The rock and roll lifestyle is not known for following the rules. Usually, this amounts to merely trashing a hotel room. A few musicians took it a bit further. These hardened criminals impacted some of the most celebrated music ever recorded while committing heinous acts. Their talent is undeniable it, but these 10 composers would have been better off spending more time in the studio than the jailhouse.

10 Infectious Diseases That Changed History

10 The Cult that Created Fleetwood Mac

Before Fleetwood Mac made cocaine imbued sundrenched pop, they made cocaine imbued gritty blues. Cofounded by Jeremy Spencer, Fleetwood Mac had early success in America with their single “Albatross.” While promoting the record, Spencer left to pick up some groceries. He never returned.^[1] On the way to the store, he started talking to members from the infamous cult, the Church of God. Converted to the organization, he abandoned the band. In subsequent years both the sect and Spencer were exposed as rampant child abusers.^[2]

In 1971, the band had more pressing concerns. Down a member, the group recruited Bob Welch to finish the leg of the American tour. The Welch helmed years were a transitional moment for the act. Discarding their bluesy sounds, the band shifted to a more polished style. The new vibe landed them their first Top 40 album. Disagreements and fall out eventually led to Welch’s ouster. In his spot, Mick Fleetwood hired old friends Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, the lineup that conquered the 1970’s.

9 When Hall Met Oates

Hall and Oates are rarely associated with gangland violence. Based on their hits, the biggest threats they face are man-eating flings. Before they were the most successful duo in American chart history, they were two separate musicians scrounging for gigs.

In 1967, each independently entered their respective acts into the Adelphi Ballroom’s Battle of the Bands.^[3] Daryl Hall sang doo-wop vocals for the Temptones. John Oates played with the Masters. Not grasping that Battle of the Bands was just a metaphor, rowdy fans assaulted each other in the stands. Rival gang affiliated fraternities pulled out knives and guns. As shots rang out, Hall and Oates collectively decided that neither could go for that. The two ducked into a service elevator. They got to chatting about music and their studies at Temple University. By 1971, they were churning out blue eyed soul masterpieces together.

8 Motörhead’s Revenge

Hawkwind did a lot of drugs. One does not write meandering futuristic prog rock without a little help. Including playing on the first four albums, bandmember Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister was the band’s supplier. After being busted for transporting amphetamine over the Canadian border, he was unceremoniously kicked out of both roles.^[4]

For hours, Kilmister stewed in a holding cell. He anxiously waited for his fellow bandmates to bail him out. Eventually, they sprang him. It was not out of any comradery; they just could not find a replacement in time for a Toronto show. Kilmister quit the band to seek revenge.

His sabotage plan was twofold. First, he would sleep with his former bandmates’ wives and girlfriends.^[5] Except for lead singer Dave Brock’s wife, mission accomplished. Second, he would start his own band. That subsequent band, Motörhead, became one of the quintessential bands in heavy metal history. He got his revenge.

7 The Fightin’ Side of Merle Haggard

Outlaw country was more than merely a name. For Merle Haggard, it was a self-defeating lifestyle.^[6] Haggard spent his adolescence in and out juvenile facilities. His ever-expanding rap sheet of petty crimes culminated in a botched robbery. Set out to steal a diner after hours, Haggard mentally prepared by drinking. While the restaurant was filled with customers, he staggered in drunk. He was promptly arrested. After unruly behavior with other inmates, he was transferred to San Quintin.

At the notorious Californian prison, Haggard befriended fellow inmate James “Rabbit” Kendrick. Kendrick confided in Haggard he had concocted an escape plan. Haggard was gung-ho to bust out. Kendrick dissuaded Haggard from tagging along. Instead of risking it all on a doomed venture, Kendrick convinced Haggard to commit to his musical aspirations. When Kendrick broke out, he shot an officer. Upon capture, Kendrick was executed. If he had accompanied Kendrick, a seminal country artist would have died unrecorded. Instead, he took Kendrick’s advice and resorted to only singing about felonies.

6 A Family Affair

The Black Mafia Family had enough money. Through their three main hubs of cocaine traffic, they raked in millions of dollars annually. Kingpin brothers, Demetrius “Big Meech” and Terry Flenory, needed a front for their operation. To hide the true source of their income and raise a little extra dough on the side, they founded record label BMF Entertainment. With that accidental decision, they created a new genre of music.^[7]

BMF Entertainment only had one legitimate client, Bleu DaVinci. The rest of its roster was burgeoning rappers in the Atlanta area, including future breakout stars Fabolous and Young Jezzy. The drug trade bankrolled promotions for acts associated with the label. The premiere of Let’s Get It: Thug Motivation 101, Jeezy’s debut record, was equally a showcase for the rapper and a chance to build up connections in the community. Despite their intentions, Let’s Get It became the foundational text for Trap music, an offshoot of southern hip-hop. Popularized in Georgian crack dens, the style has become the dominant sound of hip-hop in the decades since.

10 Controversial Artifacts That Could Have Changed History

5 Charles Manson Freaked Out

In July 1969, following Charles Manson’s orders, Bobby Beausoleil broke into music teacher Gary Hinman’s house. For three days, Beausoleil tortured Hinman until he fatally stabbed him. Days before the Tate murders, Hinman was the first death of the Family’s killing spree.^[8]

Before the murder, Beausoleil was a guitarist in psychedelic rock band the Grass Roots with Arthur Lee, (not to be confused with the more successful Grass Roots). Beausoleil was kicked out and replaced with Bryan MacLean. In a reference to Beausoleil, Maclean and Lee changed the band’s name to Love. Beausoleil’s departure fostered Lee and MacLean’s partnership to create one of the most influential rock groups of the 1960’s, most notably with the highly celebrated album “Forever Changes.”^[9]

Falling out with Love, Beausoleil befriended Frank Zappa. He sang backup on Zappa’s first record, “Freak Out!” “Freak Out!” is applauded as establishing the idea of a rock concept album. It was the record that most inspired the Beatles to record Sgt. Pepper’s. So, while the Manson Family members were listening to Beatles’ songs, the Beatles were listening to a song from a Manson Family member.

