Music Facts - DM's Beatles forums

The longest title of an album that actually made the Billboard chart is by Fiona Apple. Made up of 90 words, the album is called -
"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, Then You Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You'll Know That You're Right"

The motel that was the scene of Janis Joplin's death in 1970 was right across the street from where Bobby Fuller died in 1966.

1950s crooner, Pat Boone is the great, great, great, great grandson of American frontier hero Daniel Boone.

Led Zeppelin founder Jimmy Page played as a session guitarist on Tom Jones� 1965 hit, "It�s Not Unusual".

The world's first jukebox was installed at the Palais Royal Hotel in San Francisco on November 23rd, 1899. At a nickel per play, the machine earned nearly $1000 during the first six months of operation.

While upset about a girl who had just left him, Joe Rock wrote most of the lyrics to The Skyliners 1959 number one hit, "Since I Don�t Have You", while sitting in his car between stoplights.

In 1931, George Beauchamp and Adolph Rickenbacker designed and built the world's first electric guitar. Because of its odd shape, it was nicknamed 'Rickenbacker's Frying Pan'. The pair were granted a patent for their invention in 1937.

Paul McCartney originally wrote the first two lines of "I Saw Her Standing There" as "She was just seventeen, Never been a beauty queen." When he sang it for John Lennon, both realized that it was a poor rhyme. Finally, it was John who came up with "She was just seventeen, you know what I mean", which they knew was a perfect sexual innuendo for the song.

"I Heard It Through The Grapevine" has reached the Billboard Hot 100 six times in versions by Marvin Gaye (#1), Gladys Knight (#2), Creedence Clearwater Revival (#43), Roger Troutman (#79), King Curtis (#83) and The California Raisins (#84). The song has also been recorded by dozens of other artists including The Temptations, Ike and Tina Turner, Paul Mauriat and Elton John.

In a 2005 interview, Billy Joel said that during the recording of "We Are The World", most of the artists didn't like the song, but nobody would say so. Cyndi Lauper thought it sounded like a Pepsi commercial and Billy agreed.

The contract that made Brian Epstein the Beatles' manager was never really valid. Both Paul and George were under 21 at the time and needed a legal guardian to sign. Epstein himself never signed the document at all.

51 year old Lindsay Crosby, son of Bing Crosby, took his own life on December 11th, 1989, reportedly right after watching his father sing "White Christmas" during the television-airing of the classic Christmas movie, Holiday Inn. Lindsay was said to have suffered years of physical and verbal abuse inflicted on him as a child by his father. In May, 1991, Lindsay's 57 year old brother Dennis would also commit suicide.

Elvis's middle name is spelled "Aaron" on his tombstone. According to his official web site, the name was spelled Aron at birth, but as an adult, Elvis planned to change the spelling to Aaron and the tombstone was designed to reflect that wish.

In 1967, under Britain's open-ended tax system, The Beatles were in the 96% tax bracket.

In 1956, while attending San Francisco State College, Johnny Mathis was such an outstanding track star, he was invited to the Olympic trials. A year later, after signing with Columbia Records, he had the #14 hit in the US with "Wonderful, Wonderful".

Before reaching the US Top Ten in 1980 with "Giving It Up For Your Love", Delvert McClinton played harmonica on Burce Chanel's chart topping 1962 hit, "Hey Baby". While on tour, he also taught some harp licks to John Lennon, who was playing in a then unknown opening act called The Beatles.

"Sunday Will Never Be The Same" was first offered to the Left Banke, but they rejected it. The song was then given to The Mamas and The Papas but they also passed on it. Finally, Spanky and Our Gang recorded it and took it to # 9 in the US in 1967.

Cat Stevens' song "Morning Has Broken" was an adaptation of a hymn of the same name by Eleanor Farjeon, who wrote many stories for children .

Although the concept of the "hit parade" goes back to the mid 1930s, the invention and naming of the Top 40 format is widely credited to Todd Storz, who was the director of radio station KWOH-AM in Omaha, Nebraska, in the early 1950s. Storz noted the great response certain songs got from the record-buying public and compared it to selections on jukeboxes. He expanded his stable of radio stations and gradually converted them to an all-hits format, pioneering the practice of surveying record stores to determine which singles were popular each week.

Steppenwolf's lead singer, John Kay is seldom seen without sun glasses due to the fact that he has been legally blind since childhood.

Before Bobby "Boris" Pickett released "The Monster Mash" in 1962, he was working as an actor, making appearences on the TV shows Bonanza, The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction.

Blood, Sweat and Tears concert contract stated that their shows are not to be advertised as a reunion concert, even though the band has split and re-united at least five times.

Buddy Holly asked his future wife for a date, 30 seconds after meeting her and proposed later the same week. Six months earlier, he had recorded a song called "Take Your Time".

In 1957, Frank Sinatra was quoted as saying "Rock 'n' Roll is phony and false, and sung, written and played for the most part by cretinous goons."

October 17th, 1990 marked the first time that the #1 album in the United States was only available on CD or cassette - and could not be found on vinyl. The album was Vanilla Ice's "To The Extreme".

Songwriter Tommy Durden showed his partner Mae Axton a newspaper story about a suicide victim who had left a one-line note that said "I Walk A Lonely Street". The pair added "Heartbreak Hotel" to the line and in 22 minutes had written Elvis Presley's first million seller.

Vaudevillian Jack Norworth wrote "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" in 1908 after seeing a sign on a bus advertising BASEBALL TODAY - POLO GROUNDS. Norworth and his friend, Albert von Tilzer (who wrote the music) had never been to a baseball game before his song became a hit.

Pat Boone was a semi-finalist on the TV talent show Ted Mack's Amateur Hour, but before the finals, he appeared on a similar show called Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts, for a fee of $600. Ted Mack's show then disqualified him, as he was no longer an amateur, costing Pat a chance at a $6000 scholarship.

When Paul McCartney wants to play some of his old Beatles' hits in concert, he must pay a royalty fee to Michael Jackson, who bought the publishing rights for $47.5 million in 1985.

In 1929, American Paul Galvin, the head of Galvin Manufacturing Corporation, invented the first car radio. Consumers had to purchase the radios separately as they were not available from carmakers. Galvin coined the name Motorola for the company's new products, combining the idea of motion and radio.

When Richard Penniman was asked how he came by his stage name, he said that in his childhood neighbourhood, there were only two nicknames used, 'lil and bro. That's when he became Little Richard.

When John Lennon's Aunt Mimi bought him his first guitar in the summer of 1956, he practiced constantly. As she watched him play hour after hour, day after day, she finally remarked "The guitar's all very well John, but you'll never make a living out of it."

During the early stages of their careers, Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, Hall and Oates and Steve Martin were all opening acts for the rock and roll nostalgia group, Sha Na Na.

The Crickets were given awards as the Best Vocal Group in the US and Great Britain in 1957, despite the fact that the only member of the group that actually sang was Buddy Holly. The background vocals for their number one hit "That 'll Be The Day" were sung by Gary and Ramona Tollet.

The Association were turned down by every major label who heard their first album, which included the future number one smash, "Cherish".

Antoine "Fats" Domino and his wife Rosemary have eight children, all of whom have names that start with "A".

The same studio musicans who had just helped Bob Dylan record "Like A Rolling Stone" were asked by producer Tom Wilson to stay in the studio for one more song. He then recorded the electric guitar, bass and drums that were to be added to Paul Simon's voice and accoustic guitar. The result was the 1966 number one hit, "Sounds Of Silence".

In the first two years after the Beatles fired drummer Pete Best, they would gross over 24 million dollars. Best went to work as a baker, earning 8 pounds a week.

In the Spring of 1969, The Cowsills had the number two song on Billboard's Hot 100 with "Hair". The changing music scene soon left them hopelessly outdated and by 1970, guitarist Bob Cowsill had a job sweeping a parking garage.

