Welcome To Johnanddebonline.com

One of the strangest events surrounding the Beatles was the rumour in 1966 that band member Paul McCartney was dead. Not only was he dead, but was replaced with a Double. More amazing was that the band seemed to be putting clues in their music and album covers to leak the truth — although the Beatles always denied any part in promoting the rumour.

The most famous elements were contained on the Abbey Road album cover. The four Beatles are shown walking across the pedestrian "zebra crossing" on London's Abbey Road, but there are curious clues. McCartney is in a suit, barefoot and out of step with John Lennon (dressed as a priest), Ringo Starr (dressed as an undertaker), and George Harrison (dressed in work clothes, like a grave digger). A Volkswagen Beetle is parked on the road, with the license plate "LMW281F," implying McCartney would have been 28 "if" he had lived, while LMW supposedly stood for "Linda McCartney Weeps."

In 1969, a Detroit disc jockey named Russ Gibb received a phone call from a listener named Tom, who announced that McCartney was dead, and for clues, to play the Beatles song "Revolution #9" backward. In reverse, the words that are repeated over and over, "number nine, number nine," sort of sound like "turn me on, dead man."

The rumours continued to spread and became a worldwide urban legend when a WABC disc jockey in New York rambled on about it on an overnight show that was heard over the clear channel AM station in two-thirds of the U.S. and halfway around the world. Afterward, there wasn't a campus radio station in the country that wasn't running a weekend-long "Paul-a-thon," with listeners calling in their favorite clues as they pored over the albums and fan magazines until their eyes fogged over. Grade-point averages plummeted all over the United States.

Conspiracists pieced together a hodgepodge of lyrics from several albums to create the story. Supposedly, McCartney had a fight with the other members of the band during the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and stormed out of the studio. He hopped into his Austin-Healey at about 5:00 a.m. on November 9, 1966, drove into the dark morning, crashed into a light pole, and was killed. Following the accident, a secret funeral was held, and the news was withheld from the public. A quiet search was quickly made for a McCartney look-alike/sound-alike — named Billy Shears — who finished the recording of Sgt. Pepper. It was Billy Shears who went on to record all subsequent Beatles albums and launch his own band, Wings.Of course, all this started in the creative minds of a small group of college students who went cherry-picking through the lyrics of wildly different Beatles songs to invent the story. Unquestionably, the band was bewildered at first by the story, but John Lennon in particular seemed to enjoy playing along, while never exactly commenting on it openly.

Facts --Originally, they planed to take a private plane over to the foothills of Mount Everest to shoot the cover photograph. But as they became increasingly eager to finish the album Paul McCartney suggested they just go outside, take the photo there and name the album after the street.  McCartney wore sandals for the first two shots, but afterwards took them off and walked barefoot.During shots 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 the group were walking out of step. However, the fifth shot was perfect, and it was this, which was selected by Paul McCartney for the album. The white Volkswagen Beetle, belonged to one of the people living in the block of flats across from the recording studio

Michael Jackson's Death was Planned to Cover Up an Iranian Revolution

Some people believe that Michael Jackson's accidental drug overdose was not an accident at all, but rather the Iranian government's well-orchestrated attempt to divert Western media coverage of the Iranian Revolution in June 2009. Iranians protested and disputed presidential elections after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reelected president. Although the Iranian government tried to block news coverage, the people took to social media to get the word out about the revolution. But in the United States, most news outlets were covering Michael Jackson's death.

 The CIA Had John Lennon Killed & Brainwashed Chapman With Catcher In The Rye

In Mark Strongman’s 2010 book John Lennon: Life, Times and Assassination, he details (his version at least) of the longstanding myth that the CIA had John Lennon killed.  Strongman claims that there is no photographic proof of any evidence of Mark David Chapman being an obsessed John Lennon/Beatles fan, citing the lack of photographic proof of Strongman’s hours long Lennon compilation in his car.  He also pulls out a JFKesque theory that there’s no way that Chapman could have hit the 5 shots he did, and that there had to be a second shooter.  He also claimed that Chapman visited Beirut at a time when it was a hive of CIA activity and an assasination training camp.  He also wonders how Chapman could afford to travel the world.  He claims the CIA used Catcher in the Rye to brainwash Chapman.  Somewhere in the great beyond, I think Holden Caulfield/JD Salinger might call the purporters of this theory ‘phonies.’

