Keith Richards

LONG before they became eligible for the pension, The Rolling Stones were the bad boys of rock - the living epitome of 'sex, drugs, and rock and roll'. It's amazing that guitarist Keith Richards isn't already dead, given the amount of narcotics he's imbibed over years. In fact it was suggested at one point that Richards occasionally had his blood replaced as a way of kicking the habit and staying alive. It's not true, nor is the one about 'Keef' snorting his dad's ashes. The problem is that both rumours came from Richards himself, as he is one of the many rock stars who enjoyed have a laugh at music journos' expense by seeing if they will print the obviously ludicrous lies he tells them.

Fortunate Son

CREEDENCE Clearwater Revival's anti-war rocker is remembered as a defining song on the Vietnam War era, and it returned to the public consciousness during the famous George W Bush-vs-Al Gore election of 2000. Depending on which side you were on, Fortunate Son was written about either Bush or Gore - they were the 'senator's son' that didn't have to go to war, while the kids of average Americans were sent to Saigon, many never to return. The truth is, the song was written about neither (Gore in fact served in 'Nam). But it was about a draft-dodging politician spawn - singer John Fogerty said the "fortunate son" he was thinking of was David Eisenhower, grandson of president Dwight D. Eisenhower and son-in-law of Richard Nixon.

Paul Is Dead

OF all the music myths, the Paul Is Dead saga is the most bizarre. While it's often claimed dead musicians are still alive - Elvis, Jim Morrison, Michael Jackson - Paul McCartney has the rare honour of being perhaps the only living musician claimed to be dead. The story came from a joke perpetuated by a few underground radio shows and newspapers in 1969, which said that the real McCartney died in a car crash in 1967. A few nutty Beatlemaniacs took hold of the laughable idea and found clues hidden among the albums to indicate it was true. A backmasked bit of Lennon apparently singing 'I buried Paul', Paul's lack of shoes on the Abbey Road cover, a line in Glass Onion - all these things were apparently hints that McCartney had been replaced by a doppelganger in 1967, making Sir Paul one of the few people's who's had to use the Mark Twain line, 'rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated'.