A PHIL BRODIE BAND'S FUN PAGE
..MUSIC TRIVIA
NEW FACT EVERY MONTH
Unless I am away or PC has a (de)fragging breakdown.
If you would like to contribute to this page I am only an email away.

Did You Know . . . ??
*Peter Gabriel started the annual WOMAD (World Of Music And Dance) festival, held for the first time July 16-18 in 1982 at Shepton Mallet in England, it featured musicians from Africa and the Far East who had influenced Gabriel. WOMAD currently holds festivals in over 20 countries.
*At one point in the 60s the Beatles were paying in excess of 100% tax; effectively they were paying to work!
*The famous long guitar intro to Led Zep's "Stairway To Heaven" is taken from the track "Taurus", which was composed and played by guitarist, the late Randy California when he was only 16 in 1967. The instrumental was dedicated to his Taurian girlfriend and recorded a year later by his band "Spirit". Led Zepplin heard it while on tour with Spirit in USA. (Randy Wolfe, was named "California" by his great friend of Jimi Hendrix, who tried to bring him to the UK, but Randy was too young at the time)
*Elvis Costello worked as a computer operator for a cosmetics company while trying to make it as a musician and in 1977 he was arrested for performing outside a Hilton Hotel where there was a conference of Columbia Records executives. Shortly after he was signed to that label.
*Composer, Tchaikovsky was financed by a wealthy widow for 13 years, and at her request, they never met.
*Eric Clapton removed the JJ Cale song, Cocaine from his set list because he felt it gave people the wrong message about cocaine. He started playing it again after he had re-arranged the song so the backup singers repeated the line, "that dirty cocaine." through the chorus.
*Paul Weller played guitar on "Champagne Supernova" by Oasis
*As a boy, David Bowie was taught art by Peter Frampton's father, Owen Frampton, at Bromley Technical School where he was an art teacher and head of the Art department. Both Bowie and Frampton were pupils at this school
*David Howell Evans, U2's 'The Edge' used to live in the Los Angeles house where Eric and Lyle Menendez killed their parents in 1989.
*Paul McCartney has used several pseudonyms in his career including 'Paul Ramone', 'Bernard Webb', 'A. Smith', 'Apollo C. Vermouth', 'Country Hams', "Percy 'Thrills' Thrillington" and 'The Fireman'
*Sheryl Crow started her singing career as a backup singer on Michael Jackson's Bad tour; also she was a backup singer on tours for George Harrison, Joe Cocker, and Rod Stewart before starting her solo career
*Monaco's national orchestra is bigger than it's army
*Jimmy Page's first session job for the Decca Label was the recording of "Diamonds" by Jet Harris & Tony Meehan, which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in 1963
*Madonna was protected by 10,000 soldiers and riot police at her Moscow concert after the Russian Orthodox Church staged protests against her self-crucifixion stunt, which has become an infamous part of her Confessions tour. (September 15, 2006)
*Guitar probably comes from the word kithara, which was the principal stringed instrument of the ancient Greeks and later of the Romans. The kithara was played with a plectrum, it was a larger and stronger form of the lyre.
*As of 2005, Queen albums have spent a total of 1,422 weeks or 27 years on the UK album charts; more time than any other musical act including The Beatles and Elvis Presley.
*While pregnant, Madonna had cravings for peanut squash and sticky toffee pudding; Mel B had cravings for peanut butter, cheesecake, ice-cream and chips, while her former band mate Victoria just craved for gerkins.
*In 1987, Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, was the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, followed by The Supremes in 1988.
*'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' by Wham! was inspired by a sign Andrew Ridgeley used to put on his bedroom door for his mum to wake him before she went to work; it was also Wham's first US hit.
*The singing voice of Lauren Bacall, in her screen debut, 'To Have And Have Not' in 1944 was dubbed by Andy Williams, when he was a teenager. This is a deeply entrenched myth
FACT: Andy Williams was considered and even recorded, but the voice you hear in the final cut is Bacall. This was stated definitively in the bio of the diirector, Howard Hawks, that came out a few years back. (Hawks on Hawks by Joseph McBride) The author points out that the Andy Williams rumor even turned up as a Jeopardy answer, but the singing is all Lauren Bacall.
