While I could lead with some bullshit about creativity and craziness, I’ll get right to what you sickos want. Here’s a list of the killers’ tunes and a bit about the musicians that committed them.
Phil Spector
Most stories about the iconic record producer end with “…and then Phil Spector pulled out his gun.” Spector’s affinity for firearms came about after he was beat up and pissed on by four dudes in a washroom after a show with The Teddy Bears. A shitty deal, but one night, his pistol play went too far. On May 29, 2009, Spector was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson, whom he swears up and down died by accidental suicide.
Varg Vikernes
Vikernes of Norwegian black metal groups Burzum and Mayhem stabbed his Mayhem bandmate, Øystein Aarseth, to death in 1993. Vikernes was to meet Aarseth over an unsigned contract, but he caught word that Aarseth planned to subdue him with a taser and make a snuff film torturing him. Varg maintains the killing was preemptive. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison for Aarseth’s murder as well as the arson of four churches. Kvlt as fvck.
Vince Neil
The Crüe frontman got behind the wheel of his De Tomaso Pantera when he was pretty loaded and hit an oncoming vehicle. Nicholas Dingley of Hanoi Rocks was sitting shotgun in Neil’s car and died in the crash. Neil was charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of alcohol. An L.A. County judge sentenced him to the 30 days in prison, but Neil got out in 15 on good behavior.
Charles Manson
The Manson Family lived with The Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson for a time in 1968. Wilson even tried to help get Manson’s music career off the ground. While Manson may have never killed someone with his own hands, he was found guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Big Lurch
When L.A. cops picked up rapper Big Lurch, he was naked, covered in blood, and staring at the sky. Turns out he’d killed his roommate, Tynisha Ysais, while he was high on PCP and had started to eat pieces of her lungs, which he’d torn from her chest.
Claudine Longet
French popstress Claudine Longet (from The Party) shot and killed her boyfriend, Olympic skier Vladimir Sabich in his Aspen home. Longet said the gun discharged accidentally while Sabich was showing her how to use it. Thanks to some shoddy police work, she was convicted of a lesser charge, misdemeanor criminal negligence, which carried a 30-day sentence.
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious woke up from a massive Tuinal binge to find his girlfriend Nancy Spungen dead on their Chelsea Hotel room floor. She was stabbed with the hunting knife Vicious had bought a few days earlier. He was charged with the murder, but never stood trial — he O.D.ed on heroin after posting bail. Some argue that Vicious was too doped up to commit the crime himself; someone else may have killed Nancy.
Jim Gordon
The popular session drummer worked with nearly everyone through the ’60s and ’70s — Alice Cooper, Zappa, George Harrison, Steely Dan. He co-wrote “Layla” with Clapton. His “Apache” beat has become a classic hip-hop sample. He was also an undiagnosed schizophrenic. One night, he lashed out violently against his mother, hitting her in the head with a hammer, before killing her with a butcher’s knife.
Cool C and Steady B
These guys are Philly rappers who along with Ultimate Eaze formed the group C.E.B. (Countin’ Endless Bank). In ’96, they tried to make good on their name, and heldup a PNC bank. The heist was botched and Cool C ended up killing a cop who responded to the silent alarm. Both rappers were charged for the murder. I bet that guilty verdict in their music video wasn’t funny or cute anymore.