When Jerry and the Pacemakers returned to England following their first tour of America in 1964, they were shocked to find that not only did the band not make any money, they actually owed over three thousand dollars in expenses, thanks to lavish dinners and limousine rides.

Question Mark and The Mysterians 1966, number one US hit "96 Tears" was recorded in the living room of their manager's house.

None of The Beatles were invited to attend the private funeral of their manager Brian Epstein. They did however hold a memorial service for their former leader a few weeks later.

Danny and the Juniors' 1958, Top 20 hit "Rock and Roll Is Here To Stay" was written in response to a rock record smashing party sponsored by St Louis radio station KWK.

The first time that Dick Clark heard a Beatles' record he said, "I don't know what the heck you're so excited about...it'll never fly."

According to vocalist Davy Jones, The Monkees were allowed to choose some of the songs they recorded. Two that they turned down were "Knock Three Times", which would become a Billboard chart topper for Tony Orlando and Dawn in 1970 and "Love Will Keep Us Together", which became a million selling number one for The Captain and Tennille in 1975.

The term "rock and roll", which was black slang for sexual intercourse, appeared on record for the first time in 1922 on Trixie Smith's "My Baby Rocks Me With One Steady Roll".

The term "rhythm & blues" was coined in 1948 by a young Billboard reporter and future Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler, to replace the negative term "Race Records".

After John Lennon made his unfortunate remarks about the Beatles being "more popular than Jesus", the Bishop of Montreal, the Rt. Rev. Kenneth Maguire said: "I wouldn't be surprised if The Beatles actually were more popular than Jesus. In the only popularity poll in Jesus' time, he came out second best to Barabbas."

In the summer of 2005, recording industry insiders estimated that there were still 28 billion songs being illegally downloaded yearly.

Mike Stoller, one half of the songwriting team of Leiber & Stoller, survived the 1956 sinking of the luxury ship Andrea Doria off Nantucket Island. When he returned to New York on a rescue freighter, he was greeted by his partner Jerry Leiber who told him that they had just scored their first hit record by "some white kid called Elvis Presley." Stoller replied "Elvis who?"

Ringo Starr's solo recording career began in 1970, just before the break-up of the Beatles, with "Sentimental Journey", an album of pop standards said to have been recorded to please his mother.

The song writing team of Holland - Dozier - Holland wrote "Where Did Our Love Go" for The Marvelettes, who hated the song and turned it down. It was then offered to The Supremes, who reluctantly recorded it. By mid-July, 1964, it became their breakthrough hit, climbing all the way to number one on Billboard's Hot 100.

Phil Collins was an extra during the filming of the first Beatles' movie, "A Hard Days Night".

Although the term "teeny-bopper" came to mean a young teenager in the 60s and 70s, the original term "bopper" was a street gang term for one who was always looking for a fight.

On The Beatles 1970, #1 hit, "The Long and Winding Road", Paul McCartney played the piano, and John Lennon played bass. George and Ringo do not appear on the track at all.

Bill Haley and His Comets recorded "Rock Around The Clock" as a "B" side for their first Decca Records recording session. The "A" side was a song called "Thirteen Women And Only One Man In Town".

Stevie Wonder wrote "Isn't She Lovely" for his daughter Aisha Zakia. The names mean "strength" and "intelligence" in an African language.

Brenda Lee graduated from high school in Hollywood, having already earned 12 top ten records.

Paul Revere and The Raiders' first chart entry, "Like Long Hair" was based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C-Sharp Minor", written in 1897.

The longest title of a US number one record belongs to a Dutch studio group called Stars On 45. Although their medley was simply known as "Stars On 45" in most parts of the world, the US single had a 41 word title: "Intro Venus / Sugar Sugar / No Reply / I'll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Want To Know A Secret / We Can Work It Out / I Should Have Known Better / Nowhere Man / You're Going To Lose That Girl / Stars On 45".

Performance contracts for the band Van Halen stipulated that they be provided with a supply of M&Ms at every show, but all of the brown ones had to be removed.

In 1964, an acoustics expert from New South Wales University measured the noise level during a Beatles' concert at 112 decibels. That's between 10 and 20 decibels higher than a Boeing 707 jet flying at 2,000 feet.

Doors guitarist Robby Krieger once said about lead singer Jim Morrison: "I loved the guy when he was straight. I disliked him immensely when he was drunk."

In 1956, a Protestant minister in Greenwich Village, New York said about Elvis Presley's music; "I don't think youth wants this sort of thing. It is the result of the letdown that follows every war."

According to BMI, the performing rights organization that represents, songwriters, composers and music publishers, Mason Williams' 1968 hit, "Classical Gas" has received more radio airplay than any other instrumental.

Before starting his run at the legendary Whisky A Go Go, Johnny Rivers hired a fill-in bass player named Sylvester Stewart. Things didn't go well the first night and Stewart was promptly fired. A few years later, he would re-appear on the music scene as the leader of his own band...Sly and The Family Stone.

Before Glen Campbell had a successful solo career, he was a studio musician who played lead guitar on The Beach Boys' "Dance, Dance, Dance" and Frank Sinatra's "Strangers In The Night".

David Rose, who lead his orchestra to Billboard's number one position with "The Stripper" in July, 1962, was a prolific composer of television theme songs in the 1950s. At one point, there were 22 TV shows on the air using his music. He later went on to win Emmy Awards for the theme for "Bonanza", and "An Evening With Fred Astaire", as well as writing music for "Little House On The Prarie" and "Highway To Heaven".

Mr. Aker Bilk, who took "Stranger On The Shore" to Billboard's number one spot in May, 1962, 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.

Elvis Presley was number 1 in record sales in the US in the 1950s. In the 1960s he was number 2 and in the 70s he was number 13.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney were always on the look-out for interesting titles to write a song around. They did just that when a tired Ringo uttered "God, it's been a hard days night" and again when a chauffer told Paul, "I'm very busy at the moment. I've been working eight days a week."

Ellas Bates was still in grammar school when classmates started calling him "Bo Diddley". He says he dosen't know why. A bo diddley is actually a one-string, African guitar.

Songwriters Felice and Boudleaux Bryant wrote "All I Have To Do Is Dream" in 15 minutes, but the tune would reach the US charts in four straight decades. The Everly Brothers took it to number one in 1958, Richard Chamberlain's version went to number 14 in 1963, Glen Campbell and Bobby Gentry reached number 27 with it in 1970, and Andy Gibb and Victoria Principal peaked at number 51 in 1981.

Dan Whitney, the comedian known as "Larry The Cable Guy" has been influenced by show business all his life. His father used to played guitar with the Everly Brothers.

Herman's Hermits recorded "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter" as an album filler, never intending it for release as a single. After an American DJ started giving it airplay, MGM issued it as a 45 and it became the group's third Billboard number one hit in a row.

The first time that Del Shannon and his keyboard player, Max Crook, ever played "Runaway" on stage, Crook improvised the organ solo as he went along. When it came time to record the song and in all future performances, he never changed a single note.

John Fred and his Playboy Band hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in January, 1968 with "Judy In Disguise". At one time, John's father, Fred Gourrier was a professional baseball player.

According to guitarist Robbie Robertson, Bob Dylan's backup band resisted all conformity, even naming their ensemble. After landing their own recording contract, record company executives pressed them for a group name, but had to settle for simply The Band.

In April, 1967, the Greyhound bus company began offering a guided tour of what they called "Hippyland" in San Francisco.

According to producer Mickie Most, The Animals went into a recording studio at 8 A.M. to cut "House Of The Rising Sun" and 15 minutes later, the track was complete. With studio time costing the equivalent of $20 an hour, the song cost $5 to record, but would go on to top both the US and UK charts.

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.

