From domestic violence to assaulting fans and harassing bandmates, these icons of
the 1990s music scene have had serious criminal allegations voiced against them.
Brian Warner, better known as Marilyn Manson began challenging the mainstream in the '90s with his
deviantly suggestive singles and graphic videos like "The Beautiful People." Over several decades,
he's become a widely known figure in contemporary music and, according to several of the rock star's
former partners, the alleged perpetrator of many alarming acts of violence and assault.
Billboard reports that "Westworld" star Evan Rachel Wood, to whom Manson was engaged in 2010,
identified the rocker as her abuser. In 2021, Wood wrote on Instagram,
"He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years."
According to USA Today, while testifying to Congress for the bolstering of assault
survival laws in 2018, Wood detailed many acts of domestic, physical, and sexual violence
perpetrated on her. Though, at the time, Wood did not name Manson directly, she alleged that
he bound her, tortured her, and assaulted her when he believed she was unconscious.
"And when you're inebriated like that, you — you can't consent, especially as a minor."
After Wood went public with her story, other women linked to Manson, including
musician Ellie Rowsell and actor Esme Bianco, alleged the singer of other crimes. Rowsell
accused Manson of intimately filming women at concerts without their consent, while Bianco
said that the musician kept her prisoner in her home and attacked her with a knife.
On the night of Thanksgiving 2005, Scott Stapp, former lead singer of the mega-popular rock band
Creed, wandered into the bar of the Harbor Court Hotel in Baltimore. According to Rolling Stone,
once inside, he reportedly provoked a fight with the members of the rap-rock band 311,
best known for their '90s hits "Down" and "All Mixed Up."
Vocalist S.A. Martinez reported that he and his bandmates were watching
a basketball game on TV when Stapp entered the bar and declared that he
enjoyed fighting. He proceeded to start taking shots, throwing shot glasses,
and tossing garbage at the band. After Stapp made a disrespectful comment about Martinez's wife,
drummer Chad Sexton tried to diffuse the situation. Sexton recalled to Rolling Stone,
"I kindly asked him not to disrespect anybody and reminded him that we're all
friends. That's when he sucker-punched me — hit me right in the face."
Stapp then struck Martinez's wife, and a full-on brawl developed. Hotel
security broke up the fight and removed Stapp from the premises.
Three months later, Stapp was arrested for public intoxication while on a layover at LAX airport in
Los Angeles. The New York Daily News reports that the following year, Stapp was arrested
at his home in Boca Raton, Florida on a charge of domestic assault with intent to commit a felony.
Scott Weiland, the gravelly-voiced frontman of Stone Temple Pilots, dealt with a number
of legal issues, many of which were related to his struggle with addiction. Playing in
such a high profile band, many of Weiland's arrests have been brought to the public eye.
According to Blabbermouth, he was arrested in 1995 on drug charges and, upon his release,
spent a month in a Los Angeles hotel room injecting heroin with Hole's Courtney Love.
According to MTV News, Weiland reportedly found sobriety for a few months earlier that year,
before he relapsed and embarked on a five-month stay in rehab. In 1998,
Weiland was arrested in New York for criminal possession of heroin, and according to Esquire,
he was charged with heroin and cocaine possession in 2003. Four years later,
police busted Weiland for driving under the influence of drugs, according to TMZ.
In between his narcotics arrests, Billboard reports that Weiland was also arrested in
Las Vegas on a domestic violence charge in 2001. According to a police report,
Weiland's wife, angry over his use of a drug, tried to prevent him from leaving
their hotel room. The singer then proceeded to shove her against a wall multiple times.
After his arrest, he posted the $3,000 bail and was released.
Tragically, Weiland was discovered dead in Minnesota in December 2015 at the age of 48,
according to Rolling Stone. The cause of death was attributed to
a combined overdose of cocaine, alcohol, and MDMA.