*In 1957, Disc Jockey Al Priddy of KEX, Portland, Oregon, was fired for violating the radio station's ban against playing Elvis Presley's rendition of "White Christmas." After hearing reports that many U.S. radio stations had banned Elvis' Christmas album because of their shock over "the Pelvis" singing religious songs, DJ Allen Brooks of CKWS in Kingston, Ontario, played the entire album and invited listeners to call in their opinion. Of 800 callers, only 56 disapprove of Presley's sacred music
*The band 'Eurythmics' have appeared on BBC's 'Top Of The Pops' 25 times, starting with 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)' on February 24th 1983 to '17 Again' on January 20th 2000 (to date 2006).
*The piano player on Art Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" is Larry Knechtel of the group "Bread"
*On the 1977 Emerson, Lake and Palmer tour, there were 63 roadies , including a karate instructor for Palmer and their own doctor. It was also rumored they had a "carpet roadie," whose job was to transport and sweep the Persian rug Lake stood on during the concerts. They also used a 70 piece orchestra.
*Rock band Van Halen had a provision in their contract demanding M&Ms backstage with the brown ones removed. This was a way of seeing if the promoters read the contract. If they saw brown M&Ms, they knew there would be problems with the show
*Rolling Stones guitarist, Brian Jones, played oboe on "Baby You're A Rich Man" by the Beatles
*Before becoming Elvis Presley's agent, Colonel Tom Parker ran a troupe of dancing chickens.
*January 2002, George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" replaced Aaliyah's "More Than A Woman" at #1 - the only time that a deceased artist has taken over from another deceased artist at #1
*Rod Stewart was in a group called 'Shotgun Express' with Peter Green and Mick Fleetwood (the latter two went on to form Fleetwood Mac)
*Paul Bruce Dickinson (who went by the name Bruce Bruce before joining Iron Maiden) released a single with Rowan Atkinson in the UK. It was a cover of Alice Cooper's "(I Want to Be) Elected," and the artists wwere credited as "Mr. Bean and the Smear Campaign".
*Aerosmith Steve Tyler's daughter, Liv, was born in 1976 to Bebe Buell, a legendary groupie who also had affairs with Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, and Todd Rundgren. She told Liv that Rundgren was her father, and Liv didn't find out the truth until she was 11.
*Neil Sedaka played piano on Bobby Darin's hit "Dream Lover"
*When Elvis Presley was inducted into the US Army on March 24th, 1958, Uncle Sam started losing an estimated $500,000 in lost taxes for each year that Private Presley served
*Billy Joel played piano on The Shangri-Las' "Leader Of The Pack" (1964)
*Iron Butterfly's hit "In A Gadda Da Vida", was originally called "In The Garden of Eden". Singer Doug Ingle, was so trashed on LSD one rehearsal that it came out "In A Gadda Da Vida", and the band decided that was a better name for the song
*The MGs were the backup band for Otis Redding when he recorded "Dock Of The Bay" in 1967. The famous whistling in the third verse of that song was something Redding did to fill time until he could fill it in with some words. He never had the chance, he died in a plane crash 3 days later
*Pink Floyd were the first band to use a quadraphonic sound system at their concerts. Using 4 different channels of audio, it was an early version of surround sound.
*The dinosaur, Cryolophosaurus, was at one point informally known as the Elvisaurus, due to the resemblance to Elvis Presley's pompadour haircut in the 1950s.
*During their 30 odd year career, Black Sabbath have had 29 different members.
*Michael Jackson was just five years old when the Jackson Five played their first professional gig. Their fee for the night was only eight dollars, but they collected over one hundred dollars in money tossed on the stage.
*The harmonica is the world's best-selling music instrument.
*Leo Sayer had a Brighton (UK) Bus named after him. It ran on Metro Line 7 from September 1999 until April 2004 when bus was sold.