4 The Samurai Hijackers

Everything Les Rallizes Denudes did was mysterious. The lead singer Takashi Mizutani is an enigmatic hermit who only occasionally makes public appearances. Refusing to release proper albums, their songs exists as rare bootlegs. Even their music is a structureless, equal parts chaotic and ethereal. Only two facts are certain. The first is that their music inspired leagues of imitators. The second is that their bassist Moriaki Wakabayashi hijacked a plane and headed for North Korea.^[10]

On March 31, 1970, the Red Army seized Japan Airlines Flight 351 heading to Fukuoka. Brandishing samurai swords and pipe bombs, the communist faction took the 122 passengers and 7 crewmembers hostage. The 9 hijackers stormed the cockpit to force a flight to Cuba. With just enough fuel to travel the initial 45-minute route, the hijackers allowed the plane to land. On the tarmac, authorities swarmed the plane. For three days, the captors held the aircraft until they promised to release all the hostages in exchange for passage to Pyongyang, North Korea.

The national coverage drew attention to their bandmember’s former discography. As a strictly underground group, most people had never heard of the band. The hijacking exposed the group to legions of new fans internationally. Alternative acts like Sonic Youth and LCD Soundsystem grew to appreciate the band’s influence.

3 The Mynah Jailbirds

The Mynah Birds shaped music history without releasing a single album. Like any great rock n’ roll story, this one starts with a drunken street fight. 15-year-old Ricky James Matthews, an expatriate from America, fled to Canada to dodge the draft. Three hooligans cornered him in a botched mugging. Levon Helm and Garth Hudson, soon members of the legendary Canadian group The Band, rescued him. Endeared by Matthews’ gregarious personality, Hudson and Helm introduced him to other members of Toronto’s music scene, including the Mynah birds.^[11]

With Matthews as their frontman, the band found middling success. Piqued by their R&B infused rock ‘n’ roll, struggling folk artist Neil Young joined the band. In 1965, The Mynah Birds traded bassists with local band The Sparrows. In exchange, Bruce Palmer joined The Mynah Birds. After Nick St. Nichols joined The Sparrows, they changed their name to Steppenwolf.

This final lineup hired Morley Shelman as their manager. Shelman secured an audition for Motown records. Matthews, worried about crossing into Detroit, told Shelman he was a fugitive. Producer Berry Gordy signed the group. When the Mynah Birds did not receive the label’s advance, they confronted Shelman. Shelman blew all the funds on heroin. They fired him. In retaliation he told, Gordy that Matthews was on the run. With Matthews arrested, the band broke up. Palmer and Young left for Los Angeles to start the protest folkie outfit Buffalo Springfield. After he left prison, Matthews returned to work as a Motown songwriter. In-house genius Stevie Wonder proposed that Mathews needed a punchier stage name. Wonder suggested Rick James.

2 A Colonel of Truth?

Colonel Tom Parker was undeniably a crook. The only question is for what crimes. With manipulative contracts, Parker exploited Elvis Presley throughout the famed career. Controlling every aspect of the King of Rock and Roll’s life, Parker’s backroom deals scammed millions of rightful profits. Parker always got by on bluster.

Parker’s first started entertaining as a carnival barker. He made his name touring the country with a sadistic routine where he shocked chickens with electric wires. He had to keep moving. He was on the lam.^[12]

Born Andreas van Kuijk, Parker illegally entered the United States. An immigrant from the Netherlands, Parker never sought naturalization in America. Some speculate his hesitation was due to guilt from a murder. The evidence is scant. In the days before van Kuijk abandoned his homeland, a local shopkeeper was beaten to death. The only real clue tying van Kuijk to the cold case was an anonymous letter written decades later asserting his role in the slaying. The identity of the killer will likely never be solved. Neither will the mystery of why van Kuijk fled that same month in 1929 without telling his family or friends or traveling with his identity papers. He landed on America’s shores with no money. Whatever his motivation to desperately get out of town, he would soon find riches only attainable through nefarious means. Perhaps he already had experience.

1 Lead Belly Shaped and Took Lives

Music literally saved Lead Belly’s life. In 1918, he killed a man in a fight. Sentenced to thirty years in state prison, he petitioned Governor Pat Neff for a pardon through song. Neff, so stirred by Lead Belly’s musicality, freed him.^[13] As a freedman, Lead Belly made his name in Jim Crow markets performing to predominantly black venues.

In 1930, Lead Belly landed himself back in prison after another fight gone wrong. Touring folklorist Alan Lomax visited the infamous Angola Farm prison during Lead Belly’s tenure. On behalf of the Library of Congress, Lomax distributed Lead Belly’s songs to national acclaim. Artists as varied as Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Credence Clearwater Revival, Van Morrison, ABBA, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, were inspired by the bluesman. George Harrison bluntly summarized that “no Leadbelly, no Beatles.” Lead Belly murdered his way into the history books.

10 Screwups That Changed The Course Of History

About The Author: Nate Yungman is neither a musician or a criminal. If you have comments, you can email him. If you want to read more of his stuff, you can follow him on twitter @nateyungman.

The insanity defense might be a popular trope in fiction, but it is actually used in less than one percent of court cases and has only a 25 percent success rate. Some US states don’t even allow it anymore, but despite all that, it has worked on occasion, as you are about to see.

