The history of rock and roll is written in sweat, electricity... and a staggering amount of fiction.
Since the genre’s inception, the line between reality and 'cool stories' has been intentionally blurred by savvy managers, eccentric stars, and a music press hungry for sensation. These myths are the folklore of the modern age – campfire stories told in dive bars and tour buses to elevate mortal musicians into the realm of the supernatural.
Whether born from a misunderstanding in a hotel lobby or a deliberate lie told to pass a drug test, these legends have become inseparable from the music itself. Peeling back the curtain reveals that while the truth is often less 'demonic' than the legend, it is frequently much more human. From supposed deals with the devil to the 'tragic' role played by a humble ham sandwich, here is the truth behind 18 of rock’s most persistent and colourful fabrications.
1. Keith Moon drove a Lincoln Continental into a Holiday Inn pool
The Myth: During his 21st birthday party in Flint, Michigan, The Who's madcap, hard-partying drummer of drove a luxury car into the hotel swimming pool.
The Reality: This is arguably the most famous story of rock decadence, but it never happened. Both Moon and bandmate Roger Daltrey often 'confirmed' it in interviews, but local records and eyewitness accounts tell a different story. Moon did lose a tooth after a fall, there was a fire extinguisher fight, and the band was indeed banned from Holiday Inns, but no car ever entered the water. Moon likely conflated several incidents of property damage into one epic, cinematic lie.
2. Led Zeppelin’s infamous 'Shark Incident'
The Myth: During a stay at Seattle's Edgewater Inn in July 1969, the breakthrough Led Zeppelin and their road crew used a piece of a shark to perform a graphic sexual act on a fan.
The Reality: While a disturbing incident involving a fish did take place at the Seattle hotel in 1969, the details have been wildly distorted by rock folklore. Eyewitnesses, including Vanilla Fudge's Mark Stein (who filmed parts of it), clarify that the 'shark' was actually several small pieces of a red snapper caught by the band from their window.
Furthermore, road manager Richard Cole claimed the act was consensual 'horseplay' initiated by the girl. Regardless of the specifics, the story evolved from a strange, drunken hotel prank into a terrifying myth of 'shark-related' rock god depravity.
3. Keith Richards had a total blood transfusion to pass a drugs test
The Myth: To clean up for a 1973 European tour, Keith Richards flew to Switzerland to have his entire blood supply replaced with 'clean' blood.
The Reality: Richards actually started this rumour himself to avoid answering tedious questions from journalists. He did undergo a medical procedure in Switzerland, but it was a 'blood filtration' or hemodialysis-style treatment to help his liver and kidneys process toxins more effectively while he was coming off heroin. The idea of a 100% 'oil change' is medically impossible outside of a laboratory setting. Richards eventually admitted in his autobiography, Life, that he was just 'yanking their chain' because he was tired of the vampire-like fascination with his drug use.
4. Fleetwood Mac's guitarist was abducted by a cult
The Myth: In 1971, the Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer stepped out of a Los Angeles hotel to buy a book and vanished, allegedly kidnapped by the Children of God cult.
The Reality: While Spencer did disappear and join the Children of God (now known as the Family International), he wasn't 'abducted' in the traditional sense. He left the band voluntarily after a period of intense spiritual disillusionment and a bad mescaline trip. He encountered a member of the group on the street and decided to join them on the spot, seeking a radical change in lifestyle.
The reality, Spencer emphasises, is that any secrecy at the time was not sinister; it was because the Children of God didn’t want a high-profile, George Harrison/Hare Krishna-style media circus. Spencer was invited to visit the C of G’s building by a busker he’d met in the street; he was not abducted by a religious press gang. There was no coercion; rather he had to reassure them that he was sure about joining. He had his hair cut – not shaved – because Fleetwood Mac were due to head down to the backwoods town of Thurber, Texas, where long-haired types were not welcome.
The band spent days searching for him, even hiring private investigators, before finding him at the cult’s headquarters. Spencer chose to stay and remains a member of the organization today; it was a sudden, jarring defection, but a conscious choice nonetheless.
5. Cass Elliot died by choking on a ham sandwich
The Myth: The Mamas & the Papas singer died in London after accidentally choking on a sandwich while eating in bed.
The Reality: This myth was accidentally started by the first doctor on the scene, who noticed a half-eaten sandwich on the nightstand and speculated to the press before an autopsy was performed. The official coroner's report later confirmed that Elliot died in her sleep from a heart attack brought on by years of weight fluctuations and the physical strain of her career. There was no food in her windpipe. Tragically, the 'sandwich' story became a cruel punchline that overshadowed the legacy of one of the greatest voices in pop history.
