History NeverLiveItDown / Music

* [[Music/{{Bob}} B.o.B.]] will never live down "Flatline", which he released after a Twitter beef with UsefulNotes/NeilDeGrasseTyson. The song expresses B.o.B.'s belief that [[FlatWorld the Earth is flat]] (among other conspiracies), and has speech clips by Tyson himself disproving the theory.

** Also, the "abuse" segment during the climax of the song, which to some people, comes off as over-the-top, [[{{Narm}} Narmy]] {{Wangst}}.

* Zbigniew Wodecki was a gifted singer, violinist, trumpeter, songwriter and composer. He spent over 40 years on stage, sold thousands of albums and won many prestigious awards. But for many Poles he'll always be the performer of an opening song from ''Literature/MayaTheBee'' (in Polish ''Pszczółka Maja''). For many years, Wodecki hated being asked about Maya - either in interviews or during concerts. However, later in his career he finally realized there is no escape from that "curse" and he included the ''Pszczółka Maja'' song into his repertoire.

* Zbigniew Wodecki is a gifted singer, violinist, trumpeter, songwriter and composer. He spent over 40 years on stage, sold thousands of albums and won many prestigious awards. But for many Poles he'll always be the performer of an opening song from ''Literature/MayaTheBee'' (in Polish ''Pszczółka Maja''). For many years, Wodecki hated being asked about Maya - either in interviews or during concerts. However, recently he finally realized there is no escape from that "curse" and he included the ''Pszczółka Maja'' song into his repertoire.

* Billy Squier will never live down the bizarre "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZvl2aqIyNg Rock Me Tonight]]" video that showed him cavorting on a bedroom set in a pink tank top and led to suspicions that he was gay and an irreversible career decline.

** In a more album-specific case, ''Music/StAnger'' is widely seen as the band's worst album, but the one thing ''everyone'' remembers is the bizarrely tinny, clanging snare that Ulrich uses throughout the entire thing, compared to the sound of banging on a trash can.

* Music/TaylorSwift has written about a wide variety of subjects and themes, including her own shortcomings as a person. Ask any non-fan about her discography, and they'll tell you that all she writes are {{BreakupSong}}s that portray her as the victim.

* Music/TaylorSwift has written about a wide variety of subjects and themes, including how difficult it can be to date her, how she can be high maintenance, and how she has screwed up a LOT of her relationships. However, if you ask the average person on the street, they will tell you that ALL of her songs are about how the guys ALWAYS screw her over, she did nothing wrong, and nothing is ever her fault.

* OneHitWonder artist Q Lazzarus is best (read: only) known for her 1988 single "Goodbye Horses". It was a hit song when it came out, and the song is notable for Lazzarus' distinct contralto singing voice and use of Hindu symbolism. Then ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' came along, and since then any discussion of the song is quickly bombarded with references to Buffalo Bill dancing.

* Thanks to their songs "My Immortal" and "Bring Me To Life", Music/{{Evanescence}} will forever be known as emo. Amy Lee will never live down firing the entire band (even though she only directly fired one member).

* Music/{{Disturbed}}'s SignatureSong "Down with the Sickness" is probably most known for the staccato scream-[[BuffySpeak thing]] that David Draiman does near the beginning and end (Oh-wa-ah-ah-ah!!). He's only used this technique possibly three or four times in the band's discography, but since the song has seen use in a number of film trailers and other media, the group's detractors have taken to calling them "The Monkey Noise Band".

* Music/JudasPriest wrote some of the most fundamentally influential and groundbreaking heavy metal songs in the 1970s, and went back to that style in later years. Sadly all those works will forever be eclipsed by "Breaking the law, breaking the law!!!"

--> I should have left you, baby, back in that last town\\
'Cause the kind of fool you made me, girl, I'll never live it down!
* Music/RebeccaBlack's "Music/{{Friday}}" has dictated her public image. She is often perceived as someone with very basic knowledge of the days of the week or is unable to pick a seat wherever she goes. The real Rebecca Black, however, is nothing like the character she portrays in the music video.

* If you look at his portrayal in popular media, you'd think Music/JimiHendrix [[RockersSmashGuitars burned his guitar]] at every concert when he actually only did so three times in his entire career (although that's three more than the vast majority of guitarists have burned in their careers). Also, the popularity of "Hey Joe" got to the point where it would be constantly requested, to Hendrix's chagrin. In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa_e9R_19w4 this performance]] on British pop star Lulu's program, the Experience stops playing it midway, Hendrix says "We'd like to stop playing this rubbish", and they launch into an impromptu cover of Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love". Let’s not even get into [[UndignifiedDeath how he died]]...

* Despite a number of his later albums having pro-God lyrics, Music/{{Esham}} is still best known for his early [[{{Horrorcore}} Satanic lyrical themes]].

* Jonathan Richman has led an acclaimed career as a singer-songwriter, and is especially lauded for his work as the frontman for Music/TheModernLovers, a highly influential 1970s PowerPop band who are considered to be extremely important to the history of the punk and alternative rock movements. However, none of his songs [[NoHitWonder were hits]], and he's best known to the general public as the singing troubadour in ''Film/TheresSomethingAboutMary''.

* This can happen with ProgressiveRock groups (and their individual band members); the musicians may be multifaceted and [[GenreRoulette interested in trying new styles, sounds and approaches in their music later on in their careers]], yet fans of EpicRocking may reject or take a long time to get used to the different styles and sounds that musician may want to explore.

* Music/SergeiRachmaninoff had the CursedWithAwesome (or is it BlessedWithSuck?) fate to have composed his number one hit single, "Prelude in C-Sharp Minor", at the age of 18. For the entire rest of his long career, he was known as "Mr. C-Sharp Minor", and it was the one thing audiences always demanded to hear at his recitals, no matter how sick and tired of it he became, no matter how much he wished they'd care about his mature compositions.

* {{Invoked|Trope}} in the lyrics of The Cruel Sea's "The Honeymoon is Over":

* Music/AlanisMorissette gained fame for great songs like "You Oughta Know", "Hand in My Pocket" and "Thank U". But what do most people know her for now? [[IsntItIronic Not knowing the meaning of the word "Ironic"]]. 80s kids only remember for being cast on ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'' instead of her music career.

** On that note, Jimi, Music/JanisJoplin, [[Music/TheDoors Jim Morrison]], Music/BrianJones, Music/KurtCobain and Music/AmyWinehouse can NEVER get away from each other, just because of the age when they all died: 27. In works depicting [[CelebritiesHangOutInHeaven Rock and Roll Heaven]], expect at least a few to show up together, or even be the outright focus.

