10 Musicians Everyone Lost Respect For
These musicians have no one to blame but themselves. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at musicians whose personal reputations, if not careers, were completely unraveled by scandal.
Transcript
00:00 "Bro, ay bro, ay ay bro, I ain't finish, I ain't finish my sentence."
00:05 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at musicians whose personal reputation,
00:10 if not career, were completely unraveled by scandal.
00:14 "I need somebody to help me not have a big heart, because my heart is so big.
00:20 People betray me and I keep forgiving them."
00:23 "You sound like you're playing the victim here."
00:27 10. Jerry Lee Lewis
00:30 Jerry Lee Lewis always caused commotion as an early rock and roll rebel.
00:35 Incidentally, the wild child went too far by settling down with Myra Gale Brown in 1957.
00:41 "After four triumphant concerts, Lewis inadvertently referred to Myra's age at a press conference.
00:47 All hell broke loose."
00:48 The 22-year-old Lewis publicly lied about his third wife's real age, who was a teenager.
00:55 She was also his first cousin, once removed.
00:58 Just like that, Lewis publicly went from bad boy to total creep.
01:02 The subsequent concert cancellations and boycotts devastated his popular appeal.
01:07 "I had no airplay on the radio, I couldn't see anything I did wrong."
01:11 "And Jerry's records were pulled from the stations.
01:15 He was blacklisted, he could not do a TV show.
01:19 He was, he was bad news, no one would touch him."
01:23 He remained an active musician for the rest of his life, whose influential work is still
01:28 celebrated.
01:28 The man himself would never recover from his union with Brown, or its disillusion on the
01:33 grounds of infidelity and abuse.
01:36 This wasn't Lewis' last scandalous marriage.
01:39 "Jerry Lee Lewis' talent was never in doubt, but his personal life will forever
01:45 raise questions about his legacy."
01:48 9. Ryan Adams
01:51 Prolific singer-songwriter Ryan Adams has enjoyed great acclaim and clout in the music
01:56 industry.
01:56 Many fellow musicians counted on him in their own careers.
02:00 In 2019, seven women told the New York Times that this came with strings attached.
02:06 They claimed that Adams used promises of professional support to sexually and romantically
02:11 coerce them.
02:12 If they resisted, he would use social media to sully their public image.
02:16 Adams initially denied these allegations, but later took full responsibility for his
02:21 history of abuse.
02:22 Many didn't buy his formulaic apology and promise of growth.
02:26 "I find it curious that someone would make a public apology but not do it privately.
02:32 I am speaking for myself, but I have not heard from him, and I'm not looking for an
02:38 apology necessarily, but I do find it curious that someone would sort of do an interview
02:42 about it without actually making amends privately."
02:45 Some say the material he's produced since has suffered from a tone-deaf tone of self-pity.
02:50 "I don't remember, were we wild and young?
02:55 Oh, that's faded into memory."
02:58 Whether Ryan is truly remorseful, that music industry clout has dried up.
03:03 "You had a lot of A-list friends that stayed quiet when all this happened.
03:07 Did this sort of teach you who your real friends are?"
03:10 "Oh man, I got friends, I got the whole alphabet.
03:13 Sound good."
03:14 8.
03:15 Ike Turner In the early days of rock and roll,
03:18 Ike Turner was a visionary.
03:20 "He took the blues and created his own Ike Turner sound."
03:25 He really got his big break by helping his wife Tina get hers.
03:28 The couple revolutionized pop music but no longer share the same esteem.
03:32 After filing for divorce in 1976, Tina revealed that her marriage was plagued with physical
03:38 and psychological abuse.
03:40 Ike's public image, as well as his finances, were further tarnished by substance use and
03:45 legal issues.
03:46 All of this was cemented in pop culture by the biopic, What's Love Got To Do With It?
03:51 The Turners both stated that the film embellished their dysfunctional relationship.
03:59 Still, while Tina is immortalized as the queen of rock and roll, the Queenmaker's legacy
04:04 is overshadowed by cruelty.
04:06 "After the movie came out, people were like, 'Sorry, we're not going to help you.'"
04:11 7.
04:12 Tekashi 6ix9ine Daniel Hernandez stands out from a generation
04:16 of rappers who made their stage name on SoundCloud.
04:20 Unfortunately, it's not so much because of Tekashi 6ix9ine's work with big names
04:25 in the industry.
04:26 In 2015, he pled guilty to criminally sexualizing a minor in a music video.
04:31 Over the next two years, he would be implicated in or admit to a number of violent offenses.
04:36 Despite asking for time served, the judge cited a list of crimes linking Hernandez which
04:42 he said wreaked havoc across the city.
04:44 He also softened racketeering and firearm convictions in 2018 by ratting on gang associates.
04:50 After many assumed he would be free this week, Brooklyn rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine has been sentenced
04:54 to 24 months in prison and a subsequent five years of supervised release.
04:58 Hernandez left prison two years later but was labeled a snitch in his community and
05:03 an overall scumbag in the mainstream.
05:05 He dug himself even deeper with several high-profile feuds.
05:09 Otherwise, 6ix9ine's music is as low-profile as ever.
05:24 6.
05:26 CeeLo Green In both hip-hop groups and Solo Soul, CeeLo
05:30 Green was a titan of his industry.
