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Unusual Rock Trivia?

#2,462
In 1975, Motörhead singer Lemmy famously joked that the band “will be so loud that if we move in next door to you, your lawn will die.” He said this at a time when bands were competing to break into the Guinness Book Of World Records as the loudest certified group – and, no question, Motörhead have always been among the loudest bands in the world.
On the evening of December 2nd, 1984, Motörhead took the stage at the Variety Theater in Cleveland, Ohio. The performance was so decibel-heavy it broke the previous live sound record set by The Who on May 31st, 1976 at The Valley in London.
The Who’s appearance at The Valley clocked in at an ear-shattering 120 decibels and got the band into the Guinness Book of World Records. Motörhead’s gig measured 130 decibels, exceeding what is known as the “Threshold of Pain” or, 120 decibels. If you need to know exactly how loud that is, the noise level associated with the Threshold of Pain is the equivalent of the sound emitted by a jackhammer.
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The Variety Theatre in Cleveland was a venue designed by architect Nicola Petti in 1924 using the Spanish Gothic style. The beautiful venue was no match for Lemmy and what he described as Motörhead’s “loud, fast, raucous, speed-freak rock’n’roll.” When the band played there in December 1984, The music was so loud the vibrations cracked the ceiling and plaster came down on the crowd. The power had to be cut to stop the band from continuing to play. The neighbors complained about the loud concerts and the Variety Theatre has been closed but it is currently being sound and acoustically insulated to continue live concerts in the near future.
Let’s hope ear/audio health is considered if the venue starts booking future live concerts!
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#2,463
The idea for the song 10cc’s “I’m Not in Love” came from vocalist Eric Stewart saying to his wife that if he kept saying "I Love You" over and over, it wouldn't mean anything even though he did love her. He recalled to The Guardian:
  • "I met this gorgeous girl called Gloria at Halifax town hall. I was 18. She was 16. Three years later, we got married. A few years after that, Gloria told me: 'You don't say 'I love you' much anymore.' I told her that, if I said it all the time, it would sound glib. But I started wondering how I could say it without using those actual words. So 'I'm not in love' became a rhetorical conversation with myself – and then a song.

    I wrote the lyrics in a couple of days. The line, 'I keep your picture up on the wall, it hides a nasty stain' was about the crack in my bedroom wall at my parents' house in Manchester. I'd put a photograph of Gloria over it. When I took the song to the band, they said: 'I'm not in love'? What the f*** is that? You can't say that!' But Graham Gouldman, our bass-player and chord-master, agreed to work on it with me. We both liked The Girl of Ipanema so we gave it a similar bossa nova style. Then Kevin Godley, our drummer, said it was crap.

    We were about to scrap it and wipe the tape but, as I walked around the studio, I heard the secretary singing it and the window-cleaner whistling it. I knew we had a tune: we just hadn't captured it properly. Kevin suggested doing it again, but with banks of voices. I thought that meant hiring a choir, but Lol Creme, our keyboard player, said we could do it using tape loops."
    It took some 256 vocal dubs were required to complete the lush harmonies behind Eric Stewart's vocal.
 
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#2,464
Southwest F.O.B. ("Freight On Board") was a 1960s psychedelic rock group from Dallas, Texas.

Started by guitar player Larry "Ovid" Stevens, Dan Seals and classmate John Colley helped form the group with three other Samuell High School students originally called the Playboys Five.

They then became Theze Few, which finally morphed into the Dallas high school band Southwest F.O.B. The band secured a minor hit in 1968 (reaching number 56) with a cover of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band song "Smell of Incense".

"We were very popular in the late 1960s", Coley said. "We even opened for Led Zeppelin and Three Dog Night, when we were just high school kids". The band's sole LP was also called Smell of Incense.
Later success eluded them and the band broke up in 1969.

Southwest F.O.B. is best remembered because it featured Dan Seals and John Colley, who later found great success as the duo England Dan and John Ford Coley.
 
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#2,467
SubHuman said:
Southwest F.O.B. ("Freight On Board") was a 1960s psychedelic rock group from Dallas, Texas.

Started by guitar player Larry "Ovid" Stevens, Dan Seals and classmate John Colley helped form the group with three other Samuell High School students originally called the Playboys Five.

They then became Theze Few, which finally morphed into the Dallas high school band Southwest F.O.B. The band secured a minor hit in 1968 (reaching number 56) with a cover of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band song "Smell of Incense".

"We were very popular in the late 1960s", Coley said. "We even opened for Led Zeppelin and Three Dog Night, when we were just high school kids". The band's sole LP was also called Smell of Incense.
Later success eluded them and the band broke up in 1969.

