Celebrities | Pop Culture | Music | 90s | 80s
10 Musicians From Our Childhood Who Were Way Crazier Than We Knew
Music is a field that attracts all kinds of personalities. Some of them are inspiring, soulful people, while others are rebels t a time when we need them most. However, some are also just constantly in the media for all the wrong reasons, and in the case of these next 10, we definitely saw them at some point or another and went "Ugh, here we go again."
Courtney Love
A talented songwriter and musician in her own right, Love is nevertheless best-known as Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain's wife at the time of his suicide. She's since gone on to have a number of uncomfortable and clearly drug-fueled appearances in the public, to the point that her and Kurt's daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, wants nothing to do with her anymore. Ouch.
Ol' Dirty Bastard
Rising to the top of the rap charts both with his contributions to Wu-Tang Clan and his solo work, it was pretty clear from the start that ODB wasn't playing with a full deck of cards. He was arrested throughout the 90s on charges ranging from petty larceny to attempted murder, and apparently forced his son to watch him do drugs. After serving jail time, he died of a cocaine overdose in 2004.
Axl Rose
The frontman for Guns N' Roses has a notably inflated ego and tendency to delay shows for the weakest of reasons. Not only that, but he's claimed that Courtney Love tried to possess him (yes, like a demonic spirit) at the MTV Awards.
Scott Weiland
The Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver frontman lost a very extended and public battle with substance abuse back in 2015, but that barely scratches the surface on how deep things ran. He was once arrested for attempting to buy heroin while dressed as a pimp (for some reason, most likely drugs).
These next few musicians have definitely had some pretty serious issues...
DMX
You name it, chances are DMX has done it. He's been jailed several times for parole violations, claimed he was an FBI Agent during a car accident, falsely accused one of his exes of sexual assault, identity theft, and most egregiously of all, running a dog-fighting ring. Yeeeeeesh.
Rick James
A real-life superfreak, Rick James had one hell of a substance abuse problem (famously lampooned in a famous clip from The Chappelle Show). This hit its peak in 1992 when he and his wife kidnapped a woman, tied her up in their basement, sexually assaulted her, and burned her with a hot crack pipe. Oh, and apparently he also "dabbled in pimping" during his career.
Brian Wilson
The Beach Boys founder dealt with undiagnosed schizophrenia for much of his career, and was given to a manipulative therapist for treatment. This caused him to be ejected from his own band, which would last for decades while he dealt with his issues.
James Brown
Despite ordering his backing band to stay drug-free, Brown went on a bit of a rampage after being introduced to PCP. In 1988, he reportedly pulled a shotgun on a man for using the toilet in his office before fleeing, leading police on a chase near the border of Georgia and South Carolina. Whoa.
Ozzy Osbourne
Between biting the heads off animals, snorting a line of ants, going on a rampage and shooting the cats on his property, and countless other drug-fueled incidents, we're pretty sure Ozzy's not been well for some time now.
Michael Jackson
Do we even need to go into a description for this one?