Rock/Pop Tidbits

When he thought that the crowd needed a wake up call, Butthole Surfer Gibby Haynes occasionally fired off a shotgun over the heads of the fans.

In the early years the Butthole Surfers enjoyed performing while medical-curiosity films played in the background. These ‘films’ were so gory and graphic (e.g. scenes of sex-change surgery), that some people at the concerts would actually vomit; which was not always a bad thing at a Butthole gathering.

When Frank Sinatra Jr was kidnapped in December, 1963, his abductors demanded $240,000 ransom. His father offered one million dollars for his safe return, but for some un-explained reason, his captors turned the offer down and settled for the original amount. Three men were later caught and sent to prison.

Walter Murphy's 1976 disco hit, "A Fifth Of Beethoven" was based on Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 in C Minor", composed in 1807.

After Capitol records had rejected “Love Me Do”, “Please Please Me” and “From Me To You” for American release, label president Alan Livingston sent a memo to their parent company, EMI in Britain that said: “We don’t think The Beatles will do anything in this market.” A year later, in January, 1964, when “I Saw Her Standing There” was issued, it became the fastest selling single in the history of recorded music and Capitol’s pressing plant was forced to run 24 hours a day, trying to fill more than one million orders.

Although it says Diana Ross on her birth certificate, her parents and friends called her Diane until her early 20s

When Dennis Edwards of The Temptations first sang "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", he was upset by the line "It Was The Third Of September / That Day I'll Always Remember / 'Cause That Was The Day My Daddy Died", because Edwards father actually did die on September 3rd.

Robin and Barry Gibb wrote "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" for crooner Andy Williams. When he declined, the Bee Gees recorded the song themselves and scored the first of their nine number one records with it.

Listen carefully to the beginning of The Beatles' song "Come Together", from their Abby Road album. The bass guitar riff nearly obliterates John Lennon saying "Shoot me."



The flip side of Bobby Helms' Christmas favorite "Jingle Bell Rock" is called "Captain Santa Claus And His Reindeer Space Patrol".

The first song of the rock era to become a US #1 twice by different artists was "Go Away Little Girl", first by Steve Lawrence (Dec 1962), then by Donny Osmond (Aug 1971). The second to accomplish this feat was "The Loco-Motion" by Little Eva (July 1962), then Grand Funk (March 1974). Both songs were penned by the same songwriters, Gerry Goffin and Carole King.

The rock group Queen issued albums called "A Night at the Opera" and "A Day at the Races" which were named after movies by The Marx Brothers.

It was in 1966 when Richard and Karen Carpenter formed a trio and won a battle of the bands contest at the Hollywood Bowl. The trio serenaded the crowd with the song “The Girl From Ipanema” and were accompanied by drums, piano and a tuba. One record executive visionary attempted to sell the enterprising trio as a “rock-tuba super group.” To no one’s surprise, the idea did not catch on.

The Four Tops recorded their first Motown hit, 1964's "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" in the wee hours of the morning, shortly after songwriter Eddie Holland had sang it for them for the first time.

After Rick Nelson signed a one million dollar, twenty year recording contract with Decca Records in January, 1963, he had only two more hits, 1964's "For You" and 1972's "Garden Party."



Connie Francis was on the comeback trail in 1981 when her brother, George, was brutally murdered, allegedly by members of organized crime.

Pat Boone, who is a very religious man, once claimed to use his own surname in lieu of curse words when he is upset.

When Janis Joplin was in college in 1963, a local fraternity voted her "The Ugliest Man on Campus."

Mark Dinning scored a number one hit in the U.S. in 1960 with "Teen Angel". While he was growing up in Oklahoma, one of his babysitters was a girl named Clara Ann Fowler, who would go on to have a recording career of her own as Patti Page.

Bert Kaempfert, who led his orchestra on the January, 1961, number one US hit, "Wonderland By Night", would go on to produce the first recording session that The Beatles ever had. At the time, the boys were backing Tony Sheridan on "My Bonnie" and "When The Saints Go Marching In".