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Just ask the Ramones. Phil pulled a gun on them when they tried to leave his house after an evening of movie watching. No wonder Joey and Ronnie Spector became so tight later on. They were war buddies, basically.
Yes, box, they are certainly more popular stars than WMF. Immensely so. "Pop stars", as in Britanny, Madonna, no, but I think we get the idea. And come on, is Manson really worth mentioning?
I'd rather listen to him than Madonna or Britney (and I kind of like Madonna). And what's Keith Moon doing so far back in the back? He could out-crazy just about anybody.
I ran into Brian Wilson on the Atlanta airport subway once. Our eyes met, I realized who he was, he realized I realized who he was, and he looked down nervously. I let him be.
And the list leaves off my favorite crazy pop star, ?, with whom I've had several phone conversations in connection with my job. Dude is perpetually wired.
Yeah, Sun Ra, Johnston and Euronymous are more popular than Wild Man Fischer, but not a single one of 'em are 'pop stars,' both because they didn't record pop music and because, frankly, they don't have high enough q-ratings to enter the world of pop culture. (Manson, however, was a failure as a musician, but it's certainly possible to argue that he was a pop star in the 'pop culture' sense.) Okay, that's more single quotes, and more discussion of Charles Manson, than I'd really prefer.
I can't believe Britney is six. She's not as crazy as most on the list.
How did I know MJ was the number one crazie?
I wouldn't call Ian Curtis crazy like I would call Ozzie Osbourne crazy.
35. Ian Curtis
Much-troubled Joy Division leader
Case History: The tortured soul of England's Joy Division, Curtis suffered from grand mal epilepsy, the medication for which can have grave affects on the sufferer's mental and physical state. By 1978, he was having epileptic seizures and blackouts onstage. In April 1980, he attempted suicide, only to be pulled out of a hospital the next night to play a gig. But he could perform only two songs. The crowd rioted, and he suffered another breakdown.
Crazy Moment: On the eve of Joy Division's first American tour, Curtis, just 23, hanged himself in his kitchen.
He's So Crazy: "At this moment I wish I were dead. I just can't cope anymore." — From Curtis' suicide note.
pop=popular.
FWIW, I'm glad they used a loose interpretation of the phrase "pop star".
Sure you can argue Manson was a "pop culture", but this is (thankfully) about pop music stars. If they'd brought in pop culture stars, itd've been an entirely different list, with Warhol and Anna Nicole and fuckin' Paris fucking Hilton.
Why don't you tell us of your love for Chucky Manson, box?
Yeah, it's kinda hard to see how crazy Britney is at this point. We don't have enough hindsight to judge that yet. She's definitely a goofball worthy of a few noogies, though.
I read it as pop-modifying-music, not pop-modifying-star. Pop is a specific kind of music, isn't it? And, while it's hard to define, you know it when you hear it. (Where have I heard that before?)
Me, I can't stand any of those Manson family members--Charles, Marilyn, that guy from Cheers, those singing brothers, any of 'em. But considering the relatively low levels of popular or musical success that some of the other people on the list have achieved, I'm surprised that Charlie-don't-surf didn't make it.
This argument of the title of the piece seems pedantic to me, and I don't think I want to argue about it anymore. It's missing the fun point of the article. Perhaps they should have use "rock stars" or "popular and semi-popular musicians" instead, but I ain't gonna lose any sleep over it.
Manson's musical success doesn't even come close to that of the lowest level of popular/musical success on the list. Not G.G. Allin, not Daniel Johnston, not Euronymous. Not even close.
(Also, I think they limited it to people who are most famous for their musical accomplishments. I don't know why that reading didn't occur to me sooner.)
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