Very Good Music Fun Facts

Sometimes, you are at a party with new people and need something to talk about. Here ya go…

The three Duran Duran members named Taylor were not related.

“Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division was a direct response to the popular pop song “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille.

The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” was inspired by “Saturday Night” by the Bay City Rollers. Joey wanted a song with a chant in it.

Fun Boys Three covered “Our Lips are Sealed” because their singer, Terry Hall, co-wrote the song with Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wiedlen. The song is about their short secret fling when they met in L.A. in 1980.

The Go-Go’s had the first No. 1 album in the U.S. by an all-female band that played their own instruments and wrote their own songs.

The Proclaimers are a Scottish rock duo formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid. The Jesus and Mary Chain are a Scottish rock band formed in 1983 by brothers Jim and William Reid.

The classic Devo lineup had two sets of brothers, Gerald and Bob Casale, and Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh. Brother Jim Mothersbaugh was in the band too but only for 3 years

Corey Hart declined the offer to sing “Danger Zone” for “Top Gun.” The record label for “The Breakfast Club” wanted Hart to sing “Don’t You Forget About Me,” but the songwriter wanted Simple Minds (who initially declined).

The Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” was inspired by the dialogue (“Have you ever fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have?”) in the 1955 film Guys & Dolls.

Dan Seals of England Dan & John Ford Coley (‘I’d Really Love to See You Tonight’) is the younger brother of Seals & Crofts (‘Summer Breeze’) member Jim Seals.

Christopher Cross filled in on guitar for Deep Purple in 1970 when Ritchie Blackmore fell ill shortly before a show. It was Deep Purple’s first show in the United States.

Billy Bragg and Mike Watt were both born on the same day, December 20, 1957.

On May 11, 1978, Guided By Voices vocalist Robert Pollard threw the first no-hitter in Wright State University history.

Peter Gabriel had Dolly Parton in mind to sing the duet “Don’t Give Up,” but she turned it down, and his friend Kate Bush stepped in. The duet “Islands in the Stream” by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers was written by The Bee Gees.

Dolly Parton agreed to do “9 to 5” on the condition that she could write the theme song for it.

Barry Gibb wrote or co-wrote 7 number-one hits on the US Billboard chart in one calendar year (1978), tying Lennon & McCartney (1964).

Peter Gabriel’s first four solo albums were all called “Peter Gabriel.” He used the same typeface and name position (upper left corner) on all four records.

The photo on the 1981 and 1984 Minor Threat records features Alec MacKaye, not Ian.

The photo on “It’s a Shame about Ray” by The Lemonheads is not Juliana Hatfield. It’s friend-of-the-band/actress Polly Noonan. She yelled/sang the opening to “Bit Part.”

Dawn Alane is on the cover of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Mother’s Milk.” She sued the band because they had not informed her that she was chosen as the model. She got $50,000.

Ann Kirsten Kennis is on the cover of Vampire Weekend’s “Contra.” She sued the bad for $2 million for using the photo without permission. The lawsuit was settled.

Glasgow band The Fratellis were named for the criminal family in “The Goonies.” Glasgow band Mogwai were named for the creatures “Gremlins.” Many believe Goonies and Gremlins exist in the same cinematic universe based on a phone call scene in “The Goonies.”

The title of Radiohead’s album “Pablo Honey” is inspired by a Jerky Boys prank phone call where the caller poses as the victim’s mother and says: “Pablo, honey? Please come to Florida.”

Parliament-Funkadelic (P-Funk) were two separate bands on separate labels from the 60s through the early 80s.

Nick Lowe produced The Damned’s debut. Ric Ocasek produced the Bad Brains’ second record. Alex Chilton produced The Cramps’ first EP & LP. Todd Rundgren produced Meatloaf’s “Bat Out of Hell.” Tommy Ramone produced The Replacements’ “Tim.” Ray Manzarek produced X’s debut.

The Rolling Stones recorded 36 blues cover songs on their first four studio albums

The iconic cover photo for Slint’s second album, “Spiderland,” was taken by Will Oldham (Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy).

Will is also in the driver’s seat of the photo for Slint’s first album, “Tweez.” Will’s father took the photograph.

