ONTD

April Fool's Day can bring out the best and worst in people. There are the harmless pranksters who put a whoopee cushion on your office chair, and there those evil jokers who'll tell you your favorite celebrity is dead.

Rock 'n' roll, it seems, brings out plenty of the latter type of pranks, whether it's an intentional hoax or an urban legend that won't go away. Well, we here at Spinner love a good joke, but we also don't want to perpetuate any myths, so we compiled a list of the best and/or most enduring myths, rumors and bamboozlements in rock history. Check out the gallery below, featuring Paul McCartney, Elvis, Marilyn Manson, Skrillex, the White Stripes and more -- you might just learn a thing or two.


Paul Is Dead

Perhaps the best musical urban legend of all time, "Paul McCartney is dead" started in 1967 after a rumor began circulating that he had died in a car crash. It really hit fever pitch in 1969 when Paul's hermit-like attitude fueled the fire. An article titled "Is Beatle Paul McCartney Dead?" published in a student paper at Drake University launched a slew of speculation, including all sorts of conspiracy theories. It turns out there was nothing to Paul's barefoot walk on Abbey Road's cover, nor does it say "turn me on, dead man" when you play the Beatles' "Revolution 9" backwards. Though it would be pretty cool if Sir Paul was actually a zombie.

Skrillex is Dead!

The world is full of people who are convinced that famous dead musicians are still alive. Though not as common as the "Elvis lives" folks, there are plenty of people who are quick to claim people are dead when in actuality they are still very much alive. The most recent artist to fall victim to a widespread fake death was famed DJ Skrillex, who supposedly died in a plane crash in late 2011. Thanks to an amateur reporter, "news" even made it to CNN.com's front page, which featured the headline "Electro and Dubstep artist Sonny Moore also known as Skrillex dies in a plane crash." Skrillex later tweeted "Third death rumor about me this year...wtf?"

Keith Richards' Blood Transfusion

It's rumored that after years of dedicated drug abuse, Keith Richards could give you a pretty good contact high just by standing in your presence. OK, that's not true and neither is this: Keith Richards went to Switzerland to have his blood changed in order to sober up before a tour. Yes, Richards did go to Switzerland to meet with a doctor to help him with heroin withdrawal, but he did not get his blood swapped. The myth originated with the guitarist again, who invented the story to avoid long conversations about the procedure.

The Nine Inch Nails and Timbaland Collaboration

Trent Reznor was pretty vocal about how much he hated Chris Cornell's collaboration with Timbaland, when he tweeted the following statement in 2009: "You know that feeling you get when somebody embarrasses themselves so badly YOU feel uncomfortable? Heard Chris Cornell's record? Jesus." So it was a pretty perfect April Fool's day joke when he began promoting his new album Strobelight, a collaboration with Timbaland, on April 1. The fake record featured songs with titles like "Everybody's Doing It" (featuring Chris Martin, Jay-Z and Bono) and "P---ygrinder" (featuring Sheryl Crow), both of which we hope become realities in the very near future.

"I'm Still Here"

In 2009, actor Joaquin Phoenix, dressed in a suit and a beard and looking almost comatose, appeared on "The Late Show With David Letterman" and announced he had quit acting to pursue a hip-hop career. The next year of his life was filmed by his brother-in-law, actor/director Casey Affleck, for the documentary "I'm Still Here." The film, which was advertised as being real, was panned by the L.A. Times as "far from the Joaquin Phoenix you're used to seeing onscreen: Snorting cocaine, ordering call girls, having oral sex with a publicist, treating his assistants abusively and rapping badly." Shortly after the movie was released, Affleck revealed the whole thing to be a joke. We were relieved, because Phoenix's rapping was shockingly terrible.

New York Times Guide to Grunge Slang
There was a point in time when grunge seemed like a cooler-than-thou club of plaid sporting Seattle-ites. So when the New York Times came knocking on Sub Pop's door wanting to know if grunge had its own slang, label employee Megan Jasper got in the ultimate prank and gave the reporter a list of fake slang that ended up in a 1992 feature article. Some highlights:
-- Bloated, big bag of floatation: Drunk
-- Bound-and-hagged: Staying home on Friday or Saturday night
-- Fuzz: Heavy wool sweaters
-- Lamestain: Uncool person
-- Swingin' on the flippity-flop: Hanging out
-- Wack slacks: Old ripped jeans

White Stripes Are Siblings

Sometimes its good to maintain a little bit of mystery and, in their early days, the White Stripes had it down to a science. In interviews, Jack White claimed he and drummer Meg White were siblings, ostensibly to shift the focus onto the music and away from their personal relationship. Even though it was eventually discovered that the two were previously married -- and that the man previously known as Jack Gillis had taken the last name of his new wife -- Jack still continued to claim that they were brother and sister. In the end, it didn't matter because they made bitchin' music.

Elvis, Jim and Tupac Aren't Dead

Elvis Presley, Jim Morrison and Tupac Shakur are all on an island somewhere, drinking daiquiris and somehow cashing in their posthumous royalty checks. There are sketchy details about all of their deaths, but with all the camera phones out there, don't you think they would have turned up by now? On another note, out of all the ridiculous theories about Elvis, our favorite by far is that he can be seen as an extra in "Home Alone." Yep.

The Masked Marauders

In 1969, Rolling Stone editor Greil Marcus decided to parody the burgeoning supergroup trend and created the Masked Marauders, a fictional band consisting of Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. After publishing a fake review of their self-titled album in the magazine, heaps of requests for the album poured in from fans who clearly didn't get the joke. Marcus responded by hiring the band Cleanliness and Godliness to record the Masked Marauders' fake album, which featured songs such as "I Can't Get No Nookie" and "Cow Pie." Anybody who didn't get the joke certainly understood by the time they got 10 seconds into "Nookie."

Mama Cass' Ham Sandwich
This sad, somewhat offensive rumor doesn't just stem from the Mamas and the Papas' singer's weight nor does it come from "Austin Powers." The first doctor on the scene -- a London flat on loan from Harry Nilsson -- noticed a partially eaten sandwich on Cass' bedside table, and thought she may have choked on it. Upon further inspection, it turned out that a heart attack did the singer in at just 32 years old. Coincidentally, Who drummer Keith Moon died in the same apartment four years later -- also at age 32.

Marilyn Manson on "The Wonder Years"

Fact: Marilyn Manson is a tall, pale, skinny dude who probably wasn't the most popular kid growing up. Fiction: Though bearing similar attributes, the shock rocker was never, ever, on "The Wonder Years." According to star Josh Saviano, who played Fred Savage's buddy Paul Pfeiffer on the hit TV show, this odd rumor started in 1996 and persisted for years. Today, Pfeiffer is a lawyer, while Manson is trying to reignite his career (and may or may not be dating buzzed-about singer Lana Del Rey).


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