Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry
Have I got a story for you! Award winning Music Historian and host of the chart topping Ongoing History of New Music Podcast Alan Cross unleashes his next amazing podcast. In every episode Alan Cross takes you inside unbelievable true stories of crime, murder, scandal, strange deaths, unexplainable events, and the general mayhem from the music industry through the decades.There is a lot of bad behavior that needs to be talked about. It’s a one-of-a-kind podcast featuring true crime stories from the world of music.
Episodes
Morris Levy: Music’s Most Mobbed-Up Man
There are all kinds of shady and dangerous creatures lurking in the music industry. Since about the mid-20th century, the mob has found ways to extract money by getting involved in record labels, radio stations, artist management, and live …
The Life and Crazy Times of Ozzy Osbourne : 46
You don’t get much more Rock Star than Ozzy Osbourne. Through more than 50 years, his wild persona and crazy behaviour not only made him an icon of rock 'n' roll, but also a larger-than-life cultural figure popular with three or four genera…
Green Day's Cigarettes and Valentines Stolen Album Caper: 45
Theft is rampant in the music world, and it takes many forms. Musicians regularly deal with stolen gear…guitars disappearing from stages, rehearsal spaces being robbed, or entire vans being emptied. These losses hurt, but they’re tangible…p…
The East-Coast West-Coast Hip-Hop War: 44
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Missing and Presumed Dead : 43
Before the internet, it was reasonably easy to just disappear. Get a fake ID, leave the country with some cash, and you were gone. These kinds of mysteries can also be found in the world of music; artists who disappear without a trace…and I…
The History of Ticket Scalping | 42
Getting your hands on a concert ticket can be a difficult (if not impossible) task...beyond the cost (which can be substantial), there are all the hoops one must jump through to secure a ticket. You must be computer literate, you need to be…
Grand Theft Music | 41
The music industry isn’t exactly the most moral or law-abiding place, either…if you know where to look, you’ll find crime all over the place. We’ve tackled this topic before…episode 4 of this podcast dealt with the mysterious disappearance …
A Buffet of Musical Murders | 40
On the evening of February 25, 1682, Alessandro Stradella was stabbed to death in a square in genoa, Italy…Stradella was a classical composer of some renown…it appears he was killed by three brothers looking to avenge the honour of their si…
The Insane Story of Louie Louie | 39
This is a show about censorship…wait, wait!...don’t run away…i know that can be a very touchy subject and once the arguments get started, all the grey areas fade away, everyone ends up in a big fight, and needless to say, the party breaks u…
Depeche Mode and the Debauched Devotional Tour | 38
I once had a conversation with someone about the craziest tours in the history of music…the usual names came up. The who trashing hotel rooms…led zeppelin’s tours with their private jet, groupies, and tons of drugs…that time in Atlanta when…
The Sudden Death of Taylor Hawkins | 37
It’s happening with increasing frequency…we’re doom-scrolling, and we see the message…we wake up to read the news…we get a text from a friend…or we turn on the radio and hear what happened…another rock star has died… This always comes as a …
Concert Terrorism 2: The Route 91 Massacre | 36
When you go to a concert or attend a festival, you have every right to expect to be reasonably safe…there’s security…there’s inevitably a police presence…and EMS people are standing by with their medical tents and ambulances.In the last 25 …
Sid Vicious and Questions About the Murder of Nancy Spungen | 35
The Chelsea Hotel sits at 222 West 23rd Street in Manhattan…since it was completed in 1884, the place has been a hangout for some very colourful characters…most were New York eccentrics and bohemians who needed a place to live…but it also a…
The Music Pirates | 34
It’s right there…point four on the text downloaded to Moses’ tablet: “thou shalt not steal” …if you didn’t acquire something legally and morally, then it’s not yours and you can’t just take it…but humans being a thieving species, we need th…
Introducing: A Most Audacious Heist - Shoot For The Moon | 01
It’s a summer night in 1998. Vienna, Austria. And petty thief Daniel Blanchard is about to carry out the heist of a lifetime. Stealing a crown jewel. The last remaining diamond Sisi Star.His plan? A daring night-time parachute jump.Daniel i…
Music's Unsolved Murders | 33
TV has conditioned us to believe that crimes can be solved in less than an hour…a detective or two (and maybe even a whole team) is assigned to a single case, and they somehow manage to solve it over 60 minutes—43, if you deduct commercial …
A Compendium of Bizarre Rock Crimes | 32
The world of rock’n’roll can be very, very strange…it’s loaded with strange creatures: performers, managers, fans, and various hangers-on…people get into the scene because there are (allegedly) no rules and rebellious bad behaviour isn’t ju…
The Impressive Arrest Record of The Rolling Stones | 31
We’re largely immune to most the craziness that rock starts get up to…arrested for drugs?...yawn…got into a bar fight?...what else is new?...a DUI?...what, another one?There is a red line…anything to do with any kind of sexual assault is st…
Haunted Canada | Krampus
The holiday season is upon us and one questions is always present.Have you been naughty or nice? Depending on your answer you'll either be rewarded or you'll find a much more frightening fate will be upon you, and no, it's not a lump of coa…
The Strange Life and Legendary Death of Robert Johnson | 30
