Famous music legends that probably aren't true

Some of the most repeated stories in music are not true: Paul McCartney did not die in 1966, Mama Cass did not choke on a ham sandwich, and nobody hid Satanic messages in Stairway to Heaven. Below are 14 famous music urban legends, where they came from, and what the evidence in our artist research actually says, plus one legend that turned out to be true.

In our research files, 127 stories are flagged as simply not true. These are the most famous of them, along with a few that are still technically disputed but lean firmly one way.

Paul is dead

In the autumn of 1969 a rumour swept American campuses that Paul McCartney had died in a car crash in 1966 and been replaced by a lookalike. A student paper raised it, a caller told a Detroit DJ about it on air, and a Michigan student wrote a spoof review of Abbey Road full of clues, many of which he later admitted he made up. A favourite clue, an OPD badge on Paul's Sgt. Pepper uniform, actually read OPP, for Ontario Provincial Police. Life magazine found him alive that November, and he later named a live album Paul Is Live (source). More on The Beatles and Paul McCartney.

Elvis is alive

The idea that Elvis Presley faked his death exploded in 1987, when a woman said she had seen him at a Burger King in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Believers pointed to the spelling of Aaron on his gravestone, though Elvis used both spellings himself, and to a masked singer called Orion who was really a man named Jimmy Ellis. His death was witnessed and documented (source).

Tupac is still alive

Because The Don Killuminati came out under a new name eight weeks after Tupac Shakur died, with a title about seven days and a cover showing him crucified, fans decided he had faked his death. Critics saw the timing as a Death Row marketing move. Tupac died in hospital on the thirteenth of September 1996 (Los Angeles Times).

Jim Morrison faked his death

Because few people saw his body, rumours spread that the Doors singer escaped fame to write poetry in Africa. Ray Manzarek even wrote a novel around the idea. But Pamela Courson found him, manager Bill Siddons arranged his burial, and no credible sighting has ever surfaced (source).

Mama Cass and the ham sandwich

For decades people said Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas choked on a ham sandwich. The autopsy found a heart attack. Journalist Sue Cameron later admitted she started the rumour in her obituary, at the request of Cass's manager, who wanted to head off talk of drugs. Her daughter says a sandwich was left by the bed, but Cass never took a bite (BBC).

Satanic messages in Stairway to Heaven

In 1982 a Christian TV show claimed that the middle of Stairway to Heaven, played backwards, praised Satan. A California assembly committee even played it in reverse at a hearing. Led Zeppelin's label replied that its turntables only played forwards, and engineer Eddie Kramer called the idea ridiculous (source).

The Led Zeppelin curse

Jimmy Page collected Aleister Crowley's books and owned his old house, so when Robert Plant crashed his car in 1975, his son Karac died in 1977 and John Bonham died in 1980, people talked of a pact with the devil. There is no evidence: the crash was an accident, Karac died of a virus, and Bonham's death was caused by alcohol (source).

Phil Collins and the drowning in In the Air Tonight

The legend says Collins watched a man let someone drown, then sang the song straight at him from the stage. Phil Collins has denied every version. He says he wrote the words spontaneously during his divorce, about anger and bitterness (source). The story is told in our Genesis file too.

The peach truck behind Eat a Peach

The rumour said the Allman Brothers Band named Eat a Peach after the peach truck Duane Allman crashed into. The truck was a flatbed carrying a lumber crane. The title came from an interview where Duane said that every time he was in Georgia he ate a peach for peace (source).

American Girl and the Gainesville dorm

Because the song mentions 441, a rumour said it was about a University of Florida student who jumped from Beaty Towers, beside Route 441. The university says nobody has ever died jumping from there, and the windows do not even open. Tom Petty called it an urban myth (source).

The Dark Side of the Rainbow

In 1995 a newspaper writer suggested playing The Dark Side of the Moon alongside The Wizard of Oz, and fans swore they lined up. Pink Floyd flatly deny it. Engineer Alan Parsons said they had no way of playing video in the studio, and Nick Mason joked that it was really based on The Sound of Music (source).

Ray Charles banned from Georgia

The film Ray shows Georgia banning Ray Charles for life after he cancelled a segregated show in 1961. There was never a ban. He was sued and fined, and played Augusta again in 1963 to an integrated audience (source).

John Deacon, Queen's seventh bassist

The legend says Queen went through bassist after bassist and Deacon was the seventh. Before him there were three: Mike Grose, Barry Mitchell and Doug Bogie. Deacon was the fourth (source).

Keith Moon's car in the swimming pool

This one is still disputed, but the doubters have the stronger case. Legend says Keith Moon of The Who drove a Rolls Royce into a hotel pool at his 1967 birthday party. Moon himself said it was a Lincoln. His biographer disputed the whole thing, a drummer who was there said only tables and chairs went in, and Pete Townshend thought Moon merged several car stories. Roger Daltrey, though, says he saw a car in the pool (source).

The one that's true: Van Halen's brown M&M's

Van Halen's contract really did demand M&M's with the brown ones removed. But it was not diva excess. David Lee Roth and manager Noel Monk said the clause was a test buried in a huge safety rider: brown M&M's meant the promoter had not read the contract, so the crew checked everything (Snopes).

Why legends survive

Most of these started with a small true detail: a real badge, a real rider, a real crash. That is why our DJ flags disputed stories as disputed instead of repeating the best version. For more on how the research works, see learning music history while you listen, or pick one of the stations and hear it in action.