20 Otherworldly Curses in the Music Industry
It shouldn’t be surprising that there are a bevy of curses, superstitions, and creepy coincidences interwoven into the fabric of the music industry. Stardom is a strange and fickle mistress that exists in the world in between the corporeal world and the land of the unknown. And while we don’t want to totally spook you out, some of the curses on this list are super demonic in nature, but most of them are just creepy coincidences that seem to end up occurring over and over again.
Whether you’re a best new artist winner at the Grammys, or a contestant on La Voz de Mexico, you’ve been on the receiving end of a classic music industry curse. Some of the other extra creepy curses on this list will chill you to your darkest bone and they may even keep you from carrying a white lighter or consulting any Ouija boards until you make it out of your 30s. Others will have you questioning what really went down during prominent events.
We present to you this list of curses and superstitions that run rampant through the music industry. So have a glass of water and try not to freak out when you read through this list of the creepiest curses to ever hit the musical world, whether it’s a haunted shepherd’s pie or a karaoke song that drives its singers to do bad things! Vote up the musician myths that take the creepy cake.
- Photo: Chillin662 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.012,719 VOTES
Iconic Delta Bluesman Robert Johnson is almost as much known for his curse almost as his music. The story is that Johnson met The Devil at a crossroads on the outskirts of some unknown southern town and exchanged his soul in order to become a mythological blues performer. But when you're dealing with The Devil, you have to expect some kind of shenanigans. In this case, Johnson went down in music history, but not until long after his passing at 27 years of age.
Specifically, some think that Johnson's song Crossroads is cursed, as are many artists who have covered it on their albums. Both Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Allman Brothers had tragedies among their ranks, and Eric Clapton, who recorded the song both with Cream and in his solo career, lost his son to a fall from a window. - Photo: Nuztas1986 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.023,336 VOTES
The "27 Club"
The so-called "27 Club" of musicians, who burned brightly but passed too soon, was coined after the passing in the ‘60s and ’70s of some of the giants of the music scene.
The first was Brian Jones; the Rolling Stones guitarist was found deceased in his pool in 1969.
This was followed by electric guitar hero Jimi Hendrix, who was felled by an overdose in London in 1970.
A month later tragic singer Janis Joplin met the same fate as Hendrix, and less than a year later, Jim Morrison, the lead singer of The Doors, suffered fatal heart failure in Paris.
Even after the free-spirited days of the late ‘60s, though, the "27 Club" continued to grow as a surprising number of top musicians were lost at that age. Kurt Cobain took his own life in 1994 at age 27 and in 2011, 27-year-old singer Amy Winehouse passed as well.
- Photo: Unknown / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain31,659 VOTES
New Orleans jazz musician, Jelly Roll Morton (aka Ferdinand La Menthe) was said to be under a curse placed upon him by his own godmother, who sold his soul to Satan. Uhhh...thanks Grandma? His career flourished in the 20s, but one day he discovered a mysterious powder sprinkled around his office and his career began to flounder. He was so convinced it was due to the curse that he sought out a voodoo woman who told him to burn all of his clothing. He did, and the curse appeared to lift, as his fortune and reputation returned.
- Photo: Warner Bros. Records / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain42,089 VOTES
Fleetwood Mac's Guitarist Curse
Fleetwood Mac has been through so many guitarists that this is less of a curse as it is an inevitability. Thee group founded by guitarist Peter Green who left the band to deal with his mental health. Then, slide guitarist Jerry Spencer left soon after.
In 1972, then-guitarist Danny Kirwan started acting bizarrely during a gig on the eve of their tour, smashing his head on a wall and then taunting the band from the audience; he later passed after extensive issues with his mental illness. Recently, guitarist Bob Weston suffered a fatal aneurysm in 2012, and later that same year guitarist Bob Welch ended his life after receiving news that he would never walk again.
- Photo: Library of Congress / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain51,668 VOTES
The “Gloomy Sunday” Curse
Can a song be so sad and depressing that it encourages people to end their lives? The song in question is by Hungarians Rezs Seress and Ladislas Javor, and it was written about Seress's girlfriend who took her own life. When it was released in 1933, authorities reported a rise in people taking their lives and promptly banned it from being played nationwide. It was also recorded by Paul Robeson and Billie Holiday in 1941. Each time it was released, it was held responsible for an uptick of untimely passings.
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The date of February 3, 1959 is commonly referred to as The Day the Music Died, because pre-irony bespectacled rocker Buddy Holly, Richie “La Bamba” Valens, and The Big Bopper were together during plane crash during The Winter Dance Party Tour that proved fatal for all three. It's also the known as the beginning of the Buddy Holly Curse, as many musicians and normies who knew Holly have met untimely demises since that day. Ronnie Smith, the vocalist hired to replace Holly on the tour, checked into a mental clinic after the last performance and ended his life a few years later.
- Photo: Robert-Owen-Wahl / Pixabay / Public Domain72,273 VOTES
White Lighter Curse
Hey guys, if you have a white lighter in your pocket you should probably throw it out right now. Or give it to an enemy. A common myth says that anyone who uses a white lighter is cursed... possibly to [the end]. "But what does this have to do with music?" Well... did we mention that Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison were all found with a white lighter on them when they passed? You guys better start buying stock in green lighters or something.
- Photo: Chris huh / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain81,555 VOTES
The Curse of Led Zeppelin
Shortly after forming, a rumor spread that three of the four members (Page, Plant, and Bonham) had made a Faustian deal with the devil for stardom and that from then on their lives were cursed.
