Music history is filled with surprising stories that often remain hidden behind the songs, albums, performances, and artists we know so well. From Aaliyah’s unusual introduction to R. Kelly and Sum 41’s dangerous escape from the Congo to Brian Wilson’s emotional completion of Smile, these facts reveal unexpected connections, creative struggles, remarkable risks, and unforgettable moments.
This collection also explores how famous songs were created, how artists overcame setbacks, and how chance encounters shaped music history. If you enjoyed the earlier installments, continue reading with Part 1 and Part 2.
1 Aaliyah’s Uncle Introduced R. Kelly
At 12, American singer Aaliyah signed with her uncle Barry Hankerson’s Blackground Records. Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became the lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number.” She recorded it at 14, and it was released in 1994.
2. Schoolhouse Rock! grew from David McCall’s observation as an advertising executive that his young son struggled with multiplication tables but could remember rock song lyrics. McCall asked jazz musician Bob Dorough to put multiplication to music. Dorough wrote “Three Is a Magic Number,” which became an animated short and helped launch the series on ABC.
3. After Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, his manager said Jackson’s sister La Toya had taken hard drives from his home containing more than 100 unreleased songs. In 2010, Sony and Jackson’s estate agreed to develop as many as 10 projects over seven years. Previously unreleased recordings later appeared on Michael (2010), Bad 25 (2012), Xscape (2014), and Thriller 40 (2022).
4. For The Lion King (1994), Disney lyricist Tim Rice first tried to recruit ABBA to write the film’s songs. Rice had worked with the group on Chess, but they were busy with an opera and declined. He then suggested Elton John, who accepted and composed the songs with Rice; Hans Zimmer composed the film’s score.
5. Ariana Grande receives less than 10% of the songwriting royalties from her 2019 single “7 Rings.” The song uses the melody of “My Favorite Things,” written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for The Sound of Music. To clear its use, Grande’s team agreed to give the earlier song’s rights holders 90% of the songwriting royalties, leaving the rest to be shared by Grande and seven other credited writers.
6 Queen’s Predecessor Sculpted Thomas Faces
Tim Staffell, who later became chief model maker for the first series of Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends, left his rock band Smile in 1970. Freddie Mercury then joined Staffell’s former bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor as lead singer, and they formed Queen. Staffell went on to sculpt some of the original faces and figures for Thomas.
7. When Run-DMC rapper Darryl “DMC” McDaniels was suicidal; Sarah McLachlan’s song “Angel” gave him a reason to keep living. He listened to it repeatedly, then met McLachlan at a Grammy party and told her it had saved his life. He said she sang like an angel, but to him she was “God.” McLachlan thanked him and said that was what music was supposed to do.
8. Sum 41 named their 2004 album Chuck after Charles “Chuck” Pelletier, a United Nations volunteer who helped the band escape their hotel in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The band was filming a documentary for War Child Canada when gun battles reached the area. Pelletier escorted 42 people from the hotel to armored vehicles while exposed to gunfire and later received Canada’s Medal of Bravery.
9. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” peaked at No. 9 on the US chart in 1976. After its appearance in the 1992 film Wayne’s World, it climbed to No. 2, surpassing its original peak.
10. At Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday tribute concert in 1988, the hard disk containing Stevie Wonder’s programmed Synclavier music went missing just as he was due onstage. Wonder said he could not perform, so organizers sent the little-known Tracy Chapman out for a second set that day. Her debut album went on to sell roughly two million copies in the weeks after the concert, and “Fast Car” reached the top ten in the US and UK. Wonder returned to perform later that night.
11 Raincoats’ Nirvana Tour Never Happened
Kurt Cobain loved the Raincoats, a British post-punk band whose best-known lineup was all female. In 1992, he searched a London record shop for their out-of-print debut album and was directed to cofounder Ana da Silva’s antique shop. The band returned to performing in 1994, and Cobain invited them to open for Nirvana on a planned UK tour. He died a week before it was due to begin.
12. During the Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends float’s final appearance in the 2008 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, its characters began a musical number that abruptly cut off. Rick Astley then emerged from the float and mimed “Never Gonna Give You Up,” turning the planned interruption into a Rickroll for parade spectators and TV viewers. He appeared in person, but the vocals were prerecorded.
