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34 Facts About Your Favorite Music to Sing From the Rooftops

These facts don’t rhyme, but they sound great (on key)

34 Facts About Your Favorite Music to Sing From the Rooftops

June 16, 2024

You probably won’t find these facts in any musician’s biography, but they happened and they deserve to be told. When a hit song really moves us, we just need to know more. Who wrote it? What is it really about? And how exactly does it pertain to German sex workers?

Those answers and more, right here, right now!

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34

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

33

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

32

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

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

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

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

Angel by Sarah McLachlan McLachlan revealed that the song now best known for SPCA commercials was inspired by Jonathan Melvoin, the Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist who died by heroin overdose. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

CRACKED.COM Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water recounts a real tragedy. The story in the lyrics actually happened - the band was in Montreux, Switzerland, when some stupid with a flare gun burned down the casino where they were supposed to record an album using a mobile studio. — Source

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Paul McCartney wrote 'Hey Jude' as a gesture of support and comfort for John Lennon's son Julian during the divorce of his parents. When he first heard it, John Lennon interpreted it as a gesture of comfort and support ... for John Lennon, for hooking up with Yoko Ono. Bet that was an awkward conversation. CRACKED GOM — Source

23

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

22

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

21

CRACKED.COM Metallica's Nothing Else Matters C.B.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

20

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

19

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

18

The Beastie Boys' Shadrach includes a Biblical allusion to Daniel 1 - Daniel 3. We're just three MCs and we're on the go/ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Daniel 1--Daniel 3 tells the stories of three Jewish boys - - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - who are saved from being burned alive in a furnace by divine intervention. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

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

16

IF YOU REVERSE THE FIRST FEW SECONDS OF OZZY OSBOURNE'S SONG 'BLOODBATH IN PARADISE' LOCAL CAUGHT Traditional SEA MAZE Fishmenger SHELLFISH FISH SPECIALITIES на Coca-Cola SEA HAZE SEA HAZE delection of Welcome to Locally Kingston upon Hull COCELES Caught WHELKS MUSSELS FRESH F PERMIS JELLIED EELS The Pioneering City SHE EDWARDS EXCELLENCE - TWINNED WITH YOUR DARKEST THOUGHT YOU WILL HEAR THE WORDS YOUR MOTHER SELLS WHELKS IN HULL. CRACKED COM — Source

15

Age ain't nothing but a number by Aaliyah included the lines Throwing down ain't nothing but a thing. Take my hand and come with me, let me show you to ecstasy. & Tonight we're gonna go all the way. Aaliyah's age when she released the song? FIFTEEN! VIA Cherry 20ml The song's writer? SUGA A 26 year old... W Cherry Named R. Kelly! GRACKED.COM — Source

14

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

13

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

12

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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

10

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

9

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

8

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

7

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

6

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

5

Bird The opening lines of The Joker are references to other songs by the Steve Miller Band. Some people call me the space cowboy - Space Cowboy Some call me the gangster of love - Gangster of Love - Some people call me Maurice - Enter Maurice CRACKED.COM Copaid — Source

4

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND TOOK ITS NAME FROM THE TITLE OF AN S&M BOOK FOUND ON THE SIDEWALK. AB THE VELVET - NEW UNDERGROUND Han . - incredible book kwil short and amor - But . dicumentary on the Medial compation of our - the - to May thinking and BY MICHAEL LEIGH INTRODUCTION - LOUIS BERG M.D. 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

3

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

2

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

1

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

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