10 Artists Who Got Away With Totally Breaking The Law
“I should have gone to prison. I definitely deserved to go to prison. But I did 30 days in jail and got laid and drank beer, because that's the power of cash. That's f**ked up”.
Musicians, perhaps more so than any other profession, tend to get quite a bit of leeway when it comes to deviant behaviour. It is almost expected of a celebrity musician to stir up some strife every now and then. Rockstars in particular are known for their erratic and unpredictable behaviour, with stories such as Ozzy Osbourne biting the head off a bat, drinking his own urine or defecating in the hallway of a hotel has all become stuff of legend. Thus, wild stories of musicians exercising their right to freedom are mostly celebrated and encouraged in society. As far as the public is concerned, as long as they dont hurt anyone theres no harm done. However, the fact that society celebrates this sort of behaviour among celebrities is seemingly resulting in a tirade of entitled individuals who believe they are above the law. This is all well and good when drinking your own pee is as far as your entitled behaviour gets, but when actual harm is done the justice system is often exposed to be corrupt and incredibly lopsided. These are 10 cases in which famous musicians either got away with or received a drastically reduced sentence for committing heinous crimes.
10. Keith Moon
When they were first introduced sometime in the mid-60s, The Who were considered to be one of the heaviest and loudest bands to rock the world (this was just before Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath came along and rightfully took the crown). They were known for their destructive behaviour both on and off the stage, and they were among the first band to popularise the tradition of trashing hotel rooms and destroying your equipment on stage after a show. However, the rowdiest of the group was by far their drummer, Keith Moon. By the time of his death in 1978, stories of his antics had become musical legend. He was known for throwing television sets out of hotel windows and driving cars into pools, among many other exploits. Moons haphazard behaviour eventually did get him into more strife than he bargained for. In January 1970, Moon got himself into an unfriendly situation involving a group of aggressive skinheads and, in his attempt to flee, ran over his bodyguard Neil Boland. Bolands death was ruled as accident and Moon never got charged for it.
Hailing from Christchurch in the heart of Middle Earth itself, I am but a simple man who got hooked to the silver screen at a young age and will happily debate any film or music topic all day.
