History PopCultureUrbanLegends / Music

** When Mama Cass Elliot suddenly died, rumours grew about her [[UndignifiedDeath dying from choking on a ham sandwich]]. She actually died in her sleep of heart failure. The rumour started after a half-eaten ham sandwich was found in the room she died in; a doctor who spoke with the press speculated that this sandwich could be the cause of her death. An autopsy later revealed that there was no food found in her windpipe.

*** Another variation is that both Tupac and Music/TheNotoriousBig are both still alive and sitting on a beach together somewhere like [[UsefulNotes/FrenchPolynesia Bora Bora]] and laughing about the elaborate con they've pulled off. [[Music/Nirvana Kurt Cobain]], who committed suicide two years before Tupac was murdered, is often mentioned as being in on it with them.

*** Another variation is that both Tupac and Music/TheNotoriousBig are both still alive and sitting on a beach together somewhere like [[UsefulNotes/FrenchPolynesia Bora Bora]] and laughing about the elaborate con they've pulled off.

* On the subject of Marilyn Manson, that's [[http://www.houstonpress.com/music/man-that-you-fear-the-best-marilyn-manson-myths-ever-6761246 hardly the only one]] to circulate about him. Other popular ones include claims that he had two ribs removed so that he could more easily suck his own penis (this is actually more attributed to Music/{{Cher}}, though not the autofellatio part obviously and it doesn't apply for her either), that he gave away free drugs at his shows, and that he injected heroin into one of his eyeballs in order to get his heterochromia (the look actually comes from contact lenses). He's also one of the many musicians attached to the aforementioned legend about throwing puppies into the crowd for them to kill. He ''is'', however, an honorary reverend in the Church of Satan.

*** Although [=McCartney=] was indeed involved in two car crashes around this time, many witnesses and onlookers confirmed he was alive and well. Additionally, he was wearing sandals during the Abbey Road photo shoot, but he only took them off because they were getting uncomfortable. There's also no evidence of the contest taking place or a man named "William 'Billy Shears' Campbell" even existing.

** Perhaps the most well-known classic rock urban legend of all time is the "Paul is dead" legend, which led people to believe that Music/PaulMcCartney died in a car crash in November 1966 on his way home from a recording session for Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand and, either to spare the public and themselves from the grief of Paul's "death" or to pull a sick joke, his bandmates, Music/JohnLennon, Music/GeorgeHarrison, and Music/RingoStarr, replaced Paul with a look-and-soundalike from Scotland named William Shears Campbell (also known as "Billy Shears"), who had won an alleged "[=McCartney=] look-a-like" contest. Supposedly, clues to this are sprinkled throughout the group's post-1966 work, especially their album covers, with the iconic ''Music/AbbeyRoad'' cover being singled out the most due to Paul being noticeably barefoot in the photo (corpses are usually buried barefoot in some societies), in addition to people believing the album cover was depicting a funeral procession, with Lennon being the heavenly figure (his white suit), Starr as the undertaker (his black attire), and Harrison as the gravedigger (his denim and jeans), with [=McCartney=] as the corpse (his lack of shoes and walking out of step with the rest of The Beatles). The very-much-alive Paul parodied this with the cover and title of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Is_Live his 1993 live album]], ''Paul is Live''.
*** Although [=McCartney=] was indeed involved in two car crashes around this time, many witnesses and onlookers confirmed he was alive and well. Additionally, he was wearing sandals during the Abbey Road photo shoot, but he only took them off because they were getting uncomfortable. There's also no evidence of the contest taking place or a man named "William 'Billy' Shears Campbell" even existing.

** Elvis is far from the only musician to have a legend of faking their own death attributed to him. Others include [[Music/TheDoors Jim Morrison]] (as his corpse was never autopsied) and Music/TupacShakur (since a good number of posthumous albums have been made, with some believing the music to be hinting at a comeback). There's a probably semi-joking theory out there that Jim Morrison is not only still alive, but that he's Creator/ThomasPynchon.

*** Mama Cass Elliot's death also started a rumour about her being pregnant with John Lennon's child. This is not true, as she and John were never a couple and had only briefly met once. The autopsy collected no evidence to support claims of pregnancy.

** The song "In The Air Tonight" has [[http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/intheair.asp an urban legend]] which takes the first verse more literally. The most famous version of the legend claims that Phil and a friend are at a lake when the friend falls in and starts to drown. Phil is too far away to help, but sees someone closer and asks him to save his friend. The other person [[MurderByInaction refuses]] and Phil's friend drowns. In response, Phil writes the song and invites the man to his next concert. He sings the song directly to the man who then either gets arrested by the police or runs out of the concert and kills himself. (Other versions involve a man doing something horrible to Phil, his friends, and/or his family, and when the man ends up in danger of drowning, Phil remembers what the man did and refuses to help.) [[WordOfGod Phil himself]] says the legend is not true and he doesn't know where it came from.
** On a lighter note, there are several theories as to where the title of "Sussudio" came from. Some claim that it was the name of a pony that Phil's daughter had, while others claim he got the title from someone (such as his daughter or an employee) mispronouncing the word "studio". The truth is much more mundane: it was a piece of gibberish that he improvised, [[ThrowItIn and he liked the way it sounded.]] It was actually meant to be a placeholder lyric, but [[PermanentPlaceholder he never found another word that worked just as well]].

