They say the grass is always greener on the other side.  I don’t know who “they” are, but they seem to be right: athletes want to be actors, musicians want to be athletes, and quite often, actors want to be musicians. Sometimes an actor or actress has an innate talent and can make the transition into music smoothly, but other times it’s an embarrassment for just about everyone involved.  In any event, I think it’s a trend that isn’t going to vanish anytime soon, so the best we can do is hope for good music and simply have a good laugh when the music stinks.  The latter scenario seems to be more common, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  After the jump, check out 18 actors and actresses who ditched the big screen or television - at least for a little bit - to make some music, along with a level of embarrassment rating (1-10) for the transition.

Eddie Murphy

Known for: Saturday Night Live, some of the best stand up comedy ever, and horrible, unfunny family movies.

Level of embarrassment: 9.  This is absolutely terrible.  The only reason Eddie didn’t score a 10 is because Norbit and the rest of the movies he’s starring in these days are more embarrassing.  Cringe-worthy, if you will.

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Known for: Party of Five, The Ghost Whisperer, sweater puppies.

Level of embarrassment: 7.  Her music is generic, safe, and not particularly interesting, but then again, the same can be said about her career.  Pose in Playboy already!

Russell Crowe

Known for: Gladiator, winning Academy Awards, throwing telephones.

Level of embarrassment: 7.  The music is pretty awful, but Crowe could have scored a 5 if he didn’t take himself so damn seriously.

Keanu Reeves

Known for: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Point Break, The Matrix, and “whoa!”

Level of embarrassment: 5.  It isn’t good, but it’s not that horrible, either.  I don’t think many people take Keanu seriously in the first place.

Jennifer Lopez

Known for: Being a Fly Girl on In Living Color, Anaconda, Bennifer.

Level of embarrassment: 2.  The girl can move, and her voice - which may or may not be assisted by technology - isn’t bad, either.  She’s a better singer/performer than actress; that’s for sure.  As an aside, I have a theory as to why Ben Affleck was with her for awhile.  She’s pretty hot, but Ben Affleck has no trouble scoring hot girls.  She’s also a dope, and even though he’s a crappy actor, I don’t think Ben’s a dumb guy by any means.  Basically, the sex with Jennifer Lopez must be so far off the charts that it’s worth putting up with all her ridiculous drama and bullcrap.  There’s not many girls for which this scenario can apply, but I firmly believe that she’s one of them.

Lindsay Lohan

Known for: The Parent Trap, Red Bull, cocaine, vodka, Mean Girls, cocaine.

Level of embarrassment: 6.  Her “music” is atrocious, but as far as things to be embarrassed about, it’s probably not very high on her list.  The girl is a total trainwreck.

Scarlett Johansson

Known for: Lost in Translation, raspy voice, curves.

Level of embarrassment: 8.  Can we all just agree that she isn’t very talented and is simply some of the best eye candy of our generation?  We can?  Good.

Joaquin Phoenix

Known for: Gladiator, loving drugs.

Level of embarrassment: It depends.  If he’s serious about this, then a 10.  If he’s joking, a 9.  Nobody thinks it’s funny.

David Hasselhoff

Known for: Knight Rider, Baywatch, being “The Hoff.”

Level of embarrassment: 1.  Laugh all you want, but The Hoff is a god in Europe and has orgies with German supermodels every night.

Hilary Duff

Known for: Lizzie McGuire, A Cinderella Story.

Level of embarrassment: 3.  Hilary can actually sing, and she looks pretty good doing it.  Millions of pre-teen girls worship her, so she must be doing something right.

Jamie Foxx

Known for: In Living Color, Any Given Sunday, Ray.

Level of embarrassment: 2.  I don’t think he’ll ever be a hugely successful recording artist, but Foxx’s collaboration with Kanye “Fish Sticks” West was one of the biggest hits of the past few years.

Brian Austin Green

Known for: Beverly Hills 90210, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, banging Megan Fox.

Level of embarrassment: 8.  Bill Simmons once wrote something along the lines of, “Does Brian Austin Green ever look at Justin Timberlake and ask himself, ‘What the hell did I do wrong?’”  I’d be harder on him, but he’s awesome as Derek Reese in Chronicles, and any man who has known Megan Fox in the biblical sense is to be admired.

Jared Leto

Known for: My So Called Life, getting beat up in Fight Club.

Level of embarrassment: 2.  His band, 30 Seconds to Mars, is pretty successful and has a decent following.

Jack Black

Known for: Tenacious D, School of Rock, being polarizing.

Level of embarrassment: 1.  Jack Black - love him or hate him - can play a mean guitar and has some good pipes, too.  The fact that everyone knows about Tenacious D should tell you all you need to know about his musical prowess.  When you’re chilling with musical geniuses like Dave Grohl, you’re doing something right.

Billy Bob Thornton

Known for: Sling Blade, Bad Santa, banging Angelina Jolie.

Level of embarrassment: 6.  Nobody heard of the Boxmasters until Thornton’s little tantrum during a QTV interview.  Relax, dude.

Kevin Bacon

Known for: Being six degrees away from anyone who’s ever been in a movie.

Level of embarrassment: 3.  The Bacon Brothers are respectable at worst.

Bruce Willis

Known for: Moonlighting, Die Hard franchise.

Level of embarrassment: 5.  Bruce has been known to perform at The House of Blues and has been with his band The Accelerators pretty often.  They’re not very good, but do you think Bruce Willis gives a crap about what we think?  He’s cooler than just about everyone.

Don Johnson

Known for: Miami Vice.

Level of embarrassment: 10.  Just watch the video.

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