21 Scherzinger Rejected Two 9x-Platinum Hits
Nicole Scherzinger, the former Iead of the Pussycat Dolls, was offered to record “We Found Love” and “Just Dance” but rejected them. Both songs ended up becoming 9x platinum hits for Rihanna and Lady Gaga respectively.
22 McCartney’s Love-Song Rebuttal Topped Billboard
John Lennon remarked that McCartney’s only contribution to the Beatles was creating “silly love songs”. McCartney responded by writing a song called “Silly Love Songs” which went on to become a #1 hit single.
23 Queen’s Twin Singles Traded Lyrics
Fat Bottom Girls and Bicycle Race by Queen were released together on a double A-sided single, and refer to each other. Near the end of Fat Bottomed Girls, Mercury shouts, “Get on your bikes and ride!” Bicycle Race reciprocates with the lyric “fat bottomed girls, they’ll be riding today.”
24 Michael Jackson Nearly Destroyed Thriller
Michael Jackson ordered his music video “Thriller” to be destroyed after being threatened with excommunication from his Jehovah’s Witness faith. Michael later apologized and settled for the disclaimer at the start of the video
25 Village People Borrowed Navy Hardware
The Navy contacted the Village People to use “In the Navy” in an advertising campaign for television and radio. They gave the rights to the song for free on the condition that the Navy help them shoot the music video. The Navy provided them with a warship, several aircraft, and plenty of seamen
26 Dreams Took Just Ten Minutes
Stevie Nicks wrote the Fleetwood Mac song “Dreams” in about 10 minutes. The rest of the band disliked the song, with Christine McVie calling it “boring.” Nicks begged them to record it and they eventually relented. It is the band’s only US number one single.
27 Shoegaze Name Mocked Pedal-Watching Musicians
The music genre “shoegaze” got its name from British critics mocking the musicians always looking down at their shoes while playing instead of the audience. In reality, the musicians had to focus on the numerous music effect pedals in their playlist.
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15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
28 May Pang Recounted Lennon’s Strangling
John Lennon of the Beatles tried to murder his mistress May Pang in 1973 after drinking and misunderstanding something she had said. The only reason he didn’t kill her was because he was restrained by another person, Harry Nilsson.
29 Barron’s Stepmother Fueled Chart Success
Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong’ by the Spin Doctors was about Chris Barron’s stepmother. When he was a kid, she told him that he would grow up to be a janitor and would play his songs for the rats. The Spin Doctors’ debut album sold 5 million copies with this song as the lead single.
30 Eminem Rejected 100-Million-Dollar Group Tour
Eminem once turned down a joint tour with Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg that would’ve been worth $100m (£80.2m) collectively. He said no because the lengthy tour wouldn’t allow him to see his daughter Hailie for a long period of time. He said “I just don’t want to go on tour & come back & Hailie’s grown”
RE: Fact #43 (Sputnik Made Little Richard Repent) – “Some people can read “War and Peace” and come away thinking it’s a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.” It doesn’t really matter that it was Sputnik; he interpreted it as a sign, and that was enough to shift his life.
I wouldn’t say it changed his life. He was a closeted gay man struggling with intense religious guilt, so he used whatever he could to justify his internal conflicts. He had been looking for signs for decades.
RE: Fact #17 (Brian May Finished Decades-Delayed Doctorate) – “A Survey of Radial Velocities in the Zodiacal Dust Cloud” definitely wasn’t topping the charts.
Definitely sounds like a 50-minute-long prog-rock epic with five different movements.
RE: Fact #3 (Tracy Chapman Secured Minaj Settlement) – What’s interesting is that this was settled in Chapman’s favor even though the Minaj song was never commercially released, it was only leaked online and on social media. In hip-hop history, it’s pretty common for artists to put out mixtapes or leaked tracks that can’t get clearance for official releases. Usually, this is seen as a good thing because it lets fans hear creative music that would otherwise stay hidden. There are tons of classic mixtapes that will never hit Spotify or iTunes. It even helped launch careers for artists like The Weeknd or Chance the Rapper. Same thing goes for electronic music, where DJs constantly play unreleased, uncleared remixes. I’m no copyright lawyer, so I’m not sure what made this specific case different, but the outcome feels surprising given how standard that practice is.