Southwest F.O.B. is best remembered because it featured Dan Seals and John Colley, who later found great success as the duo England Dan and John Ford Coley.
Click to expand...
And I'm currently playing with ED and JFC's live band drummer! A one Danny Gorman.
 
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#2,468
Derek and the Dominos formed after Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon worked on George Harrison's solo album, All Things Must Pass. They went to England and played a bunch of small clubs all over Europe, with Clapton and Whitlock writing songs along the way. The band was in France when the inspiration for this song hit. Whitlock told us: "Eric met this girl, she was like a Persian princess or something, and she wore bell bottoms. She was all hung up on him - he gave her a slide that Duane Allman had given him and he wrapped it in leather and she wore it around her neck. She didn't speak a word of English and they had to date through an interpreter. That relationship did not last but a week. He started the song over there, then when we got back to England, we finished up "Bell Bottom Blues" in his TV room in Hurtwood Edge."
 
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#2,469
roccobass said:
Derek and the Dominos formed after Eric Clapton, Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon worked on George Harrison's solo album, All Things Must Pass. They went to England and played a bunch of small clubs all over Europe, with Clapton and Whitlock writing songs along the way. The band was in France when the inspiration for this song hit. Whitlock told us: "Eric met this girl, she was like a Persian princess or something, and she wore bell bottoms. She was all hung up on him - he gave her a slide that Duane Allman had given him and he wrapped it in leather and she wore it around her neck. She didn't speak a word of English and they had to date through an interpreter. That relationship did not last but a week. He started the song over there, then when we got back to England, we finished up "Bell Bottom Blues" in his TV room in Hurtwood Edge."
Click to expand...
Likely the best thing he ever wrote.
 
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#2,473
Paul Williams was a struggling singer, songwriter, and actor, who appeared in some low box office films and was one of many people turned down for a role in the Monkees TV show.

After singer/songwriter Paul Williams landed one of his songs on the flip side of Tiny Tim's hit single "Tip-Toe Through the Tulips," he was approached by record producer Richard Perry with an offer to cut his own album.

Out of this The Holy Mackerel was born in 1968 as an American psychedelic pop band. Formed in Los Angeles, California it was created mainly as a studio venture to capitalize on Paul Williams' early success as a songwriter.

The group recorded one self-titled studio album in that same year. Before the record's completion, ex-Jefferson Airplane bassist Bob Harvey left and was replaced by future Elvis Presley bassist Jerry Scheff.

This American psychedelic pop song was actually written by Jefferson Airplane bassist Bob Harvey and the song has a great bass line.

 
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#2,474
sharkbait130 said:
If I'm not mistaken , Louie Louie was investigated twice. One of the investigations resulted in a finding of "un-intelligible at any speed." I don't think either the writer (Richard Berry) or the singer (Joe Ely) testified at either hearing.
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And yet, the original version of Louie Louie by Richard Berry & The Pharaohs has very clear lyrics.

 
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#2,478
sharkbait130 said:
If I'm not mistaken , Louie Louie was investigated twice. One of the investigations resulted in a finding of "un-intelligible at any speed." I don't think either the writer (Richard Berry) or the singer (Joe Ely) testified at either hearing.
Click to expand...

SubHuman said:
Good to know the FBI will hunt for every piece of evidence no matter how small to protect its citizens!
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Louie Louie - Wikipedia
First an Indiana governor claimed it was obscene because his ears tingled when he listened to it.:laugh: Later an outraged parent sent a letter to the attorney general (RFK) and the FBI investigated. Yes, they didn't talk to the actual singer, maybe because he'd left the band.

Amazingly, a school superintendent in 2005 (!) wouldn't let the marching band play it until she was shown the actual lyrics.
 
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#2,480
GregC said:
Louie Louie - Wikipedia
First an Indiana governor claimed it was obscene because his ears tingled when he listened to it.:laugh: Later an outraged parent sent a letter to the attorney general (RFK) and the FBI investigated. Yes, they didn't talk to the actual singer, maybe because he'd left the band.

Amazingly, a school superintendent in 2005 (!) wouldn't let the marching band play it until she was shown the actual lyrics.
Click to expand...

Yeah it is funny. Listen to some of today's lyrics...some would make a dock worker blush!

Dirty Water by the Standell's was another song with mis-heard lyrics.

...Yeah, down by the river
Down by the banks of the river Charles (Aw, that's what's happenin' baby)
That's where you'll find me
Along with lovers, muggers, and thieves (Aw, but they're cool people)...

Muggers was sang with an "F".

We did have some awful playback systems back then and the words were slurred...maybe on purpose?
 
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