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33 Music Trivia Tidbits to Help You Appreciate It More Fully

We’re not talented enough to play you some tunes, so here’s some facts about them

33 Music Trivia Tidbits to Help You Appreciate It More Fully

December 23, 2023

If you want real music, maybe head over to Spotify. After reading this entire list of course. We wish that we could play you every one of these songs, because your enjoyment means the world to us. Since we were singled out by our choir leader and asked to leave, we can only offer you these facts about music. Enjoy!

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33

Drake got his high school diploma at 25-years-old. Не had dropped out of high school to play a high schooler in Degrassi. Не returned to school in 2012, after he was already Grammy-nominated. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

32

J. Cole was a first-chair violinist in high school. From 5th to 12th grade, the emcee played violin, earning the top spot at Terry Sanford High School. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Taylor Swift grew up on Christmas tree farm She spent some of childhood on Pine Ridge Farm in Pennsylvania, which she honors in her Christmas single aptly called Christmas Tree Farm. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Spice Girls' Wannabe is the catchiest pop song A year-long study done in 2014 showed that people recognized the song in an average of 2.3 seconds, compared to 5 seconds for other hit songs. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

29

Busta Rhymes shattered a windshield when he first heard Eminem PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT CONTENT Busta Rhymes was on a tour bus when he first listened the Slim Shady LP and was so moved that he smashed his head against the bus' windshield. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Nicki Minaj worked at multiple Red Lobsters before she was famous She was fired from multiple locations. She once followed a customer who hadn't tipped and taken her pen out to their car. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

27

The British navy used Britney Spears' songs to scare off Somali pirates The navy chose Spears' hit songs Oops! ...I Did It Again and ...Baby One More Time to ward off the pirates because of the pirates' dislike of western culture. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

26

It took Kanye West only 15 minutes to write the lyrics for All Falls Down which went on to peak at #4 on the Billboard top R&B chart. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

Freddie Mercury wrote Crazy Little Thing Called Love in ten minutes on a guitar despite only knowing a few chords. CRACKED COM — Source

24

Rihanna's Diamonds took 14 minutes to write. (The producer said, That's insane.) It sold 3.5 million copies. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

A Charlie Brown Christmas producer Lee Mendelson banged out the lyrics to Christmas Time is Here in one sitting. It was the last minute, and all his lyricist friends were busy. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

What'd I Say was improvised. LIVE. Ray Charles said he and his band had run out of material with another 20 minutes still left to play. Не told his group, Whatever I do, just follow me. Не told his singers, Whatever I say, just repeat it. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Koji Kondo composed the Legend of Zelda theme music in just one night. THE LEGEND OF ZEADA During development, the Nintendo team used Ravel's Bolero as the theme, but they discovered at the last minute that it was still protected by copyright. GRACKED.COM — Source

20

Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith of EPMD. : CLOU In 1991, Smith's home was robbed, and Sermon was named as the orchestrator. Sermon denied it but implied that Smith had it coming. Soon after they split in 1992, people shot up Sermon's house. After all this, they reunited for Back in Business in 1997. CRACKED — Source

19

Sonic Youth FILING In 2011, after 27 years of marriage, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore divorced when Moore cheated on her with Eva Prinz. Moore stated that he intended to keep the band together, but Gordon (and the rest of the band) clearly thought that was ridiculous. CRACKED — Source

18

Wham! George Michael wanted to grow out of the teen pop phase and write more honest music. In 1986, even though their latest hit The Edge of Heaven hit No. 1 in the U.K., they played a farewell show at Wembley called The Final, and called it quits. CRACKED — Source

17

Simon and Garfunkel

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel MISTEL THE LUXU OF HOLLY Garfunkel felt that Simon's solo single True or False was a betrayal. They were hyper-competitive and envious of each other. Manager Mort Lewis said that Paul thought the audience viewed Art as the star, and Art felt inferior since Paul wrote the music. CRACKED — Source

