Music Trivia

So as I was downloading all those songs from the Internet onto my IPod as I mentioned in my previous post, I came across some stuff that I had never heard of before.  I like to think of myself as a bit of a master of knowing the most useless stuff possible, trivial stuff, especially when it comes to movies and baseball.  I'm a sponge for that kind of data, so when I started noticing the trivial info about the music industry, I had to write some of it down, lest I forgot.  I'd like to share some of this info with all y'all.  Now I realize that what's new to me may not be new to others.  For instance, I just assume everybody knows about Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best being part of The Beatles before they became THE BEATLES.  But maybe there are people who don't know about them and need someone like me to write about it.  I also know that a lot of people might not care about what I found.  To them I say, stop reading.  This post is purely about information that I want to hold on to.  If you're not interested, read one of my movie reviews.  Anyways, here are some of the things that made me say, out loud, "I didn't know that!".

Boz Scaggs is a contemporary Pop/Rock musician who had a number of hits on the Billboard Hot 100 through the years including "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle".  He actually won a Grammy Award in 1976 for Best R&B Song "Lowdown".  Well, before becoming famous in his own right, he was a member of The Steve Miller Band.  Turns out Boggs and Miller went to the same prep school in Dallas back in 1959.  Scaggs joined Miller's band at the time, called The Marksmen, but eventually went their separate ways.  The late 1960's brought them back together, reuniting as members of The Steve Miller Band.  Scaggs was part of the band for their first two albums which included the hit single "Living In The USA".

Paul Rodgers has widely been considered one of the greatest rock voices of the last 40 years.  He was the face, the voice, the reason to listen to Bad Company.  They had numerous hits in the 70's and 80's including "Can't Get Enough", "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Bad Company" and "Rock N Roll Fantasy" just to name a few.  Many big bands that followed Bad Company have cited Paul Rodgers as a major influence, including The Black Crowes and Guns N Roses.  What I didn't know was that he was also the lead singer of the band Free, who had a massive hit in 1970 with "All Right Now".  I always knew of the band because of that song, one that I like to sing out loud often, but had no idea that it was Paul Rodgers' voice I was singing along with.  Reading up a little more on Rodgers, I found out he and one Jimmy Page started a band in the early 80's called The Firm.  They only made two albums but had a couple of number one songs on the Mainstream Rock charts.  Rodgers went on to sing with Brian May and Roger Taylor for some live Queen shows in the early to mid 2000's.

Just about everyone knows about the incestuous nature in the band Fleetwood Mac.  Lindsay Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie...everybody was sleeping with everybody.  What I didn't know was that Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks had their own band before they joined Fleetwood Mac.  The story goes Mick Fleetwood, the founder of Fleetwood Mac, needed a new guitar player after one of the originals left the band.  Fleetwood was at the Sound City recording studios (recently made famous in Dave Grohl's documentary "Sound City") when he heard Buckingham record some stuff.  He thought he'd be perfect for his band and approached him to join up.  Buckingham said he would only join Fleetwood's band if he could bring his girlfriend along with him.  His girlfriend, of course, was Stevie Nicks, and the rest is rock n roll history.  Fleetwood Mac had recorded 10 albums between 1968 and 1974.  Starting in 1975, when Buckingham and Nicks joined the band, they won a Grammy and have had four number one albums!

John Sebastian was an Adult Contemporary singer in the late 1970's that had a huge hit with "Welcome Back", the song used for the theme on TV's Welcome Back, Kotter.  I thought he was a one hit wonder, a name that nobody knew of before or after.  How dumb did I feel when I realized he was the lead sing of The Lovin' Spoonful!!  The Freakin' Lovin' Spoonful!!  They were a huge band in the 60's, churning out hits like "Do You Believe In Magic?", "Daydream" and one of my favourite songs, "Summer In The City".  Yeah, one hit wonder my ass!

