Music Trivia and Odd Facts

The Nine Biggest U.S. Pop Hits in Foreign Languages

For decades, the Top 40 chart has seen the occasional novelty hit sung in something other than English. Think of Santana's "Oye Como Va", Edith Piaf's "La Vie en Rose", or the Sandpipers' "Guantanamera" - and those weren't even big enough to make this list! Based on their peak positions on the Billboard Hot 100, here are the nine most successful foreign language songs, from lowest to highest:

1. "SADENESS (PART I)", Enigma. Peak position: #5 (2 weeks), April 1991. As unlikely as a foreign language hit is, having one recorded in Latin is even more unlikely. Yet behold the ambient techno track that gave us the term "world beat". Made by a German and sampling Gregorian monks, a Japanese flute, and a sexy woman whispering in French. How global!
2. "99 LUFTBALLONS", Nena. Peak position: #2 (1 week), March 1984. Nena. Is it a band, or a girl? Surprise! It's both. Another German, this time singing in her native language, she almost made it to #1 but was stopped by Van Halen's "Jump". Scheisse! She also released an English-language version, but it was the German original that rose to the top.
3. "WOODEN HEART", Joe Dowell. Peak position: #1 (1 week), August 1961. This one is kind of a cheat, since it's sung in both English and German. But there's still more German here than there is Spanish in 21st century bilingual hits such as Santana's "Maria Maria" and Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie". As for "Wooden Heart", this variation on an old German folk song got its start as an Elvis Presley tune, featured in his film G.I. Blues which was based on the King's own Army stay in Germany. But it was a cover by the little-known Dowell that became a chart-topper. (Elvis' version went to #1 in many other countries, including the UK.)
4. "SUKIYAKI", Kyu Sakamoto. Peak position: #1 (3 weeks), June 1963. The only Japanese release to crack the U.S. Top 10, the actual title of the song is "Ue o Muite Aruk
   o", translated as "I Will Walk Looking Up". The American distributors obviously thought the more familiar word "Sukiyaki" would be a better fit. Sadly, Sakamoto was one of the 520 people who died in 1985's infamous Japan Airlines plane crash, one of the deadliest in history.
5. "ROCK ME AMADEUS", Falco. Peak position: #1 (3 weeks), March 1986. Why exactly German-language songs have been more successful on American pop charts than Spanish-language songs, I'll never know. But the beloved Viennese singer, who earlier had a minor U.S. hit with "Der Kommissar" (more successful in its English cover version by British one-hit-wonders After the Fire), rode on the coattails of the Oscar-winning Amadeus and basked in the international spotlight.
6. "LA BAMBA", Los Lobos. Peak position: #1 (3 weeks), August 1987. This song gets the edge over its fellow 3-weekers because it was a hit twice, for two performers. Richie Valens, who based his song on a traditional Mexican tune, saw it rise to #22 in 1958, months before his death. Los Lobos' cover version was lip-synched by Lou Diamond Phillips in the 1987 Valens biopic of the same name.
7. "DOMINIQUE", the Singing Nun (a.k.a. Jeanine Deckers). Peak position: #1 (4 weeks), December 1963. This Belgian nun may remain history's most unexpected pop star. Because of her vows, she obviously did not get rich off of her sing-songy French-language folk tune. Her career quickly faded even as her life took twists and turns, from leaving the convent to becoming an advocate for the Pill to being in a long-term lesbian relationship to committing suicide in 1985.
8. "NEL BLU DIPINTO DI BLU", Domenico Modugno. Peak position: #1 (5 weeks), August-September 1958. You know this song as "Volare", and today oldies radio stations are more likely to play Bobby Rydell's English cover version. But it was Modugno's Eurovision song winner, sung in its original Italian, that was the megahit of its day.
9. "MACARENA (BAYSIDE BOYS MIX)", Los Del Rio. Peak position: #1 (14 weeks!!!), August-November 1996. The biggest dance craze of the '90s was spawned by this Spanish duo, who recorded the original version way back in 1992. This particular remix of the song remained in the Top 100 for over a year, but Los Del Rio never scored again. And who were the Bayside Boys, anyway?

