I've heard all those stories , some only in part.
Relf , by all accounts, was electrocuted when he fell asleep with his guitar still plugged in , and wearing headphones hooked up to his amp. His Son said he found him , unresponsive , but , thought he was just sleeping.
The Manson story , I've heard. Mark Lindsay even said in Ugly Things , recently, that he saw Manson, briefly, either at Melcher's house or hanging with his entourage at Mark's own house. Melcher was also Doris Day's Son . Also , legendary Trash Filmmaker , Al Adamson, was shooting scenes for "Satan's Sadists" on the Spahn ranch , when an unassuming Manson offered to help repair Adamson's jeep. The movie's ad campaign incorporated references to the recently incarcerated Charlie , comparing Russ Tamblyn's gang in the movie to "The Family". The sick fuck who brutally murdered Adamson , years later , would have made Manson and Gacy proud.
How much validity there is to the Hendrix story , I can't say , though , I've heard that , too. The Panthers met with him , reportedly , about playing a benefit , but he was'nt interested in backing Black Militants , at the cost of alienating his predominately White fanbase , so he declined. I seriously doubt they had him killed as a result. His death seems like yet another drug - related death (But , not an O.D.) , the likes of which put several of his friends and peers into an early grave. Even playing with an all Black BAND (THE BAND OF GYPSIES SHOW YOU MENTIONED, OF COURSE....)was reportedly done under duress from Black interest groups.
In the big Fuller article in Kicks , I think Randy Fuller or Rick Stone were quoted as saying Bobby had been seeing the girlfriend of a powerful local gangster. Whether he was tied to THEE Mob was'nt clarified. I'm sure Miriam's book on Fuller will shed a LOT more light on that. Somebody must have been paid off , as Bobby's cause of death was listed as "Suicide" when there's no way he could have drank all that gasoline , lacerated himself in places he could'nt reach , and beaten himself to a pulp , besides.
I heard that Courtney story , too. It seems like , in reality , Kurt had had it with Courtney , and the direction his career and his life had taken , and decided to take his life. I've never heard a HOLE song that was worth killing anybody over, that's for sure.
Never heard about Gacy being a 'Billy boy , but , who's to say? He was selling those paintings from prison. Whether he ordered anything from that store , or they just bought the painting from him , or from a collector , who knows?
BTW , who , here , knows about the "Jimi Hendrix Sex Tapes"?