To be clear, we are not saying these people faked their mental illnesses or that they deserved to go to prison. Just that they all avoided prison or even death sentences because they were certified too insane to be responsible for their actions or, in some cases, even to stand trial.

10. Roderick Maclean

Queen Victoria was a real die-hard, in the truest sense of the word, having survived no fewer than eight attempts on her life during her long reign. By far, the most bizarre incident came courtesy of Roderick Maclean, who wanted to kill the queen because she didn’t like his poetry.

On March 2, 1882, the Royal Train arrived at Windsor rail station and Maclean was one of the many spectators waiting to see the queen. But he wanted to do a bit more than to shoot a glance her way. As Victoria was making her way across the platform to a waiting carriage, Maclean pulled out a revolver and fired at her. The first shot missed and two Eton schoolboys tackled the gunman before he was able to fire again.

Maclean stood accused of high treason, the most serious charge in the land which carried with it a death sentence. However, he had already been medically certified insane before the assassination attempt. Therefore, the jury only needed a few minutes of deliberation to find him “not guilty, but insane.”

Roderick Maclean had evaded a date with the hangman’s noose, although he spent the rest of his life at Broadmoor Asylum. A short while later, the Trial of Lunatics Act 1883 was passed by Parliament, which changed the verdict for future similar cases to “guilty, but insane.” 

9. Jeffrey Arenburg

In 1995, Canadian hockey fans were left stunned when they found out that former NHL player Brian Smith had been killed while leaving the CJOH television station in Ottawa where he worked as a sports anchor. The killer was Jeffrey Arenburg, a man with paranoid schizophrenia who believed that broadcast stations were transmitting thoughts into his head. Arenburg had a history of threatening violence against these stations, having previously been convicted for attacking a radio employee.

On August 1, 1995, he went to the CJOH TV station armed with a 22-caliber rifle. He had no grudge against Smith personally, Arenburg later admitted as much, but the sportscaster was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The gunman recognized Smith as he was leaving the building and shot him in the head.

Arenburg was charged with first-degree murder but was found “not criminally responsible” due to his mental state and placed in a mental care facility where he spent the next decade of his life before being released.

8. George Roden

Everyone remembers the bloody siege at Waco, Texas, in 1993 when the ATF, FBI, and Texas law enforcement officers surrounded the compound of the Branch Davidians sect led by David Koresh. What many people might not know is that Koresh got the job of cult leader by usurping the previous guy, George Roden.

Roden was the son of the man who founded the Branch Davidians, Benjamin Roden. He lost his position as leader in 1987 following a shootout with Koresh and his followers. He then lost legal ownership of the property due to unpaid taxes which the Branch Davidians paid off themselves, who then named Koresh their new head honcho.

Two years later, Roden murdered his roommate, a man named Wayman Dale Adair, ostensibly because he believed that Adair had been sent there by Koresh to kill him. Roden was found not guilty by reason of insanity and spent the final years of his life in several mental hospitals. In 1998, Roden escaped from the Big Spring State Hospital in Texas but was found by the side of the road a few days later, likely dead of a heart attack.

7. James Hadfield

Just to preempt a few comments, we are not talking about James Hetfield, lead singer of Metallica, but James Hadfield, the guy who tried to kill King George III in 1800.

A former dragoon in the British Army, Hadfield had sustained multiple head injuries while fighting in the War of the First Coalition against France. After that, he began suffering from various delusions, including that he was the true King George, that he was the biblical character Adam, or that he was even the “Supreme Being.” As to why he wanted the king dead, Hadfield believed that his own death would save the world, but that it could not be done by his own hand. Therefore, killing the king would ensure a swift meeting with the executioner.

His “foolproof” plan failed on two counts. First, he didn’t kill the king. On May 15, 1800, George III attended a show at the Theater Royal. Hadfield shot at him in the royal box but missed and was quickly tackled by the crowd. Second, he was not sentenced to death. Hadfield was defended by one of the best lawyers in all the land, Thomas Erskine, future Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, who successfully used the insanity defense for his client and got him a permanent stay at Bedlam.

6. Izola Curry

Ten years before Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray, the civil rights activist survived another attempt on his life at the hands of a woman named Izola Curry. 

And yes, we might as well mention the first thing people notice whenever they hear about her – Izola Curry was Black. Her animosity towards Dr. King and the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, had nothing to do with race. Instead, she was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered delusions that King and other civil rights groups all banded against her to cost her jobs and that they were, in her own words, “mixed up with the Communists.”

On September 20, 1958, the 42-year-old Curry attended a book signing by King at Blumstein’s Department Store in Harlem and, when she approached him, stabbed the civil rights leader in the chest with a seven-inch letter opener. She also had a gun on her, in case the blade didn’t get it done, but she was tackled to the ground before she could finish the job.

King was rushed to the hospital where doctors saved his life. The tip of the blade was resting on his aorta, and one cough or sneeze could have punctured it and caused him to bleed out. Meanwhile, Izola Curry was found not competent to stand trial and committed to the Matteawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.

5. Richard Dadd

Most people remember Victorian artist Richard Dadd for his paintings, particularly the ones involving fairies. However, many of those people might not be aware that Dadd did most of his work while incarcerated in two of England’s most notorious mental institutions, Bedlam and Broadmoor.

His problems started in 1842 when the 25-year-old Dadd embarked on a grand tour of Europe and the Middle East. While in Egypt, he suffered a personality change which, at first, was attributed to sunstroke. However, Dadd developed a delusion that he was the son of Osiris and that his actual father must have been some kind of demonic impostor. Back in England, Dadd murdered his father as the two went on a walk together. He tried to flee to France but was arrested in Paris after assaulting another man and sent back to England.

Dadd was certified a “criminal lunatic” and evaded a death sentence. Instead, he was committed to psychiatric hospitals where he spent the next four decades of his life, quietly working on his paintings.