RE: Fact #9 (Keith Flint Fined Firestarter Jokes) – I guess that’s better than having to collect fines for people referencing “Smack My Bitch Up.”
Imagine a guy gets kicked in the head during a pub brawl, and while he’s lying on the floor bleeding and waiting for an ambulance, he just wheezes, “Keith… ‘Take Me To The Hospital’… get it?”
I saved the song as “Snap My Picture” on my computer so my mom wouldn’t get upset when it played.
RE: Fact #14 (9/11 Inspired Gerard Way’s MCR) – Stephanie Meyer said she was inspired by My Chemical Romance for Twilight, and 50 Shades of Grey started as Twilight fanfic. So, technically, MCR is the bridge between 9/11 and 50 Shades.
Well, Gerard Way also wrote The Umbrella Academy, so I guess we can blame 9/11 for that too and call it a wash.
he was already trying to be a comic artist back then, so if anything, 9/11 actually pushed back his work on The Umbrella Academy. The story is kind of weird, too, he wasn’t even working on Wall Street or anything. He’d already finished design school and was trying to break into comics.
My Chemical Romance was actually asked to be on the Twilight soundtrack but said no. Instead, they wrote “Vampire Money, ” which is all about selling out to hop on a trend.
It’s kind of sad for Stephanie Meyer that MCR was a band she liked and drew inspiration from, only to have them turn her down and then mock her. The whole “selling out” concept is such a 90s/2000s mindset anyway. The funny part is that MCR was already massive and successful, so the term doesn’t even make sense. I think he just didn’t want to be associated with a cheesy teen romance movie and risk his reputation with the cool crowd.
Man, it’s been ages since I heard that track. I should spin that album again.
RE: Fact #48 (Coldplay Preserved Its Four-Man Lineup) – Anyone who has tried to keep a band together knows how tough it is to manage different personalities for that long. Keeping four people together as business and creative partners, touring and working for 30 years? That’s insane. It’s truly historic. Props to Chris, Guy, Will, and Jonny for keeping their egos in check. That is really hard to do.
Look at Rammstein, they’ve had the same six guys since 1994, but they had to take a ten-year recording break between their “Liebe ist für alle da” and “Untitled” albums. They openly admit they need space from each other sometimes.
It’s still remarkable. To stay relevant in the metal scene for that long and weather all the changes together is a huge accomplishment.
RE: Fact #3 (Tracy Chapman Secured Minaj Settlement) – >whose real name is Onika Maraj
Wait, her real last name was pronounced ‘Mirage’ and she changed it? That’s such a cool stage name, why would you ditch that?
RE: Fact #1 (Enya Never Toured Despite Stardom) – She’s basically living my dream. Being a semi-hermit in a castle, rolling in money, and doing things exactly on her own terms. Good for her.
Hear me out on this pitch. Netflix has been throwing money at every documentary idea possible, even if they’ve lost some goodwill with cancellations and password crackdowns. Here is the strategy to save them: a documentary about Enya living her best life off the grid. Think about it, it would appeal to women, cat lovers, castle enthusiasts, spiritual moms, and even the construction worker who secretly plays ‘Sail Away’ to decompress after a rough day. That would be a goldmine if you could actually get her to sign off on it.
It’s a mansion-style castle, which is pretty nice. Just won’t help much if you’re under siege by orcs.
RE: Fact #19 (Rodriguez Discovered South African Stardom) – Rodriguez used to be a regular at the bar where I worked. He’s a genuinely great guy.
RE: Fact #30 (Eminem Rejected 100-Million-Dollar Group Tour) – Sounds like he has a great bond with his daughter and definitely made the right call.
He has tons of songs about how he’d go to war for his daughter.
RE: Fact #8 (Alan Jackson’s Drummer Played Empty-Handed) – Artists do that kind of stuff to protest nonsense all the time. My favorite was when Muse switched instruments for a performance.
