Beatings, bullets, glass eyes ... welcome to the glamorous world of heavy metal parenting

When Rock the Cradle—an American Idol rip-off featuring the progeny of has-been rock stars (yes, of course it's on VH1)—debuts tonight, the expectation will be that we're to root for nepotism, minimal name recognition, and perhaps another Flavor of Love or The Osbournes season to take its place. But wait, as the show's website proclaims, "We'll also show you what it's like to have a rock star mom or dad, and it's not as glamorous as you'd think." You don't say ...

Beatings, bullets, and a glass eye, Radar climbs some rock star family trees, investigating both the foibles of children sired by rock stars and the twisted parents who capitalized on the backstage cred of their offspring. Our discovery: Reality TV is the least of baby's problems.

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Joe Jackson
In the pantheon of tyrannical, abusive parents of rock stars, Joe Jackson reigns supreme. He famously micromanaged the career of the Jackson 5—"In being strict, you were able to control"—until all of his sons fired him in the early 1980s. The siblings also leveled various claims of physical abuse against him over the years, notably dramatized in ABC's The Jacksons: An American Dream. Jackson told Fox News' Roger Friedman in 2003, "You have to be strict with kids. There's nothing wrong with punishment as long as you know how to punish." An example? "Beat his back!" Is it any wonder that Jacko is now so wacko?

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Marvin Gaye, Sr.
A former cross-dressing pastor, Marvin Gaye, Sr., maintained a tumultuous relationship with his son, Marvin, Jr., all his life. He was active in the House of God church, which mixed Orthodox Judaism with Pentecostal Christianity, forbidding sports, dancing, television, and popular music. Misquoting the Bible or bed-wetting resulted in beatings, according to Court TV. Sister Jeanne Gaye once said, "From the time he was seven until he became a teenager, Marvin's life at home consisted of a series of brutal whippings." Jealous of his success and enraged over his coke habit, Marvin, Sr., shot and killed his son on April 1, 1984.