Actually, it’s probably wrong to call this a ‘good’ conspiracy. Good conspiracies don’t end up with wildly talented musicians dead. Remember that whole Paul McCartney is dead conspiracy theory? Now, that’s a good theory. And nobody dies (except, according to the theory, Paul. Though it’s funnier when it’s just part of the theory …. er, unless you’re Paul, I guess). Plus you get to be part of the conspiracy yourself by playing The Beatles song ‘Revolution 9′ backwards & hearing that deep, creepy, clipped voice announce over & over, ‘Turn me on, Dead Man’.

Seriously. It’s creepy.

And then there’s this: The original cover of the album Yesterday and Today, the infamous “butcher cover,” showed the Beatles posing with decapitated dolls and slabs of raw meat.

Er…? An early influence for Mark Ryden‘s meat series, perhaps?

But I’m surprised, given the prevalence of celebrity conspiracies, that I haven’t come across one attached to a name as famous as Hendrix’s before.

“That son of a bitch was going to leave me,” [Hendrix's manager] Jeffrey is quoted as saying. “If I lost him, I’d lose everything.”

Ironically — or perhaps, fittingly — Jeffery was killed in a plane crash three years after Hendrix himself was found dead.

Jimi Hendrix, dead at 27 with — apparently — his lungs full of red wine. But no alcohol in his blood.

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