It sometimes feels like musicians can get away with anything.
For instance, Ozzy Osbourne can bite the head off a bat and still land a reality show.
So what would a musician have to do to get in some real trouble?
Depending on the artist in question, maybe not so much.
So if you happen to be struggling with a hyper-successful music career and don't feel like doing it
anymore, take note.
Any one of these moments could have you on food stamps faster than you can say "goodbye,
career."
Marilyn Manson
In the aftermath of the devastating Columbine high school tragedy, America began searching
for someone to blame — and narrowed in on one person in particular.
"Shock rocker Marilyn Manson"
"Marilyn Manson"
At the time, Manson was already seen by Middle America as the antichrist.
When word got out that the shooters were goths who had listened to his music, the nation
went nuts.
In an interview with The Guardian, Manson later revealed,
"But, honestly, the Columbine era destroyed my entire career at the time.”
That being said, he claims to understand why he was a target.
"Because I think it's easy to throw my face on a TV because I'm in the end the poster
boy for fear."
His concerts were protested and he received hundreds of violent threats.
The most aggravating part?
As Manson later wrote in an article for Rolling Stone,
"Responsible journalists have reported with less publicity that [the shooters] were not
Marilyn Manson fans – that they even disliked my music."
Michelle Shocked
In 2013, singer Michelle Shocked fired off some hateful anti-LGBT comments while playing
a club in San Francisco.
According to The Guardian, Shocked told the crowd,
"Once prop 8 gets instated, and once preachers are held at gunpoint and forced to marry the
homosexuals, I'm pretty sure that would be the signal for Jesus to come on back...If
someone would be so gracious as to please tweet out 'Michelle Shocked just said from
stage, God Hates F------.''"
Shocked had been a successful artist, nominated for an MTV Video Music Award alongside Madonna
and Sinead O'Connor back in 1990.
The controversy left Shocked at the center of a media storm and on the wrong side of
her own fans.
In a long interview piece with the singer, Dallas Morning News claimed in 2017 that the
outburst sent Shocked's career into a near-terminal nosedive, losing her bookings and wiping out
a planned tour.
Lee Ryan
In October 2001, a wounded America was still trying to understand the events of September
11th, as the rest of the world watched sympathetically — with one exception.
Lee Ryan of the British boyband Blue was not impressed with all the grief and solidarity.
That month, in an interview with the Sun, Ryan asked,
"Who gives a f--- about New York when elephants are being killed?"
Ryan went on to say,
"They are ignoring animals that are more important.
Animals need saving and that's more important.
This New York thing is being blown out of all proportion."
Fittingly for those who believe in karma, Ryan and the rest of Blue split a couple years
later, eventually going bankrupt.
The Dixie Chicks
In 2003, The Dixie Chicks were one of the biggest acts in country music.
Until, that is, they took to a stage in London, where lead singer Natalie Maines declared
to the crowd her dislike of then-President George W. Bush.
"Just so you know, we're on the good side with y'all.
We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the president of the United
States is from Texas."
As The Guardian detailed, that was the exact moment the Chicks' career hit the red, white,
and blue fan.
Country music dropped the all-girl outfit like radioactive waste.
Their singles plummeted down the Billboard charts, radio stations banned their music,
and they received so many violent threats that they were forced to install metal detectors
at their concerts.
The Chicks' sales never recovered.
B.o.B
In January 2016, hip-hop artist B.o.B decided to take "retro" to the next level by taking
geography back to the Stone Age.
In a tweetstorm, he fired off pictures and messages designed to prove that we've all
been lied to about the shape of the Earth — and that it's actually flat.
The series of tweets has come to define what's left of B.o.B's career.
His subsequent Twitter spats with guys like astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson have sent
him down a rabbit hole that has since consumed his entire life.
In September 2017, B.o.B even launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $1 million to launch satellites
into space to "find the curve," an impressively obtuse way of saying "to prove the Earth is
flat."
It doesn't appear this battle will end well for the rapper-turned-explorer.
Sly Stone
The collapse of Sly Stone's career was less a single moment than a whole series of desperate
moments that finally culminated in one uber-moment that effectively ruined his reputation forever.
After stuffing hefty amounts of stuff up his nose, the singer started missing concerts
and collapsing on stage.
As People detailed in a 1996 profile, his pet dog mauled his son in 1976, his wife left
him, and his band broke up.
Still, Stone could have probably recovered from all this.
But the one thing his record label took a much dimmer view on was Stone getting busted
for possession.
After that, he didn't work again for over a decade.
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