The band Boston came out with one of the most successful debut albums of all time in 1976.  Laced with hit after hit such as "More Than A Feeling", "Piece Of Mind", "Foreplay/Long Time" and "Rock N Roll Band", the album went on to become one of the best selling discs ever.  What amazed me is the leader of the band, writer/guitarist Tom Scholz, recorded the whole thing in his basement!!  Scholz played every note of every instrument, even before a band was formed.  When he was done, he got his friend Brad Delp to lay down vocals.  Scholz shopped the finished product to every record label in town.  Epic finally signed them, but told Scholz to re-record the songs, with a real band, in a studio.  Scholz re-recorded a few things, not many, but still did it on his own...in his basement!!  One of the biggest bands of the late 1970's was really just one dude playing all the instruments on his own.  Crazy!

One of my all-time favourite funky R&B song was written and performed by the late great Isaac Hayes.  "The Theme From Shaft" gets me going every time I hear it.  I knew Hayes was an accomplished songwriter, but I had no idea to what extent.  In the mid-60's, Hayes teamed up with David Porter at Stax Records and the duo became one of the most prolific songwriting teams in the history of music!  They composed over 200 songs together, most of them hits, some of them huge hits.  Here's a list of just some of the songs Isaac Hayes had a hand in creating:  "Hold On, I'm Comin'", "You Don't Know Like I Know", "I Thank You", "Soul Sister, Brown Sugar" and "Soul Man" by Same And Dave; "I Got To Love Somebody's Baby" and "I Had A Dream" by Johnnie Taylor; "Let Me Be Good To You" by Carla Thomas.

I have been a fan of The Blues Brothers ever since I first saw them on Saturday Night Live.  I've seen their movie about a thousand times and could pretty much quote every word.  I have a number of their CD's (Best of, Live at, etc.) and I've always enjoyed hearing John Belushi say "Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn" at the end of their rendition of "Soul Man".  Little did I know how important Steve Cropper was to R&B and Blues music of the 1960's and 70's.  Cropper played with all the legends, including Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave and Booker T..  He had a hand in creating some of the biggest soul hits ever; "Mr. Pitiful", "In The Midnight Hour", "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay" and "Knock On Wood", a soul song that became a mega disco hit for Amii Stewart in 1979.  Steve Cropper is still considered one of the most important guitarist in the world of soul music.


I have more stories and trivia, but I'll have to save some for another post.......

Music

So it's been a while since I last updated this blog.  I don't know why...I haven't been especially busy.  I guess I just didn't have anything to talk about.  I have found that, after leaving my job at Blockbuster, I don't watch a lot of movies, so I don't do any reviews anymore.  I have, though, renewed my love and fascination of music.  My last post was about some of the concerts I went to throughout my life.  This post is all about my music.  I recently downloaded and updated over 3700 songs on iTunes (because I lost all my songs when I updated to the last version...I suggest not doing that!!).  As I was working on my music, I came to realize a few things.  First, I have a very broad taste in music, everything from Barry Manilow to Metallica, but I don't like most of "today's" music.  The great majority of songs I have are from the 1970's, a decade that I long championed as my absolute favourite for not only music but movies and sports as well.  I found that I enjoy many more "Easy Listening" songs than I previously thought.  I LOVE Hall & Oates, Ace and The Carpenters, and I'm not ashamed to say it.  I also realized, and I'm not at all surprised at this, that I dislike "Country" music save for some Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Hank Williams.  I wanted to make a list (what, me, make a list?!) of the artists whose songs I have the most of, and as I was compiling the data, I was once again surprised at some of the results.  Let me share a few with you:
First, my Top Ten Artists based on number of songs downloaded....
The Beatles - 113 Songs
I was shocked, shocked I say, at the number of songs that I not only recognize but like in The Beatles' catalog.  I went through each of their albums, one by one, and downloaded every song I liked.  When I was done I had an incredible 113 songs.  I have always been a fan of the group (I always liked their later stuff rather than their 2-minute pop stuff from the mid-60's) but I had no idea of the number of songs I liked.  My favourites include "Dear Prudence", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and "I've Got A Feeling".







Van Halen - 107 Songs
Really, no surprise here.  I have said for about 30 years now that Van Halen is my favourite band ever.  I don't know if that still holds true, but I tell you this, whenever I hear their songs from the Diamond Dave era, I sing loud and I sing proud!  Most of the 107 songs are from albums that featured the vocal stylings of David Lee Roth, but I also have a good number from the Sammy Hagar era.  I was never a "got to like one or the other" kind of fan, I liked it all.  Favourites include "Unchained", "Panama" and "Beautiful Girls".

