Musical titbits and items of interest

**** The best-selling album of all time is ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson with global sales of over 51 million copies to date since 1982.

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*****
The man who is on fire on the front cover of Pink Floyd’s album ‘Wish You Were Here’ is US stunt man Danny Rogers

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He also worked on TV shows and motion picture industry for 42 years as a stuntman and stunt coordinator.
He doubled on
  • CHIPS
  • The Waltons,
  • Starsky & Hutch
He was voted into "Stunts Unlimited" in 1974 (which he thinks is the top stunt origination in the business).
He has done many motorcycle stunts, horse work and fight scenes.
He was an all around stunt performer over his many years in the business performing stunts on some of the "top" movies such as;
  • XXX,
  • Titanic,
  • Fast & the Furious,
  • Pearl Harbor and
  • A Star Is Born
Rogers died on February 2nd 2021
 
*** After being banned from all Holiday Inn hotels in the USA, The Faces would book in as Fleetwood Mac.

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Before becoming famous Jimi Hendrix recorded singles with
  • Don Covay & the Goodtimers,
  • Frank Howard & the Commanders,
  • The Isley Brothers,
  • Little Richard,
  • Mr. Wiggles and the Wigglin’ Men
- as well as American film actress Jayne Mansfield.
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When Kurt Cobain first presented the song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” to his bandmates, bassist Krist Novoselic dismissed it at the time as "ridiculous."

In response, Cobain made the band play the riff over and over again until, collectively the band members slowed the riff down so they had fast and slow sections.

- As a result, it became the only song on Nevermind to credit all three band members as joint composers
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*** The women only Lilith Fair festival was named after Lilith from Cheers (and later Frasier).

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Lilith Fair - Wikipedia
 
Only four UK female singers have ever topped the US singles chart.
  1. Petula Clark was the first to score a US No.1 single in 1965 with ‘Downtown’,
  2. Sheena Easton’s ‘Morning Train’ followed in 1981.
  3. Kim Wilde was the third with her 1987 cover version of the Supremes hit ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ and
  4. X Factor winner Leona Lewis became the fourth in 2008 with her single ‘Bleeding Love.’
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* After Bono accepted an honorary knighthood in 2007.
The U2 singer’s new title became: Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE).

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*** The 1957 Lonnie Donegan hit ‘Puttin’ On The Style / Gamblin’ Man’ was the first ever double-sided No 1 and first live recording to reach the top of the UK charts.

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*** During the late 60’s Elton John sang on various ‘budget’ compilation releases including Music For Pleasure Chart Hits albums.
Elton recorded as
  • Brotherhood of Man
  • Creedence Clearwater Revival,
  • Stevie Wonder,
- and sang on a cover version of The England World Cup song ’Back Home.
  • *****
*** David Lee Roth’s uncle, Manny Roth, owned the New York establishment Cafe Wha? in the early 1960s, where the likes of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen and The Velvet Underground all hung out.
  • *****
*** In 1997, a Smiths fan held up a Denver radio station at gunpoint demanding that they played nothing but records by The Smiths.
They did for five hours until the police arrived.
 
Led Zeppelin recorded their debut album in London in a mere 30 hours and cost just £1,782.
The album went on to gross over £3.5 million, just short of 20,000 times more than invested.

*****
Before managing Led Zeppelin, Peter Grant appeared in television shows working as an extra in The Saint, Crackerjack, Dixon of Dock Green, and The Benny Hill Show.
He was also Robert Morley’s double on many of the actor’s films.

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Various musicians have had animals named after them:
  • A species of trilobite was named Struszia mccartneyi after Paul McCartney,
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  • A species of isopod found on coral reefs off Bawe Island in East Africa was named Cirolana mercuryi after Freddie Mercury
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  • And Preseucoila imallshookupis is a species of gall wasp derived from the Elvis Presley song ‘All Shook Up’.
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On his debut album ‘For You’ Prince played 27 different instruments.
*****

Christina Aguilera was reportedly paid £1m ($2.1m) for performing three songs at the wedding of Russian oligarch Andrei Melnichenko in September 2005.
*****

At the age of 67, Neil Diamond became the oldest artist to have a US number one record with his 2008 album ‘Home Before Dark.’
- The record was previously held by Bob Dylan in 2006 with ‘Modern Times’ released when he was 65.
*****

David Grey’s album ‘White Ladder’ had been in the Top 40 for 64 weeks before finally reaching Number 1 in 2001.
*****
  • Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1982-1984),
  • Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA (1984-1985) and
  • Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989-1991)
are the only three albums to produce seven Top-ten US singles.
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*** The most requested video ever on MTV is Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’.

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Records released in the US during to early 60’s to cash in on the Beatles craze included -
  • The Swans, --- ‘The Boy With The Beatle Hair’,
  • Donna Lynn’s --- ‘My Boyfriend Got A Beatle Haircut’,
  • The Young World Singers, --- ‘Ringo For President’,
  • ‘Ringo I Love You’ by Bonnie Jo Maon.’ (sung by Cher).
  • The Chipmunks Sing The Beatles, and
  • The Liverpools released an album called ‘Beatlemania In The USA.’
 