As the singer, main songwriter, and rhythm guitarist in Hole, Courtney Love released
two huge '90s rock albums, the acclaimed "Live Through This" and "Celebrity Skin." Unfortunately,
her personal and legal troubles often overshadowed her musical and professional accomplishments.
"Oh, shut up!"
In April 1994, Love was arrested in Beverly Hills. The singer was taken
to a hospital when it was suspected she'd suffered a heroin overdose,
and was then booked by police and charged with possession of drug paraphernalia
and suspicion of possession of a controlled substance, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Love had long struggled with addiction issues. In a 1992 Vanity Fair profile of Love and her
husband, Kurt Cobain, a friend alleged that the Hole singer had used heroin while pregnant with
her daughter, Frances Bean Cobain. After she gave birth, a child services protection agency
temporarily removed the newborn baby from Love's custody as a result of the reports of her alleged
drug use. Love later admitted she had, in fact, used heroin while pregnant, telling The Fix,
"I didn't even know I was pregnant at the time!"
British rock outfit Oasis was the face of the Britpop subgenre for several years. Favorably
compared to the Beatles by the British music press, Oasis enjoyed considerable success in
the U.S. with soaring rock anthems like "Don't Look Back in Anger" and "Wonderwall." However,
the troubled relationship between songwriter and guitarist Noel Gallagher and his brother,
lead singer Liam Gallagher, caused some problems that extended beyond fraternal strife.
While Liam saved most of his simmering anger and vitriol for his brother, in March 1998,
the lead singer lashed out at an innocent Oasis supporter. According to MTV News,
Oasis's Australian tour hit Brisbane, with the band staying overnight at the high-end
Quay West apartments. While outside the building, a 19-year-old British Oasis fan
named Benjamin Jones allegedly walked up to Liam and asked to take a photo.
As cited in a police report, Liam emphatically denied the request by
punching and head-butting Jones, breaking his nose in the process.
Brisbane police subsequently arrested the vocalist and charged him with assault,
but he was released after he posted the $6,600 bail. According to the Associated Press,
the singer faced a maximum of 10 years in prison for the attack. However, the charges
were eventually dropped, with Jones deciding to pursue a civil suit against Gallagher instead.
As the goateed, backward-cap-wearing poster boy of rap-rock, Fred Durst took Limp Bizkit's tunes
to the top of the Billboard charts. However, according to The Ringer, Durst was labeled as
a major instigator of the violent riots that marred the Woodstock '99 festival,
and was also linked to destructive crimes outside of the stage and recording booth.
In July 1999, Limp Bizkit played the Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul,
Minnesota. According to MTV News, Durst's personal security guard attempted to remove a
fan from the stage. However, a guard at the venue reportedly mistook Durst's personal security guard
for another rowdy fan and tried to expel him, as well. That mistake prompted Durst to kick
the venue's guard in the head. Luckily, Durst's victim didn't sustain serious injuries. Still,
Durst was arrested upon completion of the concert, and released after posting the $50,000 bail.
The Associated Press reports that Durst got into further legal trouble in October 2006, when he
allegedly struck two people in Los Angeles with his vehicle. He was charged with two
counts of assault, three counts of battery, and one count each of reckless driving and making a
criminal threat. Durst pleaded no contest and was sentenced to community service and a $1,500 fine.
Blues Traveler experienced a huge commercial breakthrough in 1995 with smash hits "Run-Around"
and "Hook," fueled by the sweetly sung vocals and virtuoso-level harmonica playing by John Popper.
In 2007, Reuters reports that Popper was pulled over by police in eastern Washington state while
he was allegedly in possession of implements of potential harm. Police stopped a Mercedes SUV
traveling 111 miles per hour, which was well over the speed limit. The car was registered to Popper,
who was riding as a passenger, and the driver was charged with reckless driving.