Robert Plant and his family were involved in a serious car crash, which left Plant unable to walk unaided for some time afterwards. Plant later suffered the sudden passing of his son Karac, aged 6 from an unidentified stomach virus. Page almost passed from his struggles with addiction and Bonham passed from some of the same types of issues in 1980, effectively ending Led Zeppelin as a group. Jones, said to have not entered into the Faustian pact, was left relatively unscathed on the cessation of the group’s activities. - Photo: Roy Kerwood / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.591,841 VOTES
John Lennon and the Number 9
As far as the number "nine" was concerned, John Lennon was cursed. He was born on the 9th of October, 1940 in Liverpool and his band was fortuitously discovered on the 9th of November, 1961. The Beatles played on the Ed Sullivan Show on the 9th of February, 1964. Lennon met Yoko Ono on the 9th of November, 1966. Sure, all of those things sound pretty good - but then things start to take a darker turn.
The Beatles broke up after spending nine years together, and sadly, Lennon was felled on December 8th, 1980. But in Liverpool, where he was born, the date was December 9th.
- Photo: stevepb / Pixabay / Public Domain101,250 VOTES
The Curse of the Ninth
In the world of classical music, there's something known as the Curse of the Ninth, since many composers who have written a Ninth Symphony passed shortly thereafter. Beethoven is the curse's most famous victim and Gustav Mahler thought he had the curse beaten by starting upon a Tenth Symphony, but he was felled before its completion. The curse strikes again!
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Have you ever wondered why so many artists that rapped with Bone Thugs passed in the same year that their verses were released? Well, this guy definitely has. To summarize, before Bone Thugs came to fruition, they used a Ouija board to predict their future and somehow ended up selling their souls to achieve fame. Then, for some reason they started dropping hints about the aforementioned soul selling and anyone who rapped with them passed. Maybe it has something to do with the Crossroads....
- Photo: annca / Pixabay / Public Domain121,133 VOTES
Devil's Trill Sonata
Allegedly, composer Giuseppe Tartini dreamt that the devil appeared to him and made a pact for his soul. Immediately after waking, he grabbed his violin and tried in vain to recreate the music he heard in his dream, which became Violin Sonata in G minor. For the rest of his life, he believed that sonata to be the best song he'd ever composed. Still, some orchestral players believe that song to be cursed.
- Photo: William Gottlieb / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain131,020 VOTES
The “My Way” Karaoke Curse
In the karaoke world, no other songs spells out certain doom other than Frank Sinatra's My Way. At least that's the way it seems in the Philippines. So many people have passed there after singing that song that it has its own crime category. Some say its because of the song's popularity mixed with the aggressive atmosphere at the clubs, and not the song itself, that leads to so many issues. Either way, karaoke bars aren't taking any chances and have pulled My Way from their big blue binders.
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Dead Man's Curve
When Jan & Dean recorded Dead Man's Curve in 1964, were they calling out to the universe and asking to be made immortal? Or were they just singing a weird pop song about a curve near the Bel-Air Estates north of UCLA's Drake Stadium that felled a bunch of people? Whatever the reason, they were almost claimed by the Dead Man's Curve Curse in 1966 when Jan ran his stingray off the road, nearly ending his life.
- Photo: MabelAmber / Pixabay / Public Domain15921 VOTES
Piano Sonata No. 6
The Piano Sonata No. 6 was composed by Alexander Scriabin and according to his biographer, "It is one of a few pieces Scriabin never played in public, because he felt it was "nightmarish, murky, unclean and mischievous". He often started shuddering after playing a few measures for other people." Does it sound spooky to you?
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Created by Benjamin Franklin in 1761, the glass harmonica has a disorienting quality and haunting sound that has been compared to that of rubbing a wet finger around the edge of a wine glass. In the 18th century, strange rumors abounded that using the instrument caused both musicians and their listeners to go mad. Give it a listen if you dare.
- Photo: Alan Light / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0171,000 VOTES
The Best New Artist Grammy Curse!
Legend has it that, after the initial rush of attention, winners of the Best New Artist Grammy face nothing but misery, unrelenting pressure to live up to the lofty Grammy standard, poor record sales, and (at best) they become a trivia question lost to the ages. Artists like Milli Vanilli, Men at Work, Jody Watley, and A Taste of Honey have all succumbed to this curse, real or not.
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The Rolling Stones Have to Have Their Shepherd's Pie
A lot of artists have a pre-show ritual (we hear Ke$ha has to roll around in oil and glitter before she goes on stage), but Keith Richards not only needs to eat a shepherd's pie before he goes on stage, but he has to be the person who breaks the crust. He's so into the meal that he allegedly even fired the band’s head of security and tour manager for nibbling his beloved pie before he’d taken his share. They were later reinstated, however, because it was soon realized the tour was a no-go without them.
- Photo: Arthur / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain19898 VOTES
The Bad Boy Curse
In the early 90s, Sean Combs's Bad Boy Records was on top of the music industry. The label boasted a staggering roster of hip-hop heavy hitters like The Notorious B.I.G, Faith Evans, and Ma$e. But things fell apart after Biggie's untimely passing and shortly afterwards, it seemed like Combs had lost his Midas touch.
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The SNL Curse
While not a curse with mystical properties (unless you believe in the magic of ~acoustics~), the Saturday Night Live curse has claimed many a musician unprepared for the stage's notoriously bad sound. Some believe that the curse began when Ashlee Simpson first performed her haunted jig after her drummer cued the wrong backing track, others believe it was started when Sinead O'Connor ripped up a picture of the Pope on live television.