13. When Jimi Hendrix played London’s Bag O’Nails club on November 25, 1966, the audience included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and members of the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Singer-songwriter Kevin Ayers recalled hearing stunned exclamations of “shit,” “Jesus,” and “damn” from them.
14. In December 1994, former Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson and his solo band traveled through an active firefight to reach Sarajevo during the Bosnian War. Their promised UN helicopter and protective gear never arrived, so they rode into the besieged city in an aid truck without body armor. On December 14, they played a concert for residents living under siege.
15. When Freddie Mercury released his only solo studio album, Mr. Bad Guy, in April 1985, he thanked Queen bandmates Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon “for not interfering” in its liner notes. He had chosen session musicians instead of asking the band to play on the record. Less than three months later, the four performed Queen’s celebrated Live Aid set at Wembley Stadium on July 13.
16 Eddie Van Halen’s Secret Solo
Eddie Van Halen recorded the guitar solo for Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” in 1982 without telling his bandmates. Van Halen had a rule against outside projects, and he played for free, assuming no one would discover his involvement. He reportedly asked to remain uncredited, but his name appeared in Thriller’s original liner notes, and his bandmates found out.
17. While flying home from London, Danny Elfman came up with the theme for Batman (1989). He could write music with a keyboard but could not notate what he heard in his head without one, so he repeatedly went to the airplane bathroom to record melodies and rhythms on a cassette recorder. Flight attendants grew concerned; Elfman joked that they seemed to think he was taking drugs. The recordings helped him reconstruct the theme after he landed.
18. In 2013, Blake Shelton called critics of newer country music “old farts” and used “jackass” in a televised interview that drew backlash in January 2013. Country veteran Ray Price objected, and Shelton apologized to him. Willie Nelson then jokingly renamed his tour the “Old Farts and Jackass Tour.”
19. In 2002, the Clash’s Joe Strummer was vacationing in Los Angeles when he learned that Johnny Cash was recording there. A fan of Cash, he visited every day and extended his trip by a week to keep watching him work. Producer Rick Rubin brought them together to record Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song,” with Tom Morello on guitar. The duet appeared on Cash’s Unearthed collection in 2003.
20. Children’s author Shel Silverstein won two Grammys for work in different fields. In 1970, he won Best Country Song for writing Johnny Cash’s hit “A Boy Named Sue.” In 1985, his audio performance of Where the Sidewalk Ends won Best Recording for Children.
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
21 Beat It Cast Rival Gangs
For the music video for “Beat It,” Michael Jackson cast real members of the rival Bloods and Crips. Director Bob Giraldi recalled that Jackson recruited them, apparently through the LAPD’s gang squad, so they could work together under police supervision. Tensions nearly stopped filming, but the gang members gathered to watch Jackson’s dance sequence, and the shoot continued.
22. For his “Smells Like Nirvana” video, “Weird Al” Yankovic used the same soundstage as Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The parody also brought back many audience members, a few cheerleaders, and the original janitor. Director Jay Levey said the original video’s producers helped arrange the details once they knew Kurt Cobain had approved the spoof.
23. Brenda Lee, best known for “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” had 47 U.S. chart hits during the 1960s. That was more than any other woman and placed her fourth among all acts, behind only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Ray Charles. Her hits included “I’m Sorry” and “I Want to Be Wanted,” both of which reached No. 1 in 1960.
24. In 1994, a UK law gave police powers to disperse certain outdoor raves and described their music as including “a succession of repetitive beats.” While the bill was under debate, electronic duo Autechre released “Flutter,” programming its rhythm so that no two bars had the same beat. The track’s sleeve suggested DJs could play it under the proposed law, though it advised keeping a lawyer and a musicologist nearby.
25. While scoring The Lion King (1994), composer Hans Zimmer saw his own childhood in Simba’s loss of his father. Zimmer’s father had died when he was six, and he said the music became “a requiem for my father.” The score won him the 1995 Academy Award for Best Original Score.
RE: Fact #4 (ABBA Declined Disney’s Lion King) – Of course! Because when I think of Africa, the first person who comes to mind is Elton John.
RE: Fact #8 (Sum 41’s Chuck Honored Pelletier) – They named that album All Killer No Filler because every track was a hit with zero dead weight.