4. Laura Fair

The case of Laura Fair was a highly publicized and controversial one because it had a lot of elements that still shocked 19th-century America whenever they were brought up in public: women’s rights, mental illness, extramarital affairs, and even menstruation. 

On the surface, it looked like a standard tale of revenge from a jilted lover. On November 3, 1870, 33-year-old Laura Fair boarded a San Francisco ferry and shot her married paramour, lawyer Alexander Crittenden, after finding out that he intended to leave town with his family instead of divorcing his wife and marrying her as he promised.

Her trial became somewhat of a media sensation. Her defense team claimed that the shooting was the result of temporary insanity caused by a severely painful menstrual cycle. They even brought in medical experts to testify, but the jury was more swayed by the prosecution who portrayed Fair as an immoral woman and a homewrecker. They found her guilty and sentenced to hang.

However, with the help of several prominent suffragettes who took up Laura Fair’s cause, her lawyers successfully appealed and got the first trial thrown out on the grounds that the way the prosecution portrayed their client prejudiced the jury. The second trial went in her favor as the jury found her innocent and Laura Fair became a free woman, one of the few people on this list who did not end up in a mental institution.

3. Daniel Sickles

Daniel Sickles was a Major General in the Civil War, later serving as a member of Congress and an ambassador to Spain. But before all of that, Sickles was also the first American to successfully use the “temporary insanity” defense after he killed his wife’s lover in broad daylight, right across from the White House.

Sickles’ wife Teresa was having an affair with lawyer Philip Barton Key II, the son of Francis Scott Key, the man who wrote the words to the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Then, on February 27, 1859, Sickles approached Key in Lafayette Square and shot him three times. Key died a short while later while Sickles surrendered peacefully.

The case seemed like a slam dunk. After all, Sickles confessed to the deed and plenty of people saw him do it. However, his top-notch defense team had other ideas. They not only argued that Sickles went temporarily mad upon discovering the affair, but that he acted justified to protect his wife’s honor. As his lawyer put it, “the death of Key was a cheap sacrifice to save one mother from the horrible fate.”

As it turned out, the jury agreed. They returned a verdict of “not guilty” after an hour of deliberation to the raucous cheers of the courtroom, who were now firmly on Sickles’ side. 

2. John Hinckley Jr.

John Hinckley Jr. earned worldwide notoriety on March 30, 1981, when he tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He ended up wounding Reagan and three other men before being restrained and then attacked by onlookers.

The reason for his actions seemed to be an obsession with the movie Taxi Driver, specifically its young star, Jodie Foster. Hinckley started acting like protagonist Travis Bickle, played by Robert De Niro – talking like him, dressing like him, writing a diary like him, and developing a fascination with guns. He also began stalking Jodie Foster, even moving to New Haven, Connecticut while she was attending Yale. Although he never approached her, Hinckley wrote numerous letters and poems to Foster, but when these failed to make an impression, he decided he needed to do something more drastic – assassinate the president.

During his trial, Hinckley’s only chance was the insanity defense. Both sides argued in their favor. The defense diagnosed him with schizophrenia. The prosecution argued that his actions were clearly premeditated and came from a sound mind.

After much back and forth, the jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity. He was institutionalized for almost 35 years before being released in 2016. His verdict caused a huge uproar in America and brought on the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984 which made it much harder for this defense to be used during trials, while some states abolished it altogether.

1. Daniel M’Naghten

We finally arrive at the guy who started it all… at least in modern times – Daniel M’Naghten, a Scottish woodworker who tried to assassinate British Prime Minister Robert Peel in 1843 and ended up killing Peel’s personal secretary, Edward Drummond.

M’Naghten had developed paranoid delusions that he was being persecuted by the Tory Party because he voted for the opposition. His police statement after shooting Drummond said this:

“The Tories in my native city have compelled me to do this. They follow and persecute me wherever I go and have entirely destroyed my peace of mind. They followed me to France, into Scotland, and all over England; in fact, they follow me wherever I go. I cannot sleep nor get no rest from them…. I believe they have driven me into consumption. I am sure I shall never be the man I was. I used to have good health and strength, but I have not now. They have accused me of crimes of which I am not guilty; in fact, they wish to murder me. It can be proved by evidence. That’s all I have to say.”

M’Naghten’s legal team argued that their client had a case of monomania – an insane fixation on a certain issue or person – and that it was so severe that it eradicated his ability to tell right from wrong. The prosecution brought in two doctors of their own, but they also concluded that M’Naghten was insane, and therefore the jury found him to be not guilty by reason of insanity.

This set a legal precedent in British law history and the appearance of the M’Naghten Rule, which stated that, in order for a defendant to use the insanity defense, it must be proved that they were acting under a defect of reason caused by a “disease of the mind” which made them not understand the nature of their actions or that they were wrong.

The expression “crime does not pay” is wrong. Crime can pay very well. The royalties off crimes can leave quite the bounty. The actions of the following ten criminals resulted in hugely popular songs that still turn a profit. Some of the most famous musicians of all time got their start from people more occupied with committing crimes.

Related: 10 Bizarre Times Musicians Got Into Trouble With The Authorities

10 Anders Klarström

Anyone that gushed over boybands in the 1990s probably did not check out the Nazi punk band Commit Suicide. Ulf Ekberg is likely the only fan in that Venn Diagram. Along with Anders Klarström—the future head of the Swedish Democrats—Ekberg used Commit Suicide to promote far-right ideology. The radical outfit was hardly poised to top the hit parade with lyrics like “Men in white hoods march down the road, we enjoy ourselves when we’re sawing off n—rs’ heads/ Immigrant, we hate you! Out, out, out, out! Nordic people, wake up now! Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot!” Klarström’s violent lyrics were not artistic hyperbole. He threatened to burn Jewish theater director Hagge Geigert alive. In 1986, Klarström’s militia-like arsenal of weapons was discovered. The band disbanded after Klarström was convicted for illegal firearm possession.