Nine Bands With Hits That Sound Like Other Bands

Have you ever heard a song on the radio that you were sure was by a particular performer - only to find out, often years later, that you were wrong? Of course you have. And so have I. Here are nine examples of well-known hits that sure sound as though different, usually more famous artists recorded them. Call it the "right song, wrong band" theory.

1. "RESCUE ME". Real artist: Fontella Bass. Mistaken for: Aretha Franklin. Poor Fontella Bass. Her 1965 chart-topper has been widely assumed by those not in the know as an Aretha Franklin hit, even though the song predates Franklin's own breakthrough single by two years. As for Bass? She soured on American life and relocated to France in 1969, dropping off the pop cultural map. Her own legal battles over "Rescue Me" (which she cowrote but failed to receive sufficient royalties for) dragged on for decades.
2. "THE GREAT COMMANDMENT". Real artist: Camouflage. Mistaken for: Depeche Mode. This German trio's alt-rock hit was released in the U.S. in 1988, though it was originally recorded in 1985. By '88, Depeche Mode had enjoyed so much crossover success that they were essentially mainstream, so this, uh, "homage" was easy money for Camouflage. While we're on the subject, I should mention the American band B-Movie, whose 1982 alt-rock staple "Nowhere Girl" also sounds quite a bit like DM.
3. "LONG COOL WOMAN IN A BLACK DRESS". Real artist: The Hollies. Mistaken for: Creedence Clearwater Revival. The Hollies are probably best known as the British Invasion band that introduced Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills and Nash). After mid-'60s success with songs like "Bus Stop" and "Carrie Anne", by 1972 the now Nashless band was desperate for a hit. So they aped the sound of the then-superpopular CCR with "Long Cool Woman". The ripoff worked, and the single went platinum.
4. "THE AIR THAT I BREATHE". Real artist: The Hollies. Mistaken for: Air Supply. The Hollies again, only the shoe is on the other foot this time. Their 1974 smash hit was the last major success for the band. It was cowritten and originally performed by Albert "It Never Rains in California" Hammond, but sounds so much like the later soft rock stylings of early '80s hitmakers Air Supply that many think the saccharine Aussie duo wrote or at least covered it. (Must have been something in the "Air".) They didn't - but Simply Red did.
5. "OH SHEILA". Real artist: Ready for the World. Mistaken for: Prince. This 1985 one hit wonder was often believed to be performed - or at least written - by the Purple One, as the name in the title seemed to be a reference to Prince protegee Sheila E. You can't really blame people for making this mistake, as Prince was all over the place at the time. But he had nothing to do with this Flint, Michigan sextet. And neither did Sheila E.
6. "DEBRA". Real artist: Beck. Mistaken for: Prince. Prince again! Jokey '90s alt-rocker Beck intentionally imitated the falsetto singing style of His Royal Badness while warbling decidedly un-Prince-like lyrics such as "Step inside my Hyundai/I'm gonna take you up to Glendale" in this tongue-in-cheek 1999 recording that became an unexpected hit.
7. "LAUGH, LAUGH". Real artist: The Beau Brummels. Mistaken for: The Beatles. All right, not many people would mistake this for a Beatles tune today, but that's only because the Fab Four's oeuvre has become so familiar. But in 1964, when this San Francisco band released their catchy hit with the eerie harmonica, if they didn't pass for Beatles they were at least on the bandwagon.
8. "A HORSE WITH NO NAME". Real artist: America. Mistaken for: Neil Young. I only know this as an America original because I had seen the K-Tel commercial for the Best of America album/cassette/8-track about a million times on TV as a kid. But those who didn't typically assume that it was Young who performed the song. It did come out in 1972, the same year as Young's landmark album Heart of Gold. And it's true, other America songs don't sound quite as nasally as this one. (It's also been noted that the band's late hit, 1982's "You Can Do Magic", is sometimes mistaken for the Alan Parsons Project.)
9. "ONE BAD APPLE". Real artist: The Osmonds. Mistaken for: The Jackson 5. Now this is 100% pure ripoff: After the success of those cute black kids from Gary, Indiana, these squeaky clean white Mormons of Ogden, Utah felt they too should get in on the act. In fact, "One Bad Apple" was written for the Jacksons, who were going to record it but took on "ABC" instead. As performed by the Osmonds (with little Jimmy aping little Michael's "Owww!"s), this 1971 single was a #1 smash for five whole weeks.