Frank Sinatra once called Rock and Roll "The most brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious form of expression it has been my displeasure to hear."

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 the Fall of 1965, while the Four Seasons' "Let's Hang On" was a Billboard #3 smash, they also scored a #12 hit with "Don't Think Twice" under the name of The Wonder Who. At the same time, lead singer Franki Valli reached #39 with a solo release called "You're Gonna Hurt Yourself", giving him three Top 40 hits at the same time, all under different names.

Antoine "Fats" Domino came by his nickname because he stood 5 feet, 2 inches tall and weighed 225 lb.

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.

Jerry Garcia of The Grateful Dead was brought in as a session musician to play steel guitar on Brewer and Shipley's March, 1971 hit, "One Toke Over The Line".

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 music business is hard on a marriage. Paul Revere has been married six times. Jerry Lee Lewis, Kenny Rogers and Tammy Wynette have each been married five times. James Brown, Glen Campbell and Peggy Lee have been married four times.

Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson were not the first group in the rock and roll era to call themselves The Supremes. An all male quartet from Columbus, Ohio used the name on a 1957 single called "Just You And I" and Ruby and the Romantics, who had a number one US hit with "Our Day Will Come" in 1963, started out as The Supremes.

The Beach Boys' 1966 hit, "Caroline, No" was originally titled "Carol, I Know".

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 including "The Turtles Golden Hits", nine for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and several for Harry Nilsson. 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 and was nominated on three other occasions.

In 1956, entertainer Jackie Gleason said of Elvis Presley, "He can�t last, I tell you flatly, he can�t last."

The Recording Industry Association of American began certifying recordings as Gold on March 14th, 1958 to recognize records that sold over 500,000 copies. The first Gold plaque was presented to Perry Como for his hit single, "Catch A Falling Star". Four months later, the cast album to "Oklahoma" sung by Gordon Macrae became the first official Gold album. In 1976, because of booming record sales, the RIAA created a new platinum award, for singles that sell in excess of 2 million copies and an album that sells 1 million units. The first platinum single was Johnnie Taylor's "Disco Lady", and the first platinum album went to the Eagles for their "Greatest Hits 1971-1975". On March 16, 1999, the RIAA launched the Diamond Awards, honoring sales of 10 million copies or more of an album or single. Awards were presented to AC/DC, The Eagles, and Metallica.

On February 14th, 1977, singer / songwriter Janis Ian received 461 Valentine's day cards after indicating in the lyrics of her 1975, number 3 hit "At Seventeen", she had never received any. (The valentines I never knew, The Friday night charades of youth, Were spent on one more beautiful, At seventeen I learned the truth)

According to Paul Anka, who appeared with Buddy Holly on some of the Winter Dance Party tour before the plane crash that took Holly's life, Buddy had plans to take flying lessons when the tour was over.

On Sunday, February 10th, 1964, the night that the Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, an estimated 73 million viewers watched on TV, with over 45 percent of all sets in the US tuned in. The crime rate among American teenagers dropped to nearly zero that night.

Friends of The Raiders leader, Paul Revere, say that in high school, his name was Revere Dick and he had a brother named Sly.

Although the statistics were probably made up by overselus salesmen, record charts first appeared in the US as early as 1890. The earliest recorded number one hit was "Semper fidelis" by The US Marine Band.

Little Richard's 1958 Top Ten hit "Good Golly Miss Molly" says that Miss Molly "sure likes to ball..." At the time it was on the charts, Richard was enrolled a bible college.

Shock rocker Sid Vicious died in February, 1979 from an overdose of heroin that was bought for him by his mother, who was present when he injected it.

George Martin, who produced The Beatles most successful recordings, first rose to prominence by recording comedy records.

In 1962, when Johnny Carson took over the NBC "Tonight Show" from Jack Parr, he commissioned Paul Anka for a new theme song. Paul suggested a song that he had already written called "Toot Sweet". After a lyric was added in 1959 it was re-named "It's Really Love" and under that title, was recorded by Annette Funicello on her LP, "Annette Sings". Under a deal with Anka, Johnny became the "author" for copyright purposes and got a piece of not only the publishing but the composer's share too. Both Anka and Carson's names were listed as writers and the two began collecting BMI performance royalties. The pair got $200 in royalties every time the show aired...and it ran for 32 years, 52 weeks a year, 5 nights a week -- which works out to $1,664,000.00 -- not bad for an old tune that had been re-cycled twice before.

According to the Amusement & Music Operators Association, Patsy Cline's 1962 hit, "Crazy" is the most played song on jukeboxes across the United States. It is followed by "Old Time Rock and Roll" by Bob Seger and "Hound Dog" / "Don't Be Cruel" by Elvis Presley.

There is a five way tie for the shortest title of a song to make it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs are: The Jacksons' "ABC", Edwin Starr's "War", Frankie Avalon's "Why", and Michael Jackson's "Ben" and "Bad".

Roberta Flack recorded "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" as an album cut for her 1969 debut LP "First Take". Three years later, Clint Eastwood remembered hearing the song and included it in his film "Play Misty For Me", causing Atlantic Records to re-edit and rush release the song as a single. Six weeks later, it was the number one song in the US, where it stayed for six weeks.

During a December, 1974 interview, TV talk show host Dick Cavett asked David Bowie what his mother thought of his act. He replied "She pretends I'm not hers."

When the Righteous Brothers single "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" was reviewed on the British TV show Juke Box Jury in January, 1965, it was voted a "miss" by all four judges. Since that time, it has become US radio's most played rock and roll song of all time, being heard over eight million times.

Paul Anka's first 45 sold just 300 copies. The follow-up, "Diana", sold nine million.

When Frank Sinatra Jr was kidnapped in December, 1963, his abductors demanded $240,000 ransom. His father offered one million dollars for his safe return, but for some un-explained reason, his captors turned the offer down and settled for the original amount. Three men were later caught and sent to prison.

Walter Murphy's 1976 disco hit, "A Fifth Of Beethoven" was based on Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 in C Minor", composed in 1807.

After Capitol records had rejected �Love Me Do�, �Please Please Me� and �From Me To You� for American release, label president Alan Livingston sent a memo to their parent company, EMI in Britain that said: �We don�t think The Beatles will do anything in this market.� A year later, in January, 1964, when �I Saw Her Standing There� was issued, it became the fastest selling single in the history of recorded music and Capitol�s pressing plant was forced to run 24 hours a day, trying to fill more than one million orders.

Although it says Diana Ross on her birth certificate, her parents and friends called her Diane until her early 20s

When Dennis Edwards of The Temptations first sang "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", he was upset by the line "It Was The Third Of Sepember / That Day I'll Always Remember / 'Cause That Was The Day My Daddy Died", because Edwards father actually did die on September 3rd.

Robin and Barry Gibb wrote "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" for crooner Andy Williams. When he declined, the Bee Gees recorded the song themselves and scored the first of their nine number one records with it.

Listen carefully to the begining of The Beatles' song "Come Together", from their Abby Road album. The bass guitar riff nearly obliterates John Lennon saying "Shoot me".

The flip side of Bobby Helms' Christmas favourite "Jingle Bell Rock" is called "Captain Santa Claus And His Reindeer Space Patrol".

The first song of the rock era to become a US #1 twice by different artists was "Go Away Little Girl", first by Steve Lawrence (Dec 1962), then by Donny Osmond (Aug 1971). The second to accomplish this feat was "The Loco-Motion" by Little Eva (July 1962), then Grand Funk (March 1974). Both songs were penned by the same songwriters, Gerry Goffin and Carole King.

The rock group Queen issued albums called "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" which were named after movies by The Marx Brothers.

Three Dog Night's 1971 smash, "Joy To The World" was written by Hoyt Axton especially for an animated children's show called "The Happy Song" that never made it to production.

