Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry

This is the fifth edition of an occasional series called “The Rock Explainer.” The idea is to explore the strange, unexplained, and traditional aspects of rock culture that don’t get enough attention and analysis…

In many cases, we just accept these things and don’t question them as much as we should…but if we stop for just a second and cock a quizzical eyebrow and actually ask the question, then it’s possible to review new things about music that you might never have imagined…

Where do accents go when people sing?...why do artists sing the melody lines when they perform live?... How come we hear lyrics wrong?...let’s answer those questions and more.

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Whispers echo through the halls of this 1840 resort and not every footstep belongs to the living. The Briars Resort and Spa in Georgina, Ontario is a beautiful location for a Christmas getaway and a perfect place to savour what the season has to offer.

It is also a fabulous go-to destination if you wish to experience unexplained phenomena or to perhaps see a ghost or two.

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In part 2 of "How Owsley Stanley's LSD Changed Music", we dive deeper into the extraordinary story of how Owsley's homemade LSD shaped the sound and culture of an entire generation.

From fueling the psychedelic revolution that transformed The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and Jimi Hendrix, to bankrolling the Grateful Dead’s legendary audio experiments... Owsley’s influence went far beyond drugs.

His obsession with sonic perfection led to groundbreaking innovations like stage monitors, noise-cancelling technology, and the awe-inspiring “Wall of Sound”...a concert system so massive, that it changed live music forever.

This is the story of a man whose illicit empire altered the course of music history, technology, and even Silicon Valley.

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What happens when one man changes not just how we hear music...but the way we experience it?

Meet Augustus Owsley Stanley III...also known as “Bear.” He wasn’t just the Grateful Dead’s sound engineer; he was the underground chemist who produced millions of doses of LSD, fueling the psychedelic revolution of the 1960s and beyond.

Owsley’s obsession with purity...in concert sound, and pure acid... transformed live music forever.

From the birth of the legendary “Wall of Sound” PA system to the secret labs that churned out the most potent LSD on the planet, this is the long, strange trip of how Owsley Stanley became a folk hero, a criminal mastermind, and an audio pioneer... all at once.

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Chuck Berry is known as the “Godfather of Rock’N’Roll”

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, everyone in the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, and AC/DC have been very vocal about how berry influenced them…he was rock’s first guitar hero, and he was among the first group of musicians to be inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame.

But if we dig into his life, we’ll find that he was often in trouble with the law…robbery, tax evasion, assault, a hidden camera in a women’s restroom, and more.

 This is episode 53 of “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry” …and this time, we’re looking at the accusations levelled against and the crimes committed by the man who helped invent rock’n’roll.

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From Nelly Furtado’s million-dollar gig for the Gaddafi family to Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and Jennifer Lopez entertaining corrupt regimes...why are some of the largest global music superstars performing private shows for some of the world’s most notorious figures?

Some artists were duped, others donated their fees, and a few embraced the payday...all while dealing with the moral complexities of music, money, and power.

This is episode 52 of “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry.”

The inside story of playing gigs for dictators, oligarchs and criminals.

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The 1970s were a dangerous time in Ireland. An era known as “The Troubles” began in the late 1960s. It was protestants vs. Catholics, British loyalists against Irish unionists, the British army vs. the IRA, the UDA, and other groups…

There were bombings, assassinations, guerrilla campaigns, and roaming paramilitary groups, both official and unofficial.

It saw civil disobedience, riots, mass protests, segregation, and many, many deaths…more than 3500 people, mostly civilians, died before things calmed down in the late 90s. 

July 31, 1975, was one of the bloodiest nights in the history of Irish music…in fact, it rivals some of the worst violence against musicians outside hits involving drug cartels in Mexico and South America…and people are still looking for answers.

I’m Alan Cross, and this is episode 50 of “Uncharted: Crime and Mayhem in the Music Industry”.

This is the story of what became known as “The Miami Showband Massacre”.

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Imagine being David, a 15-year-old kid growing up in Southern California. You’re already typically confused because, well, you’re 15. You’re an only child, and your mom and dad have divorced, resulting in a joint custody situation that adds to your confusion. Your mom is dating again. Her current boyfriend doesn’t seem to be a good dude…your only solace is music…

Then, one morning in late February 1983, you’re sick in bed and home from school. Mom is out for a morning jog. That’s when you hear someone breaking into the house.

 When you get up to look, you’re confronted by someone pointing a gun at you by someone you know…you’re handcuffed and locked in the bathroom…when his mom got home, she argued with the gunman.

Before he took off, the guy let Dave out of the bathroom and told him, “Don’t say anything…keep your mouth shut—or else”—and then he left. Young Dave was terrified, so he kept his mouth shut.

But that wasn’t the end of it, though…a week later, this same guy returned to the house and shot David’s mom and her best friend dead…he then went on the lam for nearly a decade…

 The trauma that David experienced was unimaginable…even though he grew up to be the guitarist for Jane’s Addiction, one of the iconic alt-rock bands of the late 80s and 90s, processing what happened on that day in February 1983 sticks with him to this day…

I’m Alan Cross, and this time, it’s all about Dave Navarro and his witness to murder.

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The influence of organized crime extends everywhere…drugs, loan-sharking, protection rackets, shakedowns, gambling, prostitution, money laundering, waste disposal—and the music industry. 

It’s not something we hear about so much anymore…but in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s, it was very much a thing…and if you were operating in the music business during those decades, you would have come across Morris Levy. 

He liked to project the image of the savvy businessman, an entrepreneur running a successful record label who was also a philanthropist, raising money for charities like opera companies and children’s hospitals. 

But sitting atop his pyramid of companies, Levy stole money from artists, shook down record retailers, laundered money, cheated record pressing plants, and threatened people who got in his way…his influence was far, far greater than the size of Roulette would indicate.

If you wanted to stand up to Morris, you had to be careful…there was a .38 in his desk drawer and he had several associates on the payroll that carried baseball bats in case a meeting turned difficult…and if that didn’t scare you, there were his silent backers in the mafia.

With this backroom help, Morris was able to get his way with everyone from young emerging singers to—believe it or not—John Lennon.

Levy ran his corner of the music business his way for decades—until he couldn’t.  This is part two of “Morris Levy: music’s most mobbed-up man”.

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