I don’t know, the first 20 seconds of “Introduction to Destruction” are kind of a drag, and the end of “Handle This” feels repetitive. Even so, I’ve been listening to this album six days a week for over a year now.
RE: Fact #11 (Raincoats’ Nirvana Tour Never Happened) – They did an incredible cover of “Lola.” They are such a fantastic band. Kurt was a Riot Grrrl through and through.
Here’s a recommendation for anyone searching for something new. That album is honestly excellent and definitely deserves a listen.
RE: Fact #27 (Kevin MacLeod’s Free Music License) – Wow, I’ve used his site for graph paper for years and never knew about the music license.
I used his music for my early YouTube videos, which actually helped me land a marketing job at a concrete company. Later on, I returned to his site to use the graph paper tool for our estimate forms. I really owe Kevin a lot for how my career turned out.
RE: Fact #46 (Brian May Discouraged Concert Smoking) – One of my favorite things about him, other than his physics degree, is that he built his own guitar from an old fireplace mantel with his dad. The guy is seriously cool.
RE: Fact #3 (Michael Jackson’s Posthumous Album Deal) – Those songs must be bottom-of-the-barrel if Sony hasn’t found a way to squeeze more money out of the fans yet.
RE: Fact #37 (Yankovic Released “You’re Pitiful” Free) – I liked it when artists threatened to leave Spotify over Joe Rogan’s misinformation, and James Blunt threatened to release more music instead.
RE: Fact #21 (Beat It Cast Rival Gangs) – If we could all just come together and “beat it, ” the world would be much better.
If we could all beat it and unite, the world would definitely be a better place.
RE: Fact #23 (Brenda Lee’s 47 Sixties Hits) – Lee is actually the only woman inducted into both the Rock and Roll and Country Music Halls of Fame. She stood only 4’ 9”, which is how she earned the nickname “Little Miss Dynamite.” Her biggest pop hits were in the early 60s, right before the Beatles took over. She set a record for a female solo artist with nine consecutive top 10 Billboard hits between 1960 and 1962, a record that wasn’t touched until Madonna in 1986. While her last top ten hit in the US came in 1963, she kept charting for a long time and found plenty of success as a country artist in the 70s and 80s.
RE: Fact #12 (Rick Astley Rickrolled Macy’s Parade) – You wouldn’t believe the backlash it got from certain groups of people.
RE: Fact #26 (Karaoke Cover Outcharted Kid Rock) – Does anyone know WHY he refused to sell his music on iTunes in the first place? I’m genuinely asking.
He apparently had an anti-corporate stance against Apple and wanted people to visit physical record stores. He even went through a phase where he encouraged piracy and sold his music through places like Amazon and Walmart before finally agreeing to put it on iTunes.
RE: Fact #50 (Brian Wilson’s Smile Premiere Ovation) – Was the original stress of that ordeal part of what led him to fall under Landy’s abusive control?
No, that didn’t happen until about a decade later. This was, however, the first time Brian’s mental health struggles were really brought into the public eye.
That definitely played a role, along with having an abusive father and struggling with schizoaffective disorder that caused paranoia, depression, and mania. Landy was a greedy, manipulative parasite who isolated Brian to exploit his mental health for personal gain, completely betraying the doctor-patient relationship. I hope he burns in hell.
RE: Fact #45 (Singapore Turned Away Led Zeppelin) – People often overlook that while Singapore is wealthy, it is also pretty authoritarian and has some very strict laws. They are incredibly harsh on drugs and the system is fairly biased against anyone without Chinese heritage.
They also rely on a huge migrant worker population that often lives in dormitories with very few rights. I bring this up because people praise Singapore’s success without acknowledging it is built on the labor of non-citizens who accept poor treatment for better pay than they would get at home. Nearly 30% of the population are migrant workers with very limited legal protections.
RE: Fact #29 (Beatles Broke Up Before Thirty) – It’s wild to think about what they achieved by 26. What do you even do with the rest of your life after that?
Actually, George Harrison had a solid solo career where he managed to step out from the shadows of Lennon and McCartney.
I personally think Harrison’s solo work was the best out of all of them, even better than their group output. He definitely lived a full life afterward, though it ended way too soon.
