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35 Little-Known Bits of Pop Music Lore

Our favorite facts about your favorite artists

35 Little-Known Bits of Pop Music Lore

April 20, 2024

If you truly love a musician, you’ve probably done your own deep dive into what makes them and their music so great. Well, we feel the same way about music facts. One little tidbit of music lore gets us fired up to dig way deeper. And we can totally bop our heads along to them. Here, watch: “The Caroline in Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is JFK’s daughter.

Hmm, you probably couldn’t see our heads bopping along, but they were! We promise!

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35

Louie Louie by the Kingsmen SMEN Written by Richard Berry, the lyrics have were rumored to be so obscene that it caused an FBI investigation. But it's just a wholesome song about a Jamaican sailor returning to the island to see his lover. CRACKED.COM — Source

34

White Zombie

GRACKED.COM WHITE ZOMBY White Zombie's Astro Creep 2000 contains a hidden song, at the end of the album, titled Where The Sidewalk Ends, The Bug Parade Begins. — Source

33

Halsey is an anagram of her first name, Ashley. It's also the subway stop in Brooklyn, New York, where she grew up. CRACKED.COM — Source

32

Bonnie Tyler

Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler Songwriter Jim Steinman originally titled the song Vampires in Love while he was working on the vampire romance musical Nosferatu. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

CRACKED.COM Metallica's Nothing Else Matters C.T.H came from thoughtless guitar fingering. Some people doodle on paper while on the phone. James Hetfield randomly plucked at his guitar's strings while talking to his girlfriend. That pattern became the song's opening bars. — Source

30

CRACKED COM TICKET TO RIDE According to John Lennon, the ticket to ride was actually a card indicating a clean bill of health... ...carried by Hamburg prostitutes in the 1960s. ... TICKET — Source

29

Vanilla Ice flips houses the CRACKED.COM Ice started studying real estate in the 90's, and became surprisingly adept at investing in and remodeling homes. Не now owns Vanilla Ice Real Estate, and has a show on the DIY Network. — Source

28

311 is an Omaha police code for indecent exposure. The guitarist got arrested for skinny dippinng, so they used the citation code as a band name. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

Bruce Springsteen

Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen The song has a long history of being used in a patriotic fashion, despite it being about the difficult experiences of a Vietnam veteran returning home. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Beastie Boys

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

25

Duran Duran

DURAN DURAN NAMED ITSELF AFTER THE VILLAIN IN CHEESY SCIFI FLICK BARBARELLA. The villain was actually named Durand Durand. Also in Barbarella: Jane Fonda, pictured above in the Orgasmatron. CRACKED.COM http://www.bandnameexplained.com/2013/07/duran-duran-band-name-meaning.html — Source

24

HELTER SKELTER IS THE BEATLES' ATTEMPT TO OUT-WHO THE WHO. Paul McCartney wrote it after hearing The Who's eardrum-shattering style, and figuring he could do better. CRACKED.COM wwww.thecurrent.org/feature/2013/07/16/today-in-music-history-the-beatles-record-helter-skelter — Source

23

THE HALLELUJAH CHORUS ISN'T ABOUT THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. It's about the Second Coming, and by extension, the end of the world. It's based on scriptures from the book of Revelation, which is the apocalyptic part of the Bible. CRACKED COM Revelation 19615 — Source

22

DRUMMER KEITH MOON, WHEN INVITED TO PLAY FOR A NEW BAND, THOUGHT THE IDEA WOULD GO OVER LIKE A LEAD ZEPPELIN. They changed the spelling because they didn't want people to use the wrong pronunciation of lead. CRACKED.COM http://www.classicbands.com/names.html — Source

21

Nickelback

NICKELBACK IS NAMED AFTER CHANGE FOR COFFEE. UNION INTERNATIONAL GLUTINO MONTICH.RU STATES FLUE CANTS ORANGE Lead singer Chad Kroeger was having trouble coming up with a name, so he approached his brother, who worked at a Starbucks. Coffee was $1.95, which meant every customer who paid two bucks got a nickel back. CRACKED.COM http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/nickelback — Source

20

19

TOAD THE WET SPROCKET TOOK ITS NAME FROM A MONTY PYTHON SKETCH. In the bit, which appeared on an album, Eric Idle was making fun of rock bands with ridiculous names. Не had no idea one of the names had been chosen by an actual band until he heard them on the radio. CRACKED.COM http://youtu.be/DR22krUkBc — Source

18

WHO ARE You IS ABOUT CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS. Who? 013 NHOB K who? Specifically, it's about Pete Townshend hashing out royalties for The Who's American sales. After 14 hours of negotiations, the execs handed Townshend a check, and he went on the bender described in the song. CRACKED.COM Geoffrey Giuliano, 1996. Behind Blue Eyes: The Life of Pete Townshend. — Source

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17

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

16

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

15

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

14

Jack Kerouac

13

Poker Face by Lady Gaga The singer revealed the song is surprisingly about her bisexuality. The lyrics are about her hooking up with a man but fantasizing about being with a woman. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

Fountains of Wayne was named after a lawn ornament store. In Wayne, NJ, there was a store with the name, and the band thought it was amusing. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

According to Bob Marley's girlfriend, I Shot the Sheriff was inspired by their fights over birth control. The Sheriff was the doctor who prescribed her the Pill. Sheriff John Brown always hated me, For what, / don't know. Every time / plant a seed, Не said Kill it before it grow. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

The Simpsons

THe SIMPSONS DO THE BARTMAN Secretly WRITTEN By MICHAeL JACKSON CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Bon Jovi

CRACKED.COM Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name was a different song (by Bonnie Tyler). Tyler's If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man) didn't do as well as songwriter Desmond Child expected - so he rewrote the lyrics, changed the song's title, and gave it to someone else to prove it could be a hit. — Source

8

London Calling by The Clash The 1979 song is about climate change. The lyrics were inspired after the band read an article about the flooding of the Thames River. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Paramore

Paramore was an original member's mother's maiden name. When they learned the meaning of paramour, they took on the name, using the spelling of the maiden name. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

Blur

Dave Rowntree is a lawyer BLUR CRACKED.COM Не started up an animation company and even became a pilot, before embarking on his most exciting journey: being a paralegal: I've done some amazing things with Blur, but that, for me, was more interesting. Не was inspired to complete law school and become a criminal lawyer. — Source

5

The Velvet Underground

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND TOOK ITS NAME FROM THE TITLE OF AN S&M BOOK FOUND ON THE SIDEWALK. AB THE VELVET - UNDERGROUND Han . - incredible book Kwil short and anice - But + decumentary on the Medial compation - ... - to May thinking and BY MICHAEL LEIGH - LOUIS BERG MO The Velvet Underground, by OF Michael Leigh, was found by one of the band members. It was all about the secret bondage-y sexual scene in the early 1960s. CRACKED.COM http://www.classicbands.com/names.html — Source

4

PI get the party started P!NK'S 2001 SMASH HIT, 'GET THE PARTY STARTED' WAS WRITTEN BY 4 NON BLONDES FRONTWOMAN LINDA PERRY DURING A WEIRD PHASE CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline is named after JFK's daughter. Diamond needed a three-syllable name to fit the song he was writing. Then he remembered a photo of 7-year-old Caroline Kennedy he had seen in a magazine. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

Blondie

One Way or Another by Blondie The obsessive love song is more obsessive than it seems on the surface. Debbie Harry penned the song after being stalked by a nutjob. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

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

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