After Rick Nelson signed a one million dollar, twenty year recording contract with Decca Records in January, 1963, he had only two more hits, 1964's "For You" and 1972's "Garden Party".

About 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.

Debbie Boone's 1977 hit "You Light Up My Life" became a multi-million selling smash that stayed at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 for ten weeks, becoming a far bigger hit than any of the 38 Top 40 songs her father, Pat Boone ever had.

The tapes for Don McLean's first album were rejected by 34 record companies before Mediarts agreed to release it in 1970. His next LP, "American Pie" would be considered a rock and roll classic and sell millions of copies.

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.

The Miracles first number one hit, 1970's "Tears Of A Clown", was actually taken from an album that was released three years earlier. The song was issued as a single when record executives wanted another "tears" song to follow "Tracks Of My Tears" and found that the group had already recorded one.

The Osmond Brothers, Allan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay and Donny had their first number one hit in the US in February 1971 with "One Bad Apple". What most fans don't know is that there are two older brothers, Virl and Tommy, who have both suffered so much hearing loss that the entire family learned how to converse in sign language.

Disc Jockey Rick Dees, the morning man at WMPS in Memphis, recorded a novelty disco song called "Disco Duck" in 1976. After it became a US number one hit, he was forbidden to play the record on his radio show. He simply mentioned the record on the air one day and was promptly fired by the station's manager, who cited him for conflict of interest.

The only Mother and son to both have a number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 are Shirley Jones, who sang on the Partridge Family's "I Think I Love You" in November, 1970 and her son Shaun Cassidy for "Da Do Ron Ron" in July 1977.

Glen Campbell, the country star who had a string of hits that crossed over to the pop charts in the late sixties and seventies, began his career as a highly regarded session musician, playing on hits by the Monkees, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, the Association, the Mamas & the Papas, Rick Nelson, the Beach Boys and many others. In 1969, he sold more records than the Beatles and began a three year run hosting his own TV variety series. Despite all of his musical success, he can neither read or write music.

While still a struggling young musician, Billy Joel recorded a pretzel commercial with Chubby Checker.

In October, 1963, when New York disc jockey Murray �the K� Kaufman played five records for his audience to vote on, The Beatles� �She Loves You� came in third, behind a Four Seasons single and something called �Coney Island Baby� by The Excellents.

Upon meeting the band Pink Floyd for the first time, a record company executive asked them "Which one's Pink?"

Terry Jacks recorded his 1974 number one hit, "Seasons In The Sun" in 1973, but the master tape sat on a shelf in his basement for more than a year. One day, a newspaper delivery boy heard Terry playing it and asked if he could bring some friends by to listen to it. Their enthusiasm convinced Jacks to release it on his own label and it soon topped the record charts in the US, Canada and the UK and sold over six million copies worldwide.

Freddie Mercury, lead singer of the British rock band Queen, once said that his main musical influences were Jimi Hendrix and Liza Minelli.

"The End Of The World" by Skeeter Davis is the only song to make the top ten on four Billboard magazine charts - pop, country, middle-of-the-road and R&B.

When Herb Alpert's 1979 single, "Rise" came to Britain, club DJs failed to notice that the 12 inch patters were recorded at 33 RPM and played them at the wrong speed. Because the song is an instrumental, no one seem to notice and it became a hit anyway.

Suspecting that a gold record that was presented to him by Motown Records wasn't really gold, Marvin Gaye took the disc out of its frame and placed it on a turn table. It not only turned out to be just a vinyl platter painted gold, it was actually a record by The Supremes.

In August, 2003, 754 guitarists played a ten-minute rendition of "Louie, Louie" at Cheney Stadium, in Tacoma, Washington, in what was believed to be the world's largest jam session.

Songwriter Jimmy Webb first offered "MacArthur Park" to The Association as a part of a 22 minute cantata that would fill an entire side of an album. Preferring shorter songs, the group rejected the idea. Webb then had Richard Harris record a seven minute version of the song which rose to number 2 on the Billboard pop chart in the summer of 1968. Ten Years later, disco queen Donna Summer covered the tune and scored her first US number one with it. None of the singles that the Association chose to record instead of "MacArthur Park" ever became hits.

Berry Gordy signed The Four Tops to his Motown label for a mere $400 signing bonus.

Rod Stewart's breakthrough hit in America, "Maggie May" was originally left off of the album "Every Picture Tells A Story". It was added as a filler just before the LP was pressed and later put on the B side of the single "Reason To Believe". DJs started playing both sides of the record and before long, Rod had himself a two sided, number one smash.

Cher's 1971 Billboard chart topper "Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves" was originally titled "Gypsys and White Trash".

For the first five years after the break-up of The Beatles, drummer Ringo Starr had the most successful solo career, as seven of his first eight singles reached the US Top Ten. They were: "It Don't Come Easy", "Back Off Boogaloo", "Photograph", "You're Sixteen", "Oh My My", "Only You" and "The No No Song".

In the early 1960s, Academy Award-winning actor Joe Pesci was a member of the touring version of Joey Dee and the Starlighters of "Peppermint Twist" fame.

As a 22 year old, Barry Manilow wrote a letter to Playboy Magazine, asking for advice in getting his musical career off the ground. His question was printed in a following edition, in which the adviser told him to "go sow your wild musical notes."

Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train To Georgia" was originally written as "Midnight Plane To Houston". Songwriter Jim Weatherly gave permission to Cissy Houston's producer, Sonny Limbo, to change the title as long as he left the rest of the song intact. When Gladys got the song, she also kept the new title.

Despite being known worldwide as The King Of Rock and Roll, the only Grammy Awards that Elvis Presley won during his lifetime were for gospel recordings: the 1967 album "How Great Thou Art", the 1971 album "He Touched Me", and a 1974 live recording of "How Great Thou Art".

A research survey taken in the early 1970s showed that Elvis Presley was the second most recognized man in the world. Mao Tse-tung, leader of the Chinese Communist Party, was first.

The Supremes 1969, number one hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" seems to be a promise that the group would eventually reunite. The fact is, the song was recorded only by Diana Ross, as Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong never sang on the record at all.

Edgar Winter recorded an instrumental track that he started calling "Frankenstien" because the master tape had been cut and patched so many times. It was released as the B side of a single, but radio DJs soon started to play it and in May, 1973, it went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

When The Quarry Men, who would one day turn into The Beatles, made their first appearance at Liverpool's Cavern Club in August, 1957, the owner shouted at them "Cut out the bloody rock!"

The Eagles recorded their first album, which would be branded "California rock", in London England.

During the first ten years of rock and roll's existence, Bobby Vinton had more #1 hits than any other male vocalist, including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

The group, "Steam", who is credited on the label of the 1969, number one hit, "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" never recorded the song at all. The tune was a hastily put together track, intended as a "B" side for singer Gary De Carlo. When Mercury Records wanted to release it on their Fontana subsidiary, De Carlo would only allow it to be issued with an assumed name on the label and "Steam" was the moniker chosen. Gary was so disappointed by the company's decision, he refused to record any more songs to complete an album and a group from Bridgeport was recruited to tour as Steam.

The Four Tops recorded and performed together for more than 40 years without any change to their original line-up. No other group with a US number one record can make that claim.

Norman 'Hurricane' Smith, who had a hit record with "Oh, Babe, What Would You Say?" in 1973, was a recording engineer on some of the Beatles' early sessions in 1962.

The Association were warned against playing their first hit single "Along Comes Mary" at Disneyland by the Orange County Sheriff's Department over rumours that the song was about marijuana. Shortly after, a group of nuns from Marymount College named the record their "song of the year".

The lead guitar part on the Beatles' 1965 chart topper "Ticket To Ride" was played by Paul McCartney, not George Harrison.