RE: Fact #45 (Singapore Turned Away Led Zeppelin) – It wasn’t just them. South Korea had the Minor Offenses Act in the 70s to limit hair and skirt lengths, with police cutting hair on the spot. Albania under Hoxha banned beards and long hair. Czechoslovakia harassed long-haired men as western dissidents. Iran cracked down after the 1979 revolution. Japan had strict grooming standards in schools. In the US and UK, schools and workplaces often enforced short hair as a sign of conformity. West and East Germany, France, China, and Vietnam all had periods where long hair on men was seen as a sign of western, rebellious, or capitalist influence. It didn’t matter the political system; the 1970s were just a rough decade for anyone with long hair.
That’s confusing because I always thought hippie culture stood in solidarity with Vietnam and against the war.
RE: Fact #11 (Raincoats’ Nirvana Tour Never Happened) – His liner notes for their record are incredibly touching. For those who haven’t read them: > “I don’t really know anything about the Raincoats except that they recorded some music that has affected me so much that, whenever I hear it I’m reminded of a particular time in my life when I was extremely unhappy, lonely, and bored. If it weren’t for the luxury of putting that scratchy copy of the Raincoats’ first record, I would have had very few moments of peace. I suppose I could have researched a bit of history about the band but I feel it’s more important to delineate the way I feel and how they sound. When I listen to the Raincoats I feel as if I’m a stowaway in an attic, violating and in the dark. Rather than listening to them I feel like I’m listening in on them. We’re together in the same old house and I have to be completely still or they will hear me spying from above and, if I get caught , everything will be ruined because it’s their thing.”
He highlights two things people rarely talk about regarding music: the emotional impact and the connection to a specific time in your life. It isn’t just about “good or bad” or “old or new.” It makes the music feel like a living thing, a mirror of sorts. It really shows he was a deeply serious listener.
RE: Fact #10 (Tracy Chapman Replaced Stevie Wonder) – I’m not sure if he “refused” to play. I read that he left the stage in tears, and it seemed more like he just wasn’t in a state to perform.
RE: Fact #31 (SpongeBob’s Sweet Victory Download Surge) – I love that song, but I was so let down by Maroon 5. They completely ignored why people wanted them to perform it. I honestly would have preferred they just ignored the petition entirely rather than teasing a few seconds of the video and then not actually playing the song.
He seems more focused on showing off his physique to teenagers and singing in a falsetto than anything else.
RE: Fact #25 (Hans Zimmer’s Lion King Requiem) – The opening lyrics are ‘Look, it’s a lion, father, yes, it’s a lion.’ I’m pretty sure that’s just a metaphor for a guy seeing a lion.
RE: Fact #20 (Silverstein’s Country And Children’s Grammys) – Don’t bother with the follow-up sequel to “A Boy Named Sue” that’s sung from the dad’s perspective. It gets pretty disturbing by the end.
Wow, that is wild. [Lyrics excerpt preserved]
RE: Fact #36 (Hurricane Benefits Funded Carter’s Defense) – There’s a pretty good movie about this too, featuring Denzel Washington as Hurricane.
RE: Fact #33 (Billie Jean Claimant Threatened Jackson) – I always enjoyed this song as a kid! Looking at the lyrics now, though, I can’t believe I didn’t realize how literal they were: “Billie Jean is not my lover. She’s just a girl who claims that I am the one, but the kid is not my son. She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son.”
RE: Fact #4 (ABBA Declined Disney’s Lion King) – ABBA would have been a great choice; they’re incredibly talented songwriters. People seem to think they’d just churn out a ‘Dancing Queen’ clone for a movie about a lion, but that’s not how songwriting works. You pay for the talent, not the specific sound. Elton John did a great job, but ABBA would have killed it too. If they had done it, the comments would be full of people saying how lucky we were to avoid an Elton-scored movie.
Look at Daft Punk on the TRON: Legacy soundtrack. That was a killer score. It had that Daft Punk vibe, but it sounded completely different from their usual albums.
RE: Fact #17 (Danny Elfman’s Airplane Bathroom Recordings) – “Muffled sounds through the door” “BUNN, BUNNN, BUN BUMM BUN BUUM BUN BUMM BUN BUM BUMMMMmmm dadeelada da dee dada d, ” “KNOCK KNOCK” “Sir? Sir, are you alright in there?” “Uh, yeah, yeah I’m fine “snifffffff” Dee didddly da lee lee da lee la, I’ll just be a minute!”
