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35 Random Bits of Pop Music Trivia That Load in the Informational Amps While the Singer Mingles and Noshes in the Green Room

This banger of a list is just hoping it’s not a one-hit wonder

35 Random Bits of Pop Music Trivia That Load in the Informational Amps While the Singer Mingles and Noshes in the Green Room

December 28, 2024

How do you feel about one-hit wonders? On one hand, it’s a little sad that they peaked with one killer song before their decline into irrelevancy. On the other hand, they made a massive hit. How many people can say that?

We’re only asking because we know this list is a complete hit. It’s got music fact after music fact that gets everyone goin’ crazy on the dance floor.

Now it’s time for us to get back in the studio and hope that this list is just a stepping stone to true music fact greatness.

35

Duran Duran

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

34

Aerosmith

DUDE LOOKS LIKE A LADY IS ABOUT VINCE NEIL, FROM MÖTLEY CRÜE. According to Steven Tyler, the boys from Aerosmith spotted Neil from the back, in a bar, and assumed he was a woman. When he turned around, they realized their mistake and started riffing with the phrase, dude looks like a lady. CRACKED.COM http://wwwchuffingtonpost.com/sue-kerr/aerosmith-dude-looks-like-a-lady_b_3848538.html — Source

33

First Aid Kit

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: 37 Eyebrow-Arching Facts About Music

32

Britney Spears

Britney Spears was almost in a girl band. The band Innosense was managed by Lou Pearlman (of Backstreet and N'SYNC fame) and Justin Timberlake's mom. Britney left to pursue her solo career. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

Eminem

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

30

Arcade Fire

Arcade Fire's interactive SUBURBS video For their 2010 song We Used to Wait, fans could plunk in their address on thewildernessdowntown.com and see Google Maps images of their house in the video for a personalized experience. CRACKED — Arcade Fire/YouTube
SPIN

29

Bob Dylan

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 — Bob Dylan/YouTube
Bob Dylan/YouTube

28

MTV

MTV had a very fitting first music video. At 12:01a.m. on August 1st, 1981, Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles became the very first music video on MTV. The video was released in 1979, so the band definitely saw the changing of the guard and capitalized. CRACKED — Source

27

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 — Michael Jackson/YouTube
Billboard

26

Ground Control

THE FIRST MUSIC VIDEO RECORDED IN SPACE IS COMMANDER CHRIS HADFIELD'S COVER OF DAVID BOWIE'S SPACE ODDITY. TIDITEE It's also the first remote musica

25

The Wu-Tang Clan

THE WU-TANG CLAN CRACKED.COM In 1993, Protect Ya Neck became a hit single without a hook or a chorus. This cypher of 9 MC's rapping their verses was groundbreaking, but its success helped them land a game-changing deal with Loud records, where they signed as a group and were allowed to sign with other labels as solo artists. — Source: npr.org

24

Grandmaster Flash

Hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash loves collecting souvenir mugs from his travels. His collection CRACKEDCON consists ofbetween 5-000 and 7.000 mugs.

23

The NYC Rap Tour

THE NYC RAP TOUR CRACKED.COM In 1982, some of hip hop's most popular figures, DJ Africa Bambaataa, The Rock Steady Crew, Fab 5 Freddy, and many more, brought the culture across the Atlantic to cities like Paris and London, becoming the very first international hip hop tour. — Source: beats-rhymes

22

Hip Hop Origins

The 1977 NYC blackout was great for hip hop. CRACKED.COM During 25 hours of chaos, lots of DJ equipment was stolen, and either kept for personal use or sold on the black market. As a result, aspiring hip hop artists suddenly had the hardware to pursue their dreams, and the genre exploded from its native Bronx.

21

Run DMC

Celebrity Crowdfunding WC DMC's $100K Kickstarter. DMC attempted to launch a Kickstarter in 2013 to fund a 64-page graphic novel set in 1985 and focused on hip-hop culture, but it failed to reach its $100,000 goal, only raising $5,537. Despite this, the comic was eventually made, and was met with positive reviews. CRACKED — Darryl Makes Comics,
Photo Works/Shutterstock
6 Spectacularly Embarrassing Celebrity Kickstarter Fails

20

Bad

Bad was originally going to be a collaboration between Michael Jackson and Prince. Producer Quincy Jones says it was his idea to put the two rivals together, and turn that antagonistic energy into pop gold. Apparently it was a hard pass, for Prince. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Paramore

Paramore was an original member's mother's maiden name. When they learned the meaning of paramour, they took on the name, using the spelling of the maiden name. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Jessica Simpson

Jessica Simpson tried to be a Christian singer ESSICA SIMPSON Christian labels said she was too pretty. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

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

16

J-Lo

Jennifer Lopez was a back-up dancer for Janet Jackson She also danced back-up for New Kids on the Block before she was famous. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

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

14

Bon Jovi

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

13

Hallelujah

THE HALLELUJAH 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 from the book of Revelation, which is the apocalyptic part of the Bible. CRACKED.COM Revelation 19615 — Source

12

Britney Spears

CRACKED.COM Britney Spears' Toxic musically shouldn't work, yet it does. Toxic disregards the rules of music - not because it doesn't know them, but because it said, F-you, you won't tell me what to do. The song is a chaotic mishmash of clashing genres and musical traditions-and it makes it work. Generic pop music? Think again! — Source: 16 Random Facts to Download into Your Brain Right Away

11

Rihanna

Rihanna's Diamonds took 14 minutes to write. (The producer said, That's insane.) It sold 3.5 million copies. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy Osbourne has teamed with Rock and Roll Beauty to launch his own collection of beauty products. CRACKED.COM The man knows about wearing dra- matic eye shadow, and testing poten- tially hazardous chemicals on himself. — Consequence / Wikipedia

9

Huey Lewis

Huey Lewis wishes he'd sold out CRACKED.COM After Michael Jackson's landmark Pepsi deal, Coke wanted to throw a few million dollars at Huey to use The Heart of Rock & Roll. He turned them down, a move he now calls stupid. — Source: Billboard

8

Motorhead

MOTORHEAD oO MEANS SPEED FREAKA o Motorhead's founder, Lemmy, said that his aim was for the group to be the dirtiest rock 'n' roll band in the world.

7

Rick Wakeman

CRACKED Rick Wakeman - Rock & Roll HoF The Yes keyboardist preached the importance of prostate exams, saying, It's like a gopher going on holiday inside you, then joked that his doctor had an erection. 2016 — Youtube

6

Metallica

Metallica gladly welcomed a new member of a different species, the Macrostylis metallicola, into their rock 'n' roll family. ETALICOLK MAICROSTYLIS ET

5

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

4

Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks is the only woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. Once for being a member of Fleetwood Mac, once for her solo career. — Source: The New York Times

3

Jethro Tull

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

2

Frank Zappa

1M WHEN MTV ASKED FRANK ZAPPA ABOUT WHETHER THE '80S ROCK N' ROLL MUSIC IS MORE FORMULA THAN IT WAS BACK IN THE DAYS... ZAPPA REPLIED, IMEAN YOU HERE

1

The Ramones

Johnny Ramone might have invented punk rock as we know it, but he wasn't into the rock 'n' roll lifestyle in the least. After concerts, when the rest

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