Cool thread, Lance - thanks.

1. George Lucas allowed the band members of ‘N Sync to make a cameo appearance in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones in order to appease his daughters. The footage was then cut out of the final version of the film.

2. The band D12 planned to find the 12 best rappers of Detroit, but found only 6, so they created alter-egos in order to have 12. That was when Eminem came up with Slim Shady.

3. There is a metal band called Hatebeak whose lead singer is an African grey parrot.

4. Dave Grohl has been the drummer on every Tenacious D album and is considered a member of the band.

5. The American Rock Band ‘The Postal Service’ was sent a cease and desist letter by the United States Postal Service for trademark infringement of their name. After negotiations, the USPS allowed the band to use their name in exchange for playing a free show at their national conference.

6. Bubbles from Trailer Park Boys is a gifted guitarist who is in a band with Alex Lifeson, founding guitarist of Rush. They are called Bubbles and the Shit Rockers.

7. When the girl featured on the front cover of Vampire Weekend’s ‘Contra’ album artwork found out about the illegal use of her 26-year-old photo, she sued the band. She found out when her daughter brought home a copy of the album one day.

8. There is a Swedish Speed Metal band called “Sabaton” that teaches history through its music, including an album devoted to teaching about World War 2.

9. There was a female Rock Band name ‘Rockbitch’ which was famous for throwing ‘Golden Condoms’ at their audience and whoever got it, male or female, was taken backstage to have sex with band members.

10. In 2002, the band Creed put on such a bad show at the Allstate Arena in Illinois that a $2,000,000 class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of all of the fans in attendance.

11. Jónsi, the lead singer in Sigur Rós, once forgot the lyrics while performing with the band in France. He improvised and kept on singing in Icelandic “Oh shit, I forgot the lyrics, but that’s o.k. because I’m in France where no one understands me.”- Source

12. Sebastian Bach was fired from Skid Row because he wanted to open for KISS and the band refused. After he was canned he left the band a voicemail saying that nobody is ever too big to open for KISS.

13. Paramore broke “The Nashville Curse” by being the first band from the Tennessee city to have an album go platinum in 20 years.

14. Before Guns N’Roses, Slash once auditioned for the band Poison, he decided not to join when he was asked about wearing makeup.

15. Beatles wrote into their contracts for American concerts that they would not play in front of segregated audiences.

16. When John Lennon was asked if Ringo Starr was the best drummer in the world he replied “In the world? He`s not even the best drummer in The Beatles!”

17. One time Kurt Cobain and Pat Smear heard Dave Grohl playing the guitar backstage, and one said to the other “We’re not even the best guitar players in Nirvana.”

18. Metallica wrote the song “The God That Failed” because Hetfield’s mother died due to Christian beliefs influencing her decision to reject cancer treatment.

19. The US military would play Enter Sandman for hours on end to aid in the interrogation and torture of prisoners. When asked about this, Metallica’s James Hetfield responded “We’ve been punishing our parents, our wives, our loved ones with this music forever. Why should the Iraqis be any different?”

