The Covert War Against Rock: What You Don't Know About the Deaths of Jim Morrison, Tupac Shakur, Michael Hutchence, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, Phil Ochs, ... Tosh, John Lennon, and The Notorious B.I.G. (Paperback)

~ Alex Constantine (Author) "In 1967, an increasingly subversive form of music melded with politics in San Francisco..." (more)
Key Phrases: restless youth, New York, Los Angeles, Jimi Hendrix (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Constantine's paranoid romp through rock history explores Brian Jones' demise at Winnie the Pooh's house, Peter Tosh's death during a home invasion, Bob Marley's fatal cancer, and the terminations of other, somehow subversive rock stars, and vets the conspiracy theories about them. Was Marley given cancer by means of a booby-trapped cowboy boot from the CIA? If so, was that part of the same CIA-Jamaican government campaign that rubbed out Tosh? What of alleged foul play in the death of Tupac Shakur, not by rival gangsta rap crews, but by a "COINTELPRO-type operation" ? According to Constantine, the mainstream media have produced books "libelling the deceased and misleading the reader on the circumstances." The scary suppositions are only slightly undercut by Constantine's occasional fudging of known, if ungermane, facts, as when he says that the Mick Jagger^-Keith Richards bust occurred at a hotel rather than Richards' Redlands estate. Less scurrilous than the Weekly World News, less reliable than Kenneth Anger's Tinseltown expose, Hollywood Babylon, this is still fascinating conspiracy mongering. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Description

Since the sixties, musicians have been outspoken and powerful proponents for social change, making them a threat to those eager to maintain the status quo. Typically fond of drugs, they also make easy targets for investigation and exploitation. In this comprehensive look at more than a dozen suspect rock star deaths, conspiracy researcher Alex Constantine delves into the secrets that the record industry, organized crime, and even the FBI and CIA don't want uncovered. Unearthing recent - and successful - assassination plots against Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. as well as new information on the tragic deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and John Lennon, this long-overdue report offers disturbing evidence that there may be more behind these deaths than accident, psychosis, and indulgence.

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: Feral House (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 092291561X
• ISBN-13: 978-0922915613
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #131,036 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A thought provoking book, July 3, 2000

By	Trent Reinsmith "Trent Reinsmith" (Baltimore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Loaded in the CD player as I write this is the Okeh Rhythm & Blues Story Box Set. The music on this set spans the years from 1949-1957. It can be safely assumed that the musicians that played on these records had problems, however the situations they faced most likely pale in comparison to the predicaments that the subjects of Constantines book faced. While lost love, back stabbers and having your money "managed" by crooked labels, agents and other handlers was the rule back in the 40s and 50s, these folks didnt have to (for the most part) worry about being killed for their views. I am sure they were being watched by the powers that be, but as long as it remained out of the white bread mainstream, everything was fine. The problems started when some folks opened their mouths a little too far and spoke up a little too loud and the message made the top 10.

Its hard to put a finger on when it all went astray and became evident that something very wrong was going on. Maybe it was the plane crash that claimed the lives of the Big Bopper, Buddy Holly and Richie Valens. Maybe it was the 1966 death of Bobby Fuller, apparently from ingesting gasoline. Its hard to say if these deaths were the beginning of something very evil or just accidents or suicide. And while Constantine does not investigate the distant past, he does show that this phenomenon of suspicious death in the music industry has not stopped or slowed since the 1960s; in fact it has increased.

Rock musicians are famous for singing about the type of things that make the powers that be nervous. From the blatant lyrics about sex of the 40s and 50s R & B bands to Elvis gyrating hips, to the Stones drug use (and abuse) in the 60s. The 70s gave us the Doors, more Stones, and John Lennon before punk took it over the top. The 80s saw the birth of gangsta rap and grunge and the movements continue to this day. And while some may say that all the lyrics, political statements and political movements are all about image and posturing, someone obviously thinks otherwise.

