The Papa

Every great band usually has one creative genius behind it. In the case of The Mamas & The Papas, that genius was John Phillips, the tall, soulful-looking man (at top, above) who wrote all of their songs.

If you get a chance, listen sometime to some of their greatest songs: California Dreamin', Boys and Girls Together, Dedicated to the One I Love, Dream a Little Dream of Me, I Saw Her Again, Go Where You Wanna Go, Got a Feelin', and Monday Monday.

These are gentle, beautiful, spiritual songs, the work of a supreme romantic.

This is partly why MacKenzie Phillips' revelations last week were such a shock. Could the same guy who wrote those sweet, lilting tunes actually have had sex with his own daughter?

Other members of the family (including former stepmother Michelle, above center) have suggested that MacKenzie, who has a long history as a drug abuser, may be lying in order to sell her book.

We'll probably never know for sure.

If MacKenzie is telling the truth, it's certainly proof that wonderful music is not necessarily created by wonderful people.

But we already knew that. Mozart was a musical prodigy, but by all accounts supremely superficial. Richard Rodgers, creator of some of the most romantic music of the twentieth century, was supposedly cold and businesslike. John Lennon was, despite his peace-and-love reputation, abusive.

But at least none of them ever had sex with his own daughter.