2015’s Dumbest Rock Stories

Every year produces headlines both cool and intriguing in the world of rock. The above video focuses elsewhere, as we remember 2015's Dumbest Stories.

For instance, you had a surprising number of conspiracy theorists who felt the Grateful Dead had something to do with a quite natural phenomenon that coincided with one of their farewell concerts earlier this summer. Then there was the fan who stupidly disrupted one of Van Halen's concerts – though that did produce an absolutely classic put down from singer David Lee Roth.

Who can forget the thoughtless entrepreneur who briefly sold T shirts glorifying the late Kurt Cobain's awful suicide? Thankfully, reasonable fans pushed back on behalf of all that is decent: A particularly active thread on Reddit deemed the entire enterprise “sick and obnoxious on every level.” Yep, that just about sums it up.

Still, as you'll see in the video, none of these ridiculous missteps topped our list of 2015's Dumbest Rock Stories. For that, you have to combine a fallen legend -- Dimebag Darrell -- with one of the most offensive pranks in recent memory.

This collection of 2015's Dumbest Rock Stories is part of our ongoing year-end coverage where we're looking at the year's best, worst, weirdest and funniest classic-rock headlines. We'd also like to remind you there's still time to vote in the 2015 Ultimate Classic Rock Awards, where you get to pick the best album, song, tour and artist from the past 12 months.

Grateful Dead Albums, Ranked Worst to Best