20. Kirk Hammett from Metallica played guitar in Aerials by System of a Down

21. Until 2006, U2 paid no tax in Ireland due to an exemption for artists. When the exemption was capped at $315,000, the band moved its accounts to the Netherlands, rather than face a multi-million dollar tax bill for album sales and royalties.

22. Metallica’s Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett drew cards to decide who would get to choose a bunk on their tour bus in 1986. Burton drew the Ace of Spades, chose the bunk Hammett had been occupying, and was thrown out of the window when the bus crashed. He died at the scene.

23. Kirk Hammett encouraged Les Claypool to audition for Metallica after Cliff Burton died. After not getting the job, James Hetfield said it was because Claypool was “too good” and “should do his own thing.”

24. Disney originally wanted ABBA to do the music for The Lion King, but ABBA wasn’t available, so they went with Elton John.

25. In 2000, ABBA turned down $1 billion to do a 100 concert reunion tour.

26. Before ABBA made it big, they promised to hold a concert for their municipality in exchange for being allowed to rehearse in the cafeteria of a local school, but so far they haven’t held one and are yet to fulfill their promise.

27. ABBA’s costumes were colourful and elaborate specifically to get around Swedish tax law. If the costumes couldn’t be worn outside a performance, they could be considered tax deductible.

28. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd members helped to fund the making of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

29. Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin had an improvised jam session which was recorded but never released.

30. Led Zeppelin let Ben Affleck use “When the Levee Breaks” in Argo with the condition that they digitally alter the player’s needle drop to correct spot on the record.

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Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks

28. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd members helped to fund the making of Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

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:bow: Even more reason to love the Zep

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Originally Posted by Noilly Pratt

Cool thread, Lance - thanks.

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that :thumbsup: please sir, may i have some moar!

Didn't know the Cliff Burton one, freaky! Similar story in '59 on "the day the music died" although it wasn't Buddy who won a coin flip as i'd previously thought -

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Manager Anderson called Hubert Dwyer, owner of the Dwyer Flying Service, a company in Mason City, Iowa, to charter the plane to fly to Hector Airport in Fargo, the closest one to Moorhead.[5] Flight arrangements were made with Roger Peterson, a 21-year-old local pilot. The flying service charged a fee of $36 per passenger for the flight on the 1947 single-engined, V-tailed Beechcraft 35 Bonanza (registration N3794N[6]), which could seat three passengers plus the pilot.[7] A popular misconception, originating from Don McLean's eponymous song about the crash, was that the plane was called American Pie. In fact, no record exists of any name ever been given to N3794N.[8]

Richardson had contracted flu during the tour and asked Waylon Jennings for his seat on the plane. When Holly learned that Jennings was not going to fly, he said in jest: "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up." Jennings responded: "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes," a humorous but ill-fated response that haunted him for the rest of his life.[9]

Ritchie Valens, who had once had a fear of flying, asked Tommy Allsup for his seat on the plane. The two agreed to toss a coin to decide.[5] Bob Hale, a DJ with KRIB-AM, was working the concert that night and flipped the coin in the ballroom's side-stage room shortly before the musicians departed for the airport. Valens won the coin toss for the seat on the flight. Dion had been approached to join the flight, although it is unclear exactly when he was asked. Dion decided that since the $36 fare (equivalent to US$291.20 in today's money)[10] equaled the monthly rent his parents paid for his childhood apartment, he could not justify the indulgence.[11]

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Goofy

that :thumbsup: please sir, may i have some moar!

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Ask and ye shall receive :)


1. In 2007 listeners of BBC Radio 2 ranked Queen as the ‘top British band’ of all time, better than The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and The Rolling Stones.

2. On his last day as a welder, Tony Iommi, guitarist of Black Sabbath, lost the tips of his two fretting fingers. While he was recovering he found it easier to play the guitar by dropping the tuning and using lighter gauge strings, which helped give Black Sabbath its signature, dark, sound.

3. Black Sabbath wrote the hit song “Paranoid” in 20 minutes to fill the remaining 3 minutes of time on their upcoming album. It is now regarded as one of the greatest rock and heavy metal songs of all time.