The 1958 Elvis Presley song ‘Jailhouse Rock’ was the first single to enter the UK charts at the No 1 position.
It was also Presley’s second UK No.1.
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In 1975, a Playboy music poll ranked Karen Carpenter the best drummer in the world.

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Abba songwriters Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus have only allowed two acts to sample their music.
  • The Fugees used part of ‘The Name Of The Game’ on their 1996 track ‘Rumble In The Jungle’ and
  • Madonna featured ‘Gimme Gimme Gimme’ on her 2005 hit ‘Hung Up.’
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Fiona Apple
... holds the record for the longest album title:

"When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He’ll Win the Whole Thing ’Fore He Enters the Ring There’s No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, The You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won’t Matter, ’Cuz You’ll Know That You’re Right."

The Poem =

 
The biggest selling album by a country group is the 1998 ‘Wide Open Spaces’ by the Dixie Chicks which had sold over 8 million copies

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***** David Bowie was the final guest on Marc Bolan’s ITV music show, Marc, in 1977.

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  • Bolan was killed in a car crash in south west London a few days later on 16th Sept.
 
  • At 1 minute 29 seconds The Buzzcocks 1978 single ‘Love You More’ was the second shortest UK single ever released.
  • Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs 1960 hit ‘Stay’ is the shortest US No.1 hit at one minute 28 seconds. ‘
  • Some Kinda Earthquake’, an instrumental single released in 1959 by Duane Eddy, clocked in at just 1 minute 17 seconds.
 
JAMES BROWN

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..... holds the record for most US Hot 100 entries (ninety-nine) without ever scoring a number-one song.
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Quote - "I haven’t got the patience for a rock opera. I’m focused on verse, chorus, verse chorus, middle eight, guitar solo, verse chorus, fade it out."
= Noel Gallager, Oasis
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Quote - "We always wanted to rock the way Queen did."
= Joe Elliott, Def Leppard
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Quote - "We like to play dominoes before a show."
= Corey Taylor, Slipknot
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1. The mighty final chord of The Beatles' "A Day In The Life" was played by ten hands in three pianos simultaneously:
- Lennon's, Mc Cartney's, Starr's, Martin's (their manager?) and Evan's (their roadie).
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2. The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" is called like this because of an insult between bandmates.
- When Brian Wilson showed Mike Love (the band's singer) the new material, he said "Who the hell is going to listen to this?...the ears of a dog?".
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3. Bob Dylan's "Highway 61 Revisited" is named after the route that goes through Bob's home state, Minesota, and enters the Mississippi delta.
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4. "London Calling" was part of a catch phrase ("Good morning America, this is the London Calling!") of a BBC show during World War II,
- of which the The Clash's guitarists Joe Strummer was a fan.
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5. The night of Jimi's first gig, Jeff Beck was coming out of the club and outside he ran into Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend.
- With a frightened expression he told them "I think we're in trouble here!".
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1. Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) has Bonzo's (Led Zeppelin's drummer) symbol, three intersecting symbols tattooed on his forearm.
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2. Steve Morse's (Deep Purple) guitar has 11 different pickup positions.
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3. Van Halen's "5150" is named after Eddie's Peavey 5150 amp, which is built exclusively for him.
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4. The Yardbirds were the ones who gave Clapton the nickname "Slowhand".
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5. "Freebird" is dedicated to Duane Allman (The Allman brother's band).
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In 1968 Jimi Hendrix bought a studio located in the 52 West Eight Street, Greewnwich Village, New York, with the idea of transforming it into a nightclub.

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His sound tecnician convinced him of turning it into a studio and in August 27th 1970 "Electric Lady" officialy opened it's doors.
Both recording rooms haven't changed a bit since Jimi jammed there (one still has the same paints hanging on the walls and sofas, and the other -Purple Haze- still has the purple console).

When The Clash recorded "Sandinista!" there, they swear Jimi's spirit added an extra guitar line in the album.
That may sound weird (and stoned) but the truth is that doors close on their own, floors creak and a magic can be sensed in the air (or so they say).
 
1. Axl's "Sweet Child" was Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly (from the Everly Brothers).
- Axl and Erin got married, but their marriage only lasted a month
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2. Slash's favourite song is "Nobody's Fault" by Aerosmith.
- As he said, "first heard it at the house of a girl I wanted to date. I went to her house, talked for a while, smoked a joint, and then she put the cd (Rocks), it hit me like a ton of bricks...and I totally forgot about her".
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3. Neil Young wrote "Rockin' In The Free World" after he heard one of the members of Crazy Horse say he liked playing in Europe rather than the Middle East better, because "It's better to rock in the free world". The song became sort of an anthem but really refers to the "pride and guilt of being American".
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4. The "Government Yard In Trench Town" lyric from "No woman, No cry" refers to the houses given by the government where Bob Marley lived in the late '50s.
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5. Jimi created "Little Wing" in only 145 seconds! that's only two minutes and a half! pretty much the same as the song's lenght!
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