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40 Random Bits of Trivia About Pop Music More Bizarre Than Michael Jackson’s Monkey

These facts could be the soundtrack for the other facts in your head

40 Random Bits of Trivia About Pop Music More Bizarre Than Michael Jackson’s Monkey

January 13, 2025

All those science and history facts probably get a little bored in your head sometimes. That’s why we like to pair them with upbeat, peppy little music facts to spice things up in your brain. Much like humans, sometimes brainy, introverted facts like to pair up with a wild friend or two. It helps them come out of their shell, and it gives the wild ones an audience.

These pop music trivia tidbits can be the symbiotic relationship that your straitlaced facts need right now.

40

Madonna

The world first saw an empowered female artist through Madonna's videos She is cited by Encyclopedia Britannica as the first female artist to fully exploit the potential of the music video. Her '80s videos for Like a Virgin and Material Girl paved the way for every female artist to follow. CRACKED — Source

39

The Les Paul

CRACKED GIBSON LES PAUL (LES PAUL) Sometimes, you just can't beat the original. Music wouldn't be what it is today without the work of guitarist and engineering pioneer Les Paul, who developed the original Gibson Les Paul electric guitar in 1952. From Jimmy Page to Slash to Duane Allman, the Les Paul has remained ubiquitous. — Source

38

Smells Like Teen Spirit

Music memorabilia that sold for top dollar $4.5 million The Smells Like Teen Spirit guitar Kurt Cobain's iconic guitar was sold at auction for $4.5 million. The Fender Competition Mustang was owned by the Cobain family, and was previously displayed as part of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay's extensive collection of rock memorabilia. CRACKED — Nirvana/YouTube
Rolling Stone

37

The Pixies

Pixies: Badass SO CRACKED.COM In 1993, singer Black Francis and bassist Kim Deal hated each other. Deal found massive success with her new band The Breeders, but buried the hatchet in 2004. Four sold out shows snowballed into multiple tours and even new music. — Moguldom / 98 KUPD

36

The Guess Who

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 restrung it he was at the piano tuning his guitar. The audience started responding to the tuning sounds, so the band worked them into a song, right then and there. CRACKED.COM music.cbc.ca/#/blogs/2013/2/Randy-Bachman-takes-us-behind-the-writing-of-American-Woman — Source

35

Weezify

WEIRD WORLD If you like Spotify, there's now a Weezer-centric version, called Weezify. It was launched by Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo, and it made thousands of Weezer demos available for streaming. CRACKED.COM — Source

34

Live Aid

Pink Floyd didn't play Live Aid, but David Gilmour did. LIVE AID WEMBLEY STADIUM JOHNF. KENNEDY STADIUM LONDON PHILADELPHIA JULY 13TH 1985 AID LIVE AU GRACKED COM Floyd's guitarist appeared in Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry's band during the legendary concert. — Source: The Guardian

33

The Clash

The Clash Drummer Topper Headon wrote Rock the Casbah but was fired over his heroin addiction before it became their biggest hit. At the height of their fame, Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, and Joe Strummer fought relentlessly over the direction of the band and broke up in 1986. CRACKED — Source

32

NOFX

CRACKED.COM In 2017, punk band NOFX made an ill-advised joke about the mass shooting in Las Vegas. НА At least they were country fans and not punk rock fans, they said. They were immediately dropped as headliners from the Punk In Drublic Craft Beer and Music Festival, named after one of their own albums. — Source

31

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

30

DJ Kool Herc

DJ KOOL HERC 1520 SEDGWICK AVE. CRACKED.COM Before you change the game, you need to first create the game. On Aug 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc did just that with a block party at 1520 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx. Using two turntables, Herc isolated the breakbeats of popular records, creating what he called The Merry-Go-Round. This innovation is considered the origin of hip hop music. — Source

29

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

28

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

27

Beastie Boys

CRACKED OSHKOSH Miller TE BEASTIE BOYS Originally a hardcore punk band called the Young Aborigines in the late '70s, they were still punk as The Beastie Boys until transitioning to hip hop in 1983. Their 1986 album Licensed to III became the first rap record to top the Billboard 200 chart. — God is in the TV Zine / Wired

26

Green Day

CRACKEDGO Pop-punk paragons EKEENHY chose their name as tribute to their favorite plant, hoping to become the Cheech and Chong of punk rock.

25

High School Musical

BEHIND-THE-SCENESF FACTS The top-selling album of 2006 was the HSM SOUNDTRACK MUSICAL CRACKED COM It's the first television movie soundtrack to ever hit number one on the Billboard sales charts. It sold 3.7 million copies. Take that, Nickelback! — E Online

24

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

23

Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop's guitarist became a VP at Sony. Proto-punk band The Stooges turned Iggy Pop into an icon while utterly failing to do the same thing for James Williamson. So Williamson went to college, got a job designing computer chips, and rose through Sony's ranks, becoming VP of technology standards in 1997. All the while, his colleagues knew nothing about his rock past. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Trigger

GRACKED TRIGGER (WILLIE NELSON) Country singer Willie Nelson went through a number of different models before settling on the nylon-string Martin N-20, which he affectionately dubbed 'Trigger.' The battle-damaged guitar has a regular maintenance regiment, and visits Nelson's longtime friend and luthier Mark Erlewine once a year. Callaway — Thalia Capos

