A stolen corpse, a Viking funeral pyre, and seeing your own face on your friend's
casket are just a few strange things that have happened at rock musicians' funerals.
Motörhead's Lemmy was born Ian Fraiser Kilmister on December 24th, 1945. He came of age during the
British Invasion of the 1960s and got his start playing with various local bands in
England. While Lemmy achieved some success with the psychedelic prog-rock band Hawkwind in the
early 1970s, it was when he left to play bass and sing as the founder of Motörhead that he
became a legend of rock 'n' roll. The band found the most success in the early 1980s,
due in part to their signature song, "Ace of Spades." But even through numerous lineup changes,
Lemmy's fanbase never dwindled until his death from cancer on December 28th, 2015.
Lemmy was not a somber person, and his funeral featured a long list of rock stars who appeared
to pay their respects to the fallen frontman. Attendees included Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters,
Slash of Guns N' Roses, Robert Trujillo and Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Rob Halford of Judas Priest,
and Scott Ian of Anthrax. After various heartfelt speeches, the service was capped off with Lemmy's
bass being plugged into a wall of amplifiers, filling the chapel with blaring feedback.
Dave Brockie may not be a terribly well-known name in the heavy metal community, but that's because
his public persona was that of Oderus Urungus, the lead vocalist of Gwar. The band came together in
1984, focusing on over-the-top attire and slime-and-blood-filled live performances.
Gwar's shock-rock shenanigans were a large part of their appeal; the band concocted an elaborate
backstory about its members being exiled from another planet and determined to rule Earth.
They managed to garner some mainstream recognition with Grammy Award nominations in 1993 and 1996.
As the face of the band, Brockie made numerous appearances on TV,
including the Fox News show Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld as an "Intergalactic Correspondent."
"Where does GWAR stand on those who illegally download GWAR songs?"
"On their necks until their heads explode."
Brockie passed away on March 23rd, 2014, at the age of 50 from a heroin
overdose. Brockie was cremated, but his alien persona was given a Viking funeral. Brockie's
Oderus Urungus costume was placed into a boat with various gifts, pushed out into a lake, and burned,
as per Viking tradition, with a flaming arrow shot by friend Ed Harrington starting the funeral pyre.
Iconic female rock singer Janis Joplin already displayed a talent for singing when she was a
child. Joplin struggled to commit to her college studies with any consistency,
but her love of performing remained consistent. Eventually, she got her big break as the
frontwoman for the San Francisco-based rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company,
which achieved massive popularity following their appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop
Festival. But tensions within the band caused Joplin to split up from them
and establish herself as a solo artist, notably performing at Woodstock in 1969.
Joplin passed away on October 4th, 1970, from a drug overdose when she was only 27
years old. She stipulated in her will that $2500 be set aside for her friends to have
one last bash in her honor. In Pearl: The Obsessions and Passions of Janis Joplin,
by Ellis Amburn, Joplin's guitarist James Gurley recalls of the party,
"Everybody just got as drunk and as f—ed up as they could. I think it was
fitting to send her off that way. I made a toast:
'Here's to what's-her-name?' There was no talking about her at all."
Gram Parsons' impact on music is immense, even if you've never heard of him. Born in 1946,
it seems that Parsons was destined for a life of music; even when he was enrolled at Harvard,
Parsons frequently shunned his studies in favor of jamming with his friends. Parsons dropped out of
college and ended up in the International Submarine Band, where he pioneered the
country-rock fusion that would become his trademark. Following his time with them,
Parsons joined the Flying Burrito Brothers, further developing his unique genre-bending.
The last few years of Parsons' life was affected by substance abuse,
which ruined his marriage and his creative output, and led to his tragic death on September 19th,
1973. The singer and songwriter wasn't given a traditional funeral;
his friend Michael Martin and road manager Phil Kaufman intercepted his body before it was
shipped to New Orleans from California, took it out to the Joshua Tree desert, and burned
it — just as Parsons wanted. Kaufman claims that a dust devil emerged from the late musician's
coffin during its immolation, scattering his ashes across his favorite place on Earth.
Harry Nilsson is generally recognized as one of the most talented singer-songwriters in
rock history, having won two Grammy Awards and earning the respect and friendship of the Beatles.
He developed his musical talents as a young man working at the Paramount Theater in Los Angeles;
the constant exposure to some of the most popular artists at the time inspired him to try writing
music himself. All of his efforts culminated in the release of his first album, 1967's Pandemonium
Shadow Show. For the rest of his career, Nilsson garnered considerable acclaim for his unique
songwriting style and cultivated a legion of fans, despite rarely ever performing live.
Nilsson passed away on January 15th, 1994, after years of congenital heart problems.
His funeral took place two days later, the exact day when the San Fernando Valley was
hit by a deadly 6.7 magnitude earthquake. The disaster added another pall over the funeral,
which was attended by music titans like George Harrison, Jeff Lynne,
and Micky Dolenz. The earthquake overshadowed what should've been a celebratory gathering of
a legendary musician. As stated in Rolling Stone, musician and friend Jimmy Webb said,
"There was no fuss over the fact that he was gone because the Northridge Quake flattened
about half of Southern California. It was not a slow news day when he passed over."