RE: Fact #7 (Beatles’ Everest Became Abbey Road) – Can you imagine fans trekking to Everest instead of Abbey Road for photos? Also, Paul being barefoot would be way weirder if they’d actually filmed on a mountain.
RE: Fact #43 (Sputnik Made Little Richard Repent) – One night when I was drunk, I saw some lights in the sky that looked divine. I had a major moment of self-reflection and promised to clean up my act and quit drinking. The lights turned out to just be retinal burns from staring at street lamps, but I did manage to stay sober for a week.
I was totally baked once and spent like 20 minutes staring at a bright light in the sky, completely baffled. Finally realized it was just a planet and checked my phone to confirm it was Mars.
RE: Fact #25 (Village People Borrowed Navy Hardware) – The Village People were a cool group. During a time when homeless youth populations were spiking as young men were kicked out of their homes for coming out, and with the HIV crisis taking off, their music really encouraged those guys to seek out safe spaces. I have a lot of respect for them.
Exactly. They sent a great message, and the music is just awesome. It is pure positive energy.
RE: Fact #12 (Vincent Price Rejected Thriller Royalties) – The guy was in his 70s. I don’t think he was worried about long-term residuals.
He was already well-off, and silly stuff like that was right up his alley.
RE: Fact #50 (Jethro Tull’s Joke Became Classic) – Metalocalypse was a satirical cartoon created by Brendan Small to poke fun at the overly serious metal scene. Even though it was a parody, the fictional band from the show actually won awards for best metal band in 2009 and best metal album in 2013.
Do you folks like coffee? Real coffee? From the hills… of Columbia… That’s one of my favorite metal tracks ever.
I was in a death metal band back in high school when that show first aired. This was during the era where bands like Gorgoroth had massive crosses with people on them and rotting goat heads, while Slayer had buckets of blood dumped on them for the finale of Raining Blood. So when that giant pot of scalding coffee poured over the crowd during the Duncan Hills Coffee song, my bandmates and I nearly died laughing. It was such a perfect parody of how over-the-top metal stage shows were getting. Somehow, people in the front row getting melted by boiling coffee was just absurd enough to be hilarious but accurate enough to be a spot-on critique.
That’s awesome. Talented people produce quality work, whether it’s meant as a joke or not. Weird Al is brilliant, and he built an entire career on amazing parodies.
RE: Fact #10 (Beatles Refused Segregated American Concerts) – It makes sense; so many rock and roll legends openly admit their biggest influences when they were starting out were Motown artists from Detroit and New York.
RE: Fact #23 (Queen’s Twin Singles Traded Lyrics) – It is wild how much talent Queen had. They are arguably the only band where every single member wrote at least three number-one hits, which is why they are all in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Freddie had anthems like “Bohemian Rhapsody, ” Brian had “We Will Rock You” and “Fat Bottomed Girls, ” Roger wrote “Radio GaGa, ” and John gave us “Another One Bites the Dust.” Truly an incredible group.
It is pretty cool to see it broken down like that. You can really tell how each member brought their own distinct style to the band.
RE: Fact #13 (Kesha Chose Music Over Barnard) – Literally one day before her final classes ended: “I think I’m gonna drop out now.”
RE: Fact #30 (Eminem Rejected 100-Million-Dollar Group Tour) – He was likely already worth a fortune back then. Past a certain point, money doesn’t really add to your quality of life.
He’s lucky he didn’t end up locked into a contract that made him a slave to the music industry.
RE: Fact #9 (Keith Flint Fined Firestarter Jokes) – Here’s another fun fact from his wiki page: In Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, there’s a bard named Keith who looks just like him, appearing in a sidequest called “The Prodigy” in Essex. The character tells the player that running into them is “surely an omen”, a nod to the song, and when a bishop starts a fight, Keith tells the player to “Smack my Bishop.” A writer for the game confirmed these were intentional tributes.