** Perhaps the most well-known classic rock urban legend of all time is the "Paul is dead" legend, which led people to believe that Music/PaulMcCartney died in a car crash in November 1966 on his way home from a session for Music/SgtPeppersLonelyHeartsClubBand and, either to spare the public and themselves from the grief of Paul's "death" or to pull a sick joke, his bandmates, Music/JohnLennon, Music/GeorgeHarrison, and Music/RingoStarr, replaced Paul with a look-and-soundalike from Scotland named William Campbell, also known as "Billy Shears", who had won an alleged "[=McCartney=] look-a-like" contest. Supposedly, clues to this are sprinkled throughout the group's post-1966 work, especially their album covers, with the iconic ''Music/AbbeyRoad'' cover being singled out the most due to Paul being noticeably barefoot in the photo (corpses are usually buried barefoot in some societies), in addition to people believing the album cover was depicting a funeral procession, with Lennon being the heavenly figure (his white suit), Starr as the undertaker (his black attire), and Harrison as the gravedigger (his denim and jeans), with [=McCartney=] as the corpse (his lack of shoes and walking out of step with the rest of The Beatles). The very-much-alive Paul parodied this with the cover and title of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Is_Live his 1993 live album]], ''Paul is Live''.

* When 1000 Homo [=DJs=] (a Music/{{Ministry}} side project) did a cover of Music/BlackSabbath's "Supernaut," they were asked to remove vocals [[Music/NineInchNails Trent Reznor]] had recorded by his record label at the time. The urban legend is that, instead of re-recording the song with a different singer, Ministry's Al Jourgensen added additional distortion effects to Reznor's take and only claimed to have re-recorded the vocals himself. Jourgensen always maintained he sang it himself, even when there was no longer any potential for legal action [[note]]Reznor's former label, TVT, eventually bought out 1000 Homo [=DJs=] label, Wax Trax!, and even officially released the "Trent Reznor Vocal Version" of "Supernaut" as part of a box set[[/note]].

* A rumor spread online among {{Music/Soundgarden}} fans was that the lyrics to the SingleStanzaSong "I Awake" came about when the member who wrote the song, Hiro Yamamoto, handed Chris Cornell a lyric sheet written on the back of a note from his girlfriend, and Cornell mistook the note itself for song lyrics. This is half-true: The lyrics really were based on a note Kate [=McDonald=], Hiro's girlfriend at the time, left for him - she's therefore credited for co-writing the song; but the band didn't use those words by mistake, and presumably just thought it would be interesting to re-contextualize them as song lyrics.

* A rumor spread online among {{Music/Soundgarden}} fans was that the lyrics to the SingleStanzaSong "I Awake" came about when the member who wrote the song, Hiro Yamamoto, handed Chris Cornell a lyric sheet written on the back of a note from his girlfriend, and Cornell mistook the note itself for song lyrics. This is half-true: The lyrics really were based on a note Kate [=McDonald=], Hiro's girlfriend at the time, left for him - she's therefore credited for co-writing the song; but the band didn't use those words by mistake, and presumably just thought it would be interesting to re-contextualize them into a song.

** The back cover of his ''{{Music/Transformer}}'' features photos of a man and a woman - rumor had it that, tying in with songs that referenced {{UsefulNotes/Transgender}} issues ("Walk On The Wild Side") and transvestites ("Make Up"), the woman and the man were portrayed by the same person. In reality, the woman is 1960s British model Gala Mitchel, while the man is Ernie Thormahlen, a friend of Lou Reed.

* "Gloomy Sunday" is also known as the Hungarian Suicide Song. The precise nature of the urban legend is a little different depending on who you ask, but the basic version is that the song can cause people to commit suicide. While creepy and sad, the song certainly won't make you kill yourself-- not to mention that Hungary, where the supposed song-caused deaths occurred, historically has a high suicide rate to begin with. The legend was given a nod in ''Anime/Danganronpa3'', where Monokuma runs a depressing video titled "Monokuma's Gloomy Sunday"[[spoiler: and is the direct cause of the blackout deaths, hypnotizing its viewers into killing themselves.]]

* A common rumor is that singer/songwriter of "Don't Worry, Be Happy", Music/BobbyMcFerrin, eventually killed himself. McFerrin is still alive as of 2023.