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  • The Allman Brothers Band on Random Famous Rock Bands That Were Struck By Horrifying and Violent Tragedies

    (#1) The Allman Brothers Band

    • Blues-rock, Boogie rock, Rock music, Instrumental rock, Folk rock, Electric blues, Country rock, Jam band, Country, Blues, Southern rock, Roots rock, Hard rock

    If there were a poster band for enduring crippling tragedy while keepin' on keepin' on, it's the Allmans. Everyone knows one of the band's namesakes, Duane Allman, died in a motorcycle accident in his hometown of Macon, GA. To compound that tragedy, bassist Berry Oakley also died in a motorcycle wreck, a little more than a year after Duane. Oakley's accident occurred just three blocks from Allman's.

    Meanwhile, singer Gregg Allman, brother to Duane, has battled drugs, hepatitis C, cancer, and Cher. In early 2017, drummer and founding member Butch Trucks committed suicide by shooting himself in front of his wife. 

  • Alice in Chains on Random Famous Rock Bands That Were Struck By Horrifying and Violent Tragedies

    (#6) Alice in Chains

    • Rock music, Grunge, Heavy metal, Alternative rock, Traditional heavy metal, Sludge metal, Alternative metal, Hard rock

    The suicide of Kurt Cobain (a member of the 27 club) and overdose of Mother Love Bone vocalist Andrew Wood are the most well-known tragedies of the Seattle scene, but peers Alice in Chains suffered a far more protracted battle with its demons. Most of this is chronicled in the band's music, lyrics, and song and album titles, which deal overtly with drug addiction. 

    In 2002, vocalist Layne Staley, a long-suffering addict, retreated to his Seattle apartment to do heroin until he died. When his body was found (more than a week after he died), it weighed only 86 pounds and was already decomposing. Bassist Mike Starr suffered a similar fate, albeit nearly a decade later. He died from a drug overdose in 2011 in Salt Lake City.

    While the grunge icons are still around, they exist in a diminished state. Of the original line up, only guitarist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney remain. The two recruited a new vocalist and bass player and recorded music that has been received well by both fans and critics. 

  • Lynyrd Skynyrd on Random Famous Rock Bands That Were Struck By Horrifying and Violent Tragedies

    (#5) Lynyrd Skynyrd

    • Outlaw country, Blues-rock, Boogie rock, Rock music, Country rock, Alternative country, Country, Blues, Southern rock, Roots rock, Hard rock

    Legendary southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd will forever be defined by a freak accident that changed the band permanently. On a fateful day in 1977, the band's chartered Convair CV-240 plane crashed in Mississippi when it ran out of fuel. Lead vocalist Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines (Steve's older sister), assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary, and co-pilot William Gray all died. Their Street Survivors album was released three days earlier.

    If that wasn't bad enough, guitarist Allen Collins's wife died of a hemorrhage due to a miscarriage. Collins was later involved in car accident in 1986 that killed his girlfriend and left him paralyzed from the waist down. He pleaded no contest to DUI manslaughter and died in 1990 from pneumonia. 

    Leon Wilkeson, Skynyrd's bassist since 1972, was found dead in his hotel room on July 27, 2001 due to emphysema and chronic liver disease. Lastly, keyboardist Billy Powell died of a heart attack in 2009. Only one original member, Gary Rossington, is still alive  as of 2017 (drummer Artimus Pyle survived the accident but wasn't a founding member). 

  • The Mamas & the Papas on Random Famous Rock Bands That Were Struck By Horrifying and Violent Tragedies

    (#9) The Mamas & the Papas

    • Sunshine pop, Rock music, Psychedelic pop, Folk rock, Psychedelic rock

    They may appear to be an innocuous group of happy '60s hippies, but the Mamas & Papas went through some dark sh*t. Singer Cass Elliott battled weight issues until her death in 1974 from heart failure due to obesity. There's a long-standing sick joke she choked on a ham sandwich, but that isn't true.

    Vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter John Phillips had a checkered history. He was addicted to heroin for most of the '70s, and was arrested and convicted of conspiring to distribute narcotics in 1980. He spent a month in the big house in 1981. Phillips was accused of incest rape by his daughter Mackenzie, who alleged she had a sexual relationship with him for 10 years, which only ended when she got pregnant and didn't know whether he was the father. 

  • Slipknot on Random Famous Rock Bands That Were Struck By Horrifying and Violent Tragedies

    (#8) Slipknot

    • Nu metal, Groove metal, Rapcore, Heavy metal, Alternative metal

    They say looks can be deceiving. In the case of Slipknot, the opposite is true. You get what you pay for with the nine masked madmen who churn out a frightening blend of death metal, nu metal, and Satanic noise. 

    Singer Corey Taylor started doing coke and speed when he was 13. He overdosed on coke at 15, and was placed in a dumpster instead of being taken to a hospital, because, you know... Iowa. Many years later, guitarist Mick Thomson got in a knife fight with his brother on someone else's lawn (while drunk, of course).

    In 2010, bassist Paul Gray met a grizzly fate in a Johnston, IA hotel room. Gray was found dead, a hypodermic needle next to his bed, a smattering of pills splattered across the floor. An autopsy revealed the drummer died from a combo platter of morphine and fentanyl, coupled with heart disease.

  • The Beach Boys on Random Famous Rock Bands That Were Struck By Horrifying and Violent Tragedies

    (#3) The Beach Boys

    • Pop music, Rock music, Psychedelic pop, Traditional pop music, Country rock, Pop rock, Surf rock, Art rock, Baroque pop, Psychedelic rock, Surf music

    The Beach Boys are one of the greatest and most important American rock bands of all time. They also have a legendary history of not being the clean-cut, all-American boys they're made out to be. This group of relatives (three Wilson brothers and cousin Mike Love) and one friend (Al Jardine) were led by the tyrannical Murry Wilson, father to the brothers, who has long been accused of psychologically and physically abusing the band.

    On top of that, there are the legendary on-again off-again squabbles between Brian Wilson and Mike Love. Wilson, the perceived genius, had a long battle with mental illness and drug abuse that eroded his creativity. Love is known as many things, kind and gentle not among them. Following the band's 2012 tour, Love unceremoniously dumped Wilson in favor of his backing band, who proudly wave the Beach Boys flag without their most influential member.

    Brian's drug use in the '60s made him an icon and cemented him as a genius, but also melted his brain. The same can be said of his shrink, Dr. Eugene Landy, who gave Wilson enough pills during in late '80s to fry his brain even more. Landy was attempting to control Wilson to nefarious ends, and it took a new romantic interest - who Wilson married - to break the sordid relationship. 

    Meanwhile, Dennis Wilson was friends with the Manson family (as in Charles Manson) and even jammed with Manson. Allegedly, Wilson nearly produced and wrote music with the cult leader. Following this, Wilson drowned in 1983 while diving off his yacht while intoxicated. Finally, Carl Wilson died of cancer in 1998.

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About This Tool

The entire history of rock music is an amazing legend, the most amazing part of which is often created by those tragic characters who died in violent tragedies. Although their music career was short, it was vigorous. Their murder, overdoses, suicides added a touching and tragic color to their respective musical achievements. Like the Rolling Stone became a model for drug abuse in the UK.

The random tool generates 10 items, there are some famous rock bands that were struck by horrifying and violent tragedies, you could find more story about their tragic life. Welcome to leave the message and share your thoughts.  

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