A Sunny Day in Glasgow is from Philly. Boards of Canada are from Scotland. Scottish band The Bay City Rollers is named after a town in Michigan. Scottish band Nazareth took their name from Nazareth, PA, which is mentioned in ‘The Weight’ by The Band.

On April 30, 2014, 38 years after its release, their debut record “Ramones” finally went gold with over 500,000 copies sold since 1976. Their name was inspired by Paul McCartney, who would use the alias “Paul Ramone” when checking into hotels.

Fugazi’s “Walken’s Syndrome” was inspired by Christopher Walken’s character in “Annie Hall,” where he expresses his desire to crash into oncoming traffic when he is driving alone at night. “Jet Black” by Jawbreaker was also inspired by the movie and includes dialogue from it.

Maya Rudolph played keyboards and sang backing vocals in the band The Rentals when on tour with Blur in 1996. Maya was the original drummer in That Dog. Petra and Rachel Haden of That Dog also played in The Rentals. Singer Anna Waronker of That Dog is married to Steven McDonald of Redd Kross. Jeff McDonald of Redd Kross is married to Charlotte Caffey of The Go-Go’s. Petra and Haden’s triplet sister, Tanya, is married to Jack Black.

Neil Young is married to Daryl Hannah.

Ad-Rock (Beastie Boys) is married to Kathleen Hanna (Bikini Kill).

“Smells Like Teen Spirit’ title comes from a phrase written on Kurt Cobain’s wall by his friend Kathleen Hanna, “Kurt smells like Teen Spirit.” Cobain was unaware that it was an advertising slogan and had interpreted it as a revolutionary slogan, as they had been discussing anarchism and punk.

“Song 2” by Blur was meant to parody American grunge music.

“Stay (I Missed You)” by Lisa Loeb was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1994, earning her the distinction of being the first artist to top the US chart before being signed to any record label.

In 1985, two bands had songs with the lyrics “new day rising,” Hüsker Dü’s “New Day Rising” and Simple Minds’ “All the Things She Said.” Robert Palmer was known to do a version of the Hüsker Dü song during his encores.

Weezer’s first gig was in 1992 at the Los Angeles venue Raji’s. They played after Keanu Reeves’ band, Dogstar.

Hall and Oates never referred to themselves as “Hall and Oates.” All their records say Daryl Hall and John Oates. Also, there is a 9-inch height difference between Hall & Oates.

Alanis Morissette’s breakthrough single, “You Oughta Know,” features Dave Navarro on guitar, Flea on bass, and Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers) on organ.

Bono was given his nickname by his friends. They called him Bono Vox after Bonavox, which was the name of a hearing aid shop in Dublin. “Bonavox” is a Latin phrase that translates to “good voice.”

Tupac Shakur was a roadie and occasional backup dancer for Digital Underground.

Noel Gallagher was a roadie for Inspiral Carpets.

Synth pop classics “Just Can’t Get Enough” by Depeche Mode, “Don’t Go” by Yazoo, and “Chains of Love” by Erasure were all composed by Vince Clarke, who was a member of all three bands.

The Lightning Seeds band name comes from the misheard lyric “thunder drowns out what the lightning sees” from Prince’s “Raspberry Beret.”

When Jawbreaker broke up, Blake Schwarzenbach started a new band called Jets to Brazil. He took the name from a poster he saw in the movie “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.”

Morrissey and Johnny Marr chose the name The Smiths because they wanted a name that was representative of “ordinary folk,” and to rail against pretentious band names like Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Depeche Mode and Spandau Ballet.

Ween appeared in the movie “It’s Pat,” playing “Pork Roll, Egg & Cheese” and “Don’t Get 2 Close (My Fantasy)”.

Devo performed “That’s Good” on episode 9 of the TV show “Square Pegs” in 1982.

The rock duo Nelson (Matthew and Gunnar), their dad Ricky, and their grandparents Ozzie and Harriet all had #1 singles making them the only 3-generation family to do so.

When R.E.M. played “So. Central Rain” on Late Night with David Letterman in 1983 (their network television debut), it was a brand new song that did not have a name yet.

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