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32 Trivia Tidbits About the Music Industry That’ll Have You Singing a Different Tune

May 19, 2024

We knew rock stars were a little eccentric, but man, just… Wow. Apologies for possibly souring your view on your favorite artists and/or songs, but after stumbling upon these strange gems, we couldn’t help but share. We’ve got the ghostwriters, name origins and hidden lyric meanings that’ll shine a whole new spotlight on the music biz.

Man, we feel greasy saying “the biz.”

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32

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

31

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

30

The Clash

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

29

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

28

Bob Marley

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

27

WHO ARE You IS ABOUT CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS. Who2 013 WHO? K 18912 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

26

Bryan Adams

Bryan Adams Summer of '69 In the summer of 1969, Bryan Adams was 10 years old. The upbeat nostalgia of this song wasn't inspired by an actual year, but rather Mr. Adams' fondness for a certain sexual position. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

REM

The One I Love by REM Often seen as a love song, the lyric A simple prop to occupy my time should give away that it's about using people. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

The Beach Boys' Never Learn Not to Love was written by Charles Manson. Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson was close with Manson, until the band reworked and recorded one of his songs without crediting him. Manson was furious. Considering the Family's victims were murdered over much less that that, the Boys got off easy. CRACKED.COM — Source

23

The Goo Goo Dolls

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

22

ANGIE WAS THE NAME OF THE WOMAN WHO CAUGHT MICK JAGGER AND DAVID BOWIE IN BED TOGETHER. Angela Bowie was David's wife at the time, and she says she walked in on the pair naked in bed together when she returned from a trip. I think they were composing 'Angie, she quipped. Bowie and Jagger deny the story. CRACKED.COM http://articles.latimes.com/1990-05-04/entertainment/ca-450 1_angela-bowie — Source

21

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

20

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 Revolution — Source

19

LIMP BIZKIT IS NAMED AFTER A MASTURBATION GAME. Circle Jerks is named after the same game. CRACKED.COM http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=limp+biscuit — Source

18

Blondie was a common catcall to Debbie Harry. You can thank uncreative, creepy truckers for this band name. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Look at Your Game, Girl, a bonus track from Guns N' Roses' 1993 album, The Spaghetti Incident?, was written by Charles Manson. GUNS N ROSES THE SPAGHETTI NCIDENTE 27 ONE OF you The song was in Manson's album Lie: The Love and Terror Cult. It was released in 1970 to help pay for his legal counsel. 23 years after its initial release, AXL Rose insisted that GN'R do a cover version of that song and include it in their album. Manson lost a lawsuit filed against him by one of his victim's family in 1971. The court ordered him to — Source

16

Paper Planes by MIA The song satirizes negative stereotypes about immigrants. MIA herself was denied entry to the US, even when she was signed to Interscope Records. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

Childish Gambino

Childish Gambino came from a random name generator. To Donald Glover's credit, it was a Wu-Tang name generator so ... nice. CRACKED.COM — Source

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14

Blackbird by Beatles Paul McCartney has said the song is about race relations in the United States, specifically inspired by the Little Rock Nine, Black children who on the forefront of desegregation. CRACKED.COM — Source

13

CRACKED.COM Paul McCartney was afraid he was plagiarizing Yesterday. After dreaming up the melody, McCartney wasn't sure it was actually his creation. For a time he went around asking people in the business if they had heard it before. I thought if no one claimed it after a few weeks then I could have it, he said. — Source

12

Noel and Liam Gallagher After 20 years of creative differences, drug use, and backstage brawls, their final breakup came in 2009 before a Parisian festival. In this physical fight, Liam smashed Noel's guitar, and Noel shared that he officially quit the band. They haven't spoken since. CRACKED — Source

11

Beef

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

10

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

9

Wham!

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

8

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

7

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

6

Aerosmith

Aerosmith HE O The coke- and heroin-fueled fights on the Draw the Line tour led to a full blown brawl. Joe Perry's girlfriend threw a glass of milk at Tom Hamilton's wife's head, and Perry quit. CRACKED — Source

5

Van Halen

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

4

The Smashing Pumpkins

Billy Corgan and the rest of The Smashing Pumpkins. The band broke up in 2000 due to Billy Corgan getting the lion's share of earnings and credit. 18 years later, they reunited for a new album and a tour, but bassist D'arcy Wretzky bailed after learning Billy would make twice as much as every other member. CRACKED — Source

3

The Clash

The Clash Drummer Topper Headon wrote Rock the Casbah but was fired over his heroin addiction before it became their biggest hit. At the height of their fame, Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, and Joe Strummer fought relentlessly over the direction of the band and broke up in 1986. CRACKED — Source

2

The Everly Brothers

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

1

Slash

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

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