RE: Fact #50 (Brian Wilson’s Smile Premiere Ovation) – I’ve always thought the biggest problem for The Beach Boys was their name. People talk about how the Beatles completely changed their persona for Sgt. Pepper’s because they didn’t want to just be seen as a boy band. But The Beach Boys could never shed that label. They were forever stuck as a “boy band” in the public eye, and their music got pigeonholed as just “beach music”, even though it was often far more beautiful than that. It’s a shame.
RE: Fact #9 (Bohemian Rhapsody’s Wayne’s World Comeback) – The fact that Freddie Mercury passed away the year before probably helped boost the song’s popularity too.
RE: Fact #46 (Brian May Discouraged Concert Smoking) – ’39 is one of my all-time favorite songs. I was a kid who devoured sci-fi books and physics back when it first came out, and I immediately took it for a story about love and time travel. Finding out later that Brian May actually had a background in physics just confirmed that’s exactly what it is. I still get a little misty-eyed whenever I hear it.
RE: Fact #22 (Nirvana’s Cheerleaders Returned For Yankovic) – Fun fact: when Weird Al called Kurt for permission, Kurt said he was honored and felt like he’d officially made it. After they chatted for a bit, Kurt called back and asked, “Your song isn’t going to be about food, is it?” Al replied, “Nope, it’s about how no one can understand what you’re saying!”
Yet the following year, Weird Al put out “The Food Album” with hits like “Fat, ” “Lasagna, ” “Eat It, ” and “My Bologna.”
RE: Fact #20 (Silverstein’s Country And Children’s Grammys) – Because of the author photo on his books, I actually thought he was African American until I was in my 20s.
My son reads the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and there’s a part where the kid is scared of that author photo. It’s hilarious knowing who it is.
RE: Fact #6 (Queen’s Predecessor Sculpted Thomas Faces) – Fun fact: rumor has it the Thomas the Tank Engine crew kidnapped Ringo Starr to narrate the early seasons as revenge. They supposedly planned to off him at the wrap party, but Led Zeppelin saved him using a dragon-pulled leather zeppelin loaded with frozen cod, since lead is too heavy for flight. And that, as they say, is history.
RE: Fact #42 (Jackson’s Venture Acquired Eminem’s Song) – That is the best kind of revenge. I hope I can pull off a power move like that one day.
RE: Fact #34 (Brian Wilson’s Surfin’ Grade Reversal) – The school can just change grades decades later? How do I file an appeal? My ninth-grade essay on Christopher Columbus was a total joke.
Did you have a teacher who taught the “1492” stuff “after” the one who taught that Columbus was essentially “Boat Hitler”? They usually do that the other way around.
RE: Fact #47 (Runaway Train’s 21 Resolved Cases) – This song really messed with my head when I was a kid. I didn’t fully grasp the lyrics, but I understood those kids were missing, and it made me terrified that I might go missing from my own family.
RE: Fact #28 (Stevie Nicks Earned Double Induction) – Quick Stevie Nicks story: I was grabbing a drink at a swanky hotel bar in Scottsdale. A father and daughter were playing music, and she sang a beautiful version of Landslide. Almost as if the song summoned her, Stevie Nicks walked out from the dining room, sat right next to me, and watched the performance with so much enthusiasm. The singer didn’t realize who it was until the end, when Stevie gave her a standing ovation. She looked like she was about to pass out from shock! Stevie was incredibly kind and encouraging. I’ve met a few rock stars in random places, but Stevie genuinely seemed like a sweet person.
RE: Fact #30 (Cass Elliot Rejected Mama Nickname) – She didn’t die from choking on a sandwich or from drugs. It was heart failure caused by crash dieting.
RE: Fact #7 (Sarah McLachlan’s Angel Saved DMC) – She even turned her stalker’s letters into a song.
RE: Fact #35 (Karac’s Death Inspired Zeppelin’s Ballad) – A beautiful but devastating song. It has the same emotional weight as “Tears in Heaven.”
RE: Fact #15 (Freddie Mercury Thanked Noninterfering Bandmates) – If you want a comparison, the members of Metallica are actually under contract not to release solo records.
