33 Facts About Music, Musicians and the Music Biz

Facts in the tune of ‘Gee, that’s interesting’
33 Facts About Music, Musicians and the Music Biz
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We’d like to open this list with a great line like, “If it happened on stage or in the studio, we’ve probably got a fact about it,” but we’d be lying. And it’s honestly pretty unfair of you to ask that of us. Like, do you know how many countless things happened to how many countless artists? We’d be here forever! 

All we can do is put a nice fat pile of happenings here, and hope it tickles your fancy enough for you to search “music” on our homepage and get as many facts in your brain as humanly possible. Fingers crossed.

The Bee Gees

The Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive is about what a dump NYC was. The Gibb brothers have explained that the group's most emblematic song is not about disco dancing at all, but about how hard it was to survive in 1977 New York City. They didn't even know the plot of Saturday Night Fever when they wrote the song. CRACKED.COM

Johnny Cash

CRACKED FOLSOM PRISON BLUES Johnny Cash's famous song Folsom Prison Blues was strongly inspired by Gordon Jenkins' 1953 song Crescent City Blues - the two songs are pretty similar, really, and Cash just kinda swapped around some parts to get to his version.

Led Zeppelin

Led zeppelin kept stealing from black artists. Led Zeppelin loved blues so much that they repeatedly Vegan swiped songs by black II blues artists, and just shrugged when they got hit by lawsuits. Willie Dixon won two separate suits against them over different songs-both of them in the same album. CRACKED.COM

Corey Taylor

Slipknot singer Corey Taylor raised $150,000 for COVID relief. Не auctioned his guitar on eBay for $75,000, and eBay matched that with $75,000 of its own. It'll all go to the charity Direct Relief. CRACKED.COM

Snoop Dogg

Snoop Dogg got banned from entering Norway because (of course) of weed. LARD INLAPD. He'd tried to get with a truly tiny amount of marijuana, just 0.3 oz, but they found it and banned him for two years. CRACKED.COM

Ricky Gervais

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM Ricky Gervais wasn't in A Flock Of Seagulls. Gervais was in Seona Dancing, an 80s pop-synth group that had a huge hit in the Philippines. The group's music videos survive as a reminder of the days when Gervais had cheekbones.

Eddie Van Halen

CRACKED FRANKENSTRAT (EDDIE VAN HALEN) All modern guitar virtuosos can trace their lineage back to this iconic heavily modified Fender Stratocaster, which Eddie Van Halen constantly tweaked and modified throughout the 70s and 80s. Despite its legendary status, Van Halen reportedly treated the guitar like garbage.

The Cure

CRACKED THE CURE Originally Easy Cure in 1976, they struggled to find commercial success as skinny prep-school lookalikes. In the early '80s they adopted a gothic look of big black hair, pale complexions and striking red lipstick that became as famous as the music itself.

Britney Spears

CRACKED BRITNEY SPEARS WAS ORIGINALLY IN A GIRL GROUP CALLED INNOSENSE. The group formed in 1997 and stayed together through 2003. However Spears left the first year to pursue her solo career.

Kanye West

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

Rap’s Roots

Rap can be traced back to the 1920s and 1930s. For over 100 years or more, the technique of rapping has been around in many American musical genres. Surprisingly, those include ragtime, vaudeville, and religious songs. CRACKED.COM

The Dark Side of the Moon

The Dark Side of the Moon refuses to leave the charts. billboard CRACKED.COM The band's psychedelic masterpiece has spent over 950 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts since its release in 1973, selling more than 45 million copies worldwide.

Otis Redding

CRACKED.COM Otis Redding had his greatest hit after his death. Redding's song (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay reached the #1 spot in the Billboard charts in 1968. Не never knew it, as he had just died in a plane crash.

Tupac

GRACKED 2PAC: BACKUP DANCER 2Pac began his career as a backup dancer and hype man for Digital Underground, and was featured in their popular music video for The Humpty Dance in 1990.

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney once let a stranger who claimed to be Jesus Christ into his house McCartney thought, Well, it probably isn't. But if he is, I'm not going to be the one to turn him away. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Charles Manson and The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys' Never Learn Not to Love was written by Charles Manson. Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson was close with Manson, until the band reworked and recorded one of his songs without crediting him. Manson was furious. Considering the Family's victims were murdered over much less that that, the Boys got off easy. CRACKED.COM

Katy Perry

KATY PERRY'S I KISSED A GIRL WAS INSPIRED BY SCARLETT JOHANSSON. Perry opened up a magazine, saw a picture of Johansson, and said to her boyfriend, If Scarlett Johansson walked into the room and wanted to make out with me, I would make out with her. Thus a song was born. CRACKED.COM

Taylor Swift

STYLE BY TAYLOR SWIFT IS ABOUT HARRY STYLES. Among other songs, Style was inspired by the relationship between Swift and Styles. I'm lucky if everything helped create those songs, he said in a Rolling Stone interview. CRACKED.COM

U2

CRACKED.COM STUCK IN A MOMENT YOU CAN'T GET OUT OF WAS U2'S FAREWELL TO MICHAEL HUTCHENCE. The somber song is performed as a fictional conversation about suicide between Bono and the INXS co-founder Hutchence, who hung himself in 1997.

OutKast

CRACKED.COM OUTKAST'S MS. JACKSON WAS ANDRÉ 3000'S APOLOGY TO ERYKAH BADU'S MOM. André dated Badu in the '90s, and they had a child together. After the break- up, André felt the need to express his regrets to his child's grandmother.

The Jonas Brothers

THE JONAS BROTHERS' LOVEBUG WAS MILEY CYRUS. Cyrus and Nick Jonas met while taping an episode of Hannah Montana, and dated in their early teens. In spite of a breakup, the two are on good terms. CRACKED.COM

Carole King

CAROLE KING WROTE YOU'VE GOT A FRIEND IN RESPONSE TO JAMES TAYLOR'S FIRE AND RAIN. When King heard Taylor's loneliness, she wrote a song to let him know he wasn't alone. Taylor recorded King's song for his own album, forgetting to ask for her permission first (she didn't mind). CRACKED.COM

ABBA

ABBA dressed like... that, due to Swedish tax law. The law says costumes are only tax deductible if they can't conceivably be worn in normal circumstances. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Freddie Mercury

Freddie Mercury had 4 extra teeth in his upper jaw. Не was embarrassed of his overbite, but thought corrective surgery might mess with his signature voice. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Cliff Burton

Metallica's Cliff Burton died because he shotgunned top bunk. Burton won a wager with Kirk Hammett, and made him switch bunks, just before the fatal bus crash. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Beatles

The other Beatles watched George Harrison lose his virginity. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Guns N’ Roses

Rocket Queen by Guns N' Roses features audio of actual sex... I VRIL ...between Axl Rose and Steven Adler's girlfriend, recorded in-studio. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Lion King

Disney wanted ABBA, not Elton John, to do the music for The Lion King. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Aerosmith

94663 ROCK 126 Aerosmith has made more money from Guitar Hero than from any of their albums. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr narrated Thomas the Tank Engine. Не was, at long last, the best at something amongst The Beatles. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

The Beastie Boys

The Beastie Boys used to open for themselves in the '80s. They were a heavy metal band called Triphammer. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Hip Hop High

GIANIS The Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, and Busta Rhymes all went to high school together. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Tony Iommi

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony lommi lopped off 2 fingertips when he was a welder. Не was told he'd never play again. But he adapted his playing style, giving Sabbath their signature sound. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

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