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40 Random Bits of Trivia About Pop Music, Rock Stars and Eccentric Artists

When all those dramatic emotions spill out of the songs and into the real world

40 Random Bits of Trivia About Pop Music, Rock Stars and Eccentric Artists

October 25, 2024

We’ve got music facts with more drama than dramas — you know, highly dramatic TV shows that are colloquially referred to as “dramas.”

We thought a little wordplay was a fun way to open this list, but let us know if comparing music to TV was too much of a leap, and not clear enough.

Okay, where were we? Oh, yeah — these bits of trivia about huge hits and the huge stars that made them contain some serious drama. There. We couldn’t have made that any more clear. Thanks for your patience.

40

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

39

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

38

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

37

Thriller

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

36

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

35

You'll have gathered by now, Madonna really, really liked spending money on music videos. Mark Romanek's $5 million surreal masterpiece featured innovative CGI, morphing landscapes, flying witch hats and Madonna in maybe 15 different wigs. CRACKED — Source

34

Faith No More

MIKE PATTON OF FAITH NO MORE HAS ONE OF THE WIDEST VOCAL RANGES IN THE HISTORY OF RECORDED MUSIC. CRACKED.COM OVER SIX OCTAVES. — Source: 14 Famous People With Superhero-Level Skills

33

KISS

KISS turned the place upside down GRACKED COM KISS, like most rock bands worth a damn, has a history of trashing hotel rooms. The legend goes that Ace Frehley took that tradition to another level, Supergluing all the furniture in his hotel room to the ceiling. Some guys just know how — The Richest

32

15 Epic Feats of Partying by Famous People - This isn’t 100% confirmed, but the story goes that on his 21st birthday, Keith drove a car into a pool, k — Source: CBS News

31

Charlie Parker

15 Epic Feats of Partying by Famous People - When the sax player cranked out “Embraceable You” at his party, one guest started stripping. Parker then — Source: Phoenix New Times

30

OZZY OSBOURNE needed a cocaine substitute CRAGKEDCOM Ozzy asked Motley Crue for coke, but they were out. He walked over to a crack in the sidewalk, recalls Nikki Sixx. I saw a long column of ants and as I thought, No, he wouldn't, he did. He put the straw to — Vanity Fair

29

15 Epic Feats of Partying by Famous People - For his 50th birthday, John held a costume party for 600 celebrities. He dressed as Louis XIV, with a cos — Source: Sydney Morning Herald

28

Bjork

Bjork and Lars von Trier really had a hard time working together on Dancer in the Dark. Among other things, Bjork apparently told von Trier that her grandpa once told her Never work with a Dane because he will eat your soul. Von Trier (who is Danish) said that everyday she had something like that. CRACKED.COM — Source

27

JUSTICE GRANDE VICTORIOUS SWEETHEART THE ONLY REASON VICTORIOUS ENDED IS BECAUSE 1 GIRL DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT, GRANDE SPAT ONLINE. JUSTICE TWEETED BA — Seventeen

26

EIton John can't stop talking trash about Madonna. And it's all because of Lady Gaga. Madonna doesn't like Gaga because Born This Way sounds like a

25

Guns N’ Roses

AxI Rose and Slash didn't remain friends post-GNR. They've been sniping at each other for 20 years. Rose calls Slash a cancer that was wisely removed

24

Katy Perry

CRACKED KATY PERRY As Katy Hudson, she played lead guitar and sang Christian rock on her 2001 self-titled album, and the lack of sales bankrupted her label. She signed with Capitol Records in 2007, changed her name to Katy Perry, and rebranded as the I Kissed A Girl pop star. — Jubilee Cast / IMDB

23

September on HBOMAX September 1 Jailhouse Rock Elvis Presley refused to watch the movie. His co-star Judy Tyler died in a car accident days after shooting ended, and Elvis reportedly couldn't bear seeing her on screen after that. CRACKED.COM — Classic Movie Hub

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22

DEEP SPACE NINE / THE MAGNIFICENT FERENGI IGGY POP KIDNAPPED QUARK'S MOM. The rock star played a Vorta named Yelgrun who is holding Ishka captive, while Quark, Rom, and Nog team up to rescue their Moogie. CRACKED.COM — Source: 17 Stars We Forgot Were on 'Star Trek'

21

Rock Star TOAN TETT saved a 3-year-old boy from drowning in 1985. Jett spotted the kid face down in the ocean and jumped in, fully clothed, to rescue

20

Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne suffers from epilepsy CRACKED.COM He was diagnosed as a child, but he's suffered more and more seizures as his career progresses. He blames it on the rock star lifestyle, or, as he puts it, just plain stress, no rest and overworking myself.

