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33 Secret Music Facts That Go Like This, the Fourth, the Fifth, the Minor Falls, the Major Lifts

These weren’t in any album’s liner notes

33 Secret Music Facts That Go Like This, the Fourth, the Fifth, the Minor Falls, the Major Lifts

January 14, 2024

“Oh man, I love this ‘Sex Maggot’ song,” said no one ever. That’s because they luckily changed their name to the “600 600 Dolls.” Wait, sorry, they’re called the “Goo Goo Dolls”?!?! That’s a pretty weird name too. This is honestly enough new information for one day, so you guys go on ahead without us.

33

J. Cole

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

32

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

31

In 2016, Mozart outsold Beyonce, Adele, and Drake in CDs Universal released a 200-disc box set for the 225th anniversary of Mozart's death, meaning that each purchase counted for 200 disc sales. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

30

Terrible weather hit the UK, New Zealand, and Romania when Umbrella topped their charts This became known as the Rihanna curse. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

29

The Church of England co-owns Beyoncé's Single Ladies The church has invested in Hipgnosis, a company that owns the rights to thousands of songs. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

28

Ed Sheeran's childhood friend was financially struggling so he wrote Thinking Out Loud with her The song has since been streamed almost 2 billion times on Spotify and has gone triple platinum in the UK. She never has to worry about money again. 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

Pharrell's 24-hour music video. ISE 08:57AM AM 08 SHARE THIS MOMENT Directed by We Are from LA, the full length version of Pharrell's 2014 hit Happy is 24 hours long. It filmed hundreds of regular people and celebrities dancing to the song overll days of shooting and 42 separate locations around L.A. CRACKED — Source

25

OK Go was a pioneer in viral music videos. Their treadmill choreography in 2009's Here It Goes Again was a massive hit that led to their rube goldberg machine video for This Too Shall Pass. With a crew of 60 people, the machine synced up with the song itself and took roughly 60 takes to complete. CRACKED — Source

24

23

Arcade Fire's interactive SUBURBS video For their 2010 song We Used to Wait, fans could plunk in their address on thewildernessdowntown.com and see Google Maps images of their house in the video for a personalized experience. CRACKED — Source

22

A-ha's TAKE ON ME blended live action and animation. Director Steve Barron and animators Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger used a technique called rotoscoping, which involves tracing over live-action footage, frame by frame. Four months and over 3,000 drawings later, they had arguably the most iconic music video of all time. CRACKED — Source

21

Cardi В based her name off Bacardi alcohol. Her sister's name is Hennessy so people used to call her Bacardi, which she shortened. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

First Aid Kit was inspired by the dictionary. Klara Söderberg said, I was 13...and looking through a dictionary, looking for a name...I think music should be like a consolation to help you get through everyday life... CRACKED.COM — Source

19

David Bowie

David Bowie named himself after Jim Bowie and Bowie knives. Не was worried that if he used his real name David Jones would be confused with Davey Jones of The Monkees. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Jimmy Eat World was making fun of the guitarist's little brother's weight. Tom Linton's younger brother Jimmy was the subject of childhood taunting, which is how the band eventually acquired its mean-spirited name. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Daft Punk was based on a bad review of the pair's earlier project. The pair was originally named Darlin', and a critic called their work a daft punky thrash. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Coldplay was named after a book of poems. The book? Child's Reflections: Cold Play. The original name? Starfish. Seems like they made the right choice. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Elvis Costello had the first fully animated music video. Released in 1979, Accidents Will Happen was made by Annabel Jankel and Rocky Morton, who created a cartoon version of the band using 35mm stills as reference. CRACKED — Source

14

The world first saw an empowered female artist through Madonna's videos She is cited by Encyclopedia Britannica as the first female artist to fully exploit the potential of the music video. Her '80s videos for Like a Virgin and Material Girl paved the way for every female artist to follow. CRACKED — Source

13

Thriller

Michael Jackson's THRILLER is so much more than a music video. In December 1983, the 13-minute short film was solely responsible for increasing MTV's ratings tenfold. It is the only music video to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for being culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. CRACKED — Source

12

Rolling Stone said that Queen's BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY invented the music video. It only took four hours and £3,500 to make, but its success in 1975 had every record company thinking about video! Director Bruce Gowers became a star, and went on to make videos for the Bee Gees, Rod Stewart, Michael Jackson, and Prince. CRACKED — Source

11

David Bowie

ASHES TO ASHES by David Bowie is the music video's first art piece. Bowie co-directed his 1980 video, which cost £250,000 to make (a massive price tag at the time). It was a prime example of how music videos can be interpreted as art, and allowed artists to do more than just film themselves playing their instruments. CRACKED — Source

10

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was an early pioneer of the music video. In 1965, 16 years before MTV, Dylan filmed a video for his song Subterranean Homesick Blues, where he held cue cards with lyrics. Several bands have used the cue card approach since, most notably INXS with 1987's Mediate. GET BORN CRACKED — Source

9

MTV

MTV had a very fitting first music video. At 12:01a.m. on August 1st, 1981, Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles became the very first music video on MTV. The video was released in 1979, so the band definitely saw the changing of the guard and capitalized. CRACKED — Source

8

7

PUDDLE OF MUDD's REHEARSAL SPACE WAS TURNED INTO A LITERAL PUDDLE OF MUD. The band wound up naming itself after the flood that soaked the entire first floor of their rehearsal space, which was located next to the Missouri River. CRACKED.COM http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Puddle_of_Mudd.aspx — Source

6

THE BEASTIE BOYS' FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT WAS A JOKE. They wrote it as a gag song, making fun of annoying rock anthems. When the song was published, they released a video that was meant to be a parody. The irony was lost on fans and it was a big hit. CRACKED.COM http://www.npr.org/2011/05/06/136019762/the-fresh-air-interview-the-beastie-boys — Source

5

THE GUESS WHO WROTE AMERICAN WOMAN ON THE SPOT AT A DIVE BAR. Guitarist Randy Bachman broke a guitar string during their set, and after he'd restrung it he was at the piano tuning his guitar. The audience started responding to the tuning sounds, so the band worked them into a song, right then and there. CRACKED.COM music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2013/2/Randy-Bachman-takes-us-behind-the-writing-of-American-Woman — Source

4

THE Goo Goo DOLLS WERE ORIGINALLY CALLED SEX MAGGOT. Their manager balked at the name, so they picked the name Goo Goo Dolls when they spotted an ad for a doll with a moveable, rubber head in True Detective magazine. CRACKED.COM http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/The_Goo_Goo_Dolls.aspx — Source

3

Steely Dan

STEELY DAN was a jazz-rock duo from the late 1970s. GIANT, They were named STEAM-POWERED after a DILDO from the book Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs. CRACKED.COM http://www.steelydan.com/faq.html — Source

2

PINK FLOYD'S COMFORTABLY NUMB ISN'T ABOUT RECREATIONAL DRUGS. Pink Floyd didn't do drugs. The song is about the time Roger Waters was given heavy sedatives against his will, and had to perform despite being barely able to lift his arm. http://web.archive.org/web/20090429063944/http:/ CRACKED.COM rollingstone.com/news/story/6596159/comfortably_numb — Source

1

Aerosmith

DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY IS ABOUT VINCE NEIL, FROM MÖTLEY CRÜE. According to Steven Tyler, the boys from Aerosmith spotted Neil from the back, in a bar, and assumed he was a woman. When he turned around, they realized their mistake and started riffing with the phrase, dude looks like a lady. CRACKED.COM http://wwwchuffingtonpost.com/sue-kerr/aerosmith-dude-looks-like-a-lady_b_3848538.html — Source

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