Down a group, Ekberg needed a new outlet. In August of 1990, Jonas Berggren asked his friend Ekberg to temporarily replace an absent bass player. A few weeks later, the lineup became permanent. With Berggren’s two sisters singing lead, the new group was called Ace of Base. ^[1]

It is unfair to dismiss Ace of Base as a fad. The brief mania in the early ’90s was incredibly influential. The giddy maximalist sound of hits like “The Sign” or “All That She Wants” was crafted by a team of Swedish songwriters for hire. By the decade’s end, the bombastic Nordic sound dominated the airwaves. The ultimate success of that evolution is discussed further in the article.

9 Raffaele Minichiello

Technically, Raffaele Minichiello is a musician in his own right. He runs a YouTube channel showing off his accordion prowess. However, his musical skill is often ignored for a bigger claim to fame. He committed the longest airplane hijacking in world history.

On October 30, 1969, Minichiello boarded TWA Flight 85 from San Francisco to Los Angeles with an M1 rifle packed in his luggage. Gun pressed against a stewardess’s back, he ordered the plane reroute to Rome. Over the next 18 hours and 22 minutes, the flight traveled nearly 7000 miles. When he landed in Italy, he was arrested after an extensive manhunt. He only served one and half years in prison.

Among the forty passengers taken captive that night were the members of the 1960s pop group Harpers Bizarre. As a sign of good faith, Minichiello released the passengers in Denver. Upon release, reporters tailed Harpers Bizarre to get their story. Unfortunately, the band could not capitalize on their new notoriety. The previous experience made them reluctant to travel. The lack of touring caused the group to infight. Further conflicts over management forced a breakup.

One former bandmember, Ted Templeman, was now desperate for a job. Less than a year after the hijacking, Templeman started work in an entry-level A & R position for Warner Brothers Records. He listened to demo tapes sent in by unknown wannabes. Among the scores of amateurs, two acts that Templeman discovered found future success. He launched Yacht Rock forefathers The Doobie Brothers and hair metal pioneers Van Halen into the mainstream. ^[2]

8 Sabrina Jackson’s Killer

When someone dies, custom says to rest coins on their eyes. No one placed any quarters on Sabrina Jackson’s lifeless body when it was discovered in 1983. Nor did anyone find the culprit responsible. All authorities could go off was a rumor. It was hypothesized that she was murdered in a retaliatory killing over her cocaine trafficking. The assault was more calculated than the standard drive-by. A guest came into her house intending to kill. At some point, they drugged her drink. In her unconscious state, they turned on the gas and slithered out.

Her eight-year-old son Curtis was wayward. His father had abandoned him. His mother was killed in a malicious attack. His grandmother was left to watch him. Curtis felt like a strain on his elderly caretaker. To relieve some of her troubles, he brought in extra income by selling drugs. By nineteen, he ascended the ranks to become his neighborhood’s kingpin. This success came with a few stints in jail for minor offenses. When his son, Marquise, was born, he swore off the trade. He would not let his child grow up without a parent as he did. Instead, he committed to making a living on a skill he picked up in jail, rapping. [Source 6] For a career marred by death, it is appropriate that he choose a name as valuable as two quarters resting on a pair of eyes, 50 Cent. ^[3]

7 Richard Mason’s Killers

Kit Lambert never wanted to get into music. The son of a composer and actress, he thought he would have a simple life among educated high society. In May 1961, he joined two Oxford friends, Richard Mason and John Hemming, on an expedition to discover the source of the Iriri River in the Amazon. They did not succeed. On September 3, Mason went searching for some food. Unknowingly, he stumbled upon the elusive Panará tribe. Fearful of all outside contact, the cannibalistic Amazonians stabbed and killed him.^[4] Police initially arrested Lambert and Hemming on the assumption that they made the story up to get away with murder. Expedition backers from the Daily Express secured their release.

Back in England, Lambert changed careers. He became an assistant director on films, like From Russia with Love and The L-Shaped Room. On the latter’s set, he met fellow assistant director Chris Stamp. Stamp convinced Lambert to check out a band he liked called The High Numbers. Lambert and Stamp decided the group could be the subject of a potential documentary. Charmed by the backstage antics, the two eventually abandoned their filmmaking aspiration. Lambert became the band’s manager on the condition that they change their name. He suggested The Who. Kit Lambert shaped one of the greatest rock bands ever, all so that he wouldn’t be food again. Yeahhhh! ^[5]

6 Jim Gordon

As a ubiquitous session drummer in the 1970s California scene, it is impossible to count how many records bear Jim Gordon’s name. That number skyrockets if one adds samples, if for just one track. Dubbed “the national anthem of hip-hop,” his near-universal drum break on the Incredible Bongo Band’s cover of “Apache” has been sampled more than seven hundred times. His handiwork propelled two of the most consequential artists in early hip-hop. Popularized by DJ Kool Herc, “Apache” was the go-to party starter of Herc’s legendary merry-go-rounds. It was an omnipresent sound at hip-hop’s unofficial big bang. When “Grand Wizzard” Theodore pioneered turntablism, the first album he scratched was “Apache.” Jim Gordon’s beat carried the next 40 years of music. But his presence brings a dark legacy.

