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Authorities Thought Joy Division Might Be Actual Serial Killers
Joy Division was one of the biggest rock bands of the 1970s and '80s. Even if you don't recognize the name, you probably recognize their most famous work: this T-shirt.
Peter Saville/Factory RecordsIt’s an image of radio waves from a pulsar. There, now you know more about this than 99 percent of people who own the shirt.
For a brief spell during 1979, the police were looking into members of the band for another crime wholly unrelated to fashion: the Yorkshire Ripper murders. Between 1975 and 1980, Peter Sutcliffe -- an ex-gravedigger, which seems like a clue in hindsight -- murdered 13 women in red light districts across Northwest England. Police of the time tragically didn't have access to Wikipedia, and thus did not know this information. In 1979, they turned their attention to a motley crew of musicians whose license plates were often recorded in those very same red light districts.
As the band's co-founder Peter Hook explained in an interview:
"What happened was that every club we played in was run by a dodgy promoter in some dodgy part of town. We managed to play in the red light districts of Halifax, Huddersfield, Leeds, Manchester and probably London as well. The police had asked the public to note down the license plate numbers of any strange cars in the area, so they could investigate them later. It was very frightening -- they basically asked you straight out if you were the Ripper."
Although Hook handled his interrogation fine, the band's drummer, Stephen Morris, came off so suspicious that he was taken to the local police station for further questioning. It's always the drummer, isn't it?
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Motley Crue's Vince Neil Disabled Himself Over Mustard
Motley Crue is the biggest, baddest rock band to ever exist. They rubbed egg burritos on their junk to keep their girlfriends from finding out about the groupies they were banging! One of them had a lethal overdose in Slash's shower ... and started doing heroin the second he was revived! Another killed a dude while drunk driv- OK, there's the line in the sand.
There's one incident that they probably don't like to talk about, however: that time they had to cancel a gig because their lead singer got BTFO'd by a jar of mustard. Prior to taking the stage at a show in Rochester, NY, the band was backstage fixing themselves some snacks when Vince Neil -- famed hater of Grey Poupon -- found a jar of the stuff on their catering table in lieu of his favorite brand. In a hangry rage, he threw it at the wall ... at which point the jar exploded and shrapnel hit his hand, leaving him no choice but to run to the hospital before the hated Poupon could flavor his very bloodstream.
Elektra RecordsCan’t emit a sense of raw, sexy, no-rules rock 'n’ roll without the right brand of imported Dijon mustard.
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