29 Bizarre True Stories Behind the Most Popular Music Ever

Hmm, gross. That's not what we thought that song meant.
29 Bizarre True Stories Behind the Most Popular Music Ever

Music nowadays is pretty calculated. Music producers have it down to science, knowing we'll listen to whatever "crap" they're tossing at us. But back in the day? Not so much.

A lot of the stuff we consider "classic" really only reached our ears mostly due to plain dumb happenstance. With the help of Phish Head Auntieme, here are the craziest coincidences that made musical history.

DUDE LOoks LKE A LADy' Is ABOUT VINCE NENL, FROM MotLEY CRIE. oo According to Steven Tyler, the boys from Aerosmith spotted Neil from the back, in a
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 se
STEELY DAN was a jazz-rock duo from the late 1970s. GANT, They were named after a STEAM POWERED DILDO from the book Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroug
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 f
Who ARE You IS ABOUT CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS. ho? UAgo o3 whd Specifically, it's about Pete Townshend hashing out royalties for The Who's American sale
STEVEN TYLER WROTE THE SONG WALK THIS Ways WHEN HE HEARD MaRTY FELDMAN USE THE PHRASE IN YounG FRANKENSTEIN. Not unironically, it was Run-DMC's cover
THE VELVET UNDERGROUND TOOK ITS NAME FROM THE TITLE OF AN SEM BOOK FOUND ON THE SIDEWALK. THE VELVET UNOERGROUND MCRLAL LTO The Velvet Underground, by
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 ri
THE RIFF FROM SWEET CHILD O MINE IS A GHITAR EXERCISE. When Axl Rose heard Slash's ing-skipping exercise, he insisted it be spun into a song, using
Sunner OF '69 WASN'T ABOUT THE YEAR. IT WAs ABOUT THE SEX. 1969 111213 Bryan Adams confirmed in an interview that it was about 69 the sex, not '69 t
THE SToNe TEMPLE PiLoTs ARE NAMED AFTER THE STP OLL LOGO. TP Their original name, Mighty Joe Young, wasn't available. They came up with the name Stone
THE SONG PuFF THE MaGIc DRAGON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DRUGS. Co-writer Peter Yarrow says that it's about losing one's childhood innocence. He said t
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
AMES HETFIELD WROTE NOTHING ELSE MaTTers 5 7 WITHOUT THINKING. He's the guitarist for Metallica. He was mindlessly plucking his 6 5 guitar strings w
NICKELBACK IS NAMED AFTER CHANGE FOR COFFEE. PIS UM omenl D 082 Lead singer Chad Kroeger was having trouble coming up with a name, so he approached hi
MaRK KNOPFLER THRNED THE RANTINGS OF A DISGRHNTLED SALESMAN INTO A HUGE HIT. Knopfler took the lyrics for Money for Nothing directly from the rants of
KINKS LEAD SINGER Ray DAVIES DATED THE REAL LOLa. The official Kinks biograpy stated in 1985 that the song was about the night Kinks manager Robert Wa
DRuMMER KEITH Moon, WHEN INVITED TO PLAY FOR A NEW BAND, THOUGHT THE IDEA WOULD GO OVER LKE A LEAD ZEPPELIN They changed the spelling because they did
LImp Bizkit IS NAMED AFTER A MASTURBATION GAME. Circle Jerks is named after the same game. htothwwurbandidtlonarycomdehne.chorlormalmotbiscut
THE HALLELHJAH 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
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
THE WORKING TITLE FOR BILLY JoeL's SAPPY BALLAD HONESTY WAS Soon. IT'S SUCH A LONELY WORD... JoeI's drummer Liberty DeVito used to write inappropria
THE BLCK-EYEL PEAS SONG LEt's GET IT STARTED WAS ORIGINALLY RELEASED AS LET'S GET RETARDED. It wasn't a secret, either. Let's Get Retarded was i
DuRAN DURAN NAMED ITSELF AFTER THE VILLAIN IN CHEESY SCIFI FLICK BARBARELLAE The villain was actually named Durand Durand. Also in Barbarella:Jane Fon
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, th
DEPECHE MoDe IS NAMED AFTER A FReNCH MAGAZINE. The name literally means Fashion Update. htlo/omaghtyoghlyaino.commusicldepocho-modehtml
You AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET WAS RECORDED TO MAKE FUN OF A STUTTERER. ana The stutterer was Randy Bachman's brother Gary, and Bachman Turner Overdrive
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 restrun
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 w

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