Ronnie Van Zant lived a rough early life, but music was his life preserver. His first
influences were country singer Merle Haggard and rock bands the Rolling Stones and Free,
which he'd later combine into his pioneering brand of Southern rock. He formed Lynyrd Skynyrd
in the '60s with other like-minded musicians, recording their first demo in 1970. It didn't
lead to much at first, but the band forged their sound, releasing their debut album,
Pronounced 'Lĕh-'nérd 'Skin-'nérd, in 1973, which went certified gold by the end of 1974.
The band experienced a major tragedy on October 20th, 1977,
when their plane crashed around Gillsburg, Mississippi, killing several members,
including Van Zant. Musician Charlie Daniels was one of Van Zant's closest pals,
and the influential Southern rocker did something special for the service of his
fallen friend. Daniels recalled in Lynyrd Skynyrd: Remembering the Free Birds of Southern Rock,
"It wasn't long before people started calling me for comments. [...] Sitting in a hotel room,
possibly in Phoenix, I wrote [a poem]. At the funeral I read it
and sang 'Peace in the Valley' and gave it to Judy [Seymour, Ronnie's widow]."
The son of country musician Jerry Abbot, it's unsurprising that Darrell Lance Abbott picked
music as his calling. But being more inspired by the hard rock bands of the 1970s and early-80s,
the man known as "Dimebag Darrell" pursued a more aggressive sound. He picked up the guitar while
his brother Vinnie Paul picked up the drums, and together formed Pantera, one of the most popular
heavy metal bands of the 1990s. While the band enjoyed considerable success into the early-2000s,
it seemed that Pantera's time was over when the band members went their separate ways to
work on their side projects. Darrell and Vinnie Paul started their own metal band,
Damageplan, which released their first and only album, New Found Power, in 2004.
Damageplan wasn't able to capitalize on their initial success.
"Four people were shot and killed inside the Alrosa Villa Lounge.
It was the second worst mass shooting in Columbus history."
Darrell was shot and killed while playing a concert at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus,
Ohio, on December 8th, 2004. A service was held to commemorate
the heavy metal guitar legend at the Arlington Convention Center in Texas,
which was attended by a long list of rock stars that included Zakk Wylde,
Jerry Cantrell, and legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Van Halen gave a speech,
and shared a touchingly profane voicemail the late guitarist left for him with the attendees.
Like his brother Dimebag Darrell, Vinnie Paul pursued a harder-edged sound in contrast to the
Western twang of his country musician father. It was KISS' legendary 1975 album Alive! that
inspired him to become a drummer and join his brother in forming Pantera. After the
heartbreaking death of his brother, he went on to perform with the heavy metal supergroup Hellyeah.
Like his brother, Vinnie Paul was taken too soon, passing away due to heart problems on June 22nd,
2018, when he was only 54 years old at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was buried in his hometown
of Arlington, Texas alongside his brother. Paul was buried in a KISS casket that was paid for by
KISS' own Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. Ex-KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, on the other hand, wasn't
as comfortable about it. He appeared on the Cassius Morris Show, saying,
"I had to make a little speech outside at the cemetery,
and it was weird knowing Vinnie was inside this box and my face was on it."
"There's nothing illegal about being buried in a KISS coffin, is there?"
"No, absolutely not."
"It's a legal coffin."
"God will open up the pearly gates much faster, I think."
Bob Marley spent much of his early life in Jamaica's Trench Town, which is where
he first became interested in music. Despite the neighborhood's poor living conditions,
it developed a reputation as a hub for talented musicians,
and the young Marley followed suit. He started his own band, the Wailers,
which attracted a devoted following with their first hit, 1964's "Simmer Down." The
band really lept to stardom after they signed with Island Records in 1972, leading to the
release of the album Catch a Fire the following year. Bob Marley and the Wailers left Jamaica,
toured the world, opening for artists like Bruce Springsteen and Sly & the Family Stone.
Marley and his band experienced growing popularity around the globe throughout the 1970s,
but their success was cut short when he died from cancer on May 11th, 1981. Marley was more than the
singer and guitarist of a pioneering reggae band — he was a cultural and political icon,
so he was given a suitably grand sendoff. Nearly 100,000 fans and followers filed
into the arena where his body was displayed to get one last look at the legendary musician,
who was buried with his guitar, a bible, and a stalk of ganja. The highlight of the service was
the performances by his backup singers, the I-Threes, and his backup band, the Wailers.
Before Jimi Hendrix became the legend that he is today, he was born Johnny Allen Hendrix on
November 27th, 1942. Early on, he was touched by the sounds of B.B. King,
Muddy Waters, Buddy Holly, and other rock and blues musicians, so he picked up the guitar
himself and never looked back. He spent time as a session musician before starting his own band,
the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and released a string of hits like "Purple Haze," and
"Foxey Lady." One of his most iconic live performances was at Woodstock,
which included his famous rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
But after barely three years in the limelight, Jimi Hendrix passed away on September 18th,
1970. The funeral was attended by his closest music collaborators, including band members
Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding, Buddy Miles, and Eddie Kramer. Much of his family was present,
and even his imprisoned brother Leon Hendrix made it to the service,
only possible because of the permission granted by the jail he was incarcerated in at the time.
The most heartwarming part of Hendrix's funeral was the recitation of his song
"Angel" by Freddie Mae Gautier, a family friend and noted civil rights activist.