4. The Beastie Boys used to open for themselves in disguise as a heavy metal band

5. The Oxford English Dictionary cites The Beastie Boys as being responsible for coining the term “mullet” in 1994 to refer to the popular 1980s hairstyle.

6. The Beastie Boys’ album “License to Ill” was originally titled “Don’t Be a Fag*ot” but it was changed when Columbia Records refused to release the album under its original title.

7. Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon earnings were invested in a floating restaurant, a fudge-making hotel, a computer game, a film nobody saw, a skateboard company, a car hire business, and a children’s shoe factory. All complete failures. They fled to France as tax exiles and recorded The Wall.

8. Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” spent 741 weeks on the billboard charts, from 1973 to 1988, longer than any other album

9. Bon Scott liked the Young Brothers, but thought they were too inexperienced and too young to rock. The Young Brothers replied with saying Scott was too old to rock. But after one jam session with each other, it was obvious AC/DC found its new lead singer.

10. Freddie Mercury is celebrated in Iran, a country where homosexuality is illegal, and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was the 1st rock song officially approved post-revolution since he calls for God in Arabic (“Bismillah! We will not let you go”) to help regain his soul from Shaitan.

11. The Stuxnet virus, which was the virus that shut down the Iran’s nuclear plants, made emergency speakers blast “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC before shutting down all systems.

12. Queen’s guitarist, Brian May, has a PhD in Astrophysics.

13. Rolling Stones drummer, Charlie Watts, was sleeping one day, when Mick Jagger phoned drunk to Watts’ hotel room asking where was his drummer. Watts got up, suited-up, went to Jagger’s room, punched him, and then replied: “Don’t ever call me your drummer again. You’re my fucking singer!”

14. The famous Rolling Stone cover shot of a naked John Lennon curled against Yoko Ono was taken by Annie Leibovitz at the same apartment complex and on the same day Lennon was fatally shot.

15. The Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync had the same manager and he defrauded both of them out of millions of dollars.

16. Jon Bon Jovi has a community restaurant that has no prices listed for the food. You pay for it if you can afford to or volunteer in the kitchen in exchange for meals.

17. ‘N Sync’s “I’ll Never Stop” is the best-selling cassette single of 2009, 2010, and 2011, selling 24 copies, 13 copies, and 11 copies respectively.

18. The producer recording “Sweet Child O’ Mine” with Guns n’ Roses suggested there be a breakdown at the end of the song. The band had no idea where to take the song, resulting in the iconic repetition of “Where do we go now?”

19. System of a Down, The Beatles, Guns ‘N Roses, 2Pac and DMX are the only artists to have ever had 2 studio albums debut at #1 in the same year.

20. The sex noises in Rocket Queen by Guns N’ Roses were real and were made by Axl Rose having sex with Steven Adler’s girlfriend in the studio.

21. Chuck Berry earns all the royalties from the Beach Boy’s 1963 hit single ‘Surfin USA’, which he won in a copyright infringement lawsuit unbeknownst to the Beach Boys for 25 years.

22. The Notorious B.I.G, Jay-Z, DMX, and Busta Rhymes all went to the same high school, at the same time.

23. On finding the body of Kurt Cobain three days after he died, the stereo at the scene of his death was still on with an R.E.M. CD in place suggesting Kurt Cobain killed himself while listening to R.E.M.

24. Anthony Kiedis once missed a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert because he was off scoring drugs, so Keith Morris filled in on vocals and just yelled and made up lyrics because he didn’t know any of the songs.

25. The Spice Girls personally made $75million between 1996 and 1998. Their global grosses were estimated to be $500-800million. They only released two albums.

26. In 1986, the Red Hot Chili Peppers were budgeted $5000 by EMI Music to make a demo tape and set aside $2000 to spend on heroin and cocaine.