Decades of drug use destroyed Gordon’s mental health. He retired from music after imaginary voices started haunting him. After a series of violent outbursts, he was sent to a psychiatric hospital. Upon his release in 1983, he became convinced that his mother was sending these messages to torture him. She had to be silenced, permanently. After bludgeoning her with a hammer, he stabbed her to death. As of 2021, he remains committed to a mental hospital.^[6]

5 King Ludwig II

King Ludwig II’s obsession with fairy tales prevented him from living happily ever after. As the ruler of Bavaria, Ludwig II wasted government funds constructing whimsical castles. Even as Prussians sieged his kingdom, he sank resources on ostentatious designs. One castle included an indoor cave on top of a man-made lake, so he would have a proper setting to dress up as his favorite opera character. Another building, Neuschwanstein, served as an architectural template for Disney World’s enchanting Cinderella Castle. There was a reason Ludwig was so drawn toward opulence. He believed he was the reincarnation of King Louis XIV of France.

Proclaiming himself a vessel for the Sun King’s spirit caused advisors to worry over his mental health. Other actions gave them pause too. He grew utterly obsessed with swans, carving the bird on every wall of his house. He talked to invisible courtiers for hours at a time. His eccentricities eventually grew more violent. He stole a citizen’s purse, strangled his brother with a rope, and orchestrated a bank robbery. Finally, in 1886, the government declared him insane. The day after he was deposed, his corpse was found floating in a pond. The doctor who diagnosed his insanity was also dead. The mysterious circumstances of the deaths have caused historians to speculate. Physicians, at the time, concluded that Ludwig killed the doctor and then drowned himself. However, conspiracies still abound.

Whatever happened to Ludwig that night cannot undo his positive impact on music history. A closeted homosexual, Ludwig showered composer Richard Wagner with gifts and money to earn his affection. Wagner denied the king’s advances but relied on his patronage. Before Ludwig discovered Wagner, Wagner considered retiring. Without any investors, he told his friend that “only a miracle can help me now or I am done for.” Ludwig’s lifelong sponsorship gave Wagner the freedom and finances to become one of opera’s great talents.^[7]

4 Morris Levy

When Tommy James left for New York with a demo of “Hanky Panky,” every label he approached was eager to sign him. The next day, they all turned him down. Roulette Records strongman Morris Levy warned them that James was his next act. If they poached him, the Genovese crime family would pay them an unpleasant visit.

Convicted extortionist and connected mobster Levy ran Roulette Records as an arm of his criminal empire. He skimmed money from competitors by bootlegging their records. No one dared rip off his signees. A burned corpse of a bootlegger that crossed Levy was found in a pyre of stolen albums. A less monstrous but still legally dubious practice was payola. The mafia-controlled racket gave aligned disc jockeys sanctioned hits to promote on their show. Under Levy’s management, James’s impressive string of indelible gems got the airplay they deserved.

The relationship was hardly worth the brief fame. Nearly 40 million dollars of James’s royalties were funneled toward Levy’s prostitutes, tax shelters, and monthly dues to the Genovese family. James retaliated by pulling a gun on Levy in a drugged-out brawl. Levy yanked his most valuable artist off the ground and threw him against the wall. Trying to put pressure on Levy, the rival Gambino family placed a hit on James. James was only able to live thanks to strings pulled by another powerful friend, Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Working in that line of business takes a lot of blood and luck, crimson and clover, over and over.^[8]

3 Lou Pearlman

Lou Pearlman started his career with a con. Lou Pearlman ended his career with a different con. In between, there were some songs.

His first enterprise swindled investors with a fraudulent blimp company. Recruiters financed a company that did not own a single airship. Passing off a reconstructing weather balloon to look like a blimp, he purposely sabotaged his maiden flight. The insurance payout funded borderline legitimate projects. His next idea was to operate a fleet of personal airplanes. After boyband New Kids on the Block booked a flight, Pearlman figured he could rake in millions if he formed his own group.

Pearlman created the two dominant artists of the ‘90s boyband boom, The Backstreet Boys and N’Sync. The ploy of a faux rivalry lined Pearlman’s pockets with stolen profits. When the bands finally wiggled out of their terribly constrictive contracts, they dropped Pearlman as their manager. Denied his major revenue source, he started a new con. In 2008, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for embezzling millions in a phony retirement pyramid scheme.

Pearlman exploded the craze that Ace of Base started. Pearlman hired a then-unknown composer Max Martin to craft his records. The two’s luck split over the ensuing decades. Until Pearlman’s death in 2016, Martin hit number one every year his former boss rotted in prison. By 2021, Martin had written the third-most number-one songs of all time.^[9]

2 Owsley Stanley

Hippies saw themselves as rebels against the powers in charge. Yet, their longest-lasting musical export was a product of the Central Intelligence Agency at its most villainous.

Starting in the 1950s, the CIA investigated LSD’s potential weaponized use as a truth serum. National security was too big of a priority to worry about rights like voluntary participation or informed consent. Unwitting victims were lured off the street and unknowingly slipped the drug. Behind fake walls, observers monitored their reactions. In one of the most unethical chapters in United States history, participants were raped, fell into comas, starved to death, jumped out of windows, and turned to murder. As awful as the experiment was, the CIA unwittingly catalyzed a cultural revolution.

Not all members regretted their involvement. The clandestine trials were Bohemian writer Ken Kesey’s first exposure to LSD. Having manufactured well over one million doses of the drug, MK-Ultra contact Owsley Stanley supplied Kesey and his entourage of the Merry Pranksters the potent chemicals needed for their infamous acid parties. The Warlocks, the in-house band, scored the debauched affairs with a rambling jam session resembling the drug’s hallucinatory effects. The profits of Stanley’s illegitimate business financed the Warlock’s first tours. Formlessness became the hallmark of the band, even after they changed their name to The Grateful Dead.^[10]

1 Michael Maybrick

Let’s start with the inarguable and then move to the speculative. First, the obvious truth, Duke Ellington made the world a better place. Over his six-decade career, Ellington consistently reshaped jazz history. Behind his piano at the Cotton Club, Ellington popularized the Big Band sound. Manager Irving Mills signed the legend after overhearing “Black and Tan Fantasy” creep through the airwaves of a local dive bar. Ellington’s 1927 song was not strictly an original composition. Mills was attracted to Ellington’s creative juxtaposition of jazz and motifs borrowed from Michael Maybrick’s 1892 hymnal “The Holy City.”

