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40 Random Bits of Pop-Culture Trivia That the Cat Dragged In

November 19, 2024

50 Cent’s “It’s Your Birthday” was accused of ripping off a birthday song — just not the one you’re thinking of.

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40

Ishtar

CRACKED Sun poisoning and a dead cobra on ISHTAR The 1987 movie was shot in the Sahara Desert, where director Elaine May found out she was allergic to the sun. She had to wear bandages completely covering her face. Oh, and a cobra that was supposed to appear in the film died of a heart attack. — Source

39

Sam Raimi

Sam Raimi injured and tortured Bruce Campbell for months. THE EVIL DEAD CRACKED.COM The whole cast was in the dark when it came to Raimi's practical effects, but Campbell took the brunt. For example, Raimi routinely re-sprained his ankle. — Source

38

The Terminator

CRACKED THE TERMINATOR filmed without a permit and poisoned the crew Since they didn't pay for permits, they snuck a lot of shots on L.A. streets. They didn't stop filming when pesticides were sprayed over the city, so the fog washing over the cast and crew was incredibly toxic. — Source

37

Linda Blair

Linda Blair CRACKED.COM At only 14, she blew audiences away with her iconic performance as possessed Regan MacNeil in The Exorcist. She suffered a broken back on set, serious emotional traumas, and received hate and death threats for her association with the devil. — Source

36

Alfred Hitchcock

Illegal filmmaking Alfred Hitchcock terrorized actors and birds) on The Birds. Hitchcock pelted actress Tippi Hedren with live birds (injuring and killing the birds), and force-fed whisky to seagulls to get them to stay still for longer. Hedren was hospitalized, and he ruined her career when she refused his sexual advances. CRACKED — Source

35

Classic Hollywood

STUDIOS PRETTY MUCH OWNED THE ACTORS. Classic Hollywood SUCKED Actors could only work for the studio they were under contract with - and the contracts were long term. Often, however, studios would lend each other stars - sometimes as a way to punish the actor for defying their masters. CRACKED.COM — Source

34

Bridgerton

CRACKED.COM Sex scenes Bridgerton There's a sex coordinator. Sex scenes (in this show and others) often have stunt or intimacy coordinators, to help with the choreography. — Source: Mamamia

33

Denis Villeneuve

Denis Villeneuve was specifically inspired by Star Wars Tatooine scenes for Dune. As he put it, When I saw the very first 'Star Wars' in 1977 my favorite scenes were the ones that felt the most natural. The one when we see the droids at the beginning - there was something about the strength of nature. CRACKED.COM — Source

32

Robert De Niro

BEHIND-THE-SCENESFACTS Robert De Niro accepted the role as Captain Shakespeare probably because he regretted turning down Captain Barbossa De Niro was the first choice to play a villain in Pirates of the Caribbean, which he assumed would be a commercial flop. He later accepted the role of the gender-fluid captain, after his mistake. — Source: ScreenRant

31

Iain Glen

lain Glen says that the pit fight sequence was his best day on the Game of Thrones set. His daughter was there to watch him, and the director let her

30

Bauer Media

BAUER MEDIA GRO Tom Cruise sued Bauer Media for claiming he chose Scientology over his daughter. Bauer Media's In Touch Weekly and Life & Style reported that Cruise abandoned Suri for Scientology, and he sued them for $50 million. They reached a confidential settlement. CRACKED — Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock
Vanity Fair

29

Shelly Miscavige

CRACKED.COM SCIENTOLOGY Things that mysteriously disappeared The wife of the Scientology boss David Miscavige's sketchiness extends to the whereabouts of his wife Shelly, who was last seen in public in August of friggin' 2007. The LAPD followed a 2013 missing person report by saying she's actually super alive, you guys. — Michael Gordon/Shutterstock
The 5 Weirdest Disappearances No One Can Explain
Wikipedia

28

Isaac Hayes

SOUTH PARK lost Chef when Isaac Hayes quit over an episode lambasting Scientology - or so was reported at the time. Hayes' son revealed years later that his father was incapacitated due to health issues, and someone in his Scientology circle quit South Park for him. — Source: Billboard

27

Gold Base

The Church of Scientology has a compound in California called Gold Base. CRACKED.COM It is guarded by snip- ers and armed gate guards and houses a prison that practices torture and a paramili- tary training school. — NY Times

26

Valkyrie

Germany wouldn't let Tom Cruise film a movie at their military sites because he is a member of Scientology. Scientology is viewed as a dangerous cult by the German authorities, and thus production of the 2008 film Valkyrie could not include German military sites. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Reuters / Unsplash

25

Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise riffs an entire new testament CRACKED.COM A top-secret Scientology pump-up video was unearthed in 2008 that featured Cruise burbling word salad for almost 10 minutes. Не manages not to make a single coherent point while explaining that he won't rest until everyone in the world is a Scientologist. — Source

24

Nicole Kidman

SCIENTOLOGY HAS REPORTEDLY RUINED NICOLE KIDMAN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH HER OLDEST CHILDREN. CRACKED COM Nicole's friend Leah Remini said that when she asked Connor and Bella, Kidman's adopted children with Tom Cruise, if they saw their mother often, Bella replied, Not if I have a choice. Our mom is a f*cking SP. (Scientologist speak for a suppressive person.) — Source