* Music/OzzyOsbourne did a lot of crazy shit during his younger years as a rocker (and later in his life too - it's basically the reason his autobiography is worth getting), but the incident that sticks out in a lot of people's minds is that particular concert where somebody threw a bat on stage, and Ozzy, thinking it was a toy rubber bat and not the real deal, bit its head off. People have never let him forget about it since, and he's had to explain more than once that "it was only fucking once".
** Oddly, this is far better known than the time in 1989 when he was arrested ''for trying to murder his wife''. She forgave him and is still with him...
** Oddly, this is also far better known than the time when he ''bit the head off a live dove'' at a press conference. This was before the bat incident. The (now defunct) UK rock magazine ''Sounds'' had a reporter and photographer at the event, and printed pictures.
** For Texans, that incident may take a back seat to one that occurred shortly afterward: When he was drunk, Sharon would steal his clothes so he couldn't go out unless he wanted to go out naked. On the San Antonio tour date, he found one of Sharon's dresses at six in the morning, and when he had to urinate, he found a wall and pissed out several bottles of booze, immediately being arrested after the act for '''urinating on the Alamo'''. After the show, he was charged with public intoxication and was banned from San Antonio for ten years.
** For a good long while, Ozzy was "the guy who snorted a line of ants" to people who gawked at his excess. Thanks to Music/KeithRichards, he may have finally lived that down.
** Something Ozzy will also never live down is his reputation for simply singing lyrics to the tune of Tony Iommi's riffs in Music/BlackSabbath, despite the fact that it only happened in four songs: "Iron Man", "N.I.B.", "Into the Void" and "Electric Funeral". Four songs out of fifty-six. This is one of the first things to come up in every Ozzy vs Dio debate, and it's bollocks.
* The five years Music/{{Morrissey}} spent in Music/TheSmiths will ''always'' take precedence over his 20 year+ solo career.
** And his embarrassingly one-sided veganism will always overshadow any talent he has as a musician.
** And also his ambiguous attitudes regarding English patriotism and race, in particular the debate about whether the lyrics of "Bengali In Platforms" ("life is hard enough when you belong here") are anti-immigrant or not, his various flirtations with nationalistic skinhead iconography, and his online response to the Manchester concert bombing.
* No one will ever let Music/DavidBowie forget that he did his best work while claiming to be a [[DiscountLesbians bisexual space alien]].
** Well, there's that and the notorious ''[[Film/{{Labyrinth}} area]]''...
** His cocaine-fueled, reputedly in-character moment in an interview during his "Thin White Duke" period (when the controversial British politician Enoch Powell gave his infamous "Rivers Of Blood" speech and Neo-Nazi skinhead groups were emerging in England), where he mentioned that "Britain could benefit from having a fascist leader" and calling UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler the world's first rock star often haunt him, and it took a toll on his reputation. It didn't help that a photo of him as the TWD in mid-wave, interpreted by UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers as a Nazi salute, was tabloid fodder at the time. These events helped lead to the creation of the "Rock Against Fascism" movement. Bowie eventually made it clear he really wasn't a fascist and apologized for the way he behaved as the Thin White Duke. Although he spent the rest of his career espousing an overtly anti-racist message (i.e. the videos for "Let's Dance" and "Loving the Alien" and Tin Machine's anti-fascist lyrics), Bowie continued to be haunted by the Thin White Duke for next few decades.
* Music/JessicaSimpson will always be remembered for her blunder about "Chicken of the Sea"-brand tuna on her reality TV show ''Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica''[[note]]back when she was still married to former 98 Degrees singer Nick Lachey[[/note]]
** Her sister Music/AshleeSimpson has her own NLID in the form of that lip-syncing incident on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', where she tried to cover it by doing an awkward dance before [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere walking off the stage]] and later blamed her problems on "acid reflux"!
* Ike Turner was one of RockAndRoll's pioneers. A talented musician and producer and as part of Ike and Music/TinaTurner, part of one of the most popular music acts of the 70s. It used to be that he was less remembered for that than for his physical abuse of his wife Tina. Now it's for his almost-comical denial of said abuse.
** On a side note, Creator/LaurenceFishburne once remarked it was years after he played Ike in ''Film/WhatsLoveGotToDoWithIt'' that black women finally stopped giving him the evil eye.
** In some ways, this has affected Tina as well. One of the reasons she retired from public life is because, even though she's been a successful solo artist since the 80's and HappilyMarried to music executive Erwin Bach whom she has been with since 1986, she's still defined as a domestic abuse survivor and people only ever want to talk about her years with Ike, even though she has long since moved on with her career and love life.
* Similar to Ike, Music/ChrisBrown is forever stained by the fact that he beat his then-girlfriend Music/{{Rihanna}} to a bloody and bruised pulp in 2009. While he still has fans and chart-topping singles, no one's easily letting it slide. The fact that his apologies have come off as not entirely genuine and [[NeverMyFault self-serving]] haven't helped matters, nor have his numerous other run-ins with the law that often involved more [[DomesticAbuse domestic disturbances]] with other girlfriends.
** Most dramatic response: [[Creator/TheBBC Radio 1]]'s Radio/ChrisMoyles refused to play Chipmunk's "Champion" on which Chris Brown appears, going for a specially-produced version in which Mr. Brown is replaced with the show's sports reporter! [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQJ4226EznE Listen to her (yes, HER) rendition here.]]
* Music/JaRule once had a solid career with a fair amount of hits, a distinct rapping style, and his hard, thuggish persona. Nowadays? "What would I do without my babaaayy?", combined with a crybaby face. It ruined his career. Oh, and he also thought that [[BullyingADragon feuding with]] Music/{{Eminem}} [[BullyingADragon was a good move]].
** As of the late 2010s, his name has become more synonymous with the complete and utter disaster that was the [[Horrible/MusicFestivals Fyre Festival]].
* Dylan Carlson, with his band Earth, is a pioneer of the indie drone metal scene and well-known among metal enthusiasts. Unfortunately, he will forever go down in rock history when he, in 1994, bought a shotgun for his friend Music/KurtCobain.
* Until he died, Music/MichaelJackson was better-known for butchering his face via plastic surgery and bleaching his skin as a way of handling vitiligo and facing multiple accusations of child molestation -- two of which were handled with out-of-court settlements, and one of which went to trial (he ''was'' found not guilty) -- than his music. Part of the problem was that he rarely performed live or released new music in the final ten years of his life, meaning that most people only heard about him when he was doing weird, even dangerous (the Berlin baby-dangling incident of 2002, for instance) things. Even after DeadArtistsAreBetter came into effect, non-fans still tend to remember him as a CloudCuckoolander, a plastic surgery disaster, a substance abuser (he died of a prescription drug overdose), and/or a creepy pedophile. This is not helped by, largely due to several lawsuits and trials that followed his death, even more unfortunate truths and claims about him coming to light. The CultOfPersonality that surrounds him, with a VocalMinority of his fanbase devoted to holding him up as TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth, also puts people off.
** Also, his outbidding Music/PaulMcCartney for the publishing rights to the Beatles' songs, which wrecked their friendship.