When John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot first recorded "California Dreaming", they laid down backing vocals only, behind the voice of Barry McGuire (Eve Of Destruction). Later, McGuires's track was removed and the group added their lead vocals so the song could be used as a filler for their first Mamas and Papas album. When the song was released as a single, it was so popular, it sold 150,000 copies the first day and in May 1966, went to the top of Billboard's Hot 100.

Many rock historians have reported that Florence Ballard, one of the original Supremes, was on welfare when she died of a heart attack in 1975. In fact, that year she had received a settlement of $50,000 from one of her lawyers and had gone off of social assistance.

After The Beatles' filmed two feature length movies, "A Hard Days Night" and "Help", they were slated to make a third called "A Talent For Loving". Three months had been set aside in the spring of 1966, but a suitable script couldn't be agreed upon and the picture was never made.

Although "Michael" (rowed the boat ashore), the 1961 hit by The Highwaymen was written in the 1800s and "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum was lifted from a melody by Johann Sebastian Bach written in the 1700s, the oldest lyrics for a hit rock and roll song belong to the Byrds' "Turn, Turn, Turn". Pete Seeger adapted the words from the Bible's Book Of Ecclesiastes.

One of Jan and Dean's first records was a song called "Linda", written in 1944 by Jack Lawrence, about a friend's two year old daughter, Linda Eastman. That same little girl would grow up to marry Paul McCartney in March, 1969.

It was record producers Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore who changed Margaret Battavio's stage name to Little Peggy March for her 1963 hit, "I Will Follow Him". The name "March" came from the month that she was born and "Little" came from the fact that she stood just 4 ft 10 in. tall.

15 year old Paul Anka wrote his 1957, #1 hit, "Diana" for girl named Shirley, his younger siblings babysitter. She was 18 and wanted nothing to do with him, so he wrote her a poem. Later, he set the verses to music, recorded it and had a number one, international hit with it. When Paul returned from touring, she wanted to get together with him, but by then, he had lost all interest.

A Ray Stevens single called "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" showed signs of becoming a hit record, until King Features, the owner of the character, threatened to sue. Ray had neglected to get their permission and the single had to be pulled from the market.

Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife" was the 59th number one single of the rock and roll era. It entered Billboard's Hot 100 at number 59 and was the second best selling song of...you guessed it...1959.

It took Roy Orbison and his songwriting partner Joe Melson about five minutes to write the lyrics to their 1961, number one hit, "Running Scared". That's only slightly longer than it takes to sing the song.

In March of 1963, producer Phil Spector heard a demo of a song called "It�s My Party". He said, �Great, I love it. I�m gonna do it with the Crystals.� Phil left with the demo, not knowing that others had heard it before him and that Quincy Jones had already decided to record the song with Lesley Gore. When Jones got wind that Spector was about halfway through producing the song, he quickly released his version. Four weeks later, it was the number one record in America and launched a string of hits for Lesley Gore.

"Does Your Mamma Know About Me" was a Top 30 hit in May of 1968 for a group called Bobby Taylor and The Vancouvers. The song was written by one of the band's guitar players, Tommy Chong, who would later team with Cheech Marin as Cheech and Chong.

Before they became The Supremes, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard were known as The Primettes. Of the three, it was Ballard who had the most powerful voice and was considered the group's lead singer.

In 1963, Billy Swan replaced Kris Kristofferson as the janitor at Columbia Records' Nashville Studios. By 1970, Swan was playing in Kristofferson's band and in 1974, had a number one song in the U.S. with "I Can Help".

About eleven minutes into the album version of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", organist Doug Ingle can clearly be heard playing a few bars of the Christmas song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

When Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds Of Silence" went to #1 in the US in 1966, Paul was performing solo in Europe and had no idea the record had even been released. Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson had lifted the song from the album "Wednesday Morning, 3 AM" and added electric guitars, bass and drums to the original track of just Paul and Art singing along with Paul's guitar. The duo quickly re-formed to hit the college circut and record a second album.

In 1958, Phil Spector produced a group called The Teddy Bears, who scored a US Top Ten hit called "To Know Him Is To Love Him". The title was taken from the inscription on Phil's Father's grave stone.

In February 1982, former Black Sabbath leader Ozzy Osbourne urinated on the Alamo. He was arrested, charged with defiling a national monument and banned from performing in San Antonio. The ban was eventually lifted.

Bobby Sherman was one of the more talented teen heart throbs. He could play guitar, piano, trumpet, trombone, French horn, drums and sitar. By 2001, he had left the entertainment business and was a medical training officer for the L.A. Police Department.

Olivia Newton-John's Grandfather was the 1954 Nobel Prize winning German physicist, Max Born.

The New Christy Minstrels, who reached #14 in the US with "Green Green" in 1963, were a folk-based group that provieded an early training ground for Kenny Rogers, Barry McGuire, John Denver, Kim Carnes, future Byrd Gene Clark, actress Karen Black and some members of The Association.

The studio musicians hired for Carly Simon's first solo album included Blood, Sweat and Tears founder Al Kooper, future Electric Flag guitarist Mike Bloomfield, along with Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, who would go on to form the nucleus of The Band. The sessions they recorded were left incomplete and the album was never released.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel first sang together when they were in the sixth grade in Forest Hills, New York.

Elvis Presley has sold over 1 billion records world wide. The Recording Industy Association Of America has awarded him more Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platimum records that any other artist. In the US, he has placed 149 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 as well as 114 in the Top 40, forty songs in the Top 10 and had 18 number ones.

The song "Dancing In The Street", which became a #2 pop hit for Martha and the Vandellas in 1964, was originally turned down by Motown singer Kim Weston, even though her husband, Mickey Stevenson was one of its co-writers.

Before hiring Chuck Negron as the third lead singer for the newly formed Three Dog Night, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells also considered Billy Joe Royal of "Down In The Boondocks" fame, as well as Crazy Horse founder, Danny Whitten.

Reg Presley, the lead singer for The Troggs on their five million selling, 1966 hit "Wild Thing", went on to become one of Britain's premier UFO experts.

Stevie Wonder's mother, Lula Hardaway, took her infant son to preacher Oral Roberts in a vain attempt to have his blindness healed.

Ted Nugent, the guitarist known as "The Motor City Madman", was named Father of the Year at his children�s school. Although he has been married to his wife Shemane Nugent since 1989, he admitted to fathering a child with another woman in the mid 90s.

Drummer Ron Wilson recorded rock and roll's most influential drum solo, "Wipeout" with The Surfaris in 1963. The group split in the late 60s and Wilson died in poverty after suffering a brain aneurysm in May of 1989.

The first time Rod Stewart performed in America was at the Filmore East in New York in 1968. Rod's stage fright was so severe, he sang the first song from backstage.

Carly Simon's father was a co-founder of the book publishing company, Simon & Schuster.

The Small Faces, who had a Top 20 hit in 1967 with "Itchycoo Park", really were small. All five members stood less than five feet, six inches in height. When Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood replaced the departed Steve Marriott in 1968, the word "Small" was dropped from the band's name, as the two new members stood a head taller than the others.

Elvis Presley once told a reporter: "I don't know anything about music. In my line of business, you don't have to."

In 1963, Frank Zappa started a porno movie production company. He was arrested and jailed for sexual perversion a short while later. He might have stayed in business longer if his studio hadn't been right across the street from the Cucamonga, California court house.

The Marvelettes first big hit "Please Mr. Postman" was a re-worded version of a song written by William Garrett, who happened to be a real mail carrier.

The LP "Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits" spent 490 weeks on Billboard's Hot 200 album chart. That is the equivalent of nine and a half years.

Janis Joplin's former residence in San Francisco's Haight district was converted into a drug re-hab center in 1999.