27. Aerosmith made more money from Guitar Hero than any albums.

28. During the period of 2000-2009 Dave Matthews Band sold more tickets and earned more money than any other act in North America

29. When Pearl Jam released their cover of ‘Last Kiss’ as a single, they decided all proceeds would go to Kosovo War refugees. The song raised ten million dollars.

30. In 1991, during a period of only six weeks, five classic modern rock albums were released: Metallica’s Black Album, Pearl Jam’s Ten, Guns N’Roses’ Use Your Illusion, Nirvana’s Nevermind and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magic. The last two were released on the same day.

Sabbath's Paranoid has just came on the radio! :freakout:

1. Following the deadly 1977 crash of the plane carrying the band Lynyrd Skynyrd into a Mississippi swamp, the survivors sought help at a nearby farmhouse, only to have the farmer who lived there shoot the band’s drummer in the shoulder.

2. “Stayin’ Alive” by Bee Gees was used in a study to train medical staff to perform CPR. The song has close to 104 beats per minute, and 100-120 chest compressions per minute are recommended by the British Heart Foundation.

3. ZZ Top refused a $1,000,000 offer from Gillette to shave their beards for an ad.

4. The Band ZZ Top during one of their live stage shows decided to have a mixture of live animals, including vultures, buffaloes and rattlesnakes on stage, but the buffalo rammed into a tank full of rattlesnakes and released them live on stage.

5. Dark Horse Brewery turned down Nickelback endorsement deal because the workers hated the band.

6. In 2013, Kid Rock took a pay cut that cost him around $50,000 to $100,000 per night during his tour to keep ticket prices at $20 and a 12 ounce beer at $4.

7. In 2008, there was a music festival called ‘Festival of the fuck bands’, where bands such as Fucked Up, Holy Fuck and Fuck buttons performed. It was held in Fucking, Austria.

8. A Megadeath is a unit of measurement. 1 Megadeath equal 1 million deaths caused by nuclear explosion. It is also where the band got its namesake.

9. Singer Tom Waits has a song called “The Fall of Troy”, and Post-hardcore band “The Fall of Troy” has a song called “Tom Waits.”

10. There is a band called ‘NǽnøĉÿbbŒrğ VbëřřĦōlökäävsŦ’ (pronounced ‘Nanocyborg Uberholocaust’) originating from Antarctica. It was formed by two scientists who happened to have similar tastes in music. Their first album, ‘The Ultimate Fate of the Universe’, was recorded at the exact south pole.

11. When Pink Flyod was completing “Shine On You Crazy Diamond,” which was an exploration of their former band mate Syd Barrett’s mental decline, an overweight man with a shaved head and eyebrows entered the studio. He turned out to be Syd Barrett himself, who they had not seen in seven years.

12. When the Arctic Monkeys started their band, none of them knew how to play instruments.

13. Def Jam Records founder Rick Rubin was in a punk band called ‘The Pricks’ that asked friends to heckle during a gig in order to start a brawl leading to the band being kicked off stage & the show being shut down by a “cop” who was really Rubin’s father, in an effort to create buzz around the band.

14. The members of the 1980s pop/rock band Toto were prolific session musicians. Their work includes Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’. Collectively, the members have been recorded on over 5,000 albums, selling over 500,000,000 albums.

15. The final words of Terry Kath (from the band Chicago) were “Don’t worry, it’s not loaded,” whilst playing with guns.

16. David Grohl was the only band member of the Foo Fighters when recording the first album. He wrote and recorded all vocal, guitar, bass, and drum tracks himself.

17. After dreaming the melody to “Yesterday,” Paul McCartney became convinced that he had subconsciously plagiarized the song (cryptomnesia), and went around to other bands and played a demo to make sure the song wasn’t theirs.