 Kurt Cobain Was Murdered

This one has been beaten into the ground, and everybody should know the story by now. People have made a lot of money off of conspiracy theory films and books surrounding this case, but the short story is that the conspiracy theorists think Kurt was murdered, and Courtney Love was involved. There’s also that dude El Duce from the Kurt & Courtney documentary who claimed that Courtney offered him $50,000 to kill Kurt. While the evidence behind this conspiracy is very shaky, it’ll continue to be discussed for years to come.

 . Mike Starr Left Layne Staley Near Death

The death of Alice In Chains’ iconic frontman Layne Staley is an interesting case, as the controversy didn’t come until years following his April 5, 2002 drug overdose death. In 2009 Mike Starr, Staley’s former Alice In Chains bandmate, revealed on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab that he was the last person to see Staley alive, as he had gone to Staley’s home on April 4th to celebrate his 36th birthday. Starr’s account though had some contradictions, he said Staley was clearly in bad shape and needed medical help, but Staley insisted that if Starr called 911 he would never speak to him again. Staley was also agitated that Starr was high on benzos, and Starr ended up leaving with Staley’s final words to him being: ‘Not this way.’ Starr claimed he went home and got high for 2 weeks after leaving Staley’s home, but he clearly still carried around guilt regarding leaving Staley in a bad state, especially when speaking to Staley’s mother about the tragedy. With Starr tragically passing away himself in 2011, nobody will ever truly know what happened the last day of Staley’s life, which can only leads fans to speculate.

 Michael Hutchence Died Of Erotic Asphyxiation

INXS frontman Michael Hutchence hung himself in November 1997, reportedly due to depression over not getting to see his daughter.  Hutchence’s girlfriend Paula Yates shouted at the detectives in a restaurant while giving graphic details of the sex games she and Hutchence played. ‘He would strangle me during sex,’ she told them, insisting that he died of erotic asphyxiation.

‘She was shouting at us, everyone was listening in, and I thought “How embarrassing is this?”,’ Investigator Michael Gerondis said during an INXS TV special earlier this year.  While plenty of evidence disproves this, it is a popular conspiracy theory online.

 Jimi Hendrix’s Manager Had Him Killed For Insurance Money

One conspiracy is that Jimi’s manager Mike Jeffery was buried in debts and took out a $2 million insurance policy on Hendrix.  James ‘Tappy’ Wright, a former road manager who worked for Jeffery, wrote in his memoir Rock Roadie, that in the early hours of September 18, 1970, a gang into the London hotel room where Hendrix was staying with his girlfriend, Monika Dannemann, and forced sleeping pills and wine down his throat until he drowned.  Wright claims that Jeffery confessed it to him before dying himself, and said Hendrix was worth more ‘dead than alive’ at that point.  The amount of red wine found in Hendrix was very high, which somewhat supports this theory, though friend Meic Stevens told the Daily Mail that he thinks Hendrix may have died from drinking red wine because he didn’t know how to drink properly due to never having had it before the night of his death.

 Jim Morrison Died At A Nightclub

One of the main conspiracies regarding late Doors frontman Jim Morrison’s death is that he actually overdosed and died at a club, not in his tub. This theory was described by Sam Bernett in his 2007 book “The End: Jim Morrison”. Bernett claims that Morrison died at the Rock and Roll Circus nightclub in one of it’s bathroom stalls due to a overdose of heroin.

“Though Bernett says he wanted to call the paramedics and authorities, the club’s owner ordered him to keep quiet to avert a scandal,” USA Today wrote when interviewing Bernett.

 Biban Jones Was Murdered

When founding Rolling Stones member Brian Jones passed away in 1969, he was seemingly in a bad place. His presence within the band dissipated, and he was found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool. While the official cause of death was ruled as “death by misadventure” (drowning due to intoxication) reports have stated that no illegal drugs were in Jones’ system at the time of death. The main conspiracy theory tied to this particular death was that Jones was murdered by a man by the name of Frank Thorogood who was a construction worker on the property where the tragedy occured. What fuels these rumors is a quote from Janet Lawson, the person that found Jones. Lawson told The Daily Mail the following in 2008:

“I went into the house to look for Brian’s inhaler. Frank jumped back in the pool, did something to Brian and by the time I came back, Brian was lying peacefully on the bottom of the pool with not a ripple in the water.”

Theorists also like to speculate that Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and/or Keith Richards were in on the alleged murder, however these theories are completely unfounded.