RE: Fact #7 (Beatles’ Everest Became Abbey Road) – Keep in mind that was the tail end of the band’s run, so they really just wanted to wrap up the photoshoot and call it a day. Plus, the place wasn’t even officially called Abbey Road Studios until after the album dropped. Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon are honestly my two favorite album covers of all time.
RE: Fact #27 (Shoegaze Name Mocked Pedal-Watching Musicians) – It was not just about the pedals. The whole aesthetic of the genre was rooted in a sense of affected boredom and a general disinterest in the traditional rock star stage persona.
Exactly. They were not forced to look down; it was a deliberate performative choice to avoid engaging directly with the crowd.
RE: Fact #13 (Kesha Chose Music Over Barnard) – Fun fact: Kesha’s family actually hosted Paris and Nicole for that reality show. Apparently, Paris is still bitter that Kesha made it big while she was just a nobody. Also, I had no idea Kesha could actually sing until I heard “Praying.”
I remember when Ke$ha was everywhere. I saw her perform at the AMAs and was surprised to realize she wasn’t using autotune or lip-syncing. This was way before her legal drama, so she was still doing her “party” songs, but her voice was genuinely impressive. She is super talented.
RE: Fact #5 (Grohl Recorded Foo Fighters Alone) – I recall that putting together the touring lineup for the Foo Fighters was a total mess. Dave had spent enough time in the background drumming for Nirvana and was ready to be a lead guitarist, which he was great at. The problem was finding a drummer who could live up to his standards. He went through a few different people, partly because he wanted them to play exactly like he did, which left some of them feeling stifled. It wasn’t necessarily that he was hard to work with, but he just had a very specific, unique style that those songs required.
As far as I know, the Foo Fighters have only had three drummers if you count Dave. He played on the first two records. The guy who played live after the first album was William Goldsmith, who came from Sunny Day Real Estate and was an amazing drummer. Dave eventually kicked him out, it honestly felt like Dave was being a bit of a jerk and just wanted to take over the drumming duties on the records because he felt Goldsmith wasn’t good enough. I don’t buy that for a second; just listen to ‘Seven’ by Sunny Day Real Estate and tell me Goldsmith couldn’t play those parts. I still really like Dave as a person, but he definitely handled that situation poorly, which he even admits to in their documentary. Then Taylor Hawkins joined, and he’s been the guy ever since 1997. I only know this because I love those early records and follow the history of Sunny Day Real Estate. Hope you have a great day!
RE: Fact #33 (Green Day Named After Marijuana) – It’s pretty tough to even compete for the title of “worst band name ever.” Green Day wouldn’t even crack the bottom 500.
Job for a Cowboy has to be one of the lamest band names I’ve ever heard.
RE: Fact #18 (Mustaine’s Dedication Sparked Antrim Riot) – Compare that to a real Northern Irish band like Stiff Little Fingers. They’d stand on a stage in 1980s Belfast and tell everyone off regardless of their side.
RE: Fact #44 (Prince Turned Questions Into Music) – “Yeah no thank you” and the response just being “whatever you want man” is hilarious.
Prince understood boundaries long before the internet made them a concept.
RE: Fact #3 (Tracy Chapman Secured Minaj Settlement) – Tracy Chapman has two perfect songs in my book: ‘Fast Car’ and ‘Give Me One Reason.’ Here are my favorite live versions of them.
RE: Fact #4 (TLC Held Arista President Hostage) – I knew about Left Eye burning down that house, but I never heard this story. That is fascinating. Nobody could ever call them soft, that’s for sure.
She was wild. Back in college, I worked a quiet security job at the Browns’ training facility where I could study. One day, she pulled up and I was working the booth. I didn’t recognize her at first, and she starts yelling, ‘Is Dre there?’ I had no idea who she meant, and when I didn’t respond, she screamed, ‘An-Dre Ri-son!’ Then it clicked. I said, ‘Go on in, Ms. Lopez.’ As she tore into the parking lot, I just went back to my books and muttered something about not chasing waterfalls. She was definitely intense. For the record, I know ‘No Scrubs’ came out later, I’m not perfect at remembering what I joked about 30 years ago. I’m just an internet stranger sharing a memory from my old college gig.