16

Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker of Cream. Bruce once played bass during Baker's drum solo, and Baker attacked him, claiming he had a knife and would kill him. Eric Clapton said they each played so loudly (in order to drown the other out), that Clapton would stop playing and they wouldn't even notice. Their 1969 album Goodbye was indeed their goodbye. CRACKED — Source

15

Van Halen and Sammy Hagar. After their break up in 1996, Van Halen reunited with Hagar in 2004 and clashed immediately. Hagar even quit, but was legally forced to stay. The last show saw a drunk Eddie Van Halen smash his guitar, and yell You don't understand! to fans and storm off stage. CRACKED — Source

14

The Everly Brothers After 20 successful years, Don Everly got so drunk at a show in 1973, that he couldn't remember the lyrics to their most popular songs. Phil Everly broke his guitar over his brother's head, stormed out of the venue, and they didn't speak again until their father died years later. CRACKED — Source

13

Guns N’ Roses

Axl Rose And Slash Glick Slash claimed that before a show, Axl refused to go onstage until the band agreed to sign away their rights to the band's name. After their 1993 tour, Axl referred to Slash as a cancer, the band broke up, and Axl didn't even attend their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. CRACKED — Source

12

CRACKED COM The iconic drum beats at the end of Livin' On The Edge by Aerosmith... were played on a bass drum that Steven Tyler stole from his high school after senior prom. — Source

11

Brad Arnold from 3 Doors Down wrote Kryptonite when he was 15 during his math class. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

During the shooting of the music video of Taylor Swift's Shake It Off, heavy-metal music was played around the perimeter of the studio so no-one could hear the unreleased song. € 99 محمد WW CRACKED.COM — Source

9

GRACKED.COM Shaggy's hit song It Wasn't Me was inspired by a skit Eddie Murphy did in Raw about men being unfaithful and denying it. — Source

8

Andre 3000 OUT KAST wrote OutKast's Ms. Jackson as an apology of sorts to the mother of his former partner MS. JACKSON Erykah Badu. Badu wasn't entirely thrilled with the track at first, but when asked how her mother felt about it she said She bought her a 'Ms. Jackson' license plate, she had the mug, she had the ink pen, she had the headband, she had everything... loved it. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

CRACKED.COM Kurt Cobain HATED the recording of Smells Like Teen Spirit It's such a perfect mixture of cleanliness and nice, candy-ass production. It may NIRVANA be extreme aren't I to used some to myself. people it, but think it's kind of lame, — Source

6

Ed Sheeran wrote Afire Love for his grandfather, who never really knew the singer due to Alzheimer's disease. Не began writing the song two weeks before his grandfather passed away. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

Sam Smith sang Stay With Me all by himself -- no choir. Не got the choir effect by layering his voice (while standing in different spots) about 20 times, and what we hear is the finished demo. The song was written in 34 minutes and recorded in a single take, but it wasn't until he'd added the harmonies that he felt like the whole song suddenly made sense. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

Bad was originally going to be a collaboration between Michael Jackson and Prince. Producer Quincy Jones says it was his idea to put the two rivals together, and turn that antagonistic energy into pop gold. Apparently it was a hard pass, for Prince. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Michael Jackson was Kanye West's biggest inspiration for his album CRACKED.COM Heartbreaks And 808s. K E WE When Kanye played Heartless to Jackson, he complimented him (without knowing it was him singing on the track), and that made Kanye way more confident about his singing. — Source

2

CRACKED.COM THE POWERPUFF GIRLS theme song is based on a sample from the break in the James Brown song Funky Drummer. — Source

1

CRACKED.COM Queen's collaboration with David Bowie on Under Pressure was pure impromptu. David Bowie just happened to be by the studio where Queen was recording tracks for their 10th studio album when both parties decided to work on an original piece during a 24-hour session. Mercury and Bowie even did their vocals separately without hearing each other as they sang their part. — Source

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