18. The true meaning of the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody still remains a secret within the band

19. Alternative rock band The Flaming Lips released an album called Zaireeka with four CDs that was designed so that when played simultaneously on four separate audio systems, the four CDs would produce a harmonic or juxtaposed sound

20. Queen is the only band in which every member has individually written more than one #1 hit.

21. Magne Furuholmen lost his father at age 5 in a plane crash outside of Oslo. The event was witnessed by 9 year old Morten Harket, thirteen years before the two would meet and form the band A-ha.

22. In the Star Wars Universe, the style of music being played by the Cantina Band is known as “Jizz”

23. Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes claimed to be brother and sister, but were actually married and then divorced before the band made it big. Jack also took Meg’s surname.

24. In 1993, the band Rage Against The Machine, upon being asked to censor their lyrics, went on stage fully naked with duct tape over their mouths as an act of protest.

25. Tommy Chong used to be in a band called Four Niggers and a Chink.

26. At 2:58 in the Hey Jude, you can hear ‘fucking hell’ as Paul McCartney screws up on the piano. The band thought it was funny enough to leave it in.

27. Noodles, the guitarist in The Offspring was the school janitor and was welcomed into the band because he was old enough to buy alcohol.

28. There is an Australian band called “The Beards”. Every single one of their 38 songs is about beards.

29. After Dave Grohl left his first band, they decided to quit because they knew they’d never find a drummer as good as him.

30. On August 29, 1966, The Beatles played what would become their last official concert as a band at Candlestick Park, San Francisco. The Park’s capacity was 42,500, but only 25,000 tickets were sold, leaving large sections of unsold seats.

Four niggers and a chink :rofl:

some interesting facts there Lance, thanks :thumbsup:

1. Garth Brooks is one of the last holdout big-name musicians who still refuses to put his music on iTunes because he disagrees with Apple’s approach to selling music. He will make his back catalog of hits and his new music available for download, but only through his own website.

2. Between 2005-2007, Sony BMG used music cds to illegally install rootkits on user computers to prevent them from ripping copyrighted music. The rootkits themselves apparently infringed copyright by failing to adhere to the licensing requirements of various pieces of open-source software whose code was used in the program.

3. Hitchcock didn’t want music in Psycho’s shower scene. He practically doubled composer Bernard Herrmann’s salary after seeing the scene with music.

4. Some of the original Playstation 1 games had the game music set as CD audio, meaning you could listen to the game music from a normal CD player. Some games contained hidden tracks that could only be accessed this way.

5. Classical and heavy metal music both attracts listeners with similar personalities but dissimilar ages. Younger members apparently go for heavy metal, while their older counterparts prefer classical. However, both have the same basic motivation: to hear something dramatic and theatrical, a shared “love of the grandiose,

6. Famed jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt was in Paris during the Nazi occupation. Despite being a gypsy, handicapped, a player of a banned music style, and a known friend of blacks and Jews, the Germans left him alone because some higher Nazi officers were huge fans of his music.

7. Musician Beck’s last album was released only in sheet music form, for others to interpret. No cd’s, no digital download, just sheet music.

8. In retail stores slow music is played to keep you shopping and spend more. In restaurants fast music is played to speed up turnaround.

9. Eye movement in music reading is an extremely complex phenomenon that involves a number of unresolved issues in psychology. Despite some 30 studies in this area over the past 70 years, little is known about the underlying patterns of eye movement in music reading.

10. On the one-year anniversary of the Curiosity rover’s landing on Mars, it played “Happy Birthday” to itself making “Happy Birthday” the first song and Curiosity the first device used to play music on a foreign planet.

11. In 2006, VH1 Classic ran fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief in which viewers could donate $25 to see the music video of their choice. One viewer donated $35, 000. The viewer could have selected an hour’s worth of music videos from the 1960s through the early 1990s. However, they chose something different for his allotted hour, requesting continuous playing of 99 Luftballons.- Source

12. In 2008, an Ohio man named Andrew Vactor was sentenced to listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin for 20 hours, after being caught for playing rap music too loud, as an alternative to paying a full fine of $150. He only lasted 15 minutes before leaving.