Despite “Holy City’s” reputation as the bestselling song of the 19th century, it is hard to confirm much of its songwriter’s biography. The nagging question, especially for researcher Bruce Robinson, is—did Maybrick get away with murder?. Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests he framed his sister-in-law for poisoning his brother. Unfortunately, Maybrick’s depravity might be even worse.

In his book They All Love Jack, Robinson makes a compelling case that Maybrick was the real identity of the eternally mysterious serial killer “Jack the Ripper.” Stops on Maybrick’s concert tours corresponded to the time and place where “Jack” sent his letters. Masonic elements splattered the crime scenes. Maybrick was a high-ranking member of the fraternity. The bodies were discarded within walking distance from Maybrick’s travel lodge. Singing a song by a serial murderer turned Duke Ellington into a household name, a fate Maybrick was surely thankful he avoided.^[11]

The law of war regulating the conduct and conditions of warring parties is often forgotten in times of absolute terror. Violation of principles can range from intentionally killing prisoners or civilians to rape and torture. The following list examines key figures in history that committed such acts resulting in the ultimate punishment of death. Though their names may be unfamiliar, their actions will forever resonate in history.

10 Vojtech Tuka

When Jozef Tiso came to power in October 1939 as President of the First Slovak Republic, he did not hesitate to appoint Vojtech Tuka as Prime Minister. Tuka – a lawyer, journalist, and fascist politician – made a name for himself early on by implementing comprehensive domestic anti-Semitic laws. His favorite pastime, however, was overseeing the mass deportation of Slovak Jews to concentration camps. As the years passed and exterminations mounted, Tuka found himself in rapidly declining health. After suffering a stroke late in the war, a wheelchair-bound Tuka immigrated to Austria where he was arrested a short time later and promptly deported back to Slovakia. Throughout his trial by the postwar Czechoslovakian government, Tuka would suffer several more strokes causing partial paralysis. In spite of various severe medical ailments, the fascist Nazi was shown no mercy and rightfully so, having thrown Slovakia into war against the Soviet Union. On August 20, 1946, the 66-year-old condemned war criminal was wheeled in his chair to gallows for the noose that awaited him; quite a charming end for a monster that relished the agony and bereavement of others.

9 Taha Yassin Ramadan

Amid looming conflict between the United States and Iraq in 2002, Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan had an unusual proposal. He believed that in order to avoid war, President George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein should settle their differences with a duel, specifically stating, “A president against a president and vice president against a vice president and a duel takes place. And in this way, we’re saving the American and Iraqi people. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan should referee.” As one could imagine, Bush was not thrilled with the idea and declined the kind offer.

Two years later, Ramadan would be captured by American forces and tried before the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT) for crimes against humanity. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison in November 2006; however, the IHT prosecutor saw the punishment as too merciful. Days later, the IHT Appellate Chamber ordered the Trial Chamber to re-sentence Ramadan resulting in his execution by hanging on March 20, 2007, the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

8 William Joyce

One of the most recognizable broadcasters during WWII, William Joyce – “Lord Haw-Haw” – was an American-born fascist living in Germany in 1939. His knack of public speaking drew the attention of Joseph Goebbels who recruited Joyce for his own radio show with the intention of having a foreign fascist spread Nazi propaganda to Allied countries. By 1940, Joyce had six million regular listeners (eighteen million occasional) tuning in to broadcasts focused on inciting distrust among the British public towards their government. Goebbels was so pleased with Joyce’s popularity that he wrote in his diary, “I tell the Führer about Lord Haw-Haw’s success, which is really astonishing.” By the spring of 1940, Joyce’s rhetoric became direr, threatening Britain with invasion and urging the country to surrender. Lord Haw-Haw’s voice on the airwaves came to an end in May 1945 when he was captured by British forces and transported to England to stand trial. Seeing as Joyce served Nazi Germany during the war, the court concluded that he committed high treason and sentenced him to death. On January 3, 1945, Joyce was hanged at Wandsworth Prison making him the last person to be executed for high treason in the United Kingdom.

7 Carmen Mory

Carmen Mory – ‘The Devil’—was a Swiss native who moved to Berlin in 1933. Soon after she became close to propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels who led the way to her becoming a Gestapo agent. In 1940, Mory was arrested in France following a bungled murder attempt of a newspaper editor. Having originally been sentenced to death, Mory was released on the condition that she would spy for the French. Shortly after, the Gestapo became wary and arrested her for being a double agent. She was sent to Ravensbrück Concentration Camp where she was selected to be a Blockova (one in charge of prisoners in their block). There she relished in power denied to others, beginning a sadistic path of torture and murder. From daily beatings to administering lethal injections, Mory’s favorite pastime was dousing prisoners of the “lunatic room” with buckets of freezing water. At the end of the war, she was released from Ravensbrück only to be rearrested by Allied authorities after learning of her atrocious activities in Block 10. Having been found guilty on charges of torture and murder, Mory was sentenced to hang but beat the hangman at his own game when she killed herself with a razor on April 9, 1947, one week before her scheduled execution.

6 Julius Streicher

As one of the earliest members of the Nazi party, Julius Streicher was notoriously known for his fierce anti-Semitic rhetoric which undoubtedly endeared him to Hitler. In fact, his personal association with the mad man was so strong that Hitler valued him as his protégé. By May 1945, however, all hope was lost for Streicher finding himself in the captivity of American forces.