*In 2000 George Michael paid £1.45m for the Steinway piano on which John Lennon wrote 'Imagine.'
*Each KISS member represents a character. Simmons is The Demon, Frehley is The Spaceman, Stanley is The Star Child, Criss is The Cat, and Carr was The Fox. Vincent briefly wore makeup with an Ankh design in his early concerts with the group.
*Cynthia 'Plaster' Caster, a groupie became famous for making plaster cast's of rock star's penises and breasts. Clients include Jimi Hendrix and members from MC5, Television, The Kinks and various road managers
*In 1955 an unsuccessful bid to change copyright laws that would prohibit white artists from singing R&B cover tunes was proposed to U.S. Congress by singer, LaVern Baker
*You can sing the chorus of the Beach Boys "Surfing USA" along with Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen"
*Frank Sinatra used to referred to "Something" as his favorite Lennon-McCartney song. However, it is a George Harrison composition
*Themes from Unforgiven, A Perfect World, The Bridges of Madison County, and Absolute Power were all written by Clint Eastwood
*Bob Dylan's first professional performance was as opening act for John Lee Hooker at Gerde's Folk City in New York, 1961
*The Star-Spangled Banner became the US national anthem in 1931. Prior to that, it was My Country 'Tis of Thee," which had the same melody as Britian's national anthem God Save the Queen, which is based on music written by John Bull in 1619.
*In 1979, Judy Garland's false eye lashes were sold at auction for $125
*Tony Blackburn was the first D.J. on BBC Radio One. The first song played was "Flowers In The Rain" by The Move
*John Lennon sang into a condom-covered microphone to protect himself from electric shocks while trying to achieve an underwater sound for The Beatles hit "Yellow Submarine," but they never used the zany recording
*Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker covered all bases by selling both "I Love Elvis" buttons as well as "I Hate Elvis" buttons.
*Louis Armstrong's nickname Satchmo was an abbreviation of "satchelmouth," a joke on the size of his mouth... He was also nicknamed Gatemouth, Dippermouth, Dip & Pops.
*Cockney Rebel bass player Paul Jeffreys was one of the 270 passengers on Pan-Am flight 103 killed by a terrorist bomb when the plane crashed over Lockerbie, Scotland. Sex Pistol John Lydon and his wife, Nora missed the flight because his wife hadn't packed in time. The Four Tops also had been booked onto the flight returning to the States for Christmas but missed it after a recording session over ran.
*About 2,4 billion CDs are sold annually and the number of recorded CDs and blank CDs sold has been equalled. Around one-third of recorded CDs are pirated.
*Peter Hogman (The Dimensions) played the harmonica solo on Millie's hit "My Boy Lollipop", Chris Blackwell had brought Jamaican singer Millie to London to record under the direction of guitarist Ernest Ranglin and members of The Dimension
*Ex Spice Girl Emma Bunton played one of the bridemaids who were catapulted onto a giant wedding cake in a Halifax Building Society TV commercial. Former S Club 7's Tina Barret appeared in the same advert
*Elton John's original name was Reginald Kenneth Dwight. The name Elton comes from Elton Dean, a Bluesology sax player. John comes from Long John Baldry, British R&B singer and founder of Blues Inc. Eventually, he made Elton Hercules John his legal name. Hercules was the name of the horse in the British comedy series Steptoe and Son.
*'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen contains the famous "mamma mia, mamma mia, mamma mia let me go" line. It was knocked off the No.1 position on the UK chart by Abba's 'Mamma Mia' (January 1976).
*In a 1997 TV interview Mick Jagger attributed the original classic design of the Stones' tongue logo to John Pasch, not Andy Warhol as often misquoted.
*According to producer George Martin, the 60's Batman TV theme tune inspired George Harrison of the Beatles, to write the hit song "Taxman"
*" No Woman No Cry", Bob Marley's first hit was released as a single from his album, Live!, which was recorded at the Lyceum in London in 1975. Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer left the group the year before this was released. They were upset at the way Bob Marley was given top billing.