RE: Fact #21 (Beat It Cast Rival Gangs) – If I were a gang member in LA and Michael Jackson and the police asked me to perform a West Side Story routine with my enemies, I wouldn’t know whether to laugh or get aggressive.
RE: Fact #41 (Aretha Franklin’s Emergency Grammy Aria) – She performed in Pavarotti’s key, which wasn’t her natural range, so the orchestra wouldn’t have to scramble to transpose everything at the last second.
RE: Fact #26 (Karaoke Cover Outcharted Kid Rock) – Kid Rock makes music for people who know exactly how much Sudafed you can buy at one time.
RE: Fact #11 (Raincoats’ Nirvana Tour Never Happened) – They actually get a mention in “10 Things I Hate About You!” When Patrick Verona is at Club Skunk, he drops the names of The Raincoats and Bikini Kill to try to impress Kat.
RE: Fact #49 (Michael Jackson’s Shelved Wonka Soundtrack) – Wait, the only choice was Depp, but The Rock was the backup? That doesn’t make any sense.
RE: Fact #12 (Rick Astley Rickrolled Macy’s Parade) – I remember seeing this live! My brother and I were watching the parade before heading to grandma’s house. When Rick Astley popped out and the song started, we just looked at each other in total disbelief like, “Dude, did we seriously just get rickrolled by the parade?” Thankfully our parents already knew about rick-rolling, so we didn’t have to explain it. We still bring it up whenever we talk about memes or Thanksgiving. Such a fun holiday memory, Mr. Astley.
RE: Fact #42 (Jackson’s Venture Acquired Eminem’s Song) – He did the exact same thing to Paul McCartney. After McCartney told him that owning publishing rights was where the real money was, he went out and outbid him for the entire Beatles catalog.
RE: Fact #30 (Cass Elliot Rejected Mama Nickname) – Fun fact: Mama Cass died in the exact same apartment and bed where Keith Moon later passed away.
RE: Fact #20 (Silverstein’s Country And Children’s Grammys) – I grew up listening to that Sidewalk Ends tape. Even now, I can recite “The Crocodile’s Dentist” and “Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too” by heart. It is a fantastic audiobook, I highly recommend it.
I fell asleep to that tape every night as a kid. It had a haunting, comforting quality. The reverb made it sound like he was in a massive room, and the recording was so crisp you could hear every detail. It deserved that Grammy.
RE: Fact #37 (Yankovic Released “You’re Pitiful” Free) – If Weird Al wants to parody your music, it’s a huge achievement and a real testament to the song’s impact. It’s definitely an honor. 🙂
RE: Fact #12 (Rick Astley Rickrolled Macy’s Parade) – Haha, I remember watching this live on TV and losing it. It was great seeing Rick handle it with such a sense of humor, especially after the internet basically claimed him.
RE: Fact #38 (Coven’s 1969 Black Sabbath Song) – Several independent bands in the 60s had songs featuring “Black Sabbath” in the lyrics or title. There were two unsigned bands with that name before the famous group got signed. Also, people with the last name Osbourne have been nicknamed Oz or Ozzy for over a century. Why bring this up? I’m tired of misinformation.
RE: Fact #27 (Kevin MacLeod’s Free Music License) – I’m just wondering how he puts out ideas that fast? The guy releases like an album a month and the music is actually decent.
RE: Fact #16 (Eddie Van Halen’s Secret Solo) – Eddie really thought nobody would notice him playing on that kid’s record. There is a great interview online where he talks about the whole experience.
RE: Fact #29 (Beatles Broke Up Before Thirty) – Writing a few songs is common, and writing a hit or two isn’t all that rare. But the sheer volume of great songs they put out in such a short time is what makes The Beatles special.
RE: Fact #17 (Danny Elfman’s Airplane Bathroom Recordings) – If you ever saw him back in his Oingo Boingo days, yeah, I can definitely see why people might think he was a junkie.
RE: Fact #5 (Ariana Grande’s 7 Rings Royalties) – T-Pain actually explains why she probably isn’t bothered by it:
RE: Fact #16 (Eddie Van Halen’s Secret Solo) – A fun detail about Beat It is that the gang leader, Vince Patterson, was actually the choreographer. He appeared in the same role for Weird Al’s Eat It, too.