Music made by notorious criminals

This thread is for posting and discussing music where the artist is most known for being an infamous criminal. Personally, I would say it hardly matters whether the major crimes they committed were before, during, or after their careers, if you're wondering if you wanna post it here.

I absolutely hate that a psychedelic folk rock song made by Charles Manson is unironically good. You don't want to like something created by Charles Manson, but it's hard not to recognize his talent here when you sit and listen to this track.

Wanna know what's really creepy about this song? If you listen really closely to the lyrics, Manson more or less describes his process for brainwashing troubled misanthropic young people of the late 60s. How he would recognize their struggles, say he understood to charm them, and then manipulate them.

What creeps me out about this song the most though, is how it makes me understand more why this guy was so good at manipulating people. I can't help but imagine that if I was in my mid 20s like I am now, except in 1968 San Francisco, what I would think if I had no idea who Charles Manson was, like most people still did at that time, and I had randomly met him at a music festival or at a party while he was playing guitar and singing like this. I'd probably think "Hey, this dude is actually pretty fucking cool. He's a good singer songwriter", and I'd want to hang out with him. Scary thought.

An absolutely insane part of this song's history aside who the artist was, is when it was released. Manson recorded it in 1968, but it wasn't released until 1970, which is when the general public first heard it. That was the year after the Manson family's deadly crime spree in California throughout 1969, when he had already been in prison since December 1969.

 

the guy who shot Ronald Reagan fancies himself a musician, too
I've listened to a few of his songs, and meh, it's OK

 

For a brief moment, I thought my old thread on R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" got a name change.

(Honestly sucks that I can no longer listen to his songs without thinking of the vile shit he's done.)

 

I forgot to mention this in the OP, though some of you music nerds might already know about this. Guns N' Roses did a cover of Look at Your Game, Girl in the early 90s, and it caused a huge controversy at the time. It was included as a hidden track on their 1993 album The Spaghetti Incident?, which has the distinction of being their only album not backed by a tour.

Outside of the obvious reason for the controversy of who the original artist they were covering was, it was also controversial because the public believed that Charles Manson could be earning money from the sales of the album while in prison. To prevent this from happening, Manson's royalties from the album instead went to Bartek Frykowski, the son of Manson family murder victim Voytek Frykowski. This cover was released at Axl Rose's request, despite the opposition of his bandmates.

 

Didn't GnR also do a song about pedophilia or something?

 

I honestly don't know, but in their heyday in the 1990s especially, Guns N' Roses was known for covering deliberately shocking, offensive, and repulsive topics, to cement their status and reputation as "the most dangerous band in the world". So if they did that, it would be on brand for them at least. That's why it makes so much sense why they decided to do a cover of a Charles Manson song.

 

That's pretty accurate.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of Todd in the Shadows. He briefly mentioned Charles Manson's songwriting involvement in the Beach Boys in one of his videos.
If he did another series, 'music made by criminals' could be an interesting one - particularly for artists who aren't that well known.

 

I've heard earlier this year that John Hinckley Jr. keeps trying to book concert venues so he can perform, but the venues keep denying him and cancelling his concerts after finding out who he is. I'm not joking lol.

 

Tags:

• criminally underrated
• cult classic
• killer music

(lol)

 

yeah, I heard something like that, too
that's how I found out about him (that he's no longer in prison/mental facility) and his music, LOL

 

Knowing what we now know about Rolf Harris, I can't help but think that "kangaroo" is just some codeword for something truly vile. As in, his dick.
(Can you add some pedo-related puns in the tags, @RetardBus?)

 

I hate that I still like some of his music and the way it sounds, yet because of what he did, hearing R. Kelly sing about sex makes me throw up in my mouth. Which is the worst, because 99% of his greatest hits are about sex.

 

Obligatory Nick Bate post.

 

he looked gross

 

That's because he is gross.
("Gross" is a gigantic understatement when describing Nick Bate, TBH.)

 

he legit wrote an album about poop and anal sex and how he wanted to (NSFL) kids

he's in prison for 40 years because he sexually assaulted his preteen cousin/stepsister (I don't remember her relationship to him)

he's a real monster

 

Turns out the legal system could, in fact, hold him down.

 

Turned out P-Diddy really was a bad boy 4 life.