Jimi Hendrix - 99 Songs
Wow, a pretty good amount of songs from someone that released 3 albums!  Yes, I'm one of those "suckers" that buys every album that has come out posthumously that includes different variations of songs I've heard before.  I don't care, I love listening him.  I have a four-disc box set that contains many outtakes and concert versions of classics such as "Purple Haze", "Red House" and "Little Wing".  I especially like listening to Jimi's take on other people's songs like "Blue Suede Shoes" and "Like A Rolling Stone".  How many versions of "Voodoo Chile" can you stand???







Foo Fighters - 94 Songs
This is pretty much as contemporary as I get!  I loved Dave Grohl when he was the only member of Nirvana that seemed to smile.  I've read autobiographies on him, watched documentaries about him and the band, even watched his "love letter" to a recording studio "Sound City".  But the main reason I love him is because of the music he churns out.  Hard rockin', fist poundin' music that gets me going no matter how I feel.  The Foo Fighters, in my opinion, will be remembered more fondly than Nirvana.  And they fight foo, for Christ's sake!!

Beastie Boys - 54 Songs
One of the saddest days I've experienced in recent memory was the day I learned MCA (Adam Yauch) passed away at the age of 47.  The day marked an end to a band that was instrumental in my formative years.  The Beastie Boys could do no wrong in my eyes.  Every album they put out was better, more mature, funnier and with more technique than the last.  There was a time when it wasn't "cool" to like a "white rap group".  I didn't care one iota!  When I'm 68 years old, I will still sing along to songs such as "Hey Ladies", "Sabotage", "Shake Your Rump" and "Pass The Mic".








Led Zeppelin - 53 Songs
The "Mighty Zep" turned out 10 albums in their short existence, splitting up when they realized there would be no replacing John "Bonzo" Bonham after he died.  What they left was a legacy of some of the best rockin' blues songs every recorded.  There are very few Zeppelin songs I don't like, so I downloaded almost every one that I did like, resulting in 53.  "Whole Lotta Love", "Black Dog" and "Stairway To Heaven" will always be remembered as true classics!

The Tragically Hip - 52 Songs
Here's my Can-Con group.  Oh, but what about Rush?  Nope, I've always loved The Tragically Hip.  Their first five albums were absolute classics.  Subsequent albums have had some good songs, but lacked the cohesiveness of the earlier discs.  "Fully Completely" is arguably their best, most well rounded album.  "New Orleans Is Sinking", "Blow At High Dough" and the ever-haunting "38 Years Old" are my faves.




The Rolling Stones - 48 Songs
This was another shocker to me.  I've never been a huge Stones fan, but I liked and appreciated some of their contributions to Rock history.  I had no idea I enjoyed so many of their songs.  Now, in the general scheme of things, liking 48 of their literally hundreds of songs is probably not that big a deal to true fans, but I'll take them.  "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)", "Can't You Hear Me Knockin'", and "Monkey Man" are among my faves.





Kiss - 47 Songs
In the late 1970's there was a band that scared me as much as thrilled me.  Kiss is that band.  Their songs and images are burned into my brain.  I have a five-disc box set that contains a lot of rare outtakes, demos and live cuts that make me smile every time I listen to them.  Yes, they started out as a gimmick, but almost 40 years later they're still touring and drawing huge crowds.  "I Love It Loud", "Detroit Rock City" and "Sure Know Something" are great songs!




Pearl Jam - 37 Songs
This one surprised me as well.  I LOVED Pearl Jam, about 20 years ago.  I haven't listened to anything they've put out in the last 15 years, but their first 5 albums rocked!  "Ten" is probably in the top 10 of greatest debut albums, ever.  Loved seeing them play live and I often listen to their earlier tunes.  "Black", "Even Flow" and "Do The Evolution" are great songs.



That's all for now...I actually have some fun facts about music, musicians and the like that I'm putting together for my next post.  I don't think it'll take another 7 months...but maybe....