Even More Very Good Music Facts

Happy New Year’s! On the heels of my “Very Good Music Fun Facts” and “More Very Good Music Fun Facts” posts, I bring you yet another web page filled with more bite-sized nostalgia nuggets. Let’s do this.

We’ll start with two future stars’ video appearances that I learned about recently. Should I have known these already? Yes (hangs head).

Hans Zimmer appeared in The Buggles’ video for “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

Questlove appeared in the Boyz II Men video for “Motownphilly.”

Bruno Mars’ (Peter Hernandez) father nicknamed him “Bruno” because he was a chubby baby who reminded his dad of the wrestler Bruno Sammartino.

Coldplay sent a formal request via lawyers to Kraftwerk asking permission to use the “Computer Love” melody on their song “Talk.” Weeks later, a letter arrived from Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter, containing only a handwritten “Yes.”

Dave Grohl played all the instruments on the Foo Fighters’ debut except for one guitar part played by Greg Dulli of The Afghan Whigs.

Three members of *NSYNC (Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez, and Joey Fatone) filmed cameo scenes as Jedi Knights for “Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones,” but their roles were cut from the final theatrical release. George Lucas’s daughters were fans of the group.

The title of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” was taken from a line in The Clash’s “Charlie Don’t Surf.” “Charlie Don’t Surf” was taken from a line in “Apocalypse Now.” “Apocalypse Now” was based on Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.”

James Taylor wrote “Shower The People” when he saw the crowd at a Dead show {citation needed}.

Many bands named themselves after other bands’ song titles. Here are some good ones:

• Bad Brains are named after The Ramones’ song “Bad Brain.”
• Ladytron is named after Roxy Music’s song  “Ladytron.”
• Cocteau Twins are named after Simple Minds’ song “Cocteau Twins.”
• Death Cab for Cutie is named after Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band’s “Death Cab for Cutie.”
• Slowdive is named after Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Slowdive”.
• Negativland is named after Neu!’s “Negativland.”
• Pretty Girls Make Graves is after The Smiths’ song “Pretty Girls Make Graves.”
• Radiohead is named after Talking Heads’ song “Radio Head.”
• Stiff Little Fingers are named after The Vibrators’ song “Stiff Little Fingers.”
• Velocity Girl is named after Primal Scream’s song “Velocity Girl.”

When new wave band Neon broke up, two members formed Tears for Fears, and two other members formed Naked Eyes. When Bauhaus broke up, 3 members formed Love and Rockets. When Ian Curtis died, Joy Division became New Order. Martyn Ware & Ian Craig Marsh left The Human League to form Heaven 17.

Three members of Adam and the Ants’ original lineup formed Bow Wow Wow with Annabella Lwin. Vince Clarke left Depeche Mode to form Yazoo (and later Erasure). When The English Beat broke up, two members formed General Public, and two other members formed Fine Young Cannibals. When X-Ray Spex broke up, two members formed Classix Nouveaux.

Rasheeda Jones’ partner is Ezra Koenig from Vampire Weekend. Her father, Quincy Jones, was featured on the song “A Tale by Quincy” by The Weeknd.

“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” was Aerosmith’s first and only song to reach number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it was written by the songwriter Diane Warren, not the band.

The guy on the cover of “Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not” by the Arctic Monkeys is not an Arctic Monkey. It is Chris McClure, from the Sheffield band, The Violet May.

The guy on the cover of Tom Waits’ album “Rain Dogs” is not Tom Waits. It features a photo by Swedish photographer Anders Petersen from his series at Hamburg’s Café Lehmitz, showing a man named Rose and a woman named Lilly.

“Yourself or Someone Like You” is the debut album by Matchbox 20, released in 1996. Ten years later, the band was sued by Frank Torres, the man on the album’s cover. Torres claimed the band never asked for his permission to use his image on the sleeve and said the photo was taken as he was walking down the street after being asked to pose.

ABBA’s name is an acronym formed from the first letter of each member’s first name: Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad.

• NRBQ stands for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet.
• T.S.O.L. stands for True Sounds of Liberty.
• KMFDM stands for “Kein Mehrheit Für Die Mitleid,” which loosely translates to “no pity for the majority.”

Midge Ure’s (Ultravox) first name is James. “Midge” is a phonetic reversal of the name Jim.

Madonna wrote “Ray of Light” about Ray Romano {citation needed}.

“Electric Ladyland” is the third studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

“Electric Landlady” is the third studio album by Kirsty MacColl.

“Let It Bleed” is the eighth studio album by the Rolling Stones (Nov. 28, 1969)

“Let It Be” is the twelfth studio album by The Beatles (May 8, 1970)

A different artist releases the same song within a year of each other:

“More Than a Woman”

• Tavares (November 1977)
• Bee Gees (April 1978)

“Video Killed the Radio Star”

• Bruce Wooley and The Camera Club (June 1979)
• The Buggles (September 1979)

“How Do I Live”

• LeAnn Rimes (May 23, 1997)
• Trisha Yearwood (May 23, 1997)

ALL had three different lead singers; Dave Smalley was their first. Dag Nasty had three different lead singers; Dave Smalley was their second.

Richard Belzer auditioned to be one of the original MTV VJs. 

The longest song to reach number one on the US singles chart is Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)” (10:13), released in late 2021. It surpassed previous long-time record holders Don McLean’s “American Pie” (8:33) and The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” (7:11).  The longest song to reach number one on the UK Singles Chart is “All Around the World” (9:38) by Oasis, released in 1998.

Fatboy Slim (Norman Cook) was the bassist for the 80s indie pop band The Housemartins. When the band broke up, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway formed the Beautiful South.

Some bands who changed their names because there were already bands with the same name:

• Blink-182 were Blink
• The Bangles were The Bangs
• Dinosaur Jr was Dinosaur
• MGMT were The Management
• Superchunk was Chunk
• The Chemical Brothers were The Dust Brothers
• Snow Patrol were Polar Bear
• Speedealer were REO Speedealer

Death from Above 1979 changed their name from “Death from Above” due to a cease and desist letter that was filed against the band by James Murphy’s label Death From Above Records. Friends of Dean Martinez were Friends of Dean Martin but had to change their name to Martinez after legal threats from the singer’s representatives.

Some British bands who used different names in North America:

• The Mission – The Mission UK
• The Charlatans – The Charlatans UK
• The Chameleons  – The Chameleons UK
• The Beat – English Beat
• Suede – The London Suede

Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is a cover song written in 1979 by a man, Robert Hazard. She changed some of the lyrics to give it a female perspective.

Metallica became the first band to perform on all seven continents after their “Freeze ‘Em All” concert in Antarctica on December 8, 2013.

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