37 Unexpected Tidbits About the Music Industry
![37 Unexpected Tidbits About the Music Industry](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/9/0/819490_320x180.jpg)
Unless you’re in the music business or really serious about your tunes, you’re probably just mindlessly putting your playlist on shuffle and bopping along, not thinking much about the songs you’re listening to. But there’s a lot going on behind the glitzy veneer of pop music that most of us don’t notice.
While “Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number” is most associated with its performer Aaliyah, the song was written by a man who is likely the last adult you’d want hanging out with an underage Aaliyah. Despite being called “Born in the USA” and played at many political rallies from coast to coast, Bruce Springsteen’s song isn’t exactly as patriotic as many believe it to be. And when Axl Rose sings “where do we go now?” in “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” it turns out he’s really asking that question because the Guns N’ Roses lead singer didn’t know what to do next with the song.
Here are 37 facts that caught us off-guard about some of the music we listen to on a daily basis…
![Terry Chimes gets his kicks cracking backs THE CLASH CRACKED.COM The sometimes Clash drummer became a chiropractor in 1993, and runs 5 clinics around London: People say 'how can you prefer treating patients to being on stage in front of 100,000 people? But if you can get someone healthy, there's a satisfaction in that which is much more profound.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/9/819529.jpg)
![Age ain't nothing but a number by Aaliyah included the lines Throwing down ain't nothing but a thing. Take my hand and come with me, let me show you to ecstasy. & Tonight we're gonna go all the way. Aaliyah's age when she released the song? FIFTEEN! vida Cherry CO The song's writer? WGA A 26 year old... EN RU Cherry Named R. Kelly! GRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/7/819527.jpg)
![THEIR THEME SONG IS AN INSTRUMENTAL OF A FAMOUS 1925 JAZZ/RAGTIME SONG CALLED SWEET GEORGIA BROWN HARLEM M ERS GLOBETRONTENS THE ORIGINAL SONG HAS SEVERAL VERSES the LYRICS ARE ABOUT A BLACK HOOKER CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/5/819525.jpg)
![TOAD THE WET SPROCKET TOOK ITS NAME FROM A MONTY PYTHON SKETCH. In the bit, which appeared on an album, Eric Idle was making fun of rock bands with ridiculous names. Не had no idea one of the names had been chosen by an actual band until he heard them on the radio. CRACKED.COM http://youtu.be/DR22krUkBc](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/8/819528.jpg)
![IF YOU REVERSE THE FIRST FEW SECONDS OF OZZY OSBOURNE'S SONG 'BLOODBATH IN PARADISE' LOCAL CAUGHT Traditional SEA HAZE Fishmenges SHELLFISH FISH SPECIALITIES H Coca-Cola SEA HAZE SEA HAZE Selection of Welcome to Locally Kingston upon Hull COCKLES Caught WHELKS MUSSELS FRESH FF PEANNS JELLIEN EALE The Pioneering City SHE 09123777002 EDWARDS EXCELLENCE TWINNED WITH YOUR DARKEST THOUGHT YOU WILL HEAR THE WORDS YOUR MOTHER SELLS WHELKS IN HULL. GRACKED COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/6/819526.jpg)
![JOHNNY CASH A BOY NAMED A BOY - NAMED SUE, THE SUE BIGGEST HIT EVER DELIVERED BY THE DULCET TONES OF JOHNNY CASH Courtesy of the same mind that gave you this: EDGE off Where the Sidewalk Ends the poems and drawings of Shel Silverstein CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/4/819524.jpg)
![Puff, the Magic Dragon has nothing to do with drugs. Leonard Lipton, who wrote the poem the song was based on, is sick of people asking him if it's really about smoking pot. Не swears it's a straightforward children's tale, and that advocating marijuana for little kids is not a good thing. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/2/819522.jpg)
![Born in the USA by Bruce Springsteen The song has a long history of being used in a patriotic fashion, despite it being about the difficult experiences of a Vietnam veteran returning home. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/3/819523.jpg)
![The Beastie Boys' Shadrach includes a Biblical allusion to Daniel 1 - Daniel 3. We're just three MCs and we're on the go/ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego Daniel 1- Daniel 3 tells the stories of three Jewish boys - - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - who are saved from being burned alive in a furnace by divine intervention. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/1/819521.jpg)
![311 is an Omaha police code for indecent exposure. The guitarist got arrested for skinny dippinng, so they used the citation code as a band name. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/0/819520.jpg)