* Music/JohnCale is an incredibly influential avant-garde Welsh rock musician (he was in the Music/VelvetUnderground, for crying out loud) who chopped a chicken's head off on stage during the late seventies to piss off his all-vegetarian band and the aggressive poser punks in the audience - he threw the head into the crowd, and it apparently landed in someone's drink. It's come up in almost every interview he's given since.
** Doug Yule, who replaced Cale in the Velvets, sang lead on some of their best known late-period songs, such as "Who Loves the Sun" and "Candy Says". Unfortunately for him, he's probably best known for being the focal point of the band's final album, the much derided ''Squeeze''.

* While Music/ElvisCostello is well respected for his wide-ranging musical career, his use of the n-word to describe Music/RayCharles in a drunken tirade toward Stephen Stills and Bonnie Bramlett in 1979 has always haunted him, even after Ray Charles told him he wasn't offended because he knew Costello didn't really mean it, and that "drunk talk isn't meant to be printed in the papers".
* Tim "The Ripper" Owens is a pretty good metal vocalist, but he's likely doomed to be known as the guy who ruined Music/JudasPriest and Music/IcedEarth.

* Music/{{Gackt}} [[ICallHimMisterHappy called his penis "Magnum"]] in an interview way back in the early 2000s. This resulted in a severe case of NeverLiveItDown with fans from all over the world now calling him "Magnum" whenever they see him.
** Also, his infamous story about buying Pork Belly Blocks from the supermarket has resulted in fans yelling "Butabara" (the Japanese word for "Pork Belly") every time they see him.
* If you were born after TheEighties, you probably didn't know about Music/RickAstley until JustForFun/{{Rickroll}}ing came along.
* Music/{{Bjork}} and the swan dress. You'd think she wore the thing everywhere, but [[IconicOutfit she wore it once.]]
** And for attacking a reporter at an airport in Thailand.
** She is also known in Brazil due to a video of her [=DJing=] to a song with explicit lyrics [[FromTheMouthsOfBabes sung by a then 13-year-old boy]].

* Music/RKelly must have a deep [[{{Pun}} closet]] for all these skeletons...
** Pretty much everyone remembers him for "I Believe I Can Fly". [[https://twitter.com/rkelly/status/975406971275812864 He doesn't seem to mind though.]]
** The marriage to Music/{{Aaliyah}}.
** The rape/micturation/sex tape scandal.
** ''Music/TrappedInTheCloset''.
** Allegedly running a sex cult (and then responding with the 17-minute song "I Admit").
** His crazed interview with Creator/GayleKing.

* John Greely, who sang on Iced Earth's "Night Of The Stormrider", will never live down the rumors that he was kicked out of the band for being anti-Semitic whilst on tour in Germany. In reality, he never did this - he just wanted to leave the band to be with his family (albeit in the middle of a tour). This annoyed band leader Jon Schaffer so much that he made up the story to make himself look good for the media.
* For people who don't actually listen to her music, Music/LadyGaga is the weird chick who wore a meat dress and got carried around in an egg. This is a zig-zagging example because she actually ''wants'' to be remembered for stunts like those; however, it's the only thing many people know about her.
* Yo [[Music/KanyeWest Kanye]], I'm real happy for you, [[InterruptingMeme I'mma let you finish...]]
** Though [[EnforcedTrope this doesn't bother him]], considering he very nearly did it again to Music/{{Beck}} when he won the 2015 Grammy for Best Album.
** Also: "George Bush doesn't care about black people," although it didn't cause the same amount of backlash.
** His support of Creator/DonaldTrump and remarks about slavery being a choice, along with his bizarre attempt at running in the 2020 presidential election, can also be added to the list of things he'll never live down.
** "Jail pt 2" off his 2021 album ''Donda'', primarily due to the guest appearances from [=DaBaby=] and Music/MarilynManson, right when both of them were in massive controversies themselves surrounding homophobia and sexual assault, respectively.

* If you're discussing [[Music/{{TLC}} Lisa "Left-Eye'' Lopes]], the first topic will either be her tragic death in 2002 or the time she burned down the mansion of her boyfriend, NFL star Andre Rison.
** Before that, she seemed well-known for the [[RefugeInAudacity then-edgy]] gimmick of wearing goggles with a wrapped latex condom in her left eye.
* When she performed on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'', Music/SineadOConnor tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II and said "Fight the ''real'' enemy!" She will always be remembered for doing that. ([[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by cast member Creator/TracyMorgan years later when he said that the guest host for that episode was Creator/TimRobbins, but nobody except him remembers that.) By the 2010s, O'Connor had been largely forgiven for the incident because the issue she was protesting - child abuse in the Catholic church - turned out to be both very real and far more widespread than anyone in 1992 could have imagined. Unfortunately, O'Connor is instead better known for her often unpredictable behavior and struggle with bipolar disorder.
** Another controversial incident involving Sinead O'Connor involved her refusal to to perform a New Jersey concert if the National Anthem was played beforehand.
** Also related to ''SNL'', Music/RageAgainstTheMachine, desecrated an American flag which got them labeled as Anti-American to the point that Clear Channel Communications deemed their entire catalog inappropriate to be played on radio after 9/11; they were the only artist to get such sanctions.
** And Music/LanaDelRey's [[http://lanadelreydancing.tumblr.com/ less than impressive]] appearance, which even received [[http://videos.kristenwiig.org/view/51/saturday-night-live-lana-del-rey-impression/ a sketch the following week]].
* Music/JarvisCocker will likely never live down disrupting Music/MichaelJackson's performance of "Earth Song" at the 1996 BRIT Awards; he has a reputation as a jerk or even '''monster''' in Jackson's fanbase. It doesn't help that he and Music/{{Pulp}} don't have a big following beyond the U.K. On the other hand, just about everybody in the UK who wasn't a Jacko fan saw it as a Moment of Awesome for him and a justified comeuppance for Jackson's messianic pretensions.
* Music/JanetJackson is unlikely to get people to forget about her "WardrobeMalfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show anytime soon.
** On a smaller scale, some people haven't forgiven Music/KidRock who wore an American flag ''as a costume'' earlier in the halftime show.
* Music/JustinTimberlake, on the other hand, was hardly affected... for a moment, at least, and his downfall may have, ironic enough, started from ''another'' Super Bowl performance (in 2018), beginning with backlash from non-fans pointing out his KarmaHoudini status in the act[[note]] (considering Jackson got most of the backlash when she really did ''nothing to provoke it''- except maybe forget about it enough to not wear her planned bra- and Timberlake seemingly walked away scot free even though he was the one who ''pulled off her shirt'' and exposed her breast.)[[/note]] It only got worse as a performance most viewers saw as sub-par for a Super Bowl saw controversy for using a hologram of Prince in a matter many saw as rather tasteless and only done to provoke audience sympathy, not helped by Timberlake explicitly denying it would happen before the game.
** Arguably, the ''following'' show (in 2019, exactly 15 years after) may have also caused further backlash, as Maroon 5 was picked mainly as a "safe" act to avoid any controversy... which proceeded to bomb ''miserably'', with one of the main criticisms being that there was no sense of unexpectedness, not helped by the infamous outcome of the game itself. How does this tie into Timberlake? Because this performance may have crystalized the hatred most NFL and Super Bowl fans had of him, as he was specifically targeted by opposers claiming that the NFL (which ended up so strict and controversy avoiding that it was nicknamed the "No Fun League") and the FCC's stance on censorship was never the same after... and Timberlake seemingly avoided any punishment for ruining it all to begin with. Not to mention, by 2022, it was clear many people were supporting Jackson more in part because of her DisproportionateRetribution. While he still has a decent amount of popularity, it could very well stand that the situation may have permanently tainted his popularity amongst most sports fans, and arguably the backlash may end up hurting him further in the long haul.