RE: Fact #14 (9/11 Inspired Gerard Way’s MCR) – He was working as an animation intern at Cartoon Network trying to get his cartoon, Breakfast Monkey, picked up at the time.
He has made some comics since then, and his most successful indie one, The Umbrella Academy, became a three-season Netflix series. It seems like going the music route worked out better for him, even if he did want to get into visual media.
He also spent time as an intern for Grant Morrison, who is behind so much of what makes DC Comics great.
RE: Fact #35 (Black Sabbath Interrupted Hotel California) – They used the same mixing board, too, and Sabbath had to clean all the cocaine out of it after the Eagles were done using it.
I’m genuinely curious which band did more coke in the 70s. The Eagles had five members, but Sabbath had Ozzy.
RE: Fact #6 (Skrillex Song Disrupted Mosquito Mating) – Let’s blast this song globally for a week and wipe out the mosquito population for good. It’s a bit of an annoying track, but I’m willing to suffer through it if it gets the job done.
RE: Fact #46 (Michael Jackson Praised Shaggy’s Hit) – I remember a stand-up comedian had a bit about working on a cruise ship back in the late 90s when Shaggy was performing there. Apparently, Shaggy announced, “This is a new track I’ve been working on, that I’ve dedicated to the number one playa in the world, Bill Clinton!” and then played his song.
There was a guy who lasted three weeks at The Apollo by doing a fake accent and singing “It Wasn’t Me” while dressed like Bill Clinton right when that song dropped.
RE: Fact #39 (Biz Markie Case Changed Sampling) – Just a heads-up, “Alone Again Naturally” is actually about a guy who is so lonely he’s contemplating suicide.
RE: Fact #33 (Green Day Named After Marijuana) – If you watch the movie Soylent Green, there’s a scene where a bunch of windows have text that says something like “FRIDAY IS SOYLENT GREEN DAY.” I always wondered if the band got their name from that. Guess not.
RE: Fact #17 (Brian May Finished Decades-Delayed Doctorate) – Are you suggesting that the insights into how fat-bottomed girls influence Earth’s rotation were written by an actual astrophysicist?
RE: Fact #15 (Jagged Little Pill Revived Morissette) – The entire Jagged Little Pill album was recorded in just one or two takes. That’s wild.
RE: Fact #34 (Holly’s Recordings Fueled Decade-Long Releases) – Can you imagine a coin flip actually saving your life? Or in Waylon Jennings’ case, thinking you’re being selfless by giving up your seat for someone who was sick?
RE: Fact #28 (May Pang Recounted Lennon’s Strangling) – Can we also take a moment to acknowledge how underrated Harry Nilsson is? I don’t know much about his private life, but he had some absolute bops.
Nilsson wasn’t really underrated, just not well-known enough. He was widely considered to have the best voice in the business and was a true musician’s musician. Before they were famous, the Beatles were asked who their favorite artist was and they surprised everyone by naming Nilsson. I still have my copy of ‘Best of Nilsson’ in my collection.
The documentary ‘Who is Harry Nilsson and Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him’ is fantastic. He had such a wild, heartbreaking life, and he was an incredible songwriter with a beautiful voice. Definitely worth a watch.
RE: Fact #7 (Beatles’ Everest Became Abbey Road) – By a certain point, The Beatles used the word “plan” pretty loosely.
RE: Fact #28 (May Pang Recounted Lennon’s Strangling) – Ringo almost killed his wife, Barbara Bach, in a similar way. It was the wake-up call he needed to reevaluate things, head to rehab, and get sober.
RE: Fact #40 (Prince Called Record Contracts Slavery) – That’s why he changed his name to a symbol, if I remember correctly. Neil Young would probably relate to being stuck in a bad record deal. It’s often the reason why so many of an artist’s albums turn out bad, they’re just churning them out to meet a quota and get free of the contract.
Exactly, that’s why he switched to a symbol. When I was younger, I had no clue what was actually going on with his name.
