrics. However, they slid into mega infamy with their music video for ‘forced gender reassignment.’ The video is infamous for homophobia, antitheism, and extreme gore. The video was immediately banned from youTube, who usually are somewhat lax on music videos.
Limp Bizkit is an American nu-metal/rap metal/rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed in 1994. Their lineup consists of Fred Durst, Sam Rivers, John Otto, and Wes Borland. They're mostly known for their singles like Break Stuff, My Way, My Generation, Nookie, Eat You Alive, Rollin', and Take a Look Around... read more Almost immediately when people think Limp Bizkit, they think of the 1999 Woodstock riot. During their performance of ‘Break Stuff’, Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst encouraged acts of rioting and vandalism. There were even allegations of gang rape during their set. And while they would still have another issue to happen in 2000 in Sydney Australia, and their infamous cover of a specific song by The Who, many people still associate this incident with their most infamous.
Fred Durst has encouraged criminal activity numerous times, most infamously at Woodstock 99 in which he encouraged acts of rioting, thus making it a disaster.
Damageplan was an American heavy metal band from Dallas, Texas, formed in 2003. Following the demise of their previous group Pantera, brothers Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul Abbott wanted to start a new band. The band ended tragically when Dimebag Darrell was shot on stage in a show in Ohio. Dimebag Darrel’s name was (and still is) synonymous with Pantera, and is still seen as one of the highly praised guitar gods. Unfortunately, the breaking up of Pantera was met with extreme resentment by a man named Nathan Gale.
During a 2002 live show from Damageplan, Gale jumped up onstage and shot Dimebag to death. He proceeded to shoot and kill a few other people, until a cop’s bullet stopped Gale’s bloodshed.
The Beatles were an English pop rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The members consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They were soon known as the foremost and most influential act of rock era. Rooted in skiffle, beat, and 1950s rock and roll, the Beatles later experimented with several genres, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock, often incorporating classical elements in innovative ways. ...read more. Four words: Were bigger than Jesus.
While not the exact thing that was said, this infamous quote will forever be attributed to John Lennon, and something he said in a British interview. It would be taken out of context in the US by the tabloids, and would result in a massive boycott, which later saw the infamous Ku Klux Klan get involved.
Well, they were controversial because John Lennon said the infamous “more popular than Jesus” quote which caused massive boycotting in the southern United States as well as radio stations no longer playing the Beatles. It even lead to John Lennon being assassinated.
Judas Priest are a British heavy metal band that formed in Birmingham, England, in 1969. They are often referred to as one of the greatest metal bands of all time, and are even commonly called “The Metal Gods”, after one of the songs on their 1980 album “British Steel”.They are known for several of their hit songs, which include “Painkiller”, “Breaking The Law”, You’ve Got Another Thing Coming”, and “Turbo Lover”.
Their original lineup consisted of Al Atkins (vocals), K.K. Downing (lead/rhythm guitar), Ian Hill (bass), and John Ellis (drums). Atkins never recorded on any Judas Priest releases, but contributed to several songs. ...read more.
Judas Priest was in the middle of a back masking scandal, when it was said that a teenage boy took his own life after hearing subliminal messages in their song ‘Better By You, Better Than Me’. To this day, it still comes up in discussions about Judas Priest.
There was some boy who committed suicide from listening to one of this band’s songs.