 Elvis Presley Is Alive

The widely accepted theory and consensus amongst most is that Elvis Presley died due to heart disease and his addiction prescription drugs, however a majority of conspiracy theorists like to claim that Elvis Presley is still alive. While denial is a common theory for fans after most entertainers, there are a few reasons behind this conspiracy. The first being that during Elvis’ funeral The National Enquirer paid $18,000 to one of Presley’s cousins to acquire photos of “The King” during his funeral. Once published, it was noted that the pictures during the open casket funeral looked nothing like Elvis, and that the eyebrows, chin and fingers were of a different structure.

Another is that the day after Presley’s funeral there was a man at Memphis Airport that looked and talked exactly like Elvis who booked a one way ticket to Argentina. The man went by the name “John Burrows.” The Burrows name was actually an alias given by Elvis’ staff when making bookings at hotels for “The King

 Iron Butterfly’s Phillip Taylor Kramer Was Kidnapped & Murdered

Phillip Taylor Kramer served as Iron Butterfly’s bassist from 1974 to 1977, and later transitioned into aerospace engineering, working for the U.S. Department of Defense and pioneering facial recognition systems.  In 1995 Kramer went to Los Angeles International Airport to pick up an associate, and called 911 telling operators he was going to kill himself.  He was never seen alive again, and his body was found 4 years later at the bottom of Decker Canyon.  Decker was working on a revolutionary communications system at the time of his death, which has led conspiracy theorists to believe that he was abducted and murdered.  Police through ruled the death a probable suicide.

  Elliott Smith Was Murdered

Elliott Smith stabbed himself to death in October 2003, and there have of course been some conspiracy theories surrounding his suicide.  The coroner’s report returned an open verdict, claiming that while “the location and direction of the stab wounds are consistent with self-infliction, several aspects of the circumstances [as they were known at the time] are atypical of suicide and raise the possibility of homicide.”

Smith’s girlfriend Jennifer Chiba told SPIN in 2004: “I hope that someday people will see that [Elliott] had cleaned up. The toxicology report shows that he was clean of any illicit substances. That had been true of the whole past year. That’s not to say he hadn’t been abusing some of his prescription drugs, but in the last two months, I can honestly say that we were in the healthiest shape that either of us had ever been.” Chiba later said in Gil Reyes’ documentary Searching For Elliott Smith, that Smith had difficulty with simple tasks such as getting a glass of water for himself, saying, “I essentially took care of him for the last year of his life.”  Smith had threatened suicide years before his death, so many of the conspiracy claims remain unsubstantiated.

 Bon Scott

 the singer for Australian rockers AC/DC was found dead in the back of his friend Alistair Kinnear’s Renault 5 outside 67 Overhill Road in East Dulwich in February 1980. The coroner ruled it was acute alcohol poisoning but it’s long been suggested that Scott hooked up with ex-girlfriend and heroin dealer Margaret ‘Silver’ Smith and took an overdose that was later covered up. Another layer was added for the more outré conspiracy theorist after Kinnear disappeared when his yacht went missing in 2006.

Dark Side of the Rainbow

The idea that Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon perfectly syncs up with The Wizard of Oz is probably one of the most well-known and popular conspiracy theories among the general public. Supposedly, if you start playing the record at a certain point in The Wizard of Oz, then Pink Floyd's music will be in step with the visuals of the Hollywood classic. "The result is astonishing," Charles Savage wrote in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in 1995. "It's as if the movie were one long art-film music video for the album. Song lyrics and titles match the action and plot. The music swells and falls with character's movements. Don't expect to be overwhelmed. But do expect to see enough firm coincidences to make you wonder whether the whole thing was planned. And expect to see many more coincidences that would be definite reaches if it weren't for other parts lining up so well."

The reality is The Wizard of Oz is roughly 112 minutes, while Dark Side of the Moon is about 43 minutes long, so you'd have to play the record around two and a half times to get the audio to perfectly sync with the picture.  

“It's such a non-starter, a complete load of eyewash," Alan Parsons, Pink Floyd’s audio engineer, told Rolling Stone in 2003. "I tried it for the first time about two years ago. One of my fiancée's kids had a copy of the video, and I thought I had to see what it was all about. I was very disappointed. One of the things any audio professional will tell you is that the scope for the drift between the video and the record is enormous; it could be anything up to twenty seconds by the time the record's finished. And anyway, if you play any record with the sound turned down on the TV, you will find things that work.”