Lots of bands have done that. Often, they’d just put out a mediocre “greatest hits” collection to satisfy the final album in their deal. George Clinton actually formed a second band with the same musicians just to release albums under a different name, which is how we got Parliament and Funkadelic.
RE: Fact #41 (Reznor Waxed Floors Before Recording) – Well, he recorded the demos that way, but the actual album was finished in England with Flood. He gives Flood credit for a lot of the synth textures and ideas. I’m not trying to downplay his work; he used to be my favorite artist.
RE: Fact #15 (Jagged Little Pill Revived Morissette) – Columbia dropped Santana, but Clive Davis picked him up for Arista and he released Supernatural. Pearl Jam also switched to RCA, though it wasn’t quite as big of a hit at the time.
Decca rejected the Beatles, famously claiming that guitar groups were on their way out.
RE: Fact #9 (Keith Flint Fined Firestarter Jokes) – They don’t tell you that when the jar gets full, he’d lob it at the last cheeky idiot to add a pound. Just kidding, of course, he was a sweet guy. RIP Keith.
RE: Fact #12 (Vincent Price Rejected Thriller Royalties) – That sounds like 80s Vincent Price. He was a real patron of the arts by then, balancing serious work with stuff like Scooby-Doo and hanging out with Elvira.
You have to watch Bill Hader’s Vincent Price impression on SNL. “Jeezy Peezy! It’s a family show!”
RE: Fact #40 (Prince Called Record Contracts Slavery) – This is a recurring theme on Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly.” It goes beyond just record label execs, it’s movie studio heads and sports team owners, too. Slavery might be illegal, but these people recognize the value in the athleticism of Black athletes or the popularity of hip-hop culture, and they find ways to exploit it.
RE: Fact #38 (Everman Became Artist Soldier Philosopher) – He was in Soundgarden for a bit, too. I remember reading a piece about him a long time ago, and one thing that stuck with me was the impression that Kurt Cobain treated him poorly.
RE: Fact #34 (Holly’s Recordings Fueled Decade-Long Releases) – Frank Zappa died in 1993 with 63 official albums to his name. Between 1994 and 2020, they released 54 posthumous albums, that’s about 16 years worth of new material.
RE: Fact #41 (Reznor Waxed Floors Before Recording) – An underestimated genius working as a janitor and then blowing everyone away with his brilliance. Good Trent Hunting.
RE: Fact #8 (Alan Jackson’s Drummer Played Empty-Handed) – You should check out The Kids Are Alright, the documentary about The Who. Keith Moon and Pete Townshend were just messing around in almost every televised appearance. It’s hilarious.
RE: Fact #10 (Beatles Refused Segregated American Concerts) – Sinatra wouldn’t play them either. Early in his career, he canceled his highest-paying gig at the time to protest a school that refused to integrate their dance.
RE: Fact #22 (McCartney’s Love-Song Rebuttal Topped Billboard) – People have been complaining for years that he’s too soft for writing love songs. I get where they’re coming from, but love songs have been around forever. I love them, other people love them, and I’m fortunate enough to have a lot of love in my life. So, maybe you think they’re ‘silly, ‘ but what’s the problem with that? Also, ‘Silly Love Songs’ had a great bassline and was a blast to play live.
RE: Fact #20 (Sister Nancy Reclaimed Long-Denied Royalties) – Did she get back-pay for all those years she wasn’t compensated, or did they just start paying her the 50% moving forward?
According to Wikipedia, she couldn’t get compensation for all 32 years of missing royalties, but she did get paid for the last 10 years and secured 50% of the rights to ‘Bam Bam’ moving forward.
RE: Fact #36 (Prince’s Gift Lost To Kiss) – Prince absolutely loved doe-eyed brunettes. Pretty much every partner of his fit that description.
RE: Fact #13 (Kesha Chose Music Over Barnard) – She had the scores to have a backup plan, and she was always intellectually curious, even beyond music. She mentioned being in the IB program, loving math and physics, and even sitting in on Cold War history classes in Nashville. Regarding her 1500 SAT score, it’s worth noting that 1600 was the max at the time. Also, just to clear up the confusion, Barnard is an affiliate of Columbia, though they are legally separate, Barnard grads even get diplomas signed by both school presidents.
