“Sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” are the three dogmas that best summarize the lifestyle of many rock stars, A lifestyle that often drags the protagonists into problems and scandals with sometimes devastating effects on their career, as well as in their private life. Between court cases and sensational damage to the image, let’s see what have been the five worst scandals in the way of rock.
Jerry Lee Lewis’ wedding
Let’s start immediately with a rock’n’roll pioneer: Jerry Lee Lewis, recognized by many as the first rock madman. This is not only due to his stage performances, but also to his private life. Indeed in 1957 Lewis married for the third time, something that at the time she could already hit alone, with her second cousin, who was only 13 years old! In the southern United States until a few years earlier this would not have been a problem (the singer married for the first time at fourteen), but times began to change, so it was decided to keep the matter secret. The scandal, however, broke out in 1958 during a tour in England, due to some journalists who discovered everything. The dates were canceled and once he returned to the US no one in the entertainment field wanted to deal with him anymore. Starting from scratch, Jerry Lee Lewis managed to start a career again. The marriage with his great cousin Myre lasted until 1970 and subsequently the cantat and pianist married four more times, for a total of seven.
Jim Morrison’s exhibitionism
Jim Morrison he was the histrionic frontman of the Californian band The Doors, capable of transporting the listener to unexplored territories thanks to his lyrics that masterfully blended with the music. On stage, the lizard king looked like a sort of shaman in the public eye and, during a band concert in Miami in 1969, he pushed the limits of exaltation to the public when, after having loudly asked: “Do you want me to do see my penis? ”, he went into action exhibiting the member and simulating the simulating masturbation and oral sex. This at least was the reconstruction done in court that cost him a six-month prison sentence (which he never served), even if in fact no photographic or video evidence of the incident was ever shown. The sentence was later canceled by the Florida Clemency Board in 2010.
David Bowie and the Roman salute
David Bowie throughout his career he has staged several characters with different characters, from Ziggy Stardust to the white duke. Just in the period in which he personified this last character, the story is about to begin here. At the time Bowie made extensive use of drugs, mainly cocaine, and in 1976 he was photographed upon arrival at the London station of Victoria Station intent on taking place in a Roman salute. In 1977 Bowie denied that this was a fascist or Nazi salute explaining:“I was just saying goodbye, I swear it on my son’s life, I was just saying goodbye!”
Chuck Berry the “voyeur”
Going back to a great rock pioneer let’s talk now about Chuck Berry. The story starring the composer of “Johnny B. Goode” dates back to 1989. At the time, Berry owned a restaurant in Missouri when a cook sued him, accusing the singer of having installed a hidden camera in the women’s bathroom. As many as fifty-nine women who had been customers of the club declared themselves victims of this secret camera system. The lawsuits cost Chuck Berry the beauty of one million two hundred thousand dollars, as well as a serious stain on his image.
The video of Amy Winehouse
This time the facts are temporally closer to us. In January 2008 the British newspaper “The Sun” circulated a video of Amy Winehose who smoked what at all effects looked like a crack pipe in his apartment in east London. Although the singer was arrested and interrogated, no charges were finally filed for lack of evidence. On the other hand, the couple who made the video was sentenced for drug dealing.