Although he was appearing on the hit TV show Ozzie and Harriet, Rick Nelson had no musical ambitions until a girlfriend said that she was in love with Elvis Presley. Rick told her that he was cutting a record too, which in reality he had no plans to do. His first hit was a cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'", which went to number four in the US and sold over a million copies.

This one isn't rock and roll trivia, but it's still fascinating.
Felix Powell, a British Army staff sergeant, wrote the music for "Pack Up Your Troubles In Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile" in 1915 and entered it in a WWI competition for the best morale-building song. The song won first prize and has been called "perhaps the most optimistic song ever written." Powell didn't follow his own advice though...he committed suicide in 1942.

When asked if it bothered him when people made wise cracks about his big nose, Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr once said "it goes up one nostril and down the other."

Sonny Curtis, a guitar player with Buddy Holly's Crickets during their hit making years, also turned out to be a prolific songwriter. Among his most memorable tunes were "I Fought The Law" by The Bobby Fuller Four, "Walk Right Back" by The Everly Brothers as well as The Theme From The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

"The Long and Winding Road" was written by Paul McCartney, especially for singer Tom Jones.

According to the studio musicians who backed Otis Redding on his 1968 hit, "Dock Of The Bay", the whistling at the end of the song was made up on the spot because Otis forgot the words to the fade out ending that he had prepared.

Even though he was married, singer Tom Jones had a much publicized affair with the Supremes Mary Wilson during the 1960s.

The 1962, number one hit "He's A Rebel" was credited by producer Phil Spector to his group, The Crystals, even though they never sang a note on the record. The song was actually recorded by a group called The Blossoms, featuring Darlene Love, who would later have her own series of hits, including the top 40 "He's Sure The Boy I Love".

In 1971, Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and Papas appeared in the film "The Last Movie" and later married her co-star Dennis Hopper. The marriage lasted eight days.

Tommy Edward's 1958, number one hit, "It's All In The Game" was based on a song called "Melody in F major", written in 1912 by Charles Gates Dawes, who would go on to be Calvin Coolidge's vice presidential running mate in 1923 and a co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925.

Ray Peterson first started singing while he was a polio patient in a Texas hospital, to amuse the other patients. After turning professional, he signed with RCA records and in 1960 recorded the #7 US hit, "Tell Laura I Love Her".

According to TV's Much Music, there are an estimated 30,000 Elvis imitators in the United States.

In 1965, while Bob Dylan was recording his "Blonde On Blonde" album at the Columbia Record Studios in Nashville, Kris Kristofferson was there too...working as a night janitor.

In 1962, The Shirelles recorded a song called "Soldier Boy" in one take, intending it to be an album filler. A few months later, it was released as a single, climbing to #3 on the R&B chart and #1 on the pop chart, becoming the group's biggest seller.

While the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer were forming in 1970, there were serious talks about adding Jimi Hendrix to the line up. A jam session was set up with Hendrix for late summer, but Jimi died before it came together. The rumours of the potential band with Hendrix did leak out to the British music press, who began running articles saying the band would be called "Hendrix, Emerson, Lake & Palmer" or HELP for short.

Herman's Hermit's 1965 number one US hit, "I'm Henry The Eighth, I Am" was written in 1911 by an English comedian.

While laying down tracks for an upcoming album, Bobby Hebb recorded one of his own compositions called "Sunny", just to use up the remaining studio time. His record company liked the song and released it as a single in 1966. It promptly went to number 2 in the US.

During a meeting being held to discuss the possibility of Revlon creating a line of cosmetics to be endorsed by Diana Ross, a company spokesman said that he was "certain that she could do quite a bit for the black woman's market of cosmetics." Ross jumped up and stormed out of the meeting. Several minutes later, one of her representatives came back into the room to say that the meeting was over and that "Miss Ross is not black...not in her mind and not in the mind of anyone who works for her."

Drummer Richard Starkey was given his nickname by band leader Rory Storm. At first he called him "Rings" because he wore so many of them, but later changed it to "Ringo", because it sounded more "cowboy".

On February 10th, 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corp filed suit against George Harrison for plagiarism because of the similarities between "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons and Harrison's "My Sweet Lord". Although Harrison always claimed the resemblance was unintentional, the presiding judge said it was "perfectly obvious...the two songs are virtually identical" and awarded damages. In a fascinating twist, in 1975 The Chiffons recorded their own version of "My Sweet Lord".

In 1995, Michael Jackson contacted the British Embassy to enquire about being knighted by the Queen, for his work with children.

R.B. Greaves, who sang the number two 1969 hit, "Take A Letter, Maria", is the nephew of Sam Cooke.

The only reason that Junior Walker sang on his 1965 hit, "Shotgun", was that the vocalist he'd hired didn't show up for the session. Walker was somewhat flabbergasted by the label's decision to leave his vocal intact, but the record went on to reach number 4 on the U.S. Pop chart and number 1 on the R&B chart.

The Rolling Stones hold the record for the largest grossing rock and roll tour of all time. Their 1994-95 'Voodoo Lounge' tour took in $320 million The second largest money maker was the Stones' 2002-03 'Licks' tour, which saw the rockers play to over 3.4 million people and rake in $300 million.

The Electric Prunes 1967 hit "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" was originally written as a slow piano ballad and was first recorded by night club crooner Jerry Vale.

Jerry Lee Lewis' 1957 hit, "Whole Lotta Shakin� Goin� On" sold over six million copies in the first year after its release, yet was recorded in just one take.

Billy Joel was only 16 years old when he played piano on the Shangri-La's' 1965 hit, "Leader of the Pack".

Despite having a long string of hit singles, Rick Nelson's only Grammy Award came in 1986 for 'Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording' for his contribution to an album called "The Class Of '55", a Sun Records reunion album that featured Nelson's early idols, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" was written in 1955 by Richard Berry, who sold all rights to the song for $750. In 1986, an artists' rights group helped Berry collect about $2 million in royalties.

The first hit for The Righteous Brothers, 1963's "Little Latin Lupe Lu", was written by Bill Medley about his then girlfriend Lupe Laguna. The song was also a top 20 hit for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1966.

Stevie Wonder was not born blind. The blindness happened shortly afterward as a result of having received too much oxygen in the hospital incubator. Stevie spent a total of 52 days in an incubator.

In 1969, Tommy James and The Shondells turned down an offer to perform at the original Woodstock Festival, when their booking agent described the event as "...a stupid gig on a pig farm in upstate New York."

Songwriter Gene MacLellan wrote Anne Murray's 1969 multi-million seller, "Snowbird" in just 25 minutes. It was only the second song he had ever written.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett added all his own sound sound effects to his 1962 hit, "The Monster Mash". The creaky door opening is a nail being pulled from a piece of wood, the boiling cauldron is Pickett blowing bubbles into a cup of water with a straw and the chains are him moving chains up and down.

Anton Fig, who plays drums on David Letterman's Late Show, performed on the 1980 KISS album, "Unmasked", after original drummer Peter Criss had left the band.

Elvis Presley scored 18 Number One hits in the U.S., while The Beatles racked up 25. Bing Crosby had 38.

In 1957 a teenager had been told by his father to get a job or get out of the house, so he wrote a song called "Be My Guest" and waited in line for a chance to pass it on to Fats Domino. He was able to do so, and heard from Domino's agent some time later. Thus began the songwriting career of Tommy Boyce, who would later team up with Bobby Hart to write some of rock and roll's best selling songs.

During one concert, Neil Diamond sang his hit "Forever In Blue Jeans" six times in a row... while wearing sharply creased slacks.

The first time that future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham ever played together was as studio musicians, backing Donovan on his 1968 hit, "Hurdy Gurdy Man". A hurdy-gurdy is actually a stringed instrument in which the strings are rubbed by a rosined wheel instead of a bow.

When Crosby, Stills and Nash first started singing together, they were known as "The Frozen Noses", a vague reference to their drug habits.