Not to be a downer, but while she might be a genius, there’s no evidence besides her own interviews. Everything points back to things she’s said herself.
If you talk to anyone who scored in the 1300-1600 range, you’ll realize the difference usually just comes down to how much you studied. Past a certain point, it’s not really a measure of raw intelligence, just prep. That said, she definitely put the work in during high school.
RE: Fact #18 (Mustaine’s Dedication Sparked Antrim Riot) – Just learned Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica and started Megadeth as a huge middle finger to his old band.
RE: Fact #32 (Altamont’s Beer-Funded Security Turned Fatal) – I’m struggling to find the Hell’s Angels security company on Google reviews.
RE: Fact #40 (Prince Called Record Contracts Slavery) – That’s easy to say once you’ve already hit it big. If an artist is getting their first break and their chance to reach their dreams, do you really think they’ll just say no to a record deal?
RE: Fact #43 (Sputnik Made Little Richard Repent) – Little Richard spent most of his life struggling with his spirituality, lifestyle, and sexuality. He was constantly cycling between being a religious zealot who renounced rock music and then swinging back to embracing his fame, working as a minister, and dealing with drug and sex addictions.
RE: Fact #38 (Everman Became Artist Soldier Philosopher) – Jason Everman was Nirvana’s other guitar player. Krist Novoselic was always their bass player. Krist definitely went the political route.
RE: Fact #23 (Queen’s Twin Singles Traded Lyrics) – Record companies usually hated this approach, which is why most B-sides are terrible. They wanted to put two hits on two different singles to double their revenue. It was really rare to waste two hits on one single.
Here’s some more trivia for you: Queen recorded these in a small village studio in France called Super Bear to escape the massive UK tax rates at the time. When the ‘Bicycle Race’ video was being filmed, they weren’t even allowed back in the UK to watch it happen.
RE: Fact #34 (Holly’s Recordings Fueled Decade-Long Releases) – Most of those later songs were just private demos recorded in his New York apartment on a small tape recorder, with nothing but his voice and guitar. Often, there was only one verse and one chorus, and no one knew how he would have arranged them. They released everything, even the little home covers where he sang softly, almost like he was trying not to wake his wife in the other room.
RE: Fact #20 (Sister Nancy Reclaimed Long-Denied Royalties) – Music industry: constantly samples other people’s work without paying them. Also music industry: will sue you if half a second of a song accidentally slips into your video.
RE: Fact #18 (Mustaine’s Dedication Sparked Antrim Riot) – Was he actually clued into the history behind that comment, or was he just a hammered guy running his mouth? Not taking sides on whether he was right or wrong, but I’m curious about the backstory.
RE: Fact #36 (Prince’s Gift Lost To Kiss) – For anyone who doesn’t know, Prince recorded almost everything he ever came up with. Some of it made it onto albums, some went to other artists, but it all ended up in his vault. He even had fully produced music videos that never saw the light of day. His house was wired with mics everywhere so he could record whenever inspiration struck. Kevin Smith tells a great story about this from when he was filming Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. Kevin wanted to use a Prince song, and they ended up talking a bit. Prince eventually hired Kevin to film fan reactions to a new album. They shot a ton of footage, and even when they ran out of film, Prince just kept the cameras rolling, so Kevin had to fake it. Kevin got frustrated because he wasn’t getting any direction on the project, so he eventually headed home. No idea if that footage ever turned into a real film, but everything ended up in that vault of his. Prince was definitely one of a kind.
RE: Fact #19 (Rodriguez Discovered South African Stardom) – The way the documentary framed his life is mostly nonsense, though. He didn’t just quit music; he toured all over Europe throughout the 80s and 90s and had a solid following in Australia. The real story is just that his label hid the sales figures from international markets to cheat him out of his money.