Subsequent to the Nuremberg trials of October 1946, Streicher was brought to a small prison gym where he would meet a remarkably agonizing end. As the trapdoor opened, a defiant Streicher plunged out of sight, yet, was far from dead. Seeing as his neck failed to snap, the propagandist Nazi “swung violently and groaned in pain as he struggled for air” for minutes on end. Many believed that the shoddy execution was intentional by hangman Master Sgt. John C. Woods, arguing that Woods did not want to be outshined by Streicher’s infamous flair for the dramatics. Brimming with confidence, the Kansas native boasted to Time magazine about his efficiency in killing following the hanging stating, “I wasn’t nervous. A fellow can’t afford to have nerves in this business.”

5 Champ Ferguson

Known as a “gambling, rowdyish, drinking, fighting, quarrelsome man”, Confederate guerrilla leader Champ Ferguson ranged throughout the Tennessee-Kentucky border leaving a trail of bloodshed throughout. Of the countless victims Ferguson slaughtered—some legitimate acts of combat—most were Union soldiers sought out for personal vendettas. Union men he took prisoner – be it soldiers or civilians – were often found shot or stabbed through the heart with Ferguson’s beloved Bowie knife. In some cases, decapitation was preferred. In 1864, Ferguson’s guerrilla band successfully fought off a Federal cavalry attack. The following day he hunted down the wounded at a hospital where he shot them as they lay helpless, now known as the Saltville Massacre. Ferguson’s four years of carnage came to an end when he was captured on May 26, 1865. Believing he would be paroled as other guerrillas who surrendered, the Federal government singled him out on charges of murder. With his wife and 16-year-old daughter in attendance for the crowded spectacle, the guerrilla leader was led to the gallows and hanged on October 20, a death much more civil than what he granted his victims.

4 Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant

In Southern Africa in October 1899, the Boers declared war on Britain in response to a British raid following the discovery of diamonds and gold in Boer-occupied regions. Being part of the British Empire, Australia provided 16,000 volunteer troops, one of whom being Lieutenant Harry ‘Breaker’ Morant. As the war waged, both sides began using guerilla tactics further mounting the body count. When Morant’s commanding officer became a casualty, the ‘womanizing horse-breaker’ retaliated with a series of revenge killings of Boer civilians and POWs. In August 1901, eight Boers approached Morants camp to surrender. Instead, Morant had them executed on the spot. Shortly after, Morant killed three Boer POWs followed by Reverend Heese – a German missionary – after witnessing the execution of prisoners. Morant was arrested in September 1901 and convicted the following year of murdering 12 prisoners; incidentally, he was acquitted of the Reverend’s murder. On February 27, 1902, Lt. ‘Breaker’ took his last breath before a firing squad. In spite of being a murderer, Australians were shocked that Britain would execute an Aussie without first consulting with the Australian government. To date, Morant remains a folk hero by the Australian public given the controversy surrounding his trial and execution.

3 Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti

In the early hours of January 15, 2007, Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and head of secret police, Barzan Ibrahim Hassan al-Tikriti, was sent to the gallows for his role in the 1982 torture and execution of scores of Shiites. Due to a serious miscalculation by the hangman, a surreal and freakish scene transpired as the gallows trapdoor opened; the separation of Ibrahim’s head from his body. What resulted was an unnerved Maliki government with Sunni Arab loyalists claiming that Ibrahim had been deliberately decapitated as an act of revenge and insult to the Sunni Muslim world. In spite of the readiness to blame the United States, scores of Basra residents took to the streets in celebration honking car horns and waving Iraqi flags. According to an Iraqi staff member, many citizens throughout the country believed that the incident occurred as a result of God’s punishment for Ibrahim’s crimes stating that it was “An expression of what a bad man he was during his life.”

2 Irma Grese

Having been one of the most sadistic Nazi guards in WWII, the name Irma Grese will forever be synonymous with evil. Nicknamed “the Hyena of Auschwitz”, Grese rapidly ascended to the rank of senior SS supervisor where she unleashed her lethal viciousness upon prisoners. From kicking prisoners with her hobnailed jackboots, constant whippings, to having her dog viciously maul the sick and defenseless, Grese had a particularly sick fondness for striking women on their breasts. When it came time to select who was headed for the gas chamber, Grese intentionally selected the beautiful female prisoners out of jealousy and spite. She even went as far as raping countless inmates, all the while forcing Jewish girls to be her lookout. She savored every moment of torture and kept trophies in the form of lampshades made from the skin of three dead prisoners. When Grese was arrested by the British in the spring of 1945, she was charged with numerous war crimes to which she pled not guilty. Due to the testimony of Grese’s surviving victims and witnesses, she was convicted and sentenced to death. On December 13, 1945, Grese became the youngest woman hanged under British law during the 20th century at the age of 22.

1 Edith Cavell

Edith Cavell, one of the most prominent nurses in history, was anything but a criminal. Upon graduating in 1907, she moved from London to Brussels where she trained thousands of nurses until 1914 when Belgium came under German military law. Soon after, Cavell began harboring wounded British and French soldiers – including civilians – smuggling many of them into Holland, a neutral country. After being betrayed by a Frenchman in August 1915, Cavell unapologetically confessed to sheltering and transporting some 60 British soldiers, 15 French soldiers, and 100 French and Belgian citizens. Offering no defense, Cavell was sentenced to death despite the German civil governor’s recommendation for leniency given her humanitarian work. On October 12, 1915, Cavell was executed by a firing squad which sparked disgust amongst the West, incidentally easing America’s entry into WWI in 1917. Today, a statue of Cavell stands in Trafalgar Square in central London with an inscription of the words she told her minister the night before her death; “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness to anyone.”