** Tragically enough, it was reported that Ham [[DrivenToSuicide killed himself]] in 2012 because he was haunted by the thought he had tarnished his reputation by being remembered for copying that melody. (He had actually died of a heart attack, but his close friend Colin Hay confirmed the lawsuit and court case still haunted him.)

* Despite her rehabilitation and remarkable CareerResurrection in 2009, it may be difficult in some circles for Music/BritneySpears to live down her hard-partying CreatorBreakdown period from 2005-2008, at least where Website/{{Twitter}} trolls are concerned.
** After she left (or was fired from) her position as celebrity judge on ''Series/TheXFactor'' after the 2012-2013 season, rumors abounded that [[UnfortunateImplications the show's producers wanted Britney's "wild child" pre-rehab personality to emerge at the judges' panel]]. Instead, they got a sweet, dorky, low-key, if often very random, Britney reminiscent of her teen years.
* Despite Music/{{Burzum}} being one of the most famous and important bands in all of BlackMetal, its sole member Varg Vikernes will always be known as "that guy who killed the Music/{{Mayhem}} guitarist and burned down three churches".
** On a related note, fellow Norwegian BlackMetal band ''Mayhem'' will probably be forever remembered as "that band where the singer blew his brains out and the bassist [Varg Vikernes from above] murdered the guitarist[=/=][[IAmTheBand bandleader]]".
** BlackMetal in general gets this due to Vikernes' actions and a handful of other murders, actually. It's probably the only reason a lot of people have even heard of the genre, really.
* Singer Music/{{MIA}} will probably never live down give the audience the finger in her performance at the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl in 2012. Before that she was known for performing at the Grammys the day before she gave birth.
* In general, any solo artist [[BreakupBreakout who first became famous in a band]] will always be referred to as a "former member of [band]".

* Music/TaylorSwift writes songs about her exes. It's not as if every other songwriter ever hasn't done the same thing. More specifically, in her defense, she has written several songs about how difficult she can be, how hard it can be to date her, and the fact that she is the reason a lot of her relationships did not work out. However, ask the average person to describe her music, and almost everyone will say all she writes about is how every guy screwed her over, how it’s all their fault, and how she did nothing wrong.
** However, it’s more than a bit hypocritical for Swift and her fans to complain about this perception of her, given that she re-releases songs about sub-two-month-long relationships over a decade later with accompanying short films where she portrays herself as a heartbroken victim, then stays happily silent when her fans send mass death threats for MONTHS to the subjects of said songs. Jake Gyllenhaal and Joe Jonas would probably disagree with the media’s current view that Taylor doesn’t deserve her reputation as self-victimizing and unable to get over breakups…
* Singer Fergie of Music/TheBlackEyedPeas is almost as well known for having once wet her pants on stage as she is for her music. Why do fans talk like she's the only one, when Marie Osmond, Creator/HughJackman, and possibly Lady Gaga have similar stories to tell?
* No one will ever let Music/RogerWaters, the Music/PinkFloyd bassist, forget the time he spat on a disruptive member of the audience (and let off a ClusterFBomb) on their 1977 show in Montreal. Of course, said fan was also part of a group ''lighting off fireworks in front of the stage'', so Waters was perhaps right to be pissed, but without context the incident seems bizarre and [[DisproportionateRetribution disproportionate]].
** Also, nobody will forget Waters for crediting ''Music/TheFinalCut'', his final album with the band before his departure in 1985, as "[[IAmTheBand By Roger Waters, performed by Pink Floyd]]".
** Pink Floyd had broken up in the middle of TheEighties in a very ugly, public, controversial way after years of conflict within the group (not helped by Waters' at-the-time very bad behavior and ControlFreak reputation), and Waters unsuccessfully threatened to sue the band in 1987 over the rights to the band name. Even years after the acrimony, with Waters later admitting he "was wrong" to sue the band, and he and the remaining members now on civil terms (with occasional reunions and near-reunions happening since 2005), he is still often asked questions about his actions in 1987.
** Waters also seems to get controversy, as of 2014, for speaking out against reputed human rights abuses in Israel against Palestinians, which has often been misinterpreted as anti-Semitism or pro-terrorism. Some of the fire was fanned by the animated projected film he used for "Goodbye Blue Sky" in his solo ''Roger Waters Music/TheWall'' tour, where Star Of David signs (alongside Christian crosses, dollar signs, Shell Oil and [=McDonald's=] logos, Russian hammer-and-sickles, etc.) were "dropped" from ominous bomber planes onto cities. A rabbi from an Israeli anti-defamation organization took offense at the film, and took Waters' "Fascist Pink" costume quite literally, accusing Roger of being anti-Jewish/pro-Nazi.

