24 Music Conspiracy Theories That Keep Fans Gossiping

Musical trends are constantly evolving, but one element that’s always present in the music industry is conspiracy theories.

While many of these stories held more mystery in the pre-Internet age, they are still debated today. Some music conspiracy theories turned out to be true, some didn’t, and some are still undetermined.

1. The Scorpions Worked for American Intelligence

The Scorpions were famous for their singles “Rock You Like a Hurricane” and “Winds of Change,” the latter selling more than 10 million copies after its 1991 release. “Winds of Change” became an anti-communism anthem following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Even though Scorpions songwriter Klaus Meine debunked the myth, a podcast called Wind of Change theorized that the CIA wrote and promoted the song to bring about the fall of the Soviet Union.

2. Kurt Cobain’s Demise

The “this musician didn’t end their own life” theory is wide awake in modern times, and few downfalls triggered these more than the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. The BBC reported in 2018 how a man named Richard Lee sued a Seattle court several years earlier, arguing that crime scene photos of Cobain’s gunshots would expose a government conspiracy.

Sadly for Lee, he never got to prove his hypothesis; Cobain’s daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, and his widow, Courtney Love, blocked the photos through a court injunction.

3. Avril Lavigne’s Body Double

The Avril Lavigne story is somewhat of a stretch, but hear these people out. In 2017, Teen Vogue and other media groups reported how a 2005 high school student’s conspiracy theory resurfaced, claiming Avril Lavigne had died and been replaced. Thought to have been started by a Brazilian blog named “Avril is Dead” (the site is now defunct), the rumor detailed that Lavigne ended her own life in 2003. From this date forward, döppelganger Melissa Vandella took over, eerily dropping hints in her subsequent music.

There is even a petition going online with the mission statement: “Save Avril Lavigne’s Legacy! Expose Melissa Vandella!” At the time of reporting, 61 people from a 1,000 goal have signed up.

4. Michael Jackson’s Dave Dave Appearance

Where would we be without the many Michael Jackson conspiracy theories? Following his death in 2009, dozens of sleuth-like suppositions have fed unsatisfied imaginations. After Kanye West’s assertion that M.J. was murdered, another peculiar episode got chins wagging everywhere.

Sometime after his death, one of Jackson’s long-time friends, a man curiously named Dave Dave, who met the singer as a child after suffering severe burns, appeared on Larry King to talk about Jackson’s legacy. Dave’s demeanor, mannerisms, and (most importantly) his voice left hairs standing on many necks. As he paid tribute to Jackson’s struggles and achievements, Dave’s voice sounded almost exactly like the late singer.

5. Thom Yorke’s Secret Song

In 2011, many online musical commentators caught wind of a song they believed to be an early-nineties Radiohead demo called “Putting Ketchup in the Fridge.” The vocalist in this recording is eerily Yorke-esque, bending his falsetto in the same way and reaching almost identical vocal range.

However, it was revealed that Canadian indie folk singer Christopher Stopa recorded the song in 1991.

6. Dave Grohl’s Phoney Broken Leg

When the Foo Fighters’ founding member broke his leg on tour in 2015, he spent the rest of the summer playing from a chair and wearing a leg cast. The online gossip factory opened its doors, and before long, some netizens decided Grohl had feigned the broken leg to increase tour ticket sales.

Grohl laughed off the accusation, citing his actual stage fall and subsequent X-ray as evidence.

7. The CIA Killed Bob Marley

As the narrative suggests, Jamaica’s reggae icon died of cancer from an infected toe injury. However, for many years, enthusiasts have believed Marley’s message of peace, harmony, and prosperity for all didn’t sit well with the Central Intelligence Agency, which allegedly took out the singer with poisoned shoes.

Of course, this outlandish premise was debunked.

8. Judas Priest’s Subliminal Messages

After two best friends agreed to take their own lives five years earlier, the British metal band Judas Priest was sued by one of the surviving boys’ parents in 1990.

They charged that the band’s single, “Better By You, Better Than Me,” contained a subliminal message that encouraged the boys’ deadly pact when played backward. The band was found not guilty.

9. Lorde Was No Spring Chicken

Articulate Kiwi songsmith and musical prodigy Lorde came to fame in the late ’00s with her cerebral bubblegum pop. However, some listless fans decided she was much older than her teenage appearance betrayed after hearing a lyric in “Team”: “I’m kinda older than I was when I reveled without a care.”

The Atlantic reported that music journalist Emma Carmichael found compelling evidence to the contrary – her birth certificate.

10. The Paul Is Dead Theory

In 1966, founding Beatles member Paul McCartney died in a car crash and was replaced by an American look-alike contest winner, according to a fan who called WKNR radio station in Michigan in 1969. The short version is that the British Intelligence Department MI5 aided the Beatles in replacing the singer to spare the world’s grief.

Dozens of people have debunked this myth — even McCartney mocked the “Paul is Dead” theory with his 1993 live album, Paul is Live. 

11. Music Award Shows Are Rigged

While there are no individual catalyst theories about the record industry’s corruption overall, music award shows are a good example (in this music fan’s humble opinion). When record companies spend millions promoting their biggest-selling artists, handing out awards to a familiar handful of performers each year, one must ask questions.

Journalist MJ believes he can prove Justin Bieber won an award for his album Believe in 2012, days before its release.

12. Stevie Wonder’s 20/20 Vision

Poor Stevie. As if performing his entire life and leaving behind one of the world’s greatest musical legacies isn’t enough, he has to contend with hypotheses about his sight. Somewhere along the line, someone decided that Stevie Wonder was faking it.

However, it isn’t only fringe citizens who have mentioned it. For instance, Donald Glover pondered the idea on Jimmy Kimmel after collaborating with the heritage artist for his show, Atlanta.

