5 Musicians You're More Likely to Find in Jail Than on Amazon

Serial-killers are a devious inspiration for Pop culture. Herein you’ll find the gruesome details of five murders perpetrated by Heavy Metal legends.

Brian Warner, AKA as Marilyn Manson, applied the leitmotiv beauty and the beast when he devised his homonymous band Marilyn Manson & the Spooky Kids, in 1989.

The band members created their stage names by combining sex-symbols like Marylin Monroe, Olivia Newton-John, Daisy Duke, Zsa Zsa Gábor with the most gruesome serial killers: Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz, Richard Speck, and John Wayne Gacy.

Hence, they gained their fictional beauty & the beast personas: Marilyn Manson, Olivia Newton Bundy, Daisy Berkowitz, Zsa Zsa Speck, and Madonna Wayne Gacy.

However, real people can be gruesomest than fictional characters. Hereafter, you will find five musicians turned murderers.

1# Varg Vikernes

Neither a Satanic nor a Satanist, Varg refused any of the labels. His fame began with some of the most gruesome aspects of metal history. Between 1992 and 1993, Varg was allegedly responsible for the arson of four Christian churches in Norway.

Then in 1994, he murdered Øystein Aarseth, AKA Euronymous, Mayem’s guitarist. Vikernes stabbed Aarseth to death; the autopsy mentions twenty-three cut wounds — two to the head, five to the neck, and sixteen to the back. He was sentenced to twenty-one years in prison, served sixteen, and was released in 2009.

Vikernes smiled when his verdict was read, and this image made the headlines making him one the most famous musician on this hideous list.

Vikernes has always insisted that he never took part in any arsons:

They presented one witness in each case who claimed I had burned this or that church, and that was it. “Guilty”. Just like that. This process was repeated four times, and I was found guilty of kindling four churches, three of them having burned to the ground. There was not a single piece of physical evidence in any of these cases. I was convicted solely because of the testimony of one single person in each case.

The movie Lords of Chaos, directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and released in 2018, depicts the feud between Varg and Euronymous and suggests the latter mocked Varg for being a copy-cat arsonist. In the film, Euronymous says to Vikernes: “I’ve been talking about it for years. I’m glad you got inspired.”

Afterward, Varg argued that Euronymous planned to kill him:

The guy I killed intended to kill me. So I killed him before he managed to kill me. He tried but he failed miserably.

2# Kurt Struebing

In 1986, Kurt was a member of NME. He had a severe drug problem and a tendency for violent hallucination while under the effect.

One day he took a dose high enough to make him believe that he was a robot (or this was what he alleged in defense). These maniac deviant thoughts made him go berserker and attack his adoptive mother with a hatchet.

Apparently, he wanted to open her up to see if she was a robot too. He was charged with second-degree murder and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. He was released in 1994.

3# Bård Guldvik “Faust” Eithun

Faust played the drums for the Norwegian band, Emperor. He was convicted for stabbing Magne Andreassen on August 21, 1992.

At that time, many found connections between the crime and the metal universe, linking it to satanism or fascism. The musician has always denied any of these judgments.

Sentenced to fourteen years in prison, he was eventually released in 2003.

4# Hendrik Möbus

Founding member of the Absurd, Hendrik was sentenced for the kidnapping and murder of Sandro Beyer in 1993. The 15-year-old teenager was strangled to death with an electrical cord. Möbus was 17 years old when he murdered Beyer with the help of other band members.

Möbus had prior issues with the law related to his neo-Nazi beliefs, as he was the founder of the Deutsche Heidnische Front (the German Heathens’ Front was a far-right Neo-Nazi group). Thus, a significant part of his musical inspiration came from themes related to Germanic revivalism and anti-Semitism.

5# Jon Andreas Nödtveidt

Jon was the lead guitarist and vocalist of the Swedish death metal/black metal band Dissection, which he founded in 1989. His band has always dealt with themes related to death and suicide.

Back in 1997, he was tried and convicted of being an accessory to the death of Josef Ben Meddour, in what was considered an anti-homosexuality hate crime.

He was released from prison in 2004. Afterward, on August 16, 2006, he was found dead, apparently by a single shot to the head, his body lying in a circle of candles.

Disclaimer:

This article is for informational and entertainment purposes only; it depicts facts and real events, hence shouldn’t be considered, in any way, related to my beliefs or personal opinion.