* Steve Harwell, the lead singer of Music/SmashMouth, will never live down the bread incident at the Taste of Fort Collins festival in 2015. When the audience started throwing bread at the stage, Harwell [[ClusterFBomb cussed the crowd out]] as the rest of the band played their SignatureSong "All Star".
* Music/WakingTheCadaver are eternally infamous for both of the following:
** Their first album, ''Perverse Recollections of a Necromangler'', which set new lows for creative bankruptcy in the {{deathcore}} genre, both in terms of the songwriting and arrangements, which are incoherent and ''highly'' derivative of the entire Slam DeathMetal genre, as well as the lyrics, which are larded down with [[MisogynySong juvenile rape-and-murder fantasies]] that would horrify any sane person if [[{{Narm}} they weren't so hilarious]] (not to mention [[ArtisticLicenseBiology biologically improbable at best]]). The best known song off this album, "Chased Through The Woods By A Rapist", is mostly this for the MemeticMutation "I LIKE SHREDDED WHEAT!!!". It's so bad that even deathcore fans only rarely give the benefit of the doubt to their later releases ''Beyond Cops, Beyond God'' and ''Real-Life Death'', which are much better from a purely technical standpoint, not to mention devoid of misogynistic lyrics, if still terribly derivative and uninspired.
** Frontman Don Campan has done himself no favors due to his general tendency to respond to criticism of any form with homophobic rants and threats of violence. Most notably, there was [[http://metalinquisition.blogspot.com/2009/05/hate-mail-from-piledriver-and-waking.html this poorly-written email]], sent to Sergeant D of Metal Inquistion after the latter jokingly referred to the band as "Wigger Slam", along with [[http://metalinquisition.blogspot.com/2009/06/waking-cadavers-singer-now-sells-amway.html subsequent posts on MI]] showing pics of Campan's Website/MySpace page, which revealed he sold Amway products under the apparently wholehearted belief that Amway is in fact a legitimate business and not a blatant scam.
* Being a winner on a reality singing competition can be especially painful when [[TheRunnerUpTakesItAll the losers become more successful than you]]. Buddy Jewell, Taylor Hicks, Kris Allen, Diversity and Ruben Studdard have all been overshadowed by acts like Miranda Lambert, (Chris) Daughtry, Adam Lambert, Susan Boyle and Clay Aiken respectively.
* Matt Cardle, the winner of the 2010 season of Series/TheXFactor, is only remembered for being the guy who beat Music/OneDirection for the title.
* Music/MilliVanilli basically has their whole career revolved around this. Ever since they were exposed for lip-synching, it's all they became best known for, and whenever any form of social media (whether it'd be television shows, movies, other music videos, etc.) introducing someone lip-syncing, there's a good 98% chance that it'll be juxtaposed to Milli Vanilli in a heartbeat.
* In mid-2013, Tim Lambesis, co-founder and vocalist of Music/AsILayDying and Austrian Death Machine, forever [[MoralEventHorizon cemented his moral reputation in infamy]] and [[HarsherInHindsight tainting his past musical contributions]] after a murder attempt on his wife via hiring a hitman who turned out to be an undercover policeman. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but his reputation may as well be executed.
* Australian deathcorers Music/{{Endworld}}'s [[SoBadItsGood legendary]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=zva395OqG7w video]] for "Never Trust", [[FanNickname better known]] as [[MemeticMutation "YOU ARE A SCUM SLUT"]]. Its notoriety reached the point where its was eventually taken down; the current link is to a "fan" re-upload, which you can expect to suffer the same fate by the time you read this. You can read a more detailed synopsis [[http://www.stuffyouwillhate.com/2011/09/when-your-deathcore-band-is-the-shitty-version-of-defiler/ here]], [[http://www.stuffyouwillhate.com/2012/12/back-from-the-grave-the-original-you-are-a-scum-slut-video/ here]] and [[http://www.metalsucks.net/2011/09/19/you-are-a-scum-slut/ here]].
* Music/GunsNRoses and "One in a Million"... let's just say there's a reason why they only performed that song a few times in the late '80s, and not at all after.
** Other thing the band won't live down: Axl Rose's ControlFreak nature, and the extreme DevelopmentHell ''Music/ChineseDemocracy'' went through.
** Not to mention an incident in St. Louis, where the band left the stage after someone attempted to record a bootleg copy of the concert and Axl saw him and attempted to take his camera. This caused their fans to destroy a brand new amphitheater and got the band and its members banned from the city.
* Music/TheBlackCrowes front man Chris Robinson will never live down that time he spat on a woman in a convenience store. At first, he denied it even happened, but later admitted the truth. According to him, their tour had stopped in a town that stopped selling beer after sundown, and he was waiting for the store to empty in hopes of bribing the clerk to sell him a six-pack. A woman recognized him from tv, and her friend started yelling at Chris (apparently trying to talk her friend out of leaving with him). Fed up, Chris spat in her face, then ran around the corner to his hotel room. It was not hard for the cops to find him.
* Onyx member Fredro Starr is rarely remembered by many contemporary rap fans, and when they do find out about him, they will always remember him as the guy who got snuffed by rapper Music/FiftyCent over a misunderstood situation at the VIBE Awards back in 2003 despite Fredro's friendly gesture to 50. Even in videos and topics of Fredro where 50 Cent is ''not even germane to'', there are still fans who constantly bring it up to use against Fredro.
** It got even worse in 2014 where the latter went off on a vitriolic tirade against radio personality Charlamagne tha God on his show ''The Breakfast Club''. Nowadays, even in recent interviews where Fredro genuinely keeps his composure, those same fans still continue to use the aforementioned incident against him.
* Malevolent Creation is loaded with these to the point where it honestly makes one wonder whether they wouldn't be bigger if it wasn't for Phil Fasciana and Jason Blachowicz. Between the ambiguously racist lyrics in "Leech" and the VERY unambiguously racist lyrics in "They Breed" (complete with the infamous "YOU FUCKING NIGGERS" shout at the end), Blachowicz's infamous wearing of a Ku Klux Klan shirt onstage sometime in the mid-nineties (according to Fasciana, it was to piss the audience off and resulted in Phil [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown beating the shit out of him]] and kicking him out of the band for nearly causing a full-scale brawl), Phil making the downright ludicrous claim of foiling a robbery and accidentally killing the robber while disarming him, claiming that a police report existed when people called bullshit on the story, and the Tampa police coming forward, confirming that he was full of shit and that the only report on file of him was for a domestic disturbance, Ben Orum's account of how his first time meeting Phil as a Malevolent Creation fan resulted in Phil asking him for cocaine, then verbally abusing him and calling All Shall Perish a "nigger band" when he told him that he didn't have any, and Phil's announcement that Malevolent Creation had fired their "gay drummer" when they ejected Gus Rios from the band and subsequent hilariously inadequate "explanation" for his statement, Malevolent Creation has turned into a punchline amongst death metal fans. It's telling when the lion's share of Phil's recent interviews have significant portions where he downplays the accusations of racism.
* Music/WhitneyHouston is most known for her "Crack is whack" speech. The fact that she ended up dying from a drug overdose doesn't help.
* It seems like Music/JerryLeeLewis will always be remembered for [[KissingCousins marrying his thirteen-year-old cousin]].