13. Britney’s Baby Voice Conspiracy

Those who grew up in the ’90s remember Britney Spears’ arrival on the music scene — especially her trademark babyish singing voice. However, fans think she faked the voice her entire career, claiming Britney has to lip-synch more these days thanks to damaged vocal cords.

Her real voice is much deeper, as evidenced in a TikTok video by Singularbritney.

14. Scott Swift’s Record Collection

Taylor Swift grew up with her comfortable, middle-class family in West Reading, Pennsylvania, before moving to Tennessee to pursue a life in music. Rumor has it that her father, Scott, bulk-bought thousands of copies of Taylor’s debut album to boost record sales and has a shedload of her self-titled record gathering dust in a lockup.

There is no evidence to suggest this is true, though none to prove it isn’t.

15. Selena Gomez Is a Time Traveler

Justin Bieber’s multi-hyphen ex-flame, Selena Gomez, keeps busy with her music career, social media influence, and Rare Beauty cosmetic company. Clearly, she is a multigenerational time traveler who honed all these skills across millennia.

A Tik-Toker named drollsquad posted a video showing a 1989 single from Mexican band Inocencia; the front cover features the band lineup, with one female member bearing more than a striking resemblance to Ms. Gomez.

16. The Payola Scandal

In the late ’50s, the Payola scandal rocked the music world more than the Beatles would in the next decade. While radio doesn’t have the same clout as in its heyday, American entertainment law dictated that radio stations must be transparent about payments made for radio plays. In 1959, a controversial U.S. Congressional investigation found DJ Alan Freed at fault for receiving bribes for radio plays.

Some theorized they heard the same ten songs daily on the radio because of kickbacks — and they were right.

17. Tupac Lives in Malaysia

It’s been almost thirty years since we lost Tupac Shakur to a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996. His death attracted decades of speculation as to who murdered him, and the subsequent murder of his arch nemesis, Biggie Smalls, only fanned the rumor flames.

A strange claim appeared in 2019 when former record executive grandee Suge Knight’s son, Suge Knight Jr., posted on social media that Tupac was now enjoying life in Malaysia — he proved it with some curiously superimposed photos.

18. The Chester Bennington Tragedy

Chester Bennington’s rise as Linkin Park’s frontman was as dramatic as his sudden self-assisted departure. Naturally, losing such a seemingly happy rockstar sparked questions about the conditions surrounding his death.

One claim is that Bennington was secretly related to members of the Illuminati, who were fearful he would expose them in a project aimed at exposing child abuse in the recording industry. His son, Tyler, addressed the conspiracy on his TikTok channel.

19. Chris Cornell’s Passing

Officially, the Soundgarden frontman broke hearts in 2017 after allegedly taking his own life following a show in Detroit, Michigan. Cornell’s wife, Vicky, told Detroit News in 2018 that she wasn’t satisfied with the coroner’s report, claiming the posthumous investigation was “botched” and left the matter vulnerable to theories and hearsay accusations.

A popular conjecture is that Cornell was working alongside his good friend Chester Bennington in exposing the same child abuse ring that allegedly led to Bennington’s termination.

20. Taylor Swift’s Squad

Taylor Swift’s “squad” started making headlines in the late ’00s when one of the earliest members, Selena Gomez, met her backstage during a Jonas Brothers gig. Many much-publicized celebrity friend-dates occurred from then onward, including alumni such as Cara Delevingne, Ed Sheeran, and Gigi Hadid.

While it is no crime for famous people to rub shoulders, critics like Nicki Swift believe Tay-Tay benefits the most from being seen with her subordinate stars and only uses them to propel her profile.

21. Max Martin Runs the Hives

Swedish garage punk-poppers The Hives exploded onto the new millennium music scene along with dozens of other lo-fi rockers such as the Strokes and The Vines. However, many fans believe Swedish mega-producer and songsmith Max Martin is secretly the architect of the Swedes’ success.

Some fans believe this is ironic: The Hives’ lyrics attack capitalism regularly, though they often get support slots with mainstream artists. Martin has written and recorded with everybody from Katy Perry to Usher – quite the jump from playing in hair metal bands as a teen. The glove certainly fits.

22. Kanye’s Love for Trump

In 2020, Kanye West released details of his 10 Roc-a-Fella Records contracts online, writing, “I need every lawyer to look at these,” while complaining that he was exploited and didn’t own the rights to his master copies. This episode provided ample ground for suspicious fans who disapproved of Ye’s friendship with President Donald Trump.

Some fans believe Ye used Trump to bring as much bad press as possible so his record labels might drop him, giving him the freedom to produce what he wanted and own the master copies. This idea is a stretch, Kanye’s self-destructive rhetoric notwithstanding.

23. Beyoncé’s Fake Pregnancy Theory

Even Queen Bee suffers the occasional conspiracy theory, and one that persists among certain fan circles is that she faked her first pregnancy with Blue Ivy. Beyoncé first showed her bump at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2011, saying she was four months along. However, one month later, she said she was six months pregnant in the behind-the-scenes footage for her “Countdown” video.

Furthermore, fans’ chins wagged after an appearance on Australian talk show Sunday Night, where her bump seemed somewhat fake. Naturally, most people believed she didn’t want to harm her famous body, so she used a surrogate.

24. Elgar’s Secret Enigma

Edward Elgar was a British composer famed for his anthemic classical music, such as “Land of Hope and Glory” and “The Enigma Variations.” An old conspiracy theory is how he inserted hidden musical themes in his work, sparked by his program notes at the Enigma premiere, when he said, “The Enigma I will not explain – its ‘dark saying’ must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture.”

Classical Music suggests five potential readings of the enigma within his Enigma: “Auld Lang Syne,” “The National Anthem,” and even the mathematical enigma of Pi, among others.