The Beach Boys recorded the original version of "Little Honda", but didn't release it as a single because Brian Wilson didn't think the song had the potential to become a hit. A cover of the song, which featured studio musicians Glen Campbell, Richie Podolor and Hal Blaine, was credited to a constantly changing touring group called The Hondells who took the song into the Top Ten in 1964.

In 1964, Tommy James was asked by a local DJ to record a few songs for Snap Records, a tiny Michigan record label. One of those tunes was "Hanky Panky", which started to take off locally, but then quickly died, a victim of poor distribution. The song was soon forgotten, and eventually the group broke up. Two years later, the disc was mistakenly played on the air by a Pittsburgh DJ. Delighted radio listeners wanted to know where they could get a copy of "that hot new single". Tommy James was shocked when told the song was number one in the city and quickly formed a new band to take advantage of his success. By the late summer of 1966, it was the number one selling single in the nation.

The background singers on Lou Christie's 1966 hit, "Lightnin' Strikes" were The Angels, who recorded the 1963 hit, "My Boyfriend's Back".

When Atlantic Records session guitarist Steve Cropper was told that a little known singer named Wilson Pickett was coming in to the Memphis studio to record, he went to the nearest record shop and began searching through the record bins, looking for something Pickett had done. �I found two or three things...some spiritual things that he had sung lead on,� Cropper says. Cropper noticed that at the end of each song, Wilson would launch into an improvised rap about 'the midnight hour�. �In every song in the fade-out, he�d go into this ritual, �I�m going to wait till the midnight hour, oh in the midnight hour,� and he�d start preaching this �midnight hour� thing, and I said �That�s it!� When Wilson and Cropper got together, the phrase �In the Midnight Hour� was the first one that came up. It took just one hour to write the soul/rock classic that would established Wilson Pickett as a star. "In The Midnight Hour" reached the top of the R&B chart and hit #21 on the pop chart in 1965. The song has since became a soul standard... even Wolfman Jack would adopt it as his theme song.

In the early 1960s, Frank Zappa appeared on Steve Allen�s TV show, performing a "bicycle concerto", plucking the spokes and blowing through the handlebars.

Van Morrison's 1967 Top Ten hit, "Brown Eyed Girl" was originally written as "Brown Skinned Girl", but was changed so it would be more appealing to AM radio programmers.

Dionne Warwick's real last name is Warrick (with no "w"), but she was stuck with the change when 1962's "Don't Make Me Over" became a hit and her record company misspelled her name on the label.

Despite producing some of the best remembered songs of the rock and roll era, the only Grammy Award that Phil Spector ever won was for "Best Sound Effects" on the 1964 Ronettes hit, "Walking In The Rain".

In 1963, songwriter/producer Bob Feldman was a staff writer for April-Blackwood Music. He heard that the Sweet Shoppe, across the street from his old highschool in Brooklyn, was being torn down and went back for one last look. "While I was there", Feldman recalled, "an altercation started between a young girl and a hoody-looking young man with a leather jacket. She was pointing a finger at him and screaming "My boyfriend's back and you're gonna be in trouble. You've been spreading lies about me all over school and when he gets ahold of you, you're gonna be sorry you were ever born." That night Bob told his writing partners, Jerry Goldstein and Richard Gottehrer, about the incident and they sat down and wrote a song about it. When it was recorded by a group called The Angels, "My Boyfriend's Back" went to #1 on the U.S. charts and became one of the classic girl-group records of all time. As for Feldman, Goldstein and Gottehrer, they later formed their own group, the Strangeloves, later discovered the McCoys, and achieved individual success with productions by War, Blondie, and the Go-Gos.

Before he was signed by ABC-Dunhill Records in the early seventies, Jimmy Buffett was turned down by 26 record labels.

Bobby Vee once kicked Robert Zimmerman out of his band because he thought he had no future as a musician. Zimmerman would go on to have a career as a folksinger, calling himself Bob Dylan.

After an executive at Atlantic Records turned down "I'd Really Love To See You Tonight" by England Dan and John Ford Coley, Doug Morris of Big Tree Records, having heard the song through the wall of his adjoining office, offered the duo a contract. The result was a #2 pop single in the spring of 1976, which ultimately sold two million copies.

According to band legend, the name "Alice Cooper" came to singer Vincent Furnier during a ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch of the same name.

James Brown wrote his 1965, number one hit, "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" based on a spur-of-the-moment adlib during one of his concerts.

Al Kooper came up with the name for his new band when he was on the phone with a promoter, while gazing at a Johnny Cash album cover. The album was called, "Blood, Sweat & Tears". The inspiration for the band name did not come from Winston Churchill's quote, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat", as was widely reported at the time.

The theme song for the TV sit-com, "That 70s Show", was written by Alex Chilton, who was The Box Top's lead singer on their hits "The Letter" and "Cry Like A Baby".

Seals And Crofts former road manager is Leo Gallagher Jr., the comedian known simply as "Gallagher", the comic known for his "Sledge-o-matic" routine, where he smashes a wide variety of things with a sledge hammer.

Elvis Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker was not really a colonel at all, it was an honorary title given to him in 1948 by Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana. Parker's real name was Andreas Cornelius van Kujik, an illegal Dutch immigrant who became a flamboyant promoter. His pre-Elvis experience included shows called "The Great Parker Pony Circus" and "Tom Parker and His Dancing Turkeys" and was a veteran of carnivals, medicine shows and various other entertainment enterprises. Before he met Elvis, Parker managed the career of singer Eddie Arnold, who fired him in 1953.

Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon on December 8th, 1980, later admitted that another target that he considered shooting was former Tonight Show host, Johnny Carson.

During the recording of Gary Lewis and The Playboys 1965 number one hit, "This Diamond Ring", The Playboys were used sparingly. Studio musicians, including Tommy Alsup on guitar, Leon Russell on keyboards and Hal Blaine on drums were used instead. Even Gary's vocals got some help from a singer named Ron Hicklin, who did the basic vocal track; then producer Snuff Garrett added Gary�s voice, overdubbed him a second time, added some of the Playboys, and then added more of Hicklin. Garrett would later say: "When I got through, he sounded like Mario Lanza".

One afternoon in 1962, while waiting for a Four Season's rehearsal to begin, group member Bob Gaudio sat down at the piano and in fifteen minutes, wrote a song that would become the quartet's first hit single. The original working title was "Terry" and several other names were also considered, including "Peri" (the name of their record label-owner's daughter) as well as "Jackie" (a tie-in with Jackie Kennedy, who was at the height of her popularity). When producer Bob Crewe told his disc jockey friend, Jack Spector, about the song he wanted to record, Spector suggested the name of his three year old daughter, "Cheri". The name stuck, but when the record was pressed, the label misspelled the name - "Sherry".

Cher's very first recording was called "Ringo, I Love You" under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.

Producer Jay Siegal took The Chiffons demo of "He's So Fine" to ten different record companies...all ten turned it down. The eleventh company, Laurie Records, liked the song and released it in February, 1963. Two months later, it was the number one song in America.

When Barry McGuire recorded "Eve of Destruction", he read the words to the song off of a piece of paper that had been in his pocket for about a week. The song was completed in one take, with the understanding that Barry would re-record the vocals later. When the final mixing was taking place, McGuire wasn't around and the record was pressed from the original recording.

When Ritchie Valens recorded the demo for "Come On Let's Go", he made the lyrics up as he went along. The tape had to be played back so he could write down the words to the song.

"Sunday Will Never Be The Same", the 1967 Top Ten hit for Spanky and Our Gang was originally turned down by The Mamas and Papas.

Chuck Berry was inspired to write "Sweet Little Sixteen" after an eleven year old girl asked him for his autograph.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who scored a 1970, Top Ten hit with "Mr. Bojangles", backed Steve Martin on his 1978 novelty hit, "King Tut", which made it to #17 in the U.S.A.