* Music/ElvisPresley's death. He died on the toilet, while in reality he was just found unconscious on the floor near the toilet in his bathroom.
** He had a painful and embarrassing [[http://www.emergingsolutionsinpain.com/knowledge-center/expert-commentary/310-commentary2008-05-02brookoff bowel problem]] and had a heart arrhythmia while straining to have a bowel movement...his first in many weeks. Poor Elvis.

* Tommy Allsup had a somewhat memorable career as a country musician and producer but whenever his name is mentioned, it will most likely be his role in "The Day the Music Died". Allsup was on tour with several musicians in 1959 when there wasn't enough room for him on the plane chartered by Buddy Holly. He had a coin toss with Ritchie Valens over the last seat and lost, therefore sparing his life when the plane crashed.
** Similarly, Waylon Jennings gave up his seat to the ailing Big Bopper and then jokingly uttered to Holly, "[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor I hope your plane crashes]]." It took him years to forgive himself for that.
* Hard rock band Butcher Babies is almost entirely known for a brief period of time in which both lead singers wore little else but tape over their nipples. Even years after they abandoned the look (inspired by Music/ThePlasmatics), it's still constantly brought up in interviews.
* Even though it's beyond their control, the band Music/EaglesOfDeathMetal will likely always be known primarily for having been the band on stage when Islamic State terrorists attacked the Bataclan venue in Paris, killing 89 people including a member of their merch team.
* Great White will likely always be known for two infamous happenings: when their pyrotechnics during "Desert Moon" at a February 20, 2003 show at The Station in West Warwick, Rhode Island ignited non-fireproof soundproofing material on the walls around the stage, causing a fire that burnt down the venue and killed 100 people; and when the Mark Kendall-led "official" lineup performed at an outdoor music festival in 2020 that had no [=COVID-19=] safety protocols.
* Popstar Music/ArianaGrande was promoted as the new darling of pop music. However, there were rumors about her having a {{Jerkass}} personality that followed her for years. Those rumors were confirmed in the summer of 2015, when she was caught on video talking disrespectfully to an employee at a doughnut shop for no reason, while licking doughnuts that she didn't buy on a tray. She was also caught saying she hated America and Americans. That image would follow her for the next year and a half until May 22, 2017, when a British concert of hers in Manchester was bombed by an ISIS supporter. The attack, which killed 22 of her fans and injured many others, reversed her reputation overnight, and she was once again seen as a beloved role model for teenage girls and a brave feminist icon. Luckily for Grande, the doughnut incident was faded from public memory by 2018, when she became one of the biggest pop stars in the world.
* Music/{{Sugarland}}'s career has been tainted by the stage collapse at their concert at the Indiana State Fair, and they ended up being named as the defendant in several lawsuits by the survivors of the collapse.
* Ray J was a popular R&B singer in the 90s, albeit one whose career was overshadowed by his much more successful sister Brandy. Nowadays, Ray J would be lucky to be remembered as just Brandy's brother: Instead he's probably better known for a sex tape he made with his then-girlfriend Kim Kardashian, which brought Kim and her family into national attention for the first time, starting their [[Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians rise to fame]].
* Rap music promoter Birdman, best known for discovering Music/LilWayne is now a victim of this trope. He went on a popular radio show called the Breakfast Club with a hostile attitude, demanding the three radio host "respect his name". He accused them of making fun of him in the past and he didn't appreciate it. Instead, he made a fool of himself, and now the whole country (if not the world) is making fun of him on the internet. He has become a victim of MemeticMutation, as people often make post with the word "Respeck" as a way to make fun of how he talks. And it seems to get worse everyday.
* The first thing that comes to anybody's mind when Sister Souljah gets mentioned is her making controversial remarks about white people after the 1992 LA Riots and being denounced by UsefulNotes/BillClinton for them. The fact that Clinton's repudiation inspired [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Souljah_moment a new political term named after her]] certainly doesn't help.
* Music/HueyLewisAndTheNews song "Hip To Be Square" was a hit song in the 80s that put the band on the map. Nowadays, it will forever be linked to that one scene in the film ''Film/AmericanPsycho'', or the infamous "[[MemeticMutation Hip to Fuck Bees]]" meme.

* Finger Eleven's second-biggest hit, "One Thing" is a calming, mellow song with a hard rock edge and riff to it. Unfortunately, it's is also forever known as being used in a promo for a [[Wrestling/ChrisBenoit rather infamous professional wrestler.]]
* Music/OurLadyPeace. They were a popular post-grunge band of the late '90s and early 2000s. But unfortunately they'll always be known as the band who made "Whatever", the theme song of Wrestling/ChrisBenoit.
* Fuel, the band best known for hits like "Shimmer", "Hemmorhage", and "Falls on Me", may never live down "Leave The Memories Alone", which has become a huge meme in the ProfessionalWrestling fanbase.
* Deathcore act Rose Funeral is still best known for The Uno Incident - at a show in Tulsa in 2010, they repeatedly assaulted a small group of young metalheads after the group chose to play a game of Uno in front of the stage during their set, and eventually got one of the fans ejected. The band was savaged all across the net, with members of the other bands from that tour (headlined by Death Metal veterans Nile, who were also supported by fellow Death Metal acts Immolation and Krisiun; most fans were there for these bands and unimpressed by RF's presence as the opener, not to mention that the other bands had issues with RF before this) encouraging their fans to further harass them. Most of the more vitriolic hate died off within a year or so, but to this day it's not uncommon to find Uno jokes in their Website/YouTube comments.
* Music/NataliaKills and Music/WillyMoon are far better known for making fun of a contestant on ''Series/TheXFactor'' than for their music careers.
* A tragic example is Music/ChristinaGrimmie. She was a popular [=YouTube=] star and contestant on ''Series/TheVoice'', who is sadly better known for her tragic murder by a crazed gunman at one of her concerts. The worst part of it, however, is the fact that the tragedy took on June 10, 2016 at a concert hall in Orlando, only miles away from the nightclub that a little over a day later was the scene of the then-worst mass shooting in U.S history.
* [[Music/TheGerms Germs]] singer Darby Crash can probably relate, as he happened to intentionally overdose the day before the murder of [[Music/JohnLennon a much bigger rockstar.]]