6. Gene Simmons had a cow tongue grafted onto his own
The Myth: The KISS bassist had a surgical procedure to attach a cow's tongue to his own to achieve his famous, freakishly long flick.
The Reality: This is biologically impossible; the human body would reject the tissue, and the musculature wouldn't function. Simmons simply has a naturally long tongue, which he learned to accentuate through practice and stagecraft. The myth was fuelled by the band’s 'monster' personas and the fact that Simmons rarely appeared out of makeup in the 70s. It was a perfect piece of marketing that Simmons – ever the businessman – happily let circulate because it made him seem more like a literal demon.
7. Marilyn Manson was the 'nerdy kid' in The Wonder Years
The Myth: Before becoming a shock-rock icon, Brian Warner played the character Paul Pfeiffer in the classic 80s TV show.
The Reality: This is one of the earliest internet-era myths. Manson and actor Josh Saviano look somewhat similar – both have thin builds and prominent noses – but they are entirely different people. Josh Saviano grew up to become a corporate lawyer, while Brian Warner was busy starting his music career in Florida under his stage name.
The rumour persisted because Manson never bothered to deny it during his rise to fame, as the idea of the 'Antichrist Superstar' having such a wholesome, dorky past added a layer of irony that fit his persona perfectly.
8. Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike
The Myth: Paul died in a car crash on the M1 and was replaced by a man named William Campbell to prevent a global panic.
The Reality: The 'Paul is Dead' theory relies on 'clues' found in Beatles tracks and album art. There's the curious fact of Paul being the only one of the Fab Four to be seen barefoot (and, moreover, out of step with the others) on the cover of Abbey Road. Then there's the end of 'Strawberry Fields Forever', were we can (supposedly) hear the whispered phrase 'I buried Paul'.
The truth is a little more everyday. On those occasions when he wasn't seen with the rest of the Beatles, McCartney was simply on holiday or busy recording. And the Abbey Road cover? Well, it was a hot day and Macca decided to take his shoes off.
To his credit, McCartney has spent decades laughing off the theory, even releasing a live album titled Paul is Live in 1993.
9. The Eagles' 'Hotel California' is about a secret Satanic church
The Myth: The song contains coded lyrics about a repurposed church in San Francisco used by Anton LaVey’s Church of Satan.
The Reality: Don Henley and Glenn Frey have consistently explained that the song is a metaphor for the decadence and self-destruction of the 1970s American Dream and the Southern California music industry. The 'beast' that the Eagles can't kill is not the Devil; rather, it's their own hedonism.
While fans point to a figure on the balcony of the album cover as being the notorious Satanist Anton LaVey, it was actually just a woman the band hired for the shoot. The 'Satanic' interpretation was largely pushed by religious groups during the 'Satanic Panic' of the 1980s.
10. Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat as a planned stunt
The Myth: To shock the audience during a 1982 show in Des Moines, Ozzy Osbourne intentionally decapitated a live bat with his teeth.
The Reality: Ozzy actually thought it was a rubber toy thrown by a fan. It was only after he bit down that he realized the bat was real (and, according to him, still alive and biting back). He had to be rushed to the hospital immediately after the show for a series of painful rabies shots.
While he had previously bitten the head off a dove in a board meeting – which was a deliberate, albeit drunken, act of provocation – the bat incident was a genuine, terrifying mistake that became the defining (and somewhat regretted) image of his career.
11. Alice Cooper 'sacrificed' a chicken on stage
The Myth: During a 1969 performance at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, Alice Cooper killed a chicken and drank its blood.
The Reality: A live chicken somehow ended up on stage. Cooper, a city boy from Detroit, assumed that since the bird had wings, it could fly. He threw it into the audience, expecting it to soar away. Instead, the "peace-loving" crowd tore the bird to pieces. Cooper didn't kill the bird himself, but the next day’s headlines claimed he had slaughtered and eaten the hapless bird.
Correctly guessing the notoriety it would bring him, Frank Zappa advised Cooper not to deny the escapade. And the 'Chicken Incident' duly gave Cooper the 'villain' reputation he needed to become a superstar.
12. Yoko Ono broke up The Beatles
The Myth: The presence of John Lennon's avant-garde partner in the studio caused the irreparable rift that dismantled the world’s greatest band.
The Reality: Attributing the breakup solely to Yoko Ono is a convenient but lazy narrative. By 1969, the band was already fracturing due to the death of manager Brian Epstein, deepening creative differences, and bitter disputes over business management (specifically, the hiring of Allen Klein).
