Billy Bob Thornton
Thornton joined the temperamental-artiste club recently when he went off on a Canadian radio show host for daring to bring up his acting career during an appearance with his country rock band The Boxmasters. Billy Bob rambled nonsensically, took shots at Canadians, and likened himself to Tom Petty. Bad analogy, Billy Bob: Tom is a pretty solid actor on his own right, and you could walk all the way to Canada without meeting a single Boxmasters fan.

Bruce Willis
It's hard to hate on Bruce Willis. His harmonica-playing alter ego "Bruno" on the other hand? Fair game! Willis' 1987 album The Return of Bruno was a modest hit, fueled mostly by his decent cover of "Respect Yourself." Still, the album in no way warranted follow-ups. But that didn't stop Willis, er, Bruno, from continuing to pull out his harmonica from time to time. If only he had stopped before that embarrassing Seagrams commercial -- John McClane would never be caught dead using a wine cooler as a mic.

Eddie Murphy
Credit where credit is due -- what other actor can claim to have performed with both Rick James and Michael Jackson? Murphy's singing career dates all the way back to the novelty song "Boogie in the Butt," but peaked with his admittedly catchy "Party All the Time." Unfortunately subsequent albums produced the non-hits "Put Your Mouth on Me" and "Whatzupwitu," the failures of which apparently led Murphy to stick to soundtrack work from that moment forth.

Jada Pinkett Smith
Diminutive actress Pinkett Smith's heavy-metal band Wicked Wisdom is apparently so bad, Ozzfest fans petitioned for them not to play the music festival in 2005. Nonetheless the persevering actress and her bandmates are reportedly readying their third album for release later this year. Perhaps her famous hubby should lend her some "Big Willie Style" in the recording studio. On second thought, there's probably a reason that hasn't happened yet.

Joaquin Phoenix
Is it real? Is it fake? Who cares. Was anyone really surprised when the Gladiator star announced he's giving up acting for a career as a rapper? The Phoenix clan isn't exactly the most normal bunch. But so far his attempts at hip-hop have consisted of a couple of disastrous club dates and a monosyllabic appearance on Letterman. Elaborate prank or not, Joaquin seems intent on becoming the next Vanilla Ice, whether the world wants it or not.

Juliette Lewis
Blame Strange Days, which featured the perennially quirky actress as a rock star from the far-flung year of 1999, for convincing Lewis that she was the next Courtney Love. The good news is her rock band, Juliette and the Licks, broke up earlier this year. The bad news? She's going solo with help from Pink songwriter (and prolific producer) Linda Perry. This can't possibly end well.

Paris Hilton
OK, so she may not technically qualify as an "actor," but since the spotlight-loving socialite has appeared in movies like House of Wax and The Hottie and the Nottie, she deserves the same mockery as her wannabe-musician peers. The most you can say for Paris' singing career (which gave us "Stars," with its ridiculously bad video of Paris frolicking on the beach) is that it keeps her away from movie sets. For a little while, at least.

Russell Crowe
Did you know the frontman of 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (now going by the even worse The Ordinary Fear of God) was also an actor? Oh, you've never heard of 30 Odd Foot of Grunts? Well, turns out the singer's appeared in a movie or two. Interestingly enough, Crowe borrowed his band's name from a sound dubbing term he learned while working on Virtuosity. Which is the only thing even remotely interesting about Crowe's rock star life.

Scarlett Johansson
America allows its super-hot actors and actresses to get away with far too much. This is the only explanation for why anyone thought it was a good idea to allow Johansson to record an album of Tom Waits covers. Despite being universally panned, Scarlett is reportedly working on a follow-up, and she's also collaborating with Pete Yorn on another musical project. Will it ever end?

Everything burned brighter in the '80s ... the hair, the clothes, and yes, the movie stars. It was a particularly frenzied time in the history of teen idol worship, but many of the era's icons ended up fading into obscurity. Today, the young heartthrobs of the '80s are more likely to appear in police blotters and reality shows than hit movies, their fame having evaporated near-simultaneously with the end of the decade that made them stars. Is your favorite pet actor from the '80s on this list? Read on to uncover their fate.