The 1961 Beach Boys hit, "In My Room", was recorded by Brian Wilson with studio musicians backing him instead of the rest of The Beach Boys. The record went to number twenty-three.

The song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was written by George Graff, who was German, and was never in Ireland in his life.

Cuba Gooding Jr., who found movie fame with Tom Cruise in the film "Jerry Maguire", is the son of Cuba Gooding Sr., the lead singer of The Main Ingredient, who had a million selling, number one hit with "Everybody Plays The Fool" in the fall of 1972. Cuba's mother, Shirley, sang backup vocals for Jackie Wilson's touring act.

The recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was actually cut by studio musicians, with guitarist Roger McGuinn the only member of the Byrds actually playing on the record. The group did, however, provide the vocals.

The last song that Elvis ever performed publicly was "Can't Help Falling In Love", at his final concert in Indianapolis on June 26th, 1977.

Sam The Sham often included a song called "Haunted House" in his stage act, but refused to record it for Hi Records because he didn't like the label. Hi Records then offered it to Gene Simmons, who took it to Number Eleven in the U.S. in August of 1964.

The song "Happy Birthday" was written by American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893 when they were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning To All". The lyrics were copyrighted in 1935, 11 years before Patty's death, and the ownership has swapped hands in multi-million dollar deals ever since. The copyright is currently owned by Warner Communications who bought the rights for $28 million in 1985 and is scheduled to expire in 2021.

Cher's parents, Georgia Holt and John Sarkisian were married, then divorced and then re-married and divorced a second time.

Freddie Garrity of Freddie and The Dreamers named his band after Johnny Burnettes 1958 hit, "Dreamin'".

White Christmas by Bing Crosby has sold over 40 million copies...yet took only 18 minutes to record.

Jay and The American's 1965 number 6 hit, "Cara Mia" was originally a number 4 hit for a singer named David Whitfield and a female choir accompanied by Mantovani's Orchestra in 1954.

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.

Mason Williams, who won three Grammy Awards for his 1968 instrumental hit "Classical Gas", was also the head writer for TV's "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Show".

"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.

Paul McCartney is the kazoo player on Ringo Starr's 1974 version of "You're Sixteen".

Before R. Dean Taylor scored a number one hit with "Indiana Wants Me" in 1974, he worked for Motown Records as a songwriter. He penned the hits "I'll Turn To Stone" for The Four Tops, "Love Child" and "I'm Livin' In Shame" for The Supremes, and "All I Need" for The Temptations.

"S.O.S" by ABBA is the only palindrome Top 40 hit. You can spell the title and the recording act both forwards and backwards -- and come up with the same thing.

Kent Lavoie, who recorded under the name of "Lobo" on his hit single "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo", once played in a band called The Legends, along with Jim Stafford, who would go on to have several hits of his own, including "Spiders and Snakes" and "My Girl, Bill".

The shortest number one song of the rock and roll era is Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs' 1960 hit, "Stay" at only 1:37.

The first recording that Sly Stone ever made was a 78 RPM single called "On The Battlefield", recorded for the Church of God in Christ Northern California Sunday School Dept.

When J. Frank Wilson was with The Cavaliers in 1962, guitarist Sid Holmes brought him a song called "Bring It On Home To Me", which the band added to their act. After "Last Kiss" hit in 1964, Wilson was travelling with The Animals and one night, got to jamming with Eric Burton, each trying to outdo the other. He launched into "Bring It On Home To Me" and Burton, who loved the tune, rushed to the recording studio days later and laid down the track. The song became a Top 40 smash for the Animals, a fact that bothered J. Frank Wilson for years, as he could never muster another hit, yet had one right under his nose all the time.

Johnny Maestro sang lead vocal on the Crests' "Sixteen Candles" as well as "The Worst That Could Happen" by the Brooklyn Bridge.

"La Bamba", the 1958 million seller for Ritchie Valens is a traditional song that can be traced back as far as the 14th century. The tune was picked up by the people of Mexico after they heard homesick African slaves singing about their village of "Mamamba" in the 1800s.

The members of the 116th General Assembly of Ohio voted The McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy" as the official state rock song in November 1985.

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys spent most of the years 1971 to 1975 in bed.

"Wild Thing", the 1966 hit by the Troggs was written by Chip Taylor, the brother of actor Jon Voight.

Brian Hyland's 1960 Number One hit, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-dot Bikini" was co-written by Paul Vance after seeing his 2-year old daughter Paula play at the beach in her bathing suit.

Timothy B. Schmit replaced Randy Meisner in Poco in 1969 and replaced him again in the Eagles when Meisner quit them in 1977.

Paul Simon's 1973 U.S. hit, "Kodachrome" was banned from airplay on Britain's BBC because the song contains a product brandname.

Monkee Mike Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham was the inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid. She sold the rights to the Gillette Corporation in 1979 for $47.5 million and when she died in 1980, she left half of her fortune to her son Michael.

The title of the Byrds' 1966 hit "Eight Miles High" is not a drug reference. It actually refers to the altitude reserved for military air craft.

'Crazy, Man, Crazy' by Bill Haley and his Comets was the first rock and roll record to make the Billboard pop chart, reaching the Top 20 in 1953.

Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees wasn't tall enough to see over the hood of his Rolls-Royce and had to sit on a phone book while driving.

The first record to reach number one in 34 different countries was The Beatles' White Album.

"Islands In The Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton was the 1985 American Music Awards winner for Favourite Country Single. The song was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb especially for Diana Ross.

The first 45 rpm record to hit the Billboard charts was "You're Adorable" by Perry Como, on May 7, 1949. Before that, singles were released on 78 rpm discs.

Fats Domino has had 18 singles that were million sellers, yet only 1956's "Blueberry Hill" went to number one.

In many U.S. states, there is a law against dancing to "The Star Spangled Banner".

The Beach Boys' original name was The Pendletones, after a popular shirt manufacturer.

Carl Perkins' 1955 hit, "Blue Suede Shoes" was the first Country and Western song to ever make Billboard's R&B chart.

Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in 1685, wrote the music for three hit records of the rock and roll era, "Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum, "A Lover's Concerto" by the Toys and "Joy" by Apollo 100.

The Carpenters hit, "We've Only Just Begun" was written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols as a radio jingle for a California bank.

Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker once covered all bases by selling both "I Love Elvis" buttons as well as "I Hate Elvis" buttons.

While playing at Hollywood's Palladium in 1972, the guitarist in Chuck Berry's backup band was replaced by another waiting backstage. The new musician played so loudly that Berry stopped in the middle of a song and asked the first guitar player to come back out. Unknown to Berry, the one he kicked off stage was Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.

David Bowie proposed to his first wife Angie by saying "Can you handle the fact that I don't love you?"

Early in their career, The Carpenters were booked for three nights as the opening act for Steppenwolf. They were so out of place, Karen and Richard were fired after the first night.

Shelley Fabares, whose 1962 hit "Johnny Angel" topped the U.S. charts, married The Mamas and Papas producer Lou Adler in 1964. In 1984, she married actor Mike Farrell, who played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt in the TV series M*A*S*H.

In 1965, Gary Lewis was Cash Box magazine's "Male Vocalist of the Year", winning the honour over other nominees, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

Cher ended her marriage to Gregg Allman in 1979 after he had passed out in an Italian restaurant, face first in a bowl of spaghetti.

Eddie Van Halen played guitar on Michael Jackson's hit, "Beat It".

The English progressive rock band, Uriah Heep, took their name from a character in Charles Dickens' novel, "David Copperfield".

Although it is often considered a Rock and Roll anthem, "My Generation" by The Who, only reached # 74 on the U.S. record chart.

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 Shetland sheepdog.