Rock 'n' Roll Myths The True Stories Behind the Most Infamous Legends

by Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780760342305
• ISBN10: 076034230X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-06-12
• Publisher: Voyageur Press

Summary

It's perhaps the relative modernity of rock 'n' roll that makes the genre a minefield of myths and legends accepted as truth. History hasn't had time to dissect the bunk. Until now. Discover the real stories behind rock's biggest crocks, how they came to be but why they have persisted. Did Cass Elliott really asphyxiate herself with a ham sandwich? Did the Beatles spark a spliff in Buckingham? Did Willie Nelson do the same in the White House? Did Keith Richards get a complete "oil change" at a Swiss clinic in 1973 to pass a drug test necessary to embark on an American tour with the Stones? Then there's the freaky (did Michael Jackson own the remains of the Elephant Man?), the quasi-medical (Rod Stewart and that stomach pump?), the culinary (did Alice Cooper and Ozzy Osbourne really do all those things to bats, chickens, etc. onstage?), and the apocryphal (did Robert Johnson sell his soul to the Prince of Darkness in exchange for mastery of the blues?). In all, more than 50 enduring lies are examined, explained, and debunked.

Author Biography

Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist based in Detroit. He is a regular contributor to the New York Times Features Syndicate, Billboard, UPI, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Revolver, and other publications, as well as to radio stations in Detroit and Milwaukee. He is the editor of The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen A to E to Z and the series editor of the MusicHound Essential Album Guides. He lives in Beverly Hills, Michigan.Daniel Durchholz is co-editor of MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide and co-author of Neil Young: Long May You Run. He has written for Rolling Stone, Billboard, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chicago Tribune, and Washington Post. He lives in Wildwood, Missouri. Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist and a regular contributor to the New York Times Features Syndicate, Billboard, Revolver, and other publications, as well as radio stations in Detroit and Milwaukee. He is the co-author of Neil Young: Long May You Run. playitallnightlong.blogspot.comtwitter.com/GraffonMusic