*In the classic 1966 French film "Masculin-Feminin", the protagonist reads a headline from a French newspaper saying, "Qui etes-vous Bob Dylan?" This means, "Who are you, Bob Dylan?"
*Previous to April 1966, David Bowie had recorded under the name of David Jones and The Lower Third.
* Elvis' favourite collectibles were official badges. He collected police badges in almost every city he performed in. Also he was an avid gun collector. His collection of 40 weapons included M-16s and a Thompson submachine gun
* Mick Jagger wrote the song "Wild Horses" for Marianne Faithfull
* Iggy Pop, Mick Fleetwood and David Soul have each guested in in "Star Trek"
*The first video to premier on MTV was " Video Killed The Radio Star" by Buggles on August 1st 1981. The most aired video in MTV's history is Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"
* The term "Blue Note", usually associated with the famous jazz record label, in fact refers to the diminished fifth - the basic building-block chord of the blues
*When Billy Crystal was a child, his babysitter was the legendary singer Billie Holiday
* The first Gibson double neck/twin neck guitar to be imported to the UK was a white solid mahogony Gibson 1275 Twin Neck, ordered in 1963 by guitar virtuoso Frank White, it took a year to arrive from the states. Frank played successfully with it for 20 years. It is now owned and played by guitar virtuoso Phil Brodie of Bitter Suite.
* AC/DC were featured on the front cover of the first issue of Kerrang Magazine, launched in 1981
*"Please, young people... Elvis has left the building. He has gotten in his car and driven away.... Please take your seats." It was on December 15, 1956 at the Hirsh Coliseum in Shreveport that promoter Horace Logan coined this well-known Elvis phrase, while trying to calm the uncontrollable crowd and to keep the audience in the building for the rest of the show, at one of his famous "Hayride" shows.
*John Lennon met Yoko Ono the first time the night before one of her performing-art exhibitions at the Indica Gallery, London, as she was setting up. (Nov 8th 1966) John and the rest of the band were friends with the owners of the Indica.
*Madonna has MP (standing for Madonna's Property) and Marilyn Monroe's face tattooed on her bottom.
*The LP (long-playing) record was invented by Paul Goldmark in 1948. The LP is not dead yet: more than 10 million LPs are sold every year
*It was at a concert in Minneapolis in 1956 that Al Dvorin (Elvis's tour manager and announcer for 22 years till Elvis's death in 1977) first closed an Elvis concert with: "Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night." This was after a simular announcement a few nights before by Horace Logan. Horace Logan coined the phrase Al Dvorin popularised it.
*The set on which Rick Nelson appeared in the TV show The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, was an exact copy of the Nelson's real Hollywood home
*Axl Rose [Guns 'n' Roses] used to earn $8 an hour for smoking cigarettes; for a science experiment at UCLA
*Elvis Presley once entered an Elvis look-a-like contest in a US burger bar and only came 3rd!!
*The band Wild Cherry, who had a number one disco hit with "Play That Funky Music" in 1976, took their name from a box of cough drops
*Hendrix claimed 'Purple Haze' was inspired by a dream where he was walking under the sea. In the dream, he said a purple haze surrounded him, engulfed him and got him lost. It was a traumatic experience, but in his dream his faith in Jesus saved him. At one point, Hendrix wrote the chorus as "Purple Haze, Jesus Saves," but decided against it.
*Nazareth, took their name from a line in The Band's song "The Weight."
*Originally back in 1958, Berry Gordy Jr. wanted to name his record label "Tammy" after Debbie Reynold's hit single, but the name was taken, so he settled for the name Tamla.
*The musicians who backed The Chiffons on their 1963 #1 hit "He's So Fine" were all members of The Tokens, who had scored their own chart topper with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in 1961
*In 1958 Fan's of rock and roll music were warned that tuning into music on the car radio could cost you more money. Researchers from the Esso gas company said the rhythm of rock and roll can cause the driver to be foot heavy on the pedal, making them waste fuel.
*In 1961 Britains' BBC Radio banned the song "100 Pounds of Clay" by Gene McDaniels because it has a reference to women being created from building materials, which the network considered to be blasphemous!
