Bizarre Musical Facts That Almost Nobody Knows....

[Buck62]

Ok, here's your chance to impress the rest of us with your knowledge of some bizarre musical trivia about a famous musician (or band) that most people don't know.

Here's mine...

Back in 1974, Bon Scott of AC/DC sang in a band called The Mount Lofty Rangers. The bizarre part is, one of his band mates in that band was a guy named Glenn Shorrock, who went on to become the lead singer for The Little River Band... turning out smooth, mellow hits like Reminiscing and other mild contemporary songs.

Imagine that... the raspy-voiced, drunken "bad boy" and the smooth crooner both came from the same band!

Alright.... let's hear what you guys got....



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[Mbroady]

I found this out today.

The Bonnie Raitt smash hit, " I can't make you love me" was originally written as a Blue grass song.

[Brucebubs]

Tony Iommi played lead guitar with Jethro Tull for a short time before forming Black Sabbath. He can be seen in the Jethro Tull performance on the Rolling Stones 'Circus' TV special. He also lost 2 left-hand finger tips in an industrial accident and he wears 2 small prosthesis tips. He made his own in the beginning from melting the caps of plastic bottles.
The Rolling Stones held back the release of their 'Circus' special because they felt The Who outperformed them.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Brucebubs

Tony Iommi played lead guitar with Jethro Tull for a short time before forming Black Sabbath. He can be seen in the Jethro Tull performance on the Rolling Stones 'Circus' TV special. He also lost a left-hand finger tip in an industrial accident and he wears a small prosthesis tip. He made his own in the beginning from melting parts of a plastic bottle.
The Rolling Stones held back the release of their 'Circus' special because they felt The Who outperformed them.

I had no idea. Think about it ... War Pigs could have had a flute in it.

[Buck62]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

I had no idea. Think about it ... War Pigs could have had a flute in it.

Ha!

Good one!


This thread might prompt some interesting conversation starters when we're out and about.

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[HHP]

Jimi Hendrix did a short stint as opening act for The Monkees.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Buck62

Ha!

Good one!


This thread might prompt some interesting conversation starters when we're out and about.

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Hard to Believe that Jethro Tull beat out Metallica the first time the Best Hard Rock/Metal performance was awarded at the Grammys in 1989. Go figure that one out.

[Brucebubs]

Lou Reed's first solo album in 1972, simply named 'Lou Reed', was recorded in the UK and features Steve Howe on guitars and Rick Wakeman on keyboards.
Just how and why they worked on that album after the success of 'Fragile' with Yes in 1971 is a mystery, however, maybe they were nearby recording 'Close To The Edge' in 1972? Don't quite know about that one.
I do know Lou's next album 'Transformer' was produced by David Bowie and was a huge success.
That iconic bass line on 'Walk On The Wildside' was done by Herbie Flowers who was later part of the group Sky with classical guitarist John Williams. ( who just happens to use Greg Smallman classical guitars )

The first 2 albums by Yes were not big sellers - they were given a 3rd and final chance to come up with a 'winner' by their recording studio - they did that with 'The Yes Album'.
The exact same scenario happened for Supertramp and they came up with 'Crime Of The Century'.
Both bands took 3 albums to get started.

[Bill Lowther]

From Wikipedia:

Before Jimi Hendrix was 19 years old, law enforcement authorities had twice caught him riding in stolen cars. When given a choice between spending time in prison or joining the Army, he chose the latter and enlisted on May 31, 1961. After completing eight weeks of basic training at Fort Ord, California, he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Hendrix completed his paratrooper training in just over eight months, and was awarded the prestigious Screaming Eagles patch on January 11, 1962.

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by Bill Lowther

From Wikipedia:

Before Jimi Hendrix was 19 years old, law enforcement authorities had twice caught him riding in stolen cars. When given a choice between spending time in prison or joining the Army, he chose the latter and enlisted on May 31, 1961. After completing eight weeks of basic training at Fort Ord, California, he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Hendrix completed his paratrooper training in just over eight months, and was awarded the prestigious Screaming Eagles patch on January 11, 1962.

Cool fact, Bill!

[Chicago Sandy]

Originally Posted by HHP

Jimi Hendrix did a short stint as opening act for The Monkees.

Saw him at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium in July 1967 when I was 16 and had just graduated from high school. The pre-opener was a band called the Sundowners (not the Chicago country band of the same name fronted by WLS-TV anchor and attorney Joel Daly. The crowd, made up mostly of ‘tween girls (precursor to teenyboppers) was getting very restive by the time Hendrix stepped on stage. My younger sister (14) was a Monkees fan; my boyfriend was a rhythm guitarist and I was the band’s arranger. We sat there slack-jawed and gobsmacked, wondering how the heck Hendrix was able to play behind his back, with his teeth, and eventually with the Strat on fire. Meanwhile, all the little girls were shrieking “Boo! We want Micky! We want Davy!” (guess they didn’t appreciate Tork’s & Nesmith’s musicianship as much as Dolenz’ and Jones’ looks). Hendrix was literally booed offstage early, after playing the “Star Spangled Banner.”

When the Monkees took the stage, the shrieking intensified. All we could hear of the band was Micky’s floor tom on “Randy Scouse Git”--not even the vocals! I swore off rock concerts until the Fillmore East opened in ’69, where at least one could HEAR.

[Chicago Sandy]

Cracker’s rock hit “Low” was later covered by a bluegrass band..with Lowery playing & singing along.

[PorkPieGuy]

I know a few:

1. "Drops of Jupiter" by the band Train came from a dream the lead singer had about his mother who had recently passed away.

2. "Stairway to Heaven" wasn't initially received well by audiences. The first few times Zepplin played it, they were met with a lot of blank stares by the audience. According to Plant, they were just expecting another "Whole lotta love" and didn't know how to react to "Stairway."

3. A sort of weird tradition here in the Appalachian mountains is for mountain folk to take pictures of the body when attending a funeral. I work with Doc Watson's niece, and she snapped a few pictures of Doc lying in his casket. When she went to get the pictures developed, someone had swiped the pictures of Doc in his casket, so these pictures may actually be floating around somewhere.

That's all I can think of at the moment.

[Staredge]

The surf instrumental Pipeline, by the Chantays (considered to be instrumental surf's anthem) was originally titled Liberty's Whip.

[Fatstrat]

The guitars in Aerosmiths early hit "Train kept a rollin" are not Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. But actually are Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter.
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1599