Rock/Pop Tidbits

The Association were turned down by every major label who heard their first album, which included the future number one smash, "Cherish".

Antoine "Fats" Domino and his wife Rosemary have eight children, all of whom have names that start with "A".

The same studio musicians who had just helped Bob Dylan record "Like A Rolling Stone" were asked by producer Tom Wilson to stay in the studio for one more song. He then recorded the electric guitar, bass and drums that were to be added to Paul Simon's voice and acoustic guitar. The result was the 1966 number one hit, "Sounds Of Silence."

Stevie Wonder wrote "Isn't She Lovely" for his daughter Aisha Zakia. The names mean strength and intelligence in an African language.

Brenda Lee graduated from high school in Hollywood, having already earned 12 top ten records.

Herman's Hermits recorded "Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter" as an album filler, never intending it for release as a single. After an American DJ started giving it airplay, MGM issued it as a 45 and it became the group's third Billboard number one hit in a row.



Paul Revere and The Raiders' first chart entry, "Like Long Hair" was based on Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Prelude in C-Sharp Minor", written in 1897.

The longest title of a US number one record belongs to a Dutch studio group called Stars On 45. Although their medley was simply known as "Stars On 45" in most parts of the world, the US single had a 41 word title: "Intro Venus / Sugar Sugar / No Reply / I'll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Want To Know A Secret / We Can Work It Out / I Should Have Known Better / Nowhere Man / You're Going To Lose That Girl / Stars On 45."

Performance contracts for the band Van Halen stipulated that they be provided with a supply of M&Ms at every show, but all of the brown ones had to be removed.

In 1964, an acoustics expert from New South Wales University measured the noise level during a Beatles' concert at 112 decibels. That's between 10 and 20 decibels higher than a Boeing 707 jet flying at 2,000 feet.

Doors guitarist Robby Krieger once said about lead singer Jim Morrison: "I loved the guy when he was straight. I disliked him immensely when he was drunk."

In 1956, a Protestant minister in Greenwich Village, New York said about Elvis Presley's music; "I don't think youth wants this sort of thing. It is the result of the letdown that follows every war."

Darlene Love, who sang lead vocals on The Crystals hits "He's A Rebel" and "He's Sure The Boy I Love", played Danny Glover’s wife in all four Lethal Weapon movies.

Harry Elston, co-founder of The Friends Of Distinction, used to work as a limousine driver for The Temptations.

Mercury Records released The Platters' "Twilight Time" on both 78 RPM and 45 RPM discs. The song went to number one in the U.S. in April, 1958 and sold one and a half million copies, of which 98.2 percent were 45s. By that June, Mercury became the first major record label to announce that it would stop producing 78s, effective immediately.

After Gene Simmons of KISS graduated form Richmond College, he became a school teacher. This career move was short-lived however, as he quit to form KISS. Why? “I wanted to kill those little pricks,” he said.

Before Glen Campbell had a successful solo career, he was a studio musician who played lead guitar on The Beach Boys' "Dance, Dance, Dance" and Frank Sinatra's "Strangers In The Night".

David Rose, who led his orchestra to Billboard's number one position with "The Stripper" in July, 1962, was a prolific composer of television theme songs in the 1950s. At one point, there were 22 TV shows on the air using his music. He later went on to win Emmy Awards for the theme for "Bonanza", and "An Evening With Fred Astaire", as well as writing music for "Little House On The Prarie" and "Highway To Heaven".