23

Kirstie Alley

CRACKED.COM Frasier scientology kept Kirstie Alley away. She's a Scientologist, and they don't believe in psychiatry (or shows with nonsensical theme songs?) — Source: Screen Rant

22

Katie Holmes

Katie Holmes dumped Tom Cruise over the whole Scientology thing. Specifically, Holmes didn't want their daughter Suri to grow up as a Scientologist. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

War of the Worlds

Tom Cruise WAR OF THE WORLDS CRACKED.COM Tom Cruise asked for a fully-staffed Scientology tent to be available on the set of War of the Worlds. Wait, Tom Cruise is a Scientologist?! Who knew! — 22 Bizarre, Real Demands Made By Celebrities Behind-The-Scenes

20

American Pie

Don Mclean's American Pie is a tribute. The opus is a eulogy for the '60s. The lyric the day the music died references the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper. BON AM CRACKED — United Artists,
Brunswick Records/Wiki Commons
The Guardian

19

Jackie Shane

Singer CRACKED.COM Jackie Shane The Black trans R&B singer had a Canadian hit with her 1963 cover of Any Other Way which included the lyric: Tell her that I'm happy/tell her that I'm gay. Her anthology was released in 2017 and received a Grammy nomination.

18

50 Cent

50 Cent got sued for ripping off the lyric It's your birthday from another song. He'd ripped off the lyric Go Sheila, it's your birthday and turned it into Go shorty, it's your birthday, according to the lawsuit. But the judge didn't buy it, saying that the expression was pretty common. CRACKED.COM — Source: Billboard

17

John Travolta

In 1986, John Travolta lent his vocal talents to The Road to Freedom, an album of songs written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Sample lyric:

16

Lorde

ROYALS LORDE When asked about her Grammy-winning song, she said, There's part of me that's like 'these melodies are just not as good as something I could have written now', or like 'I definitely wouldn't have written this lyric this way if I had've written it now'...It definitely feels like a bit of a relic now. CRACKED — Source: Seventeen

15

Baby Driver

EASTER EGGSTRA REFERENCES & HIDDEN MEANINGS BABY DRIVER THE RAINBOW A bank teller quotes a Dolly Parton lyric when she tells Baby, Everybody wants happiness, nobody wants pain; but there can't be a rainbow without a little rain. It's raining in that scene, and at the very end of the movie when Baby walks out of prison, there's a rainbow in the background. CRACKED.COM — Screen Rant

14

That ‘70s Show

THAT '70S SHOW was originally Teenage Wasteland. However, Fox was unable to secure the iconic lyric from the Who's Baba O'Riley and the creators had to come up with a new title. CRACKED.COM — The Hollywood Reporter

13

South Park

In the South Park song Let's Fighting Love, the lyric mistaken for kickassu is actually kenka suru, Japanese for quarrelling or squabbling. The

12

Beyonce

Beyoncé's lyric mentioning Red Lobster caused their sales to increase by 33% 27% NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source

11

The Eagles and Steely Dan

The Eagles and Steely Dan both paid homage to each other in their songs. In Everything You Did by Steely Dan, there is this lyric: turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening. The Eagles repaid the band in Hotel California with the lyric: they stab it with their steely knives. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Source

10

R.E.M.

SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE R.E.M. The band attempted to change up their sound with the pop song, but as Michael Stipe said, It was a hit but none of us are particularly fond of it...It's a song primarily written for children. CRACKED — Source

9

Eminem

CLEANIN' OUT MY CLOSET EMINEM In his song Headlights, Eminem expressed his regret to the song about his estranged mother, with lyrics includingBut I'm sorry, momma, for 'Cleanin' Out My Closet and That song I no longer play at shows/And I cringe every time it's on the radio CRACKED — Source

8

Blondie

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

7

Neil Young

Neil Young's anti- drug song is a tribute. One of Young's biggest hits, 1972's The Needle and the Damage Done, is about his Crazy Horse bandmate Danny Whitten's heroin overdose. CRACKED — Reprise Records/Wiki Commons
Ultimate Classic Rock

6

Bruno Mars

THE LAZY SONG BRUNO MARS Bruno Mars tweeted, When someone tells me they actually like The Lazy Song with a video of him looking dead-eyed into the camera. CRACKED — Source: Bruno Mars

5

Frank Zappa

The song Valley Girl perfectly captured' '80s slang. That slang was rnade up on the spot as an insult. The spoken parts of the song were improvised

4

Seinfeld

The theme song was different every episode. Jonathan Wolff re-recorded the song to match Seinfeld's monologue. And that slap bass was actually a synth. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Dayman

The Dayman song was a riff on Queen's Flash Gordon Theme Song. Glenn Howerton was playing in a band that opened with the Queen song So it was fresh in his head.' It was a one-off joke that went very far. BEHIND THE SCENES CRACKED COM — Source: Howerton's AMA

2

Brian McKnight

Grammy winner Brian McKnight wrote and performed YouPorn's theme song. After his song If You're Ready To Learn (How Your P***y Works), YouPorn came

1

Mrs. Potts

Disney composers Howard Ashman and Alan Menken originally wanted Mrs. Potts' song in Beauty and the Beast to be a rock song. CRACKED.COM

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