34 Upbeat Bits of Music Trivia to Bop Along to While Strolling Down the Sidewalk

Crank these up to 11!
34 Upbeat Bits of Music Trivia to Bop Along to While Strolling Down the Sidewalk

Music is great for pumping you up to take on the day, or as a welcome escape from whatever nonsense you’re about to face. A good shower tune or a solid playlist on the commute is arguably as important as a well-balanced breakfast. 

Music facts are no different — especially ones that come with a backing track! So throw on (or in) those headphones and get to boppin’. These music facts are sure to get your feet and your brain moving.

Decca Records

The Beatles have no future in showbiz. DECCA RECORDS CRACKED.COM An impressively shortsighted record exec expounded that four-piece groups with guitars, particularly, are finished.

Sammy Hagar

Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar didn't just see UFOs-he got abducted. That's what he claims, anyway - and he also says aliens were wirelessly plugged into him. It was a download situation, way before wireless, he said. CRACKED.COM

France

In France, at least 40% of radio songs have to be in French. A 1994 law made that requirement, so that English-language songs don't flood the airwaves. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd's The Great Gig in the Sky at 3:35, listen closely for: if you hear whispering, you're dying The words are whispered. How's that for creepy? CRACKED.COM

The Cultural Universal Phenomena of Music

Music is common to all known human cultures worldwide. Other such 'Cultural Universal' phenomena include Personal Names, Sexual Jealou- sy, Proverbs, and In- cest Prevention or Avoidance. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

Frank Zappa

CRACKED.COM Frank Zappa talked about digital music downloads in 1989. In his autobiography, Zappa proposed a novel music distribution system: We propose to acquire the rights to digitally duplicate and store THE BEST of every record company's difficult-to-move Quality Catalog Items, store them in a central processing location, and have them accessible by phone or cable TV ... with the option of direct digital- to-digital transfer...

Pink

When P!nk and Christina Aguilera worked together on Lady Marmalade, the record label treated Aguilera like royalty and P!nk like trash. So P!nk started a beef, and it got so bad that Aguilera attacked her in a nightclub. About 15 years later, after they became moms, they hugged it out. CRACKED.COM

Fortunate Son

Fortunate Son is in way fewer Vietnam movies than you think. Movies about 'Nam are so unoriginal - they all play Creedence Clearwater Revival's Fortunate Son, right fellas? Except that no, they don't. The only major movie to use the song in a Vietnam setting is Forrest Gump, which came long after Apocalypse Now, Platoon, or Full Metal Jacket. CRACKED.COM

The Dixie Chicks

THE DIXIE CHICKS SLAM GEORGE W. BUSH. CRACKED In 2003, radio stations pulled their music and fans were outraged after they said We do not want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the president is from Texas. Much worse is said about the current and recent presidents daily.

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

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

Celine Dion

CRACKED.COM Celine Dion's 1998 Christmas album features the heartfelt ballad The Magic of Christmas Day (God Bless Us Everyone). The song was written by Twisted Sister frontman and hair metal icon Dee Snider.

Al Green

Al Green is an ordained pastor CRACKED.COM After his girlfriend assaulted him with a pot of boiling grits in 1974, he was inspired to become a reverend, and continues to preach weekly at the Memphis church he established.

David Lee Roth

David Lee Roth dabbled in emergency medicine CRACKED.COM During his 20-year hiatus from Van Halen, he mostly pursued a solo career. But he carved out 2 full years to serve as an EMT in New York City. Не reportedly went on over 200 emergency ambulance calls.

Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran's childhood friend was financially struggling so he wrote Thinking Out Loud with her The song has since been streamed almost 2 billion times on Spotify and has gone triple platinum in the UK. She never has to worry about money again. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks wrote Landslide when she was 27. The song is about growing older, even though the songwriter wasn't even 30. Nicks explains, You can feel really old at 27. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

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

It’s Raining Men

The Weather Girls It's Raining Men The Weather Girls' It's Raining Men was co-written by actor, producer and long-time musical director for David Letterman, Paul Shaffer. CRACKED.COM

Katy Perry

CRACKED.COM Katy Perry's Firework was inspired by Beat novelist Jack Kerouac. The only people for me are the mad ones burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars... Perry knew this quote from On The Road through her boyfriend at the time, comedian and Kerouac aficionado Russell Brand.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was Kanye West's biggest inspiration for his album CRACKED.COM Heartbreaks And 808s. K E WE When Kanye played Heartless to Jackson, he complimented him (without knowing it was him singing on the track), and that made Kanye way more confident about his singing.

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

Kurt Cobain

CRACKED.COM Kurt Cobain HATED the recording of Smells Like Teen Spirit It's such a perfect mixture of cleanliness and nice, candy-ass production. It may NIRVANA aren't I to used some to kind myself. people it, but of be extreme think it's lame,

OutKast

Andre 3000 OUT KAST wrote OutKast's Ms. Jackson as an apology of sorts to the mother of his former partner MS. JACKSON Erykah Badu. Badu wasn't entirely thrilled with the track at first, but when asked how her mother felt about it she said She bought her a 'Ms. Jackson' license plate, she had the mug, she had the ink pen, she had the headband, she had everything... loved it. CRACKED.COM

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.

Aerosmith

CRACKED COM The iconic drum beats at the end of Livin' On The Edge by Aerosmith... were played on a bass drum that Steven Tyler stole from his high school after senior prom.

Wham!

Wham! George Michael wanted to grow out of the teen pop phase and write more honest music. In 1986, even though their latest hit The Edge of Heaven hit No. 1 in the U.K., they played a farewell show at Wembley called The Final, and called it quits. CRACKED

EPMD

Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith of EPMD. CLOU In 1991, Smith's home was robbed, and Sermon was named as the orchestrator. Sermon denied it but implied that Smith had it coming. Soon after they split in 1992, people shot up Sermon's house. After all this, they reunited for Back in Business in 1997. CRACKED

Rihanna

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

Freddie Mercury

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

Kanye

It took Kanye West only 15 minutes to write the lyrics for All Falls Down which went on to peak at #4 on the Billboard top R&B chart. CRACKED.COM

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

Spice Girls

Spice Girls' Wannabe is the catchiest pop song A year-long study done in 2014 showed that people recognized the song in an average of 2.3 seconds, compared to 5 seconds for other hit songs. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift grew up on Christmas tree farm She spent some of childhood on Pine Ridge Farm in Pennsylvania, which she honors in her Christmas single aptly called Christmas Tree Farm. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Drake

Drake got his high school diploma at 25-years-old. Не had dropped out of high school to play a high schooler in Degrassi. Не returned to school in 2012, after he was already Grammy-nominated. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

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