George Harrison was frustrated by his limited songwriting space, and Paul McCartney’s perfectionism had become a point of contention. Lennon himself stated that he had 'grown out' of the band. While Yoko's constant presence in the studio certainly added to the tension, she was a symptom of Lennon’s detachment, not the primary cause of the legal and personal collapse that had been brewing for years.
13. Robert Johnson sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads
The Myth: The blues legend met Satan at a Mississippi crossroads at midnight, trading his soul for unparalleled guitar virtuosity.
The Reality: This is a classic piece of Southern Gothic folklore that was retroactively applied to Johnson to explain his sudden, massive improvement as a player. In truth, Johnson went away for a year to study under a guitarist named Isaiah 'Ike' Zimmerman.
Zimmerman taught Johnson in graveyards at night because it was quiet and 'the dead wouldn't mind the noise'. This real-life practice, combined with Johnson’s doom-laden lyrics on tracks such as 'Hellhound on My Trail', created a perfect storm for the supernatural myth to take hold long after his early death.
14. Phil Collins wrote 'In the Air Tonight' about witnessing a drowning
The Myth: Collins watched someone refuse to help a drowning person and then invited that person to a concert to sing the song at them.
The Reality: This urban legend is so pervasive it was even referenced in Eminem’s 'Stan'. In truth, Phil Collins wrote the song during his bitter divorce from his first wife. The lyrics are about the 'anger and despair' he felt during the breakup. He has stated many times that he doesn't even know what the song is truly 'about' in a narrative sense; he just let the lyrics flow out spontaneously to fit the moody drum machine track. There was no drowning and no secret revenge plot.
15. The CIA murdered Jimi Hendrix
The Myth: The U.S. government viewed Hendrix as a dangerous 'subversive' due to his ties to the Black Panthers and his influence over the youth, leading the CIA to assassinate him in London.
The Reality: Proponents of this theory point to Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffery, who allegedly had ties to British intelligence. However, the medical evidence from the night of September 18, 1970, points to a tragic accident. Hendrix had taken nine Vesperax sleeping pills – 18 times the recommended dose – which caused him to aspirate on his own vomit.
While his radical politics certainly made him a person of interest to the FBI (as part of the COINTELPRO program), there is no physical evidence of foul play. His death was the result of exhaustion and a fatal mistake with barbiturates.
16. Jim Morrison faked his death to become a rancher in Oregon
The Myth: Tired of the 'Lizard King' persona and legal troubles, the Doors frontman staged his 1971 death in a Paris bathtub to live a quiet life as a poet and rancher.
The Reality: The lack of an autopsy and the fact that few people saw his body before the casket was sealed fuelled this particular fire. However, Morrison’s long-term partner Pamela Courson, who was with him in Paris, remained devastated until her own death, and the manager of Paris's Rock 'n' Roll Circus club has since admitted Morrison actually overdosed in a bathroom stall at his venue.
While fans cling to 'sightings' in the Pacific Northwest, the mundane reality is that years of respiratory issues and substance abuse finally caught up with a man whose health was in steep decline.
17. Stevie Nicks is an actual witch
The Myth: The Fleetwood Mac frontwoman is a high-ranking practitioner of Wicca, using her songs to cast spells and wearing flowing shawls to hide her 'witchy' activities.
The Reality: This myth became so intense in the late 70s that Nicks began receiving death threats from religious extremists and was eventually afraid to wear black for several years. While she clearly embraces a 'velvet-and-lace' aesthetic and writes lyrics inspired by Welsh mythology (see the iconic 'Rhiannon'), she has clarified repeatedly that she is not a witch. She simply enjoys the theatrical, romantic imagery of the gothic tradition.
Like the 'Hotel California' rumours above, the lurid tales that swirled around Nicks were a a product of the 1980s 'Satanic Panic' era, where any woman with a penchant for capes and mysticism was viewed with suspicion.
18. Elvis Presley is still alive and worked as an extra in 'Home Alone'
The Myth: Elvis faked his 1977 death to escape the pressures of fame and made a cameo appearance as a bearded extra in the background of the 1990 film Home Alone.
The Reality: 'The King' is the patron saint of 'faked death' theories, with fans pointing to his middle name being misspelled on his tombstone as 'proof' that he's still out there somewhere. As for the Home Alone cameo, the extra in the airport scene does bear a slight resemblance to an older Elvis, but he has been identified as Gary Richard Grott, a frequent movie extra who passed away in 2016.
The likelihood of Elvis – one of the most recognizable faces in history – successfully hiding for decades, only to show up in a major Hollywood blockbuster, is non-existent.
Take a look below: to be fair, Grott does bear an uncanny resemblance to The King...
Pics Getty Images
