he music industry has never suffered from a dearth of human trainwrecks – those artists who just seem incapable of staying out of the news for all the wrong reasons. They're the repeat offenders, the ego-maniacal divas who provide daily sustenance for the paparazzi and frequent laughs at their expense. In addition to the ever-entertaining stars below, 2006 also saw a hearing-impaired Foxy Brown face a litany of criminal charges related to her temper, while former Creed frontman Scott Stapp lost a sex tape that featured Kid Rock and got arrested at LAX for being too intoxicated. R. Kelly's underage sex trial next year makes him the clear favorite for Trainwreck of the Year in 2007.
Britney-K-Fed
I mean, where do we even begin? Britney Spears and Kevin Federline started out 2006 seemingly happily married with one child and another on the way. They're ending it with a divorce filing, allegations of a sex tape, and a week of Spears partying with Paris Hilton that unearthed a mind-boggling number of paparazzi shots of Spears' private parts now circulating on the Internet. In between, Spears told Matt Lauer that she was a wreck, posed naked for Harper's Bazaar magazine, and changed her son's diaper on the floor of a Victoria's Secret. K-Fed, meanwhile, spent most of the year touting his rhyme skills but had to form his own label after being unable to convince a label to release his rap album, Playing With Fire.
1st
60%
(460 votes)
Pete Doherty
Kicked out of the Libertines because of his alleged drug-addled behavior, Pete Doherty showed an apparent desire to clean up his act in 2006 and lead his new band, Baby Shambles. His ability to do so, however, was a bit suspect. Doherty was arrested several times for drug possession, including twice in the same week and once just hours after avoiding a jail sentence on drug charges. He also entered rehab at least three times, promised to kick his habit with the help of an implant, was fined for kicking a BBC journalist, wrote a set of memoirs, and reportedly got engaged to on-again, off-again girlfriend Kate Moss.
2nd
16%
(125 votes)
Axl Rose
Even at his best – and this was seemingly his most productive year in a long time – Axl Rose is still a bit of a mess. Chinese Democracy, Guns N' Roses' first album of original material in 15 years, has still not seen the light of day. But Rose and his ever-changing bandmates toured both Europe and the US this year, and largely received positive reviews. But alas, the jaunts were not without incident. In Sweden, an allegedly trashed Rose bit a hotel security in the leg and spent a night in jail. In the UK, Rose reportedly refused to take the stage until he was served a lamb dinner, and then was booed off the stage. GNR canceled a show in Maine because a state law prohibited the band from drinking alcohol on stage. And last month, Rose kicked the Eagles of Death Metal off GNR's tour, calling the opening act the "Pigeons of Sh** Metal" after their first set of what was supposed to be a three-week stint. EODM frontman Jesse Hughes claimed Rose wasn't even at the venue when his band performed, saying Rose "is out of his f***ing mind."
3rd
14%
(107 votes)
DMX
Dark Man X has sold plenty of records over the years. Can't he afford to hire a driver? The rapper was cited for countless moving violations this year and had an arrest warrant issued after he failed to attend multiple court hearings. He even served a 70-day jail term after he plowed his SUV through a security gate at JFK airport and attempted to explain his way out of that mess by claiming to be a federal agent. But Earl Simmons' troubles weren't all vehicular. He also bailed out on a planned weeklong trip to entertain US troops in Kuwait and Iraq without explanation, and sparked a melee at concert in Long Island in October when he jumped off the stage and assaulted the sound man for cutting off his mic. Good times.
4th
10%
(81 votes)
