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35 Trivia Tidbits About Music History

We’ve got some notable notes

35 Trivia Tidbits About Music History

June 08, 2024

Pop music seems like a young, hip term, but it’s actually about 70 years old now. And a lot has happened in those seven decades for sure. Entire genres of music have popped up and had (or are still having) their day in the sun. Luckily for us music history nuts, this all adds up to a busker’s guitar case full of facts!

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35

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

34

STEVEN TYLER WROTE THE SONG WALK THIS WAY WHEN НЕ HEARD MARTY FELDMAN USE THE PHRASE IN YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN. Not unironically, it was Run-DMC's cover of the song that brought Aerosmith back from the dead in the 1980s. CRACKED.COM 9100 97 — Source

33

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

32

lan Anderson was a fish farmer JETHRO TULL CRACKED.COM At one point in the 90's, he employed 400 people at the salmon farm he ran out of his home. Salmon breeding and rock flute have more in common than you might think: It's not a million miles away from rock and roll. There's a little bit of theatricality about it, too. — Source

31

30

The Weather Girls It's Raining Men The Weather Girls' It's Raining Men was co-written by actor, producer and long-time musical director for David Letterman, Paul Shaffer. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

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

28

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

27

Stevie Nicks wrote Landslide when she was 27. The song is about growing older, even though the songwriter wasn't even 30. Nicks explains, You can feel really old at 27. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

26

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

25

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

24

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

23

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

22

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

21

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

20

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

19

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

18

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

17

David Lee Roth dabbled in emergency medicine CRACKED.COM During his 20-year hiatus from Van Halen, he mostly pursued a solo career. But he carved out 2 full years to serve as an EMT in New York City. Не reportedly went on over 200 emergency ambulance calls. — Source

16

Al Green is an ordained pastor CRACKED.COM After his girlfriend assaulted him with a pot of boiling grits in 1974, he was inspired to become a reverend, and continues to preach weekly at the Memphis church he established. — Source

15

Erykah Badu is a doula CRACKED.COM The Grammy-winning R&B star quit the biz to become a highly-trained birthing coach after hanging out with a pregnant pal of hers: I just continued to be present at different people's births, and I started studying on my own. — Source

14

CRACKED.COM Billie Jean almost got Michael Jackson killed. Jackson was so absorbed in the song, working on it in his head while driving, that he didn't notice his car was on fire. Someone on a bike had to point it out to him. — Source

13

CRACKED.COM Celine Dion's 1998 Christmas album features the heartfelt ballad The Magic Of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone). The song was written by Twisted Sister frontman and hair metal icon Dee Snider. — Source

12

Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah became big because of Shrek. The song went mostly underappreciated for years, even as other artists kept covering it, until a version of it was used in a movie about an ogre, a princess, and a donkey. Then it started popping up everywhere. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Manic Monday was actually written by Prince. GRACKED.COM — Source

10

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

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

8

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

7

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

6

Pharrell's 24-hour music video. ISE 08:57 MM 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

5

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

4

Sonic Youth FLUIDE 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

3

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

2

THE DIXIE CHICKS SLAM GEORGE W. BUSH. CRACKED In 2003, radio stations pulled their music and fans were outraged after they said We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the president is from Texas. Much worse is said about the current and recent presidents daily. — Source

1

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE HUNG AMERICAN FLAGS UPSIDE DOWN ON SNL. STERRILLA CRACKED They did this before performing, but the flags were quickly taken down, and they were asked to leave before performing a 2nd song. This was in 1996, and things have gotten a lot more political on the show since then. — Source

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