The noticeable odor of marijuana also led authorities to search
the vehicle. Officers uncovered drugs along with four rifles, nine handguns,
and a single switchblade-style knife hidden in various compartments that
seemed custom-built for Popper's vehicle. Blues Traveler's manager said in a statement,
"All of the weapons he owns are registered and are transported
safely in a legally approved, locked cabinet in his vehicle."
Popper was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia and drugs, with police
turning the case over to federal authorities to decide if they
wanted to press charges for possession of a vehicle with hidden compartments.
In the late 1990s, Ev erclear released a slew of radio-friendly, pop-grunge hits
including "Father of Mine'' and "Everything to Everyone." In July 1999, Everclear played
a Coca-Cola promotional event in Austin, Texas. During the show, Everclear was reportedly hit by
items thrown by the assembled crowd at the Austin Music Hall, according to MTV News.
After a cup of unidentified liquid struck Art Alexakis in the face,
the lead singer made good on his promise to end the concert if the onslaught didn't end. When the
group stopped playing, a 17-year-old fan, who had allegedly thrown the liquid, was brought toward
the stage to be removed from the building. Everclear's statement to MTV News stated,
"As she neared the stage, she started screaming, cursing, and spitting at Art and the band."
According to Entertainment Weekly, Alexakis poured water on the teenager's
head and threw a bottle in her direction. He was subsequently charged with misdemeanor assault.
As reported by The Stranger, Everclear also had to cancel a show in its hometown of Portland after
Alexakis had been briefly imprisoned on suspicion of domestic abuse against his girlfriend.
Part of what made the Dave Matthews Band so successful was their unique instrumentation,
as not many bands in the grunge-oriented '90s had a violinist in their ranks.
According to Consequence of Sound, violinist Boyd Tinsley officially joined the Dave Matthews Band
in 1992. Over a decade later, Tinsley formed another project called Crystal Garden alongside
trumpet player James Frost-Winn. According to NPR, the two met in 2007, when Tinsley
befriended the then-18-year-old musician, buying him dinner, gifts, and plane tickets. Over time,
the group imploded in the wake of what Frost-Winn characterized as harassment and assault.
In 2015, Frost-Winn allegedly fell asleep in Tinsley's home and awoke
to the violinist reportedly touching his buttocks while performing a sexual
act on himself. The act was apparently attributed to Tinsley being mentally
impaired by prescription medication, and the working relationship continued.
However, by mid-2016, Tinsley had allegedly resumed an old habit of sending flirtatious
texts to Frost-Winn, and asking the younger musician to send him photos and videos of
himself wearing filthy socks. Frost-Winn claimed to have asserted to Tinsley that
he didn't want that kind of relationship. However, Tinsley later admitted to Frost-Winn
that his inappropriate behavior was caused by desires out of his control,
rather than the effects of medication. Frost-Winn left the band shortly thereafter.
In May 2018, Frost-Winn sued Tinsley for $9 million for creating a, quote,
"hostile work environment." A few months earlier, Tinsley announced a sabbatical from the Dave
Matthews Band, which dismissed the violinist in the wake of the allegations and lawsuit.
In the '90s, the Red Hot Chili Peppers became one of the most popular and mainstream bands in
the world, selling millions of copies of songs like "Under the Bridge" and "Californication."
Rather than wait for accusations against him to arise, Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony
Kiedis made some shocking revelations in his 2004 memoir, "Scar Tissue."
The rock star reminisced about the inspiration behind the band's 1985 song "Catholic School Girls
Rule," revealing a series of sexual encounters he reportedly had with a 14-year-old high school
student. Kiedis wrote that, after meeting the girl backstage at a concert in New Orleans,
he had sexual relations with her. The singer then brought the young woman to the next tour
stop in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After the show, she allegedly told Kiedis,
"My father's the chief of police and the entire state of Louisiana is looking for
me because I've gone missing. Oh, and besides that, I'm only 14."
According to Kiedis' memoir, after learning her real age,
he committed one more act of statutory rape before sending the fan back home on a bus.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault,
help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network
website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse,
you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233.
You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.