*At the same time that Ringo Starr received an offer from Brian Epstein to join the Beatles, he was also asked to join another Liverpool group called Kingsize Taylor and The Dominoes. Ringo chose the one offering the best wage ... 25 pounds a week!
*After Jan Berry of Jan and Dean was seriously injured in a car accident on April 12, 1966 and could no longer perform, his partner Dean Torrence formed a graphics design company that was responsible for over 200 album covers. He won a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover of the Year in 1972 for the LP "Pollution" by the group of the same name.
*'62 hit Stranger On The Shore's, Mr. Aker Bilk, learned to play the clarinet while he was in prison. He had been sentenced to three months in jail after falling asleep while on guard duty for the British Army in Egypt
*Frank Sinatra once called Rock and Roll "The most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear."
*When she was just four years old, Gladys Knight won first prize on TV's Ted Mack's Amateur Hour.
*During a gig at a David Bowie Ziggy Stardust tour in Glasgow Scotland. 6 fans, who arrived at the venue in wheel chairs, amazingly sprang to their feet as David and group took the stage!
*Led Zeppelin played Staiway To Heaven for the first time in Belfast on March 5, 1971. John Paul Jones said the audience was not impressed. They wanted to hear something they liked - like "Whole Lotta Love."
*Alanis Morissette appeared on the talent show Star Search in 1989 (where she performed a version of the Osmonds' "One Bad Apple") but lost to a singing cowboy named Chad.
*The Animals 1964 single 'House Of The Rising Sun' was the first Number 1 to have a playing time of more than four minutes
*On his debut album 'For You' Prince played 27 different instruments.
*The title of Phil Spector's song by The Teddy Bears, 'To Know Him Is To Love Him' was taken from the inscription on Spector's father's tombstone.
*Keith Richards favourite drink is called 'Nuclear Waste'. Vodka with orange, Fanta and cranberry juice
*I Fought The Law' a hit for The Clash was written by Sonny Curtis of Buddy Holly's Crickets
*Elvis Presley made only one television commercial, an ad for "Southern Maid Doughnuts" that ran in 1954
*In Sept 1974 Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones entered a Swiss Clinic to have his blood cleaned [in a form of dialysis] to get him off heroine quickly, to complete a European tour.
*The group Spandau Ballet got their name from a peice of graffiti seen by Robert Elms on a Berlin Loo wall
*A concert promoter in Hawaii sold a thousand tickets to a Spice Girls concert. Unfortunately the concert was never scheduled. The man was arrested and told police he needed the money for a nose job and a sex change
*Bryan Adams took a picture of The Queen of England that was used on a Canadian stamp
*Country singer Waylon Jennings was a guitar player in Buddy Holly's backup band. He gave up his plane seat to J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) just moments before it took off. The plane crashed, killing all on board, including Buddy Holly.
*Barry Manilow was once a page boy at CBS and was later Bette Midler's musical director. Before having his first hit record, Barry earned a living writing commercials, including the jingles for State Farm Insurance , Band Aids, Stridex, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Dr. Peper, Pepsi, and McDonalds.
*While playing in front of a large lake at the Crystal Palace Bowl in London in 1970, Pink Floyd played so loud, a number of fish were killed
*In 1996, Ringo Starr appeared in a Japanese advertisement for apple sauce, which coincidentally is what "Ringo" means in Japanese
*Telma Hopkins of Tony Orlando and Dawn, is the voice you hear on Issac Hayes' song "Shaft", that tells him, "Shut your mouth".
*James Brown's wife tried to get her traffic tickets dismissed because of "diplomatic immunity" in June of 1988. She claimed her husband is the official "ambassador of soul". She lost the case
*The first record to sell a million copies was "Chattanooga Cho-Cho" by The Glen Miller Orchestra in 1942
*When Steve Winwood left the Spencer Davis Group in the summer of 1967, one of the rejected applicants to be auditioned was a young piano player named Reginald Dwight, who would later launch a solo career, re-naming himself, Elton John.