19

The Horns

Every rocker knows about the devil horns sign. It's actually for protection. The devil horns hand gesture was first associated with metal music by Ron

18

Shake It Off

During the shooting of the music video of Taylor Swift's Shake It Off, heavy-metal music was played around the perimeter of the studio SO no-one cou

17

Bruce Springsteen

CRACKED Bruce Springsteen roasts Bob Dylan - Rock & Roll HoF While inducting Dylan into the Rock & Roll HoF, Springsteen said he first heard Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone in the car with his mother: She liked the music. She sat there for a minute, looked at me and said, 'That guy can't sing. 1988 — Youtube / Billboard

16

Frank Sinatra

CRACKED FRANK SINATRA HATED ELVIS PRESLEY AND ROCK 'N' ROLL. About Elvis' music, Sinatra said, It's the most brutal, ugly, desperate, vicious form of expression that has been my misfortune to hear. Presley called a press conference to defend himself and his music. — Telegraph / Billboard

15

50 THE BEATLES 5 FEBRUARY 1962 CRACKED.COM We don't like the sound. Guitar groups are on their way out. -Dick Rowe, head of artists and repertoire at Decca Records. The Beatles then went on to some success, as did rock music in general. — Source

14

The Holy Grail

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS ROCK MUSIC HELPED FINANCE THE MOVIE THE HOLY GRAIL The movie managed to get made thanks to the financial backing of rock bands like Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, and several record labels. Pink Floyd bandmates used the proceeds from their hit album Dark Side of the Moon

13

Like humans, dogs have their own music preferences. Research shows that most dogs prefer listening to reggae and soft rock than to pop or classical music. CRACKED.COM — Animals That (Eerily) Demonstrate Human-Like Behavior

12

The Hard Rock Cafe

The Hard Rock Café is entirely owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. Carte Hard Rock CAFE HONGIKONS They bought it back in 2007 - and that also means they in turn own the world's biggest music memorabilia collection, since that's owned by Hard Rock. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

Rock ‘n’ Roll

CRACKED.COM Rock 'n' roll is, actually, the devil's music. Rock makes heavy use of the Devil's Interval - a chord SO dissonant that the Church banned it in the Middle Ages. (On the other hand, it's not very likely that pearl clutchers are actually talking about chords and the history of music, is it?) — Source: 15 Creepy Random Facts for Spooky Season

10

Sam Smith

Sam Smith sang Stay With Me all by himself -- no choir. Не got the choir effect by layering his voice (while standing in different spots) about 20 times, and what we hear is the finished demo. The song was written in 34 minutes and recorded in a single take, but it wasn't until he'd added the harmonies that he felt like the whole song suddenly made sense. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

Shaggy

CRACKED.COM Shaggy's hit song It Wasn't Me was inspired by a skit Eddie Murphy did in Raw about men being unfaithful and denying it. — Source

8

A Charlie Brown Christmas producer Lee Mendelson banged out the lyrics to Christmas Time is Here in one sitting. It was the last minute, and all his lyricist friends were busy. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury wrote Crazy Little Thing Called Love in ten minutes on a guitar despite only knowing a few chords. CRACKED COM — Source

6

Lil’ Bow Wow

Lil' Bow Wow got his name from Dr. Dre Не makes an apperance in Snoop Dogg's Gin and Juice music video. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

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

4

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

3

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

2

Music and A.I.

CRACKED MUSIC Companies are now using AI to create recommendation feeds on music platforms like SoundCloud and Spotify. This could lead to artists making shorter, snappier songs to reach more people. — Soundcloud / Pitchfork

1

Busta Rhymes

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: 18 Now-You-Know Movie Facts To Thwart Our Enemies

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