05:32 His reputation first started to bend in the early 2010s over hostile responses to critics
05:43 online.
05:44 It broke after he was accused of sexual battery and charged with assaulting an intoxicated
05:49 woman.
05:49 Green maintained his innocence by posting that victims remember the experience.
05:54 He made so many disturbingly ignorant comments that his account was temporarily shut down.
06:07 A lackluster apology was insufficient to save one of music's most prolific stars.
06:12 The scandal cost him gigs and nearly destroyed his career on the screen.
06:16 Record sales have also suffered.
06:19 CeeLo manages to stay busy but now largely outside of public view.
06:23 Fans were devastated when the Welsh rocker's Lost Profits broke up in 2013.
06:35 The reason why was the most devastating part.
06:38 The previous year, lead singer Ian Watkins was arrested for possession of drugs and highly
06:43 obscene materials.
06:45 He eventually pleaded guilty to 10 counts of sexual activity with minors.
06:56 Watkins' abuses had been reported to police as early as 2008.
07:12 The horrific scandal has even besmirched his bandmates' legacies.
07:16 Lost Profits' music and merchandise have been basically blacklisted from the public.
07:21 Thankfully, most of its members have found success with the band No Devotion and other
07:26 beloved projects.
07:27 Watkins, meanwhile, is serving 29 years in prison for his heinous crimes.
07:40 Industrial metal pioneer Brian Warner made a career out of shocking the public as Marilyn
07:45 Manson.
07:46 His subversive brand would gradually be hidden from the mainstream over several high-profile
07:51 murders committed by fans.
07:52 He was a key subject and proponent of discourse following the Columbine High School Massacre.
08:04 "I definitely can see why they would pick me because I think it's easy to throw my face
08:10 on a TV because I'm, in the end, sort of a poster boy for fear because I represent what
08:18 everyone's afraid of because I do and say what I want."
08:21 In 2021, Manson finally lost his niche group of supporters.
08:26 Multiple people, including ex-fiancé Evan Rachel Wood, alleged years of abuse and sexual
08:32 assault.
08:32 "It's a cycle and it bleeds into so many problems in our country and our society that we are
08:38 not even aware of."
08:39 Manson has not released new material or toured since.
08:42 He's been embroiled in legal battles with his accusers, which have raised concerning
08:47 testimony against all parties.
08:49 But with disturbing evidence suggesting that Manson's horror isn't just for show, few are
08:54 still willing to defend him.
08:56 Number 3.
08:57 Gary Glitter
08:58 "I deeply regret doing what I was sent to prison for."
09:05 Paul Gadd helped broaden Glamrock's pop appeal with the flamboyant anthems and live performances
09:11 of Gary Glitter.
09:12 He'd still be an icon of the genre if it weren't for his shocking criminal history.
09:17 In 1999, Gadd was convicted of possessing obscene content and registered as a sex offender.
09:23 His career died on the spot.
09:25 Glitter served two months in prison, and upon his release, he claimed he was repentant.
09:30 After prison, Gadd tried starting anew outside of England, only to be deported and banned
09:36 from several countries for continuing to fraternise.
09:39 A conviction in Vietnam resulted in deportation to his homeland, where he was convicted of
09:44 multiple sex crimes in 2015.
09:46 Judge Alastair McQueith told Glitter, "I've read the impact statements of all three victims.
09:52 It is clear in their different ways they were all profoundly affected."
09:56 The Gary Glitter brand has now faded into obscurity, and all that's left is a criminal
10:01 rejected by the whole world.
10:03 Number 2.
10:04 Kanye West
10:06 Even more astonishing than Kanye West's renown was his downfall.
10:10 He first lost mainstream credibility with baffling statements throughout the 2000s.
10:15 This included poorly phrasing racial concerns after Hurricane Katrina, and hijacking an
10:20 award acceptance speech by Taylor Swift.
10:39 West then polarised the black community by downplaying racism and aligning with right-wing
10:43 politics through the 2010s.
10:46 This culminated in a representation of white supremacist culture in the 2020s, especially
10:51 anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
10:54 That dealt a destructive blow to West's music career, business brand, and social media
10:59 presence.
11:00 Still, he always finds a platform for his outrageous views.
11:12 Many link the rapper's antics to mental illness or mere attention-seeking.
11:17 But as West continues to dig himself into scandal, he can't even count on public pity.
11:41 Number 1.
11:44 R. Kelly
11:46 The one-time king of R&B has gone from one of music's biggest stars to one of its worst
11:58 pariahs.
11:59 R. Kelly's glamorous image first cracked in 1994 when the 27-year-old briefly married
12:05 underage singer, Aaliyah.
12:07 His indiscretions were further suggested throughout the 2000s by allegations and a hard-won legal
12:12 battle.
12:21 The public was completely divided until the subsequent decades ended their debate.
12:26 Accusations of sex cults and horrendous abuse led to widespread boycotts before the hit
12:31 docuseries, Surviving R. Kelly, healed public sympathy.
12:51 This inspired a series of trials, leading to convictions on racketeering, trafficking,
12:56 and other crimes.
12:58 Kelly began his 31-year prison sentence in 2023.
13:02 Though there's no salvaging the musician's once-celebrated art, his victims have finally
13:07 received justice.
13:08 Which scandal changed your tune about an artist?
13:11 Open up in the comments!
13:39 (upbeat music)