*Throughout their career, Ringo received far more fan mail than any of the other Beatles.
*The lead vocal of the Beach Boys hit, "Barbara Ann" was actually sung by Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean
*Despite all of the hits that they've had, The Who have never had a number one record in the UK or the US
*The Everly Brothers world hit "Bye Bye Love," was rejected by 30 labels before Cadence Records picked it up
*Martha Reeves later of The Vandellas 1st worked at Motown Records as a secretary. Her duties included supervising a very young Stevie Wonder.
*Among those who sang the chorus of the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" were Marianne Faithful, Graham Nash, Jane Asher, Patti Boyd, Keith Moon and Mick Jagger.
*David Lee Roth's 1985 #12 hit "Just A Gigolo / I Ain't Got Nobody", originally charted at the #1 spot in 1931 by jazz artist Ted Lewis.
*"The Chipmunks", Alvin, Simon and Theodore were named after executives at Liberty Records by their creator, Ross Bagdasarian, who used the stage name, David Seville.
*Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson once had a giant sandbox built around his piano, so he could feel the sand beneath his feet for song writing inspiration.
*Gene Simmons of Kiss has a tongue that is seven inches long, two inches longer than most men
*Steppenwolf's lead singer, John Kay , made a perilous midnight escape from post-war East Germany when he was a child.
*The first CD pressed in the United States for commercial release was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA."
*At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the union only lasted seventeen months. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother, Mandy.
Think it also made him a stepfather to his own DAD!! -well as they say its all Rock n Roll!!
*Shock Rocker, Alice Cooper was once elected Homecoming Queen for the University Of Houston.
*Chuck Berry holds a degree in cosmetology.
*Petula Clark's hit, "This Is My Song" was written by movie actor Charlie Chaplin.
*Roy Orbison's trademark look came about when he misplaced his regular glasses and had to rely on a pair of prescription sun-glasses. His management liked the mysterious look it gave him and soon, they were the only ones he wore.
*The piano player on Art Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" is Larry Knechtel of the group "Bread"
*At the end of the Beatles' song "A Day in the Life," an ultrasonic whistle, audible only to dogs, was recorded by Paul McCartney for his old English sheepdog "Martha".
*Jimi Hendrix was thrown out of high school for holding the hand of a white girl in class.
*Even though he has recorded some of the most memorable rock and roll classics, the only gold record that Chuck Berry ever received was for "My Ding-a-ling".
*The original Eagles, Glen Frey, Don Henley, Randy Meisner and Bernie Leadon first met when they were members of Linda Ronstadt's backup band
*'Billie Jean' by Michael Jackson was the first video to air on MTV by a black artist
*When Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" finally fell off of Billboard's Hot 200 Album list in October 1988, it had set a record of 741 weeks on the chart
*"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" the 1960 hit for Elvis Presley was written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926 as a vaudeville recitation and first recorded by Al Jolson.
*The first group to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were The Coasters.
*More than 2,500 cover versions of The Beatles' "Yesterday" exist, making it the most recorded song in history
*Barry Manilow's hit, "I Write The Songs" was actually written by Bruce Johnston of The Beach Boys
*Glen Frey of the Eagles played rhythm guitar on Bob Seger's "Ramblin', Gamblin' Man
*EMI stands for Electrical & Musical Instruments
*Puff Daddy/P Diddy throws away his trainers after wearing them for just one day
*When John Lennon divorced Julian Lennon's mother Cynthia, Paul McCartney composed the song "Hey Jude," to cheer Julian up.
*Over 400 musicians applied for a part in The Monkees, including Stephen Stills, John Sebastian and Harry Nilsson
*The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India
*Sonny and Cher were initially known as Caesar and Cleo.

Some of these facts are "to date" of when I put them up on the page, which I started as a weekly trivia fact, back in 2004 .. now I update monthly.

Joke Index Muso Page

Thankyou to everyone who have sent me the above info in.
If you would like to contribute to this page I am only an email away.

© Phil Brodie Band 2004
webmistress