21

Anthrax

Dan Spitz is a watchmaker ANTHRAX CRACKED.COM The heavy metal guitarist said touring with Anthrax became mundane, and more like a job. So he quit the band to pursue his lifelong love of tinkering with timepieces. — Source: 37 Eyebrow-Arching Facts About Music

20

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

19

Thompson Twins

British new wave pop group Thompson Twins released a video game on a vinyl record in 1984. Players had to copy the game from the vi- nyl disc to a cassette tape, which could then be played on a ZX Spectrum or Commo- dore 64 computer. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW — Computer and Videogames Magazine

18

Steely Dan

STEELY DAN was a jazz-rock duo from the late 1970s. GIANT, They were named STEAM-POWERED after a DILDO from the book Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs. CRACKED.COM http://www.steelydan.com/faq.html — Source

17

The Offspring

Dexter Holland's Molecular Biology Doctorate CRACKED.COM Though many know The Offspring for goofy punk music, the lead singer was serious about his studies and research into HIV. — Source: Rolling Stone

16

Crazy Town

CRACKED CRAZY TOWN'S BUTTERFLY WAS A TRUE ONE-HIT WONDER. This is their only song that ever appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, and it was #1 for 2 weeks in 2001. Other rap/rock nu-metal bands like Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park never hit #1, but had much longer, more successful careers. — Source

15

Sampling

The sample is only six seconds long GRACKED.COM The most sampled song in music history-over 5000 times-is Amen, Brother by The Winstons. Recorded in 1969, drummer Gregory G.C. Coleman's 6 second drum break in the middle of the song became known as the Amen Break in the 198os. — Source

14

Gwen Stefani

CRACKED GWEN STEFANI Gwen Stefani started out in the 90s as one of the founders of the ska band No Doubt. They blended together reggae, punk, new-wave rock, and pop music. Which you might never guess if you listened only to her post-No Doubt solo stuff. C S — U Music / Allure

13

RUN-DMC

RUN-DMC RUN MC NG OF ROCK CRACKED COM In 1986, Run-DMC's 3rd album, Raising Hell, gave hip hop so many firsts. It was the first hip hop album to go platinum (and multi platinum), the first to be nominated for a Grammy, and although their 1984 song Rock Box is credited as the first rap rock song, Walk This Way with Aerosmith brought rap rock to the masses. — Source: recordingarts
beats-rhymes

12

The Beatles

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

11

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

10

Spy Records

Spies used records to hide maps and cash. In a tactic British Intelligence called FIG. Z Operation Smash Hit, maps and foreign money would be hidden inside vinyl records. They were then smuggled into POW camps, where prisoners could break adidas them open and use the resources to make their escape. FIG. 1 The records would also play music, presumably if a prisoner was just bored. CRACKED.COM — Source: 16 Ridiculous Gadgets Used By IRL James Bonds

9

Jazz

CRACKED In the early 1900s, people on the West Coast started using the word jazz to mean sex. It spread to Chicago, where musicians used it to describe their own type of music. — Africa Studio/Shutterstock
About Words

8

Rappin’ Rodney Dangerfield

RODNEY DANGERFIELD Rappin' Rodney was an opportunity for Dangerfield to dust off old jokes and set them to Casio drum machine beats. His lyrics are suprisingly sympatico with hip-hop artists wailing about lack of a respect. CRACKED COM — YouTube

7

The Sugarhill Gang

THE SUGARHILL GANG SugaHill SH-542-A 33 1/3 RPM OND 112RE-BW) 1977 Chie Music Inc. Music taben Good Times Sylvia Sea. Production others TIME: 11:00 RAPPER'S DELIGHT (Hemard Edwards-Nile Rodgers) CRACKED COM Released on March 25, 1979, King Tim III (Personality Jock) is cited as the first recorded hip hop song, but on Sept 16, 1979, The Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight became the first hip hop single to reach the Billboard Top 40, reach #1 in Canada, and #2 all over Europe, bringing the genre to the mainstream. — Source: thesource

6

Vinyl

40 Random Bits of Trivia About Pop Music More Bizarre Than Michael Jackson’s Monkey

5

LFO

TWO-HIT WONDERS LFO had an another Billboard Top 10 song called Girl on TV. The music video featured Jennifer Love Hewitt, who Rich Cronin supposedl

4

Nelly

CRACKED 2005 WAS LIKE THE EDGE OF A CLIFF FOR NELLY. From 2000 to 2004, Nelly was a mainstay in hip hop and pop music. His first 3 albums went multi platinum, and all hit #1 on Billboard. Then, because of experimental songs and oversaturation, his next 3 albums didn't even go gold, and he completely fell off. — Source

3

Dee Dee Ramone

UN-PUNK PUNK MOMENTS DEE DEE KING Standing Spotlight DEE DEE RAMONE QUIT THE RAMONES FOR A RAP CAREER On Rolling Stone's list of Worst Decisions in Music History, he released the rap album Standing in the Spotlight as Dee Dee King. A commercial and critical bomb, he returned to punk music, but never re-joined the Ramones. CRACKED — Bruce Alan Bennett/Shutterstock,
Sire, Warner Bros.
Rolling Stone Australia

2

Joe Strummer

CRACKED c Joe Strummer, lead singer and rhythm guitar player of legendary punk band is, had to identify the body of his older brother, David, after he

1

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

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