RE: Fact #15 (Jagged Little Pill Revived Morissette) – Those first two albums were standard pop, nothing like the JLP sound. Trying something new really paid off for her.
RE: Fact #19 (Rodriguez Discovered South African Stardom) – From what I’ve read, part of why he didn’t realize he was famous is that a rumor went around South Africa that he’d killed himself, so everyone assumed he was gone. It took a long time for someone to actually go looking for him.
RE: Fact #48 (Coldplay Preserved Its Four-Man Lineup) – Nish Kumar once theorized that the drummer for Coldplay is the luckiest guy in the industry. His logic is that, aside from Chris Martin, the rest of the band is essentially anonymous. Only super fans would recognize them. Yet, they all split the royalties equally, and that’s a massive amount of money. They have all the success and wealth, but they can walk down the street without getting hounded, which gives them a ton of freedom. Plus, the drummer gets to work sitting down, which seems even better.
RE: Fact #26 (Dreams Took Just Ten Minutes) – I actually recorded an album at the same studio where they made Rumours. We were tracking during the off-hours to save money, so I spent a lot of time chatting with the front desk guy since he was bored. He shared some great stories. He told me that Stevie Nicks was close friends with Sly Stone, and he gave her the keys to his personal recording room. Since the band was fighting so much, she spent a lot of time writing “Dreams” in that room alone.
RE: Fact #26 (Dreams Took Just Ten Minutes) – “Stand Back, ” which I think was her biggest solo hit, was also written in a rush. After finishing the lyrics, Nicks called Prince at 3 a.m. to see if he wanted to work on it. He showed up by 4 a.m., played around on the synths, and by 6 a.m., he had programmed the whole track and took off.
RE: Fact #11 (Ringo Smoked Dylan’s Joint Alone) – This has to be fake. No pot smoker is going to just sit there and watch a newbie smoke the whole thing.
That’s what I was thinking. It takes a few minutes to smoke an entire joint by yourself. No way Bob didn’t at some point say, “Yo, motherfucker, that’s for everyone! Pass it to the left.”
RE: Fact #37 (Eat It Outranked Beat It) – If you haven’t seen the Weird Al parody movie on Roku, you need to check it out. It was hilarious.
RE: Fact #20 (Sister Nancy Reclaimed Long-Denied Royalties) – If a company knowingly refuses to pay royalties to an artist, they should be hit with double the payment plus interest for every year they dragged it out in court.
RE: Fact #31 (Dimebag Darrell Buried With Bumblebee) – I’ll never get over the murder of Dimebag Darrell. It’s one of those ‘I remember where I was when I heard’ moments for me, and I still feel angry at the guy who did it. Probably not healthy to hold onto that, but it’s there.
RE: Fact #2 (Enya Makes Elvish Music Privately) – I mean this sincerely: that is exactly what I would expect, and I’d be disappointed if it were anything else. If someone told me that after those massive albums in the 90s, Enya just retired to become a soccer mom in Northern California, I’d feel totally betrayed.
RE: Fact #21 (Scherzinger Rejected Two 9x-Platinum Hits) – Lady Gaga actually wrote ‘Telephone’ for Britney Spears. Britney recorded a demo, but her label turned it down. Gwen Stefani also mentioned that Sia wrote ‘Elastic Heart’ for her, but she turned it down because she thought the song was ‘too weird.’
RE: Fact #32 (Altamont’s Beer-Funded Security Turned Fatal) – There’s a great documentary called ‘Gimme Shelter’ that covers the Altamont concert and the tragedy. Worth watching if you want the full story.
RE: Fact #45 (Tori Amos Lost Peabody Scholarship) – That Wikipedia claim about her playing piano at 2 sounds like a stretch. If you look at the source, she says she was 2.5 and her mom saw her “happy as a clam” at the piano. It doesn’t mean she was playing complex songs by memory. Since her siblings took lessons, she probably just picked things up by watching them. She was definitely a prodigy, but it’s not like she came out knowing everything. She likely absorbed what her family taught her and had natural talent that helped her learn quickly. She’s a great musician, but that came from time and practice, aided by her talent.