According to myths around the world, the devil is always looking for more souls…this practice isn’t anywhere in the bible, but there are plenty of accounts in other religions, literature, and art.For example, Dante’s “ The Divine Comedy, “ …
Untold Stories of John Lennon's Murder | 29
If you were around in December 1980, you probably remember where you were and how you felt when you heard that John Lennon had been murdered…it was unbelievable, inconceivable, that someone would kill not just a Beatle but a man who was fam…
The Truth About the 27 Club | 28
The number “27” occupies an odd place in rock history…it’s the age when rock stars die—or so the story goes…and, if i’m honest, it does come up quite a bit…there are books on the subject, documentaries, and more.The age of “27” has an eerie…
Introducing... Haunted Canada
When Nadine Bailey was 7 years old she woke up terrified of dark figures looming at the end of her bed and an eerie presence all around her. From then on every night was the same, she was visited by phantom-like shadows and no matter where …
The Station Nightclub | 27
When you go to a big, loud rock show, you want a spectacle…lights, lasers, special effects, and, if all goes well, lots of pyro…flames, explosions, smoke bombs—they all add to the theatricality of it all.But if you’re going to blow stuff up…
The Randy Rhoads-Travis Barker Plane Crashes | 26
What do Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens, patsy cline, Jim Croce, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ricky Nelson, and Stevie Ray Vaughn have in common? ...they all died when the private aircraft in which they were flying crashed. Holly, the Big Bo…
Lou Pearlman and the Boy Band Ponzi Scam | 25
The 1920s were a time when people were after easy money…people flocked to the stock market, buying up shares in small companies with borrowed money…and for a while, returns were good.But this go-go atmosphere also attracted swindlers and co…
Concert Terrorism: The Bataclan massacre and the Manchester Arena bombing | 24
You would think that going to a concert would be a safe thing for everyone…first, you have thousands of like-minded people looking to have a good time…no one sets out to ruin the evening for everyone else…you paid good money for your ticket…
Beware the Help: People Who Betrayed Rock Stars | 23
When you’re a rock star, life can be very busy…there are songs to write, rehearsals to attend, albums to record, promotional appearances to make, interviews to be conducted, and tours to organize and execute…there’s often not a lot of free …
The Strange Ballad of Doc McGhee | 22
On August 6, 1989, a chartered 757 nicknamed “The Magic Bus” took off bound for the USSR…on board were Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, The Scorpions, Skid Row, Ozzy Osbourne, Cinderella, and a few others…It was the dying days of the soviet union…but…
The Great American Payola $candal Part 2 | 21
In 1960, after months of testimony and investigation, it was made illegal for anyone to bribe a radio station or any of its employees to play a record…payola was forbidden under punishment of jail time and a fine of up to $10,000…This, it w…
The Great American Payola $candal Part 1 | 20
In a fair and just universe, we would live in a meritocracy…the best and most talented would naturally rise to the top and be properly recognized and compensated for their contributions to humanity…yeah, nice idea, but…We’d like to think th…
Introducing... Dark Poutine | The Quakers and The Killers: The Murder of Peter Lazier
Episode 294: On the evening of December 21, 1883, near Bloomfield, Ontario, visitor Peter Lazier was murdered by two intruders at the farmhouse of Quakers Gilbert and Margaret Jones. The community, deeply affected, quickly organized a searc…
The Mysterious Death of Brian Jones | 19
In 1969, the Rolling Stones were about to enter their imperial phase, a time in their career where everything they did seemed to go right…they were on their way to being the biggest rock band in the world…In December 1968, they released “Be…
Unscrupulous Managers | 18
If you’re an artist and things are working out well, there will come a time when you need a manager…you need someone to take care of the business end of things while you focus on the music…that’s when you need a manager…A manager does every…
Introducing... Deadman's Curse Season 2
In 1931, a larger than life prospector, in search of Slumach’s legendary lost gold mine goes missing in the wilderness of British Columbia.In this episode, we retrace the epic search and rescue efforts that went into looking for the missing…
Phil Spector and the death of Lana Clarkson | 17
Phil Spector was one of the most successful record producers and songwriters of the 1960s and 70s…he was a boy genius, a millionaire many times over by the time he was 21… He was the first to use the recording studio as an instrument…he cal…
The Radiohead Stage Collapse | 16
The very last thing an artist or a promoter or owner of a venue wants is for someone to get hurt—or worse--at a concert…but it does happen…There are always stories about bad behaviour or unexpected crowd dynamics… Altamont in 1969, The Who …
Rock and Roll Predators | 15
There are monsters who walk among us, people who prey on the young and vulnerable…and they have always been out there and in all walks of life…John Wayne Gacy hired himself out as a clown for parties…it was later discovered that he raped, t…
The Charles Manson Music Nightmare | 14
The Manson family murders are among the most famous crimes in American history…their actions have been documented over and over and over…this program will not be a recitation of what happened…instead, we’re going to look specifically at how…
The Cults of Rock | 13
Since homo sapiens gained consciousness and self-awareness, we’ve been asking some big questions…what does it all mean?... What’s the purpose of existence?... Is there something more to life and the universe than what I can see?...This has …