13. Actor Mel Brooks was a combat engineer during the Battle of the Bulge. When the Germans played propaganda recordings over loudspeakers, Brooks responded by setting up his own sound system and played music by Al Jolson, a Jewish musician.

14. Florida passed a law requiring toddlers in state-run schools to listen to classical music every day, and in 1998 the governor of Georgia budgeted $105,000 per year to provide every child born in Georgia with a tape or CD of classical music.

15. A McDonald’s in Mount Annan, Sydney Austrailia has been playing classical music on purpose to force teenagers off of its premises at late night.

16. Hans Zimmer, the composer/producer for over 150 movies, including The Lion King, Gladiator, all Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Pearl Harbor, Rush, Inception, the Dark Knight, etc.; had only 2 weeks of formal music education (piano lessons as a child).

17. Beethoven won a sight reading piano competition by turning his sheet music upside down, playing it, then improvising on one of its themes for thirty minutes. His opponent, Daniel Steibelt, never returned to challenge him again.

18. Police in Belfast, Northern Ireland used music from ice cream van to calm angry teen rioters.

19. There is a music piece called “As Slow as Possible” which started in 2001 and has a duration of 639 years. It can take years for a single note to be played.

20. In 2008, Warner Music Group was collecting over $5,000 a day ($2 million a year) in royalties for public usage of the “Happy Birthday” song. They have been known to charge up to $10,000 for usage of the song in film. This is also why restaurants have their own birthday songs when you visit.

21. The chills you get when listening to music are caused by the release of dopamine in your body.

22. The US military would play Enter Sandman for hours on end to aid in the interrogation and torture of prisoners. When asked about this, Metallica’s James Hetfield responded “We’ve been punishing our parents, our wives, our loved ones with this music forever. Why should the Iraqis be any different?”

23. When Beethoven went deaf, he composed his music by hacking the legs off his piano and sitting on the floor so he could feel the vibrations.

24. A Sea Organ in Croatia continuously plays music powered by waves that flow through tubes located underneath a set of large marble steps.

25. The song Miserere was composed by Gregorio Allegri during the reign of Pope Urban VIII, probably during the 1630s for use in the Sistine Chapel. At some point, it became forbidden to transcribe the music and it was allowed to be performed only at some particular services, thus adding to the mystery surrounding it. Writing it down or performing it elsewhere was punishable by excommunication. The 14-year-old Mozart listened to the piece two times, transcribed it from memory, and produced the first unauthorized copy of the song.

Toad the Wet Sprocket took its name from a Monty Python comedy sketch called "Rock Notes" in which a journalist delivers a nonsensical music news report:

Rex Stardust, lead electric triangle with Toad the Wet Sprocket, has had to have an elbow removed following their recent successful worldwide tour of Finland. Flamboyant ambidextrous Rex apparently fell off the back of a motorcycle. "Fell off the back of a motorcyclist, most likely," quipped ace drummer Jumbo McClooney upon hearing of the accident. Plans are now afoot for a major tour of Iceland.

As their first gig approached, the band still had not chosen a name. The members facetiously adopted "Toad the Wet Sprocket" because they thought it would be "hilarious". Vocalist Glen Phillips later called it "a joke that went on too long", and, according to their website, "it was probably meant to be temporary at the time". The name had been used once before, by a short-lived British blues band of the late 1970s that had appeared on the 1980 Metal for Muthas compilation, although the earlier band had long since split up.

Eric Idle, the sketch's original performer, reflected on the band's name in a 1999 performance:

I once wrote a sketch about rock musicians and I was trying to think of a name that would be so silly nobody would ever use it, or dream it could ever be used. So I wrote the words "Toad the Wet Sprocket". And a few years later, I was driving along the freeway in L.A., and a song came on the radio, and the DJ said, "that was by Toad the Wet Sprocket", and I nearly drove off the freeway