![Vanilla Ice flips houses the CRACKED.COM Ice started studying real estate in the 90's, and became surprisingly adept at investing in and remodeling homes. Не now owns Vanilla Ice Real Estate, and has a show on the DIY Network.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/9/819519.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM I Drove All Night by Roy Orbison Roy Orbison is willing to drive all night to get to the one he loves. THAT'S SWEET. The problem is, when he gets there he basically forces himself on his lover. I drove all night to get to you Is that all right? I drove all night, crept in your room Woke you from your sleep to make love to you Is that all right? I drove all night.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/8/819518.jpg)
![CRACKED. COM TICKET TO RIDE According to John Lennon, the ticket to ride was actually a card indicating a clean bill of health... ...carried by Hamburg prostitutes in the 1960s. ... TICKET](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/7/819517.jpg)
![THE RIFF FROM SWEET CHILD O' MINE IS A GUITAR EXERCISE. When Axl Rose heard Slash's string-skipping exercise, he insisted it be spun into a song, using a poem he'd written to his girlfriend as the lyrics. When it came time to record it, their producer asked for a dramatic breakdown for the middle. Rose's Where do we go now? was literal-he didn't know where to go with the lyrics. CRACKED.COM http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=628](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/6/819516.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM The bells that begin Rush's YYZ are playing the song's title in morse code. Pilots approaching Toronto International Airport will hear this, as YYZ is that airport's letter code. СР Air A YYZ TORONTO 38-31-53 Flight](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/4/819514.jpg)
![Billb ro The Recordings 1958 1960 TOMMY EDWARDS Charles G. Dawes IT'S was the 30th Vice ALL IN THE President of the GAME United States. Не won the Nobel Prize for the Dawes Plan for World War I reparations and composed the melody for the song that became Tommy Edwards 1958 #1hit 'It's All in The Game. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/5/819515.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Metallica's Nothing Else Matters G.B.W came from thoughtless guitar fingering. Some people doodle on paper while on the phone. James Hetfield randomly plucked at his guitar's strings while talking to his girlfriend. That pattern became the song's opening bars.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/3/819513.jpg)
![Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler Songwriter Jim Steinman originally titled the song Vampires in Love while he was working on the vampire romance musical Nosferatu. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/2/819512.jpg)
![pearl jam jeremy Jeremy spoke in class today. This 90's classic was inspired by the suicide of a 16 year old boy named Jeremy Delle, who shot himself in front of his English class. Cravola UP GRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/8/819508.jpg)
![Halsey is an anagram of her first name, Ashley. It's also the subway stop in Brooklyn, New York, where she grew up. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/9/819509.jpg)
![Cindy Birdsong became a nurse THE SUPREMES CRACKED.COM The Motown singer left the public eye in 1976 to work at UCLA Medical Center: People don't know where I am and what I'm doing. I haven't lived a fairytale lifestyle for many years. I've been up and down -- a roller coaster it's been.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/6/819506.jpg)
![Weezer's lead singer Rivers Cuomo wrote Across The Sea after he recieved a fan letter from a girl in Japan. The song starts off innocent enough. You are: Eighteen year-old girl/ Who lives in a small city in Japan/ And you heard me on the radio about one year ago/ and you wanted to know all about me/ and my hobbies/ my favorite food/ and my birthday. Then it gets creepy. So fragile, so refined/ So I sniff and lick your envelope/ And I fall to little pieces/ Everytime I wonder what clothes you wear to school/ I wonder how](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/7/819507.jpg)
![SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER THERE SHE GOES There she goes, There she goes again Racing through' my brain And I just can't contain This feelin' that remains There she blows There she blows again Pulsing through my vein And / just can't contain She = heroin This feelin' that remains The song is about the rush of being high on heroin and how CRACKED.COM fleeting that high is](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/1/819511.jpg)
![THE STONE TEMPLE PILOTS ARE NAMED AFTER THE STP OIL LOGO. STP Their original name, Mighty Joe Young, wasn't available. They came up with the name Stone Temple Pilots because they liked the look of the three-letter logo on the sticker on singer Scott Weiland's motorcycle. CRACKED.COM http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Stone_Temple_Pilots.aspx](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/0/819510.jpg)