This book takes a look at the someone else involved in the deaths of many of yesterdays and todays musicians. Instead of just jumping in with conspiracy theory, Constantine gives a good amount of well-footnoted background information and history before the death toll begins to mount. History is given on the Mafia and government involvement in the music industry. The author then takes great pains to show how the government was involved in the supply and use of LSD as a mind weakening and personality molding drug and not the alleged mind expander it was being hyped as. Constantine also points out how many of the underground heroes and their cronies had government ties.

And then the killings start and the truth gets stretched in the mainstream press. Mama Cass chokes on a ham sandwich. Brian Jones drowns in his pool. Hendrix chokes on his vomit. Jim Morrison remains alive. An obsessed fan killed John Lennon. Bob Marley dies of cancer. Peter Tosh dies by gunshot. Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls were gang hits and most recently Michael Hutchence was a victim of autoerotic hanging. That is what "they" want you to believe, but Constantine has made it his job to show you the places where these stories and reality dont agree. Constantine writes of the nervousness inspired by Cass political aspirations. How the murderer of Brian Jones confessed on his deathbed. How the development of the Jim Morrison lives theory was put into place to throw people of the scent of a possible murder. How Bob Marley suspiciously developed cancer and his more suspicious "treatment. Why Peter Toshs killers went uninvestigated. He points out the incongruities in the Tupac and Biggie murder investigations. And wonders how a severely beaten Michael Hutchence could hang himself with a broken hand? The clear message being that when you open your mouth too far, someone with the power and influence may be right around the corner to shut it for you, in fact you may even know and trust that person.

In the end does Constantine realize his goal of showing that "the Agency and Organized Crime have, for over thirty years, engaged in a program to silence popular musicians whose influence subverts the cynical thought control tactics of American Government and media?" That is up to the reader to decide. Do they buy into the story presented in the mainstream press of do they believe the theories that Constantine puts forth? Whichever side you as a reader fall on, the writing in this book will make you think and like all good writing that is the ultimate goal and that makes this book a success.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important History of Rock that Shatters Illusions, January 5, 2001

By	Michael Richard (Augusta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

If this book does not become a classic, I will be shocked and appalled. The murder of political rock musicians has long been a subject of speculation. Wish I had a nickel for every time the death of Morrison or Lennon was brought up, followed by the refrain "I'll bet the government did it." Constantine not only lays out the killing program and operations in detail, he provides the intelligence community documents in which the deaths of outspoken musicians were mandated. Who can doubt it when the CIA's own files contain orders to kill? Some programmed zombies out there subject to media manipulation will have a hard time with the many epiphonies that Covert War offers, but reality is often hard to take, even many years after the fact. This is a dispiriting, and as Constantine keeps reminding us, fascist culture, but much needed reforms will never come about until people who have become complacent and satisfied with the status quo gather as much courage as writers like Constantine possesses in his little finger.The debunkers can eat cake - I'll take this feast of buried truths any day over the pablum the media turns out to quell the national conscience and turn us all into mindless ultraconformists. This is the dark side of the air-conditioned nightmare that is Amerika. A fine book, recommended to everyone who loves rock music.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing but Courageous Reportage, November 3, 2003

By	"raisamon100" - See all my reviews

Why has it taken so long for this book to appear? Obviously, Jimi Hendrix did not perish from a heroin overdose, as the media-at-large had it at the time ... so why have so few journalists bothered to investigate the true cause of death? The same holds true for the "death by misadventure" of Brian Jones, founder of the Rolling Stones. Several witnesses to Jones's MURDER were intimidated into silence, told to keep their mouths shut or they would be next, but have nevertheless recently come forward -- yet the VICTIM is still blamed for his own tragic demise -- to the present day. We, as a culture, revel in bullying, scapegoating and lying to ourselves. This book -- highly informative and colorfully-written -- is a case study in fascist conspiracies and the ""Good Germans" in the press who have allowed them to thrive like poison toads in America's tumultuous cultural garden. The Left should seize upon this book as an indictment of a criminalized intelligence community, and a lesson in journalism.