BLENDER SAYS LENNON SHOOTING TOPS ROCK'S WORST MOMENTS
That’s the book Mark David Chapman was holding when he shot and killed John Lennon 22 years ago, earning him first place on Blender magazine’s list of the “25 Worst Moments in Rock.”
The hall of shame also includes Tipper Gore, the motorcycle club Hell's Angels, who famously disrupted a Rolling Stones concert, and even the Wright Bros…for inventing the airplane.
Chapman is serving 20 years to life after pleading guilty to gunning down the late Beatle outside his Manhattan apartment on Dec. 8, 1980. The other killer on the list is the Rev. Marvin Gay, who fatally shot his son, soul legend Marvin Gaye, in 1984. Gay, who was sentenced to five years on probation for involuntary manslaughter and died in 1998, ranked No. 4.
R&B icon Ike Turner, the "husband from hell" who beat Tina Turner, was No. 2, followed by the Hell's Angels, who stabbed to death one fan and beat countless others with pool cues at the Stones' infamous 1969 concert at Altamont, CA.
Gore, wife of former vice-president Al Gore, ranked No. 7 for her efforts to censor music.
The tongue-in-cheek roster also lists "white people" at No. 9 for ripping off black musicians; Muzak at No. 21 for its bland mood music; and the pioneers of powered flight, the Wright Brothers, at No. 24 for the aviation deaths of such music stars as Buddy Holly, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Aaliyah. HITS finished just out of the Top 25, slightly ahead of American Idol finalist Justin Guarini’s upcoming recording debut.