![GRACKED.COM WHITE ZOMBI White Zombie's Astro Creep 2000 contains a hidden song, at the end of the album, titled Where The Sidewalk Ends, The Bug Parade Begins.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/9/7/819497.jpg)
![Ever wonder where that impossibly catchy Mah Nà Mah Nà song featured on The Muppets and Sesame Street came from? The songwriter's name was Piero Umiliani, but before you Google his work... Just know that the song debuted in a film about the wild and crazy sex lives of young women in Sweden. GRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/5/819505.jpg)
![The Beastie Boys' (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)' was supposed to be a parody. The Beasties were poking fun at 1980's frat culture. Except that no one got the joke, and the song was adopted as an anthem celebrating the kind of debauchery it was sending up. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/9/9/819499.jpg)
![Louie Louie by the Kingsmen SMEN Written by Richard Berry, the lyrics have were rumored to be so obscene that it caused an FBI investigation. But it's just a wholesome song about a Jamaican sailor returning to the island to see his lover. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/3/819503.jpg)
![Skrillex was Sonny Moore's old AOL name. It was a stupid old online AOL screen name. There really isn't a meaning behind it. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/4/819504.jpg)
![Brian May is an astrophysicist QUEEN CRACKED COM May had to choose between astrophysics and ROCK early in his career: When I was about to finish my thesis, it was just the beginnings of Queen, and I had to make a choice. And my choice was made on the assumption that I wasn't very good at physics and I might be quite good at music. Не completed his thesis 30 years later, and has since consulted with NASA.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/9/6/819496.jpg)
![Paul McCartney wrote 'Hey Jude' as a gesture of support and comfort for John Lennon's son Julian during the divorce of his parents. When he first heard it, John Lennon interpreted it as a gesture of comfort and support ... for John Lennon, for hooking up with Yoko Ono. Bet that was an awkward conversation. CRACKED GOM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/1/819501.jpg)
![PUDDLE OF MUDD's REHEARSAL SPACE WAS TURNED INTO A LITERAL PUDDLE OF MUD. The band wound up naming itself after the flood that soaked the entire first floor of their rehearsal space, which was located next to the Missouri River. CRACKED.COM http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Puddle_of_Mudd.aspx](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/0/819500.jpg)
![ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK STAR WARS ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK EPISODE ! THE PHANTOM MENACE STAR WARS RETURNOS MUSIC COMPOSES AND CONDUCTRO IT MUSIC COMPOSED AND CONDUCTED BY JOHN WILLIAMS JOHN WILLIAMS The Star Wars Episode 1 soundtrack music track Augie's Great Municipal Band and End Credits and the Star Wars Episode 6 soundtrack music track The Emperor, both composed by John Williams have something in common. They are the same song. The only difference between Augie's Great Municipal Band and The Emperor is Augie's Great Municipal Band is pitched higher and played more upbeat. Source: http://www.sirstevesguide.com/showthreadphp/18637-Augie-s-Great-Municipal- Band-The-Emperor-s-Theme GRAGKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/2/819502.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Barry Manilow's Timeless Jingle Hits I am stuck on Band-Aid brand 'cause Band-Aid's stuck on me! STATE FARM data Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there... in DE HC It's a finger-lickin' good day. ентиску ried Chicken -](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/9/5/819495.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water recounts a real tragedy. The story in the lyrics actually happened - the band was in Montreux, Switzerland, when some stupid with a flare gun burned down the casino where they were supposed to record an album using a mobile studio. otour](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/9/8/819498.jpg)
![Angel by Sarah McLachlan McLachlan revealed that the song now best known for SPCA commercials was inspired by Jonathan Melvoin, the Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist who died by heroin overdose. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/9/3/819493.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM The shhhcc-ah sound in the opening riff of Come Together? That's John lennon hissing, Shoot me. Source: The Beatles: The Biography by Bob Spitz, page 840 On December 8, 1980, deranged former fan, Mark David Chapman, did just that.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/4/9/4/819494.jpg)