Andrew McCarthy
McCarthy was so cool even his Pretty in Pink (1986) co-star Molly Ringwald says she thought he was "dreamy" at the time. Alas, the man who wooed Kim Cattrall in Mannequin (1987) and Ally Sheedy in St. Elmo's Fire (1985) hasn't had a real hit since then. In 1989, he had one last gasp of success with Weekend at Bernie's and hasn't had one iota since. Luckily, television is a welcoming haven for former movie stars: He's landed roles on Lipstick Jungle and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

Anthony Michael Hall
Hall was everyone's favorite '80s nerd and stealth stud, playing John Hughes' alter egos in The Breakfast Club (1985) and Sixteen Candles (1984). Like so many of his fellow '80s teen idols, Hall succumbed to the perils of fame and had to take a hiatus at decade's end. When he resurfaced in Edward Scissorhands (1990) his days as a star were over. Luckily, Hall regained a small portion of his prior success on the popular series The Dead Zone. Not all of his fellow '80s stars were so lucky, such as...

C. Thomas Howell
Howell is the quintessential '80s man. His stardom came early and faded fast. Starting with the career-making The Outsiders (1983), he became a fixture in teen magazines. Then, in an ill-fated attempt to channel the era's fixation on the indignities of affirmative action, he played a rich teen donning black-face to get a Harvard scholarship in Soul Man (1986). After that, America seemed to come to its senses and Howell, the one-time cover boy for Teen Beat and Tiger Beat, found his career at a standstill. 

Corey Haim and Corey Feldman
Inseparable in the public consciousness, the Coreys flew high and crashed and burned together. Feldman starred in essential '80s teen flicks The Goonies (1985) and Stand by Me (1986), Haim was no slouch either, starring in Lucas (1986). These uber-teen idols joined forces as the decade neared its end in The Lost Boys (1987), but that was to be their last hit. Haim went on to battle drug issues, while Feldman resorted to reality TV. Finally, the two bottomed out when a publicized feud ended a joint reality show, The Two Coreys.

Emilio Estevez
While brother and fellow Brat Pack-er Charlie Sheen remains the highest-paid man on TV, Estevez's last acting credit was as a guest star on Sheen's show -- quite a downturn for the notorious party captain of the Brat Pack. Estevez starred in such classics as The Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire but unlike most of our '80s idols, his career lasted into the early '90s with Young Guns II (1990) and Men at Work (1990). The highlight of the 19 years since then? Behind-the-camera work as the director of Bobby (2006).

Kirk Cameron
Cameron went a different route than most of his fellow '80s heartthrobs, having dropped out of the spotlight in the '90s to become an evangelical Christian TV host. Cameron's drop-off from '80s heartthrob to dud didn't follow the familiar story line for line; in fact, he's still quite successful. Still, it seems nearly unfathomable that the star of Growing Pains and Life Father Like Son (1987) would now be best known for the blockbuster Christian flick Fireproof (2008).

Ralph Macchio
Like Howell, Macchio used The Outsiders to move on bigger and better things: The Karate Kid (1984) and the covers of magazines like Bravo (at right). Unfortunately, the good times didn't last and by the close the Karate Kid trilogy, which appropriately enough came out in 1989, he was 28 and had put on weight in proportion with the deterioration of his career. Despite one last hurrah in My Cousin Vinny (1992), Macchio essentially dropped off the face of the earth after that, another casualty of the '80s.

Rob Lowe
When it comes to '80s teen idols who flamed out the hardest, Rob Lowe deserves top billing. He starred in The Outsiders and St. Elmo's Fire, both practically prerequisites for rising stars in the '80s. But he's been mired in controversy ever since, including a sex tape with an underage girl and a sex scandal involving his children's nanny. As a successful TV actor, his fall hasn't been as steep as some, but remember the days when it seemed like Lowe would someday be the biggest star in the world? He surely does.

Scott Baio
Baio technically got his start as a teen idol in the '70s but it's heresy to list '80s-era teen heartthrobs without mentioning Chachi. After starring as Fonzie's cousin on Happy Days, Baio went on to teen idol greatness with a couple of hit TV shows and the '80s classic Zapped (1982). Unsurprisingly, the end of the decade meant the end of Baio's career: Both Charles in Charge and his career ended around 1990. These days, he's mostly known for dating beautiful women.