Ten Rock Myths: Are They True?
There are so many rumours, half-truths and downright lies that constantly fly around. Some are so outrageous that they’ve taken on a life of their own. This is our list of the Top Ten myths. And we’re also giving you our opinion on whether they’re believable, or as nonsensical as the Tooth Fairy:
Bon Scott demoed some Back In Black songs – Oh how every ‘DC fans wants to believe there is a tape hidden in a dark vault of this stuff. But…it’s rubbish, always been. No such demo exists.
Cliff Burton’s death saved Lars Ulrich from being sacked by Metallica – Now, this might have legs. The story’s been repeated down the years, and it’s just possible the band were thinking about a change. Did Burton’s death actually save the Danish tub thumper? That’s too simplistic.
King Diamond has no electric lights in his house, because they scare away the spirits – True! Well, that was the case about 25 years ago, when he lived in Copenhagen. And his place was full of vodka, whiskey…
Jimi Hendrix was gonna join ELP – Amazingly, HELP (as it could have been called) did nearly happen. But Hendrix died before they could get together.
Kiss mixed their own blood in with the printing ink for the first of their Marvel Comics special – well, almost true. They did put their own blood into the ink, but it was inadvertently used in a edition of Sports Illustrated!
Lemmy has been told by doctors that he’d drop dead if he gave up booze and drugs – Well, is anyone gonna dare suggest to Lemmy that he cleans up and finds out?!
Syd Barrett unexpectedly turned up in the studio while Pink Floyd were recording Shine On You Crazy Diamond – That’s the claim. It might sound like publicity hogwash. However, there appears to be a photo in Nick Mason’s book (Inside Out: A Personal History Of Pink Floyd) that confirms it really did happen!
Mahogany Rush’s Frank Marino was inspired to play guitar by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix – The Canadian guitar great was doing way too many drugs at the time, so don’t believe a word.
On the road, Van Halen used to demand bowls of M&Ms with the brown ones removed – True. David Lee Roth always claimed that this was put in to see whether promoters actually read the contracts. Cunning!
Jimmy Page regularly practised black magic rites – Who knows? The beauty of this one is that still nobody’s sure of the truth. Best to keep it that way, eh? Because when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
There are loads of other myths. Why not post your fave ones below.
Chuck Biscuits declared dead – not true.
I heard a myth that there was an issue of Classic Rock that didn’t contain a list of some sort. And that mick wall wasn’t a fat bullshitter.
The biggest one of all was not picked up by Classic rock: Paul McCartney died years ago, and an impostor took his place.
Also, a myth surrounding Neil Peart is that he can twist a coin both ways using his sticks. And that he can also keep a same coin fixed to a wall by hitting the drum sticks against it.
Syd did turn up in the studio, whilst recording “wish you were here”, there was a huge bald, fat guy standing in the control room jumping up and down and brushing his teeth, he left before the band finished their take, when they asked who it was the engineer told em it was indeed Syd, who the song was dedicated to. FACT!
It’s rumoured that Def Leppard play with a one-armed drummer….yeah, like that could ever happen………oh.
Never knew that about KISS’s blood not going into the comics or the King Diamond one. Good read
The Beatles’ spliff in Buckingham Palace
Sometime after our four young heroes bounced into the Palace in October 1965 to receive their MBEs, John Lennon claimed they’d shared a toke in the loos. Not the most reliable witness – he once claimed he wrote ‘Eleanor Rigby’ – Lennon later ‘fessed up, admitting ‘we’d have been far too scared to do it’. McCartney, meanwhile, remembers simply having a ’sly ciggie’ with the chaps to calm nerves.
Bon Scott demoed some Back In Black songs – Oh how every ‘DC fans wants to believe there is a tape hidden in a dark vault of this stuff. But…it’s rubbish, always been. No such demo exists.
That’s could be actually true and has been confirmed long time ago in an interview by AC/DC them self’s apparently there was also a video of the interview somewhere ages ago but it seems to have disappeared.
Wish Old Bon Did Demo Some BIB Tracks, Oh Well Life Goes on
Angus & Malcolm did instrumental demos with Bon on drums of the songs “Let me put my love into you” and “Have A Drink on me”. Those demos were considered for the “Bonfire” box, but weren`t used. Could be interesting to hear.
What about Keith Moon driving a Rolls Royce into a swimming pool?
Martin Holm is right about Bon playing drums on some of the BiB demos. Not quite sure where Phil was at the time! It stands to reason that Bon didn’t sing anything as Brian Johnson wrote all the lyrics for the album.
rumor has it that Lar$ Ulrich actually thinks he’s a decent drummer… and if you don’t agree with him, he’ll personally turn your name over to the cops.