* Despite originally rising to fame as a raw, hard blues rock band, Music/ZZTop will always be remembered as those guys with the beards (plus the guy ''named'' Beard) and the car that made some fun silly hits in the 80s.
* Since ''[[ExtremelyLengthyCreation Wish Upon A Blackstar]]'', people haven't been trusting [[Music/{{Celldweller}} Klayton]] when it comes to releasing new music, videos, or other material[[note]] The album started production in 2005, but was released in 2012[[/note]].

* Music/TheDecemberists. A decently popular indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, that the rest of the country only heard of because of that one time they played a concert during a campaign rally by UsefulNotes/BarackObama, with right-wingers claiming everyone only really came out to see them. Yeah, they are popular in the northwest, but 75,000 people popular [[NoHitWonder without ever having a major hit?]]
* Thanks to his hits "Miss Independent" and "Because of You", Music/NeYo has a reputation of stealing song titles from Music/KellyClarkson.
* Rafael Ilha, formerly of Brazilian boy band Polegar, never lives down his post-fame years as an addict, specially one thing: while suffering from withdrawal, he swallowed a battery. Twice. He earned the nickname Rafael Pilha ("Pilha" being battery in Portuguese), and even [[https://emais.estadao.com.br/blogs/emenos/wp-content/uploads/sites/423/2017/05/pilha.jpg made jokey pictures about it once]].
* British boy band Blue will forever be known for an insensitive remark one of their band members made about the 9/11 attacks. Group member Lee Ryan said in an interview "This New York thing is being blown out of proportion" and "What about whales? They are ignoring animals that are more important. Animals need saving and that's more important." These comments led to the band failing to score a record deal in the US, along with campaigns to kick Ryan out of the group.
* Brain Drill will forever be remembered for the full body cavity search incident. To clarify, the band broke up in 2008 after a border crossing that went very wrong and got the entire band strip-searched. Dylan Ruskin's side was that the other members carried weed, shrooms, and rolling papers across the border after repeatedly being told not to (as they had repeatedly gotten in trouble for them at traffic stops), got pulled aside at the Ontario/New York border, and got their stash confiscated by border agents, which turned into the aforementioned search after several members mouthed off to the agents, and then ran off without him and abandoned him in Illinois. Jeff Hughell's side, meanwhile, was that they had had nothing more than some seeds and stems in the ashtray, while Ruskin had a huge collection of illegal fireworks on him, had refused to turn them over, and had taken a great deal of money from the band before ghosting them and leading them to believe that he was going home early, decided to stick around anyways, and then refused to go with them in the van when they finally decided to go home. Whatever the case, the invasive search is probably far more famous than their actual music at this point.
* Music/FranzSchubert was a prolific composer early in the Romantic era. He is best known for leaving a symphony "Unfinished", writing two of four movements before [[DiedDuringProduction dying at 31]].
* Razor and Tie is a popular rock record label that has helped artists like Music/AllThatRemains, Music/ThePrettyReckless, and Music/{{Starset}} become major rock radio hitmakers. Despite this, they will still almost exclusively known for being the label behind the Music/KidzBop franchise, and quite a large number of rock bands who want nothing to do with them choose not to sign with them.
* Jonathan King had a long and varied career in various fields of music (for example, he not only discovered Music/{{Genesis|Band}} and Music/TenCC, but he named both bands). If he isn't best known for "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" it's for allegations of sex crimes involving underage boys.
* Music/EricClapton going on stage, dead drunk in 1976, and stumbling into an anti-immigration, anti-black rant including such choice sayings as "Throw the wogs out! Keep Britain white!". Clapton has tried to defend it in the past as drunken trolling, but mostly him, his fans, and his numerous multi-ethnic collaborators [[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain all just pretend it never happened]].
* Music/JethroTull will forever be remembered for [[AwardCategoryFraud winning]] the 1989 Grammy for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental, beating out ''actual metal bands'' such as Music/{{Metallica}} and Music/FaithNoMore.
* Manitoban folk band Wyrd Sisters' attempt to sue Warner Bros. and members of Music/{{Pulp}} and Music/{{Radiohead}} for the appearance of a band with the same name as them in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'' has overshadowed any of their contributions to the folk music scene.
* British indie pop band Catch will always be remembered for being the band whose music video was playing when an airing of the ''ITV Chart Show'' was cut off to announce the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Not helping matters is that [[OneBookAuthor their only album]] wound up being released [[NoExportForYou only in Indonesia]].
* Music/TravisScott and Music/{{Drake}}'s "Sicko Mode" will always be remembered for the BaitAndSwitch at Super Bowl [=LIII=] where it was used instead of "Sweet Victory" as ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' fans wanted.
** Scott himself would later get this in November 2021 following the crowd crush during his performance at Astroworld Festival, and backlash ensued against him, primarily aimed at his poor negligence to the casualties, which resulted in 10 deaths and 300 injuries.
* Russian composer Alexander Glazunov will likely never live down his reputation as an alcoholic. He conducted the disastrous 1897 première of Symphony No. 1 in D Minor by Music/SergeiRachmaninoff, where the orchestra was pitifully under-rehearsed and Glazunov was reputedly drunk while conducting. Music/DmitriShostakovich said Glazunov would sip a bottle of alcohol throughout his lessons. While it has never been completely confirmed that Glazunov was drunk when he conducted that fateful première, as an under-rehearsed orchestra premièring a full-scale symphony would be enough to guarantee a disastrous performance, his reputation has always lived in the shadow of the accusation. The symphony being VindicatedByHistory [[DeadArtistsAreBetter since Rachmaninoff's death]] and considered a milestone in the history of Russian music, has done wonders for Rachmaninoff's posthumous reputation but little-to-nothing for Glazunov's.
* Nu-metal band Flaw is nowadays less known for their music than for their plagiarism of various musicians on their 2019 album ''Vol IV: Because of the Brave'', which was blamed on guitarist Tommy Gibbons, and also for frontman Chris Volz using a racial slur onstage, then claiming it's "not racist".
* Music/{{Eminem}}:
** Eminem has never been able to entirely shed a controversy about his [[KayfabeMusic kayfabe]] homophobia and [[MisogynySong misogyny]]. This is because Eminem's music became a [[TheNewRockAndRoll significant flashpoint in the 90s's racist moral panic around "gangsta rap"]] due to his unique position as a white TeenPop [[PeripheryDemographic crossover artist]], despite the fact that his extreme content is [[JustJokingJustification only done to wind people up]] (which he points out during the songs themselves), and that he is a supporter of LGBT+ and women's rights in real life (which he also points out at times within the songs). Although the larger moral panic about rap faded by the mid-2000s, the idea of Eminem being the great white gaybasher of rap has become a core part of his persona. He's [[PlayingWithCharacterType played with this]] in numerous songs, presenting himself as EvenTheGuysWantHim, an ArmoredClosetGay, DepravedBisexual etc., and his mere presence is still enough to raise fury from a vocal minority of centre-left MoralGuardians.
** Eminem's violent MuseAbuse directed at his abusive mother (who [[FrivolousLawsuit sued him]]) and abusive wife also tends to dominate, despite the fact that he started fictionalising his songs about them starting in 2004 and never returned to writing about them directly except to write songs empathising with and apologising to them for his awful behaviour.
** Eminem has two contradictory images with his relationship with pop music that he can not move past - the image of him as a vile [[TheGadfly Gadfly]] who spits violent {{Take That}}s at pop stars (based on his music around the TurnOfTheMillennium), and the image of him as a [[RatedGForGangsta worthy, overly earnest]] pop star himself (based on his music in TheNewTens, particularly ''Recovery''). The tension between these two images is a big part of the backlash against him that emerged towards the mid-late 2010s, as pop fans hated him for his anti-pop statements, and pop-haters found his use of pop guest features to be sickening.
** In particular Eminem tends to be associated with his SitcomArchNemesis beef figures, like Music/{{Moby}}, Music/BritneySpears, Music/ChristinaAguilera, Music/{{NSYNC}}, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. None of these ever stuck, but they're still thought of as his nemeses.

