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Impossible sounding, and often untrue, stories about the famous have been around for as long as there have been celebrities. Still, as you'll see in the following countdown of Rock Music's 25 Craziest Conspiracy Theories, this particular kind of superstar buzz exploded once we took off on the information superhighway.

One of the older examples predates the internet, as fans openly wondered whetherPaul McCartney had been replaced by a lookalike prior to 1967'sSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But fast forward a couple of decades, and it gets really weird: A conspiracy theorist later emerged who actually thought theBeatles neverexisted in the first place.

More confusingly, a few of these nutty notions have turned out to be totally true. Yes,Rolling Stones stalwartKeith Richards did once snorthis father's ashes – but that doesn't make it any less crazy.

Have These Conspiracy Theories Been Debunked?

Teams of web-based sleuths have worked to validate or debunk these claims. Most follow a similarly outlandish line of inquiry until they are found to be untrue, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from spinning.

Message boards and chat rooms eventually gave way to social media, and now pop-culture paranoia simply abounds. Many worked very, very hard to disbelieve what they saw with their own eyes – and this was before AI made that increasingly difficult.

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Ever wondered which of these stories is true – or, more crucially, which of them aren't? Here a ranked look back at Rock Music's 25 Craziest Conspiracy Theories:

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