Music Trivia

[Fossie 32]

Do any other albums have nicknames or alternate names in the same vein as The Beatles' self-titled album is commonly referred to as The White Album?

Led Zep 4 ‘4 symbols’?

Wiki:

While most commonly called Led Zeppelin IV, Atlantic Records catalogues have used the names Four Symbols and The Fourth Album. It has also been referred to as ZoSo (which Page's symbol appears to spell), Untitled and Runes. Page frequently refers to the album in interviews as "the fourth album" and "Led Zeppelin IV", and Plant thinks of it as "the fourth album, that's it".

 

[Fossie 32]

What interesting trivia do you know of?

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1. The first commercial CD pressed in the United States was Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A.

2. Bob Marley gave songwriting 
credits on “No Woman No Cry” to 
his childhood friend Vincent Ford, who ran a soup kitchen in Jamaica. Royalties from the hit song helped keep the kitchen running.

3. Simon and Garfunkel bickered nonstop while recording “Bridge over Troubled Water.” Garfunkel wanted Simon to sing it (“I’m sorry 
I didn’t,” Simon has said), and Simon never liked Garfunkel’s closing “Sail on, silver girl” verse.

4. The iconic whistle in “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay” was improvised when Otis Redding forgot what he was supposed to sing during the outro.

5. Michael Jackson was so absorbed in writing “Billie Jean” on a ride home from the studio one day that he didn’t even notice his car was on fire. A passing motorcyclist alerted him—saving the King of Pop and 
one of the world’s catchiest tunes.

6. Paul McCartney woke up one morning with the tune to “Yesterday” in his head but not the lyrics. The placeholder words he worked with: “Scrambled eggs … oh, my baby, how I love your legs …”

7. The BBC banned Bing Crosby’s 
“I’ll Be Home for Christmas” during World War II, worried its “sickly 
sentimentality” would lower the 
morale of homesick troops.

8. Barry Manilow’s “I Write the Songs” was written by … someone else (on-again/off-again Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, to be exact).

9. Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” was the most-requested 
radio song of the ’70s. Yet singer/
lyricist Robert Plant once pledged $1,000 to a public radio station that promised to never play it again. (“I’ve heard it before,” he later said.)

10. The dude in Aerosmith’s “Dude (Looks like a Lady)” is Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil, whose long blond locks Aerosmith mistook for 
a woman’s at a bar one night.

11. The Caroline in Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” is none other than Caroline Kennedy, whom Neil saw 
in a magazine photo in the ’60s. 
“It was a picture of a little girl dressed 
to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony,” he recalled.

12. The chord that starts Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” is a tritone—known 
as the devil’s interval and banned from some Renaissance church 
music for sounding too evil.

13. Number of songs Elvis Presley 
recorded: more than 800. Number of songs Elvis Presley wrote solo: zero. (He earned a few cowriting credits.)

14. “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” 
was written by … a boy. Philadelphia singer Robert Hazard wrote and recorded the original version four years before Cyndi Lauper made it a hit.

15. “Somewhere over the Rainbow” (listed by American Film Institute as the greatest film song ever) is about 
a girl lifting herself up from rural Kansas but also about America rising up from the Great Depression under FDR’s New Deal, of which song cowriter Yip Harburg was a supporter.

16. Queen and David Bowie wrote “Under Pressure” in one night (then got pizza).

This podcast goes into great detail about Dock of the Bay. The bit in the last couple of minutes is pretty sad. Great series

 

[Fossie 32]

This song was played in a scene of an Australian soapy in the 70s [the setting was a BBQ party]. Clip of the series below if you don't want to guess. After all these years it tantalisilingly said this is the episode it was in but it doesn't seem to be!

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar, or modern day Tanzania.

What was his real name?

Spoiler: His real name is:

Farrokh Bulsara

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

What is Van Morrison's real name?

Spoiler: Van Morrison's real name is:

George Ivan Morrison

 

[Partridge]

Can anybody name song collaborations where the singers have the same Christian name? It doesn't have to be only rock and roll songs. The only song I can think of is Easy Lover from 1985 which was sung by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins.

One singer and one guitar player, but I have a very strong suspicion there's a few Stones songs between 1971-1974 that were written by two guys named Mick.

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

One singer and one guitar player, but I have a very strong suspicion there's a few Stones songs between 1971-1974 that were written by two guys named Mick.

Well there were two. One thought he was part of the Stones and the other thought the Stones were his band. That was until Charlie Watts flattened him.

 

[CliffMcTainshaw]

Who's song is this, and what's the name of the song?

Spoiler: Click here for the answer

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime

 

[Pweter]

Do any other albums have nicknames or alternate names in the same vein as The Beatles' self-titled album is commonly referred to as The White Album?

Metallica - Metallica a.k.a The Black Album

 

[rank and file]

Who's song is this, and what's the name of the song?
View attachment 1737944

Spoiler: Click here for the answer

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime

 

[Im New]

INXS has had more Billboard US Top 10 hits than both U2 and REM.

 

[sherb]

Soft Cell had a major hit with Tainted Love in 1981. The original version was recorded by American Gloria Jones in 1964.

Gloria Jones was driving a car in the UK in 1977 which crashed and sadly killed the male passenger (her boyfriend).

That passenger was Marc Bolan.

 

[sherb]

I wasn't aware that Pat Benatar's anthem "All Fired Up" was written by Australian Kerryn Tolhurst and was first recorded by Aussie band the Rattling Sabres.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

What is the longest beginning to a song before the first vocals are heard? I would be interested to hear if any song can beat Elton John's "Song For Guy". It runs for 3:39 before the first words are sung. John Mellencamp's "I Need a Lover" runs 2:30 before the first first vocals are sung.
Neil Diamond's live version of "Crunchy Granola Suite" from the Hot August Night album runs 4:17 before the first words are sung but this version has a musical prologue which was not part of the song's original record release.

Fascination Street by The Cure is another one.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

The song 'Killing Me Softly' owes its existence to JP Richardson, Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

But how?

The 3 singers were on a plane in 1959 when it crashed killing the 3 and there was one survivor. (Waylon Jennings.)

In 1959, there was a 14 year old boy called Don McLean.

Inspired by the crash, he wrote a song that would be a seminal anthem for the time.

American Pie.


Don McLean had another song called Empty Chairs.

It was Empty Chairs (not to be confused with Empty Chairs at Empty Tables) which a then 20 year old called Lori Lieberman was a big fan of.

Empty Chairs was the inspiration behind 'Killing Me Softly,' a song later covered by Roberta Flack and The Fugees.

 

[peetoo]

Jane Birkin je t’aime….banned almost everywhere

Enjoy

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Jane Birkin je t’aime….banned almost everywhere

Enjoy

And here.

 

[worbod]

Does anyone remember the film clip for Cry by Godley and Creme? It is the clip with all the close-ups of faces which morph into each other while they sing along to the words. I am convinced I saw this clip many years ago (during the video-hire era) and that one of the faces briefly included in the clip is Gonzo from The Muppets. However after searching for the clip on YouTube I cannot find this exact clip, even though I have found two different versions.

This first clip looks as though it has Mr. T in it at the beginning but I think it must be very good lookalike. No Gonzo though.




This alternative version has more children in the clip, although not Godley and Creme themselves. There is a member of the animal kingdom near the end of the clip, but still no Gonzo.




Does anyone know anything about a version of this famous clip that features Gonzo?