* Jonathan King had a long and varied career in various fields of music (for example, he not only discovered Music/{{Genesis}} and Music/TenCC, but he named both bands). If he isn't best known for "Everyone's Gone to the Moon" it's for allegations of sex crimes involving underage boys.

* Choral composer Daniel Elder. Once well-regarded for his music, especially for writing his own poetry, he is now in the choral world seen as a pariah because of his comments against Black Lives Matter, where after, he deleted all social media. It is a long and complicated story.

* In the [[UsefulNotes/{{Poland}} Polish]] circles of the Internet, [[DreadfulMusician "musician"]] and finalist of the Polish edition of ''[[Series/AmericanIdol Idol]]'' Szymon Wydra is more known for [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil how he has infamously thought of piracy as]] ''something worse than murder'' than for his music.
* Publicly admitting that your views on Intellectual Property mimic the ones of the Profit-Happy Entertainment Industry can be a tough thing to live down; his crusade against Napster is the first thing that comes to mind whenever many people think of [[Music/{{Metallica}} Lars Ulrich]].

** His cocaine-fueled, reputedly in-character moment in an interview during his "Thin White Duke" period (when the controversial British politician Enoch Powell gave his infamous "Rivers Of Blood" speech and Neo-Nazi skinhead groups were emerging in England), where he mentioned that "[[ThoseWackyNazis Britain could benefit from having a fascist leader]]" and calling UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler the world's first rock star often haunt him, and it took a toll on his reputation. It didn't help that a photo of him as the TWD in mid-wave, interpreted by UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers as a Nazi salute, was tabloid fodder at the time. These events helped lead to the creation of the "Rock Against Fascism" movement. Bowie eventually made it clear he really wasn't a fascist and apologized for the way he behaved as the Thin White Duke. Although he spent the rest of his career espousing an overtly anti-racist message (i.e. the videos for "Let's Dance" and "Loving the Alien" and Tin Machine's anti-fascist lyrics), Bowie continued to be haunted by the Thin White Duke for next few decades.

* Music/MorganWallen was fired from an appearance on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' after he was caught attending a party that outrageously defied COVID-19 social distancing protocols. Wallen himself was so aware of how much this would follow him that when he got another spot on the show two months later, he appeared in a self-deprecating sketch about future versions of himself trying to warn him to leave the party. After this and a drunk and disorderly at Music/KidRock's bar in Nashville, he's become even more infamous for being caught using a racial slur on video, which got his music banned from country radio stations for most of summer 2021. Despite Wallen still having the top-selling country album of the year, apologizing for his comment, and working with various associations dedicated to racial equality, he closed the year with this event still at the forefront every time his name is brought up.
* Music/LadyA became this when in 2020, they announced that they would be renaming from their former name of "Lady Antebellum" in order to remove the American Civil War connotations from their name. They specifically cited the George Floyd protests as their reasoning; similarly, the Dixie Chicks renamed to Music/TheChicks around the same time. While the Chicks' renaming was generally well-received, many accused Lady A of virtue signaling given that they didn't try to hide what the "A" stood for and had many sources already abbreviated their name anyway. It went from bad to worse when a black singer from Seattle named Anita White caught wind of this; as she had also performed under the name "Lady A" prior to the band existing, she immediately spoke out against the insincerity of the band's renaming. While the band later stated that they were attempting to reach a compromise, this instead resulted in each party filing a lawsuit against the other, and no direction in either front at the end of 2021 (other than the band's ''What a Song Can Do'' album tanking miserably). Between this and the Morgan Wallen incident above, such incidents have greatly amplified the discussion of race in country music, historically a conservative and white genre.
* Jet will probably never be able to live down accusations of copying their inspirations, nor the infamous Pitchfork "review" of their album ''Shine On'', which was simply a link to a video of [[{{Squick}} a monkey peeing in its mouth]].

** Though [[EnforcedTrope this doesn't bother him]], considering he also did this to Music/{{Beck}} when he won the 2015 Grammy for Best Album.

** On that note, Jimi, Music/JanisJoplin, [[Music/TheDoors Jim Morrison]], Music/KurtCobain and Music/AmyWinehouse can NEVER get away from each other, just because of the age when they all died: 27. In works depicting [[CelebritiesHangOutInHeaven Rock and Roll Heaven]], expect at least a few to show up together, or even be the outright focus.

* In some ways, this has affected Creator/TinaTurner as well. One of the reasons she retired from public life is because, even though she's been a successful solo artist since the 80's and HappilyMarried to music executive Erwin Bach whom she met in 1986, she's still defined as a domestic abuse survivor and people only ever want to talk about her marriage to Ike even though she had long since moved on with her career and love life.

* Tommy Allsup had a somewhat memorable career as a country musician and producer but whenever his name is mentioned, it will most likely be his role in "The Day the Music Died". Allsup was on tour with several musicians in 1959 when there wasn't enough room for him on the plane chartered by Buddy Holly. He had a coin toss with Ritchie Valens over the the last seat and lost, therefore sparing his life when the plane crashed.

* Music/{{Drake}}'s 2021 album ''Certified Lover Boy'' will likely always be remembered for either its infamous [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/79/Drake_-_Certified_Lover_Boy.png cover art]] over anything else, or the fact "TSU" samples "Half on a Baby" by Music/RKelly, right when Kelly himself was on trial for racketeering, sex trafficking, etc. in Brooklyn (which he would later be convicted of a few weeks after Drake's album release).