Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Unusual Rock Trivia?
- Thread starter Aberdumbie
- Start date
-
- Tags
- rock
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" By John & Yoko/Plastic Ono Band - The original demo was recorded at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City in 1971. Members of the Harlem Community Choir can be heard on the final recording. Most of the choir were pre-teens putting them in their 50's and 60's today.
Last edited:
The first commercial fuzztone device..
In 1961, Grady Martin scored a hit with a fuzzy tone caused by a faulty preamplifierthat distorted his guitar playing on the Marty Robbins song "Don't Worry". Later that year Martin recorded an instrumental tune under his own name, using the same faulty preamp. The song, on the Decca label, was called "The Fuzz." Martin is generally credited as the discoverer of the "fuzz effect."[20] The recording engineerfrom Martin's sessions, Glenn Snoddy, partnered with fellow WSM radio engineerRevis V. Hobbs to design and build a stand-alone device that would intentionally create the fuzzy effect. The two engineers sold their circuit to Gibson, who introduced it as the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone in 1962, one of the first commercially-successful mass-produced guitar pedals.
In 1961, Grady Martin scored a hit with a fuzzy tone caused by a faulty preamplifierthat distorted his guitar playing on the Marty Robbins song "Don't Worry". Later that year Martin recorded an instrumental tune under his own name, using the same faulty preamp. The song, on the Decca label, was called "The Fuzz." Martin is generally credited as the discoverer of the "fuzz effect."[20] The recording engineerfrom Martin's sessions, Glenn Snoddy, partnered with fellow WSM radio engineerRevis V. Hobbs to design and build a stand-alone device that would intentionally create the fuzzy effect. The two engineers sold their circuit to Gibson, who introduced it as the Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone in 1962, one of the first commercially-successful mass-produced guitar pedals.
Correct spelling, and no relation (obviously).
Correct spelling, and no relation (obviously).
Oops, I thought they were. Thanks for the correction. He still didn't hate ELP, at least.
The band S.S. Fools was formed in the late 1970s with Three Dog Night members Michael Allsup, Joe Schermie, and Floyd Sneed, along with Stan Seymore, Wayne DeVillier, and Bobby Kimball (pre Toto).
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
From Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! No, not really, but it makes for a cool intro to this! 
Giuseppe Tartini was a famous Italian composer and a violinist in the 1700's (yeah, we're going that far back). Tartini lived in a time were most of the music was composed to praise God. You could say that Tartini was way ahead of his time, because it was not God but Satan who inspired him. In a dream, Satan played a solo for him that “surpassed all the music I had ever heard.” He woke up and wrote a piece that would be often called “The Devil's Trill.” Today it is regarded as one of the most challenging pieces to play on the violin. Satan doesn't play around.
Before Charlie Daniels' “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” or Tenacious D's “The Greatest Song In The World,” or any black metal band burned down any church in Norway, Tartini dabbled in the dark arts. In other words? Tartini is the Adam and Eve for Black Sabbath, Gorgoroth, and Mayhem.
Giuseppe Tartini was a famous Italian composer and a violinist in the 1700's (yeah, we're going that far back). Tartini lived in a time were most of the music was composed to praise God. You could say that Tartini was way ahead of his time, because it was not God but Satan who inspired him. In a dream, Satan played a solo for him that “surpassed all the music I had ever heard.” He woke up and wrote a piece that would be often called “The Devil's Trill.” Today it is regarded as one of the most challenging pieces to play on the violin. Satan doesn't play around.
Before Charlie Daniels' “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” or Tenacious D's “The Greatest Song In The World,” or any black metal band burned down any church in Norway, Tartini dabbled in the dark arts. In other words? Tartini is the Adam and Eve for Black Sabbath, Gorgoroth, and Mayhem.
Many people try to find that deep, hidden meaning in Cream’s “White Room,” due to its mysterious lyrics, such as, “In the white room with black curtains near the station.” Writer Pete Brown once expressed his astonishment that the song was a hit, saying, “It was a miracle it worked, considering it was me writing a monologue about my new flat.”
I saw an interview with Jack Bruce and he and Brown had been up all night trying to write. They came up blank and Jack said We need to wrap it up because “It’s getting near Dawn”….suddenly the words and ideas started flowing and they wrote Sunshine of your Love.
Fun Fact: for the first time since 1984 both Paul McCartney and John Lennon have songs in the Billboard Top 40 the same week (ending December 31, 2022)
“Wonderful Christmastime” is at No. 32
“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is at No. 38
“Wonderful Christmastime” is at No. 32
“Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" is at No. 38
Bob Hall was a musician in Bakersfield who assisted Semie Moseley (Mosrite) in the making his own custom guitar. Fast forward. Bob then went on to make his own guitars under the name Hallmark. It’s interesting the history of both companies. Check out this blog for more detailed info.
The Unique Guitar Blog: Hallmark Guitars
Hall’s luck seemed to change when Bob Bogle, the Venture’s bass player showed him a crude drawing of an instrument, he had envisioned. This was the year when the Batman TV series was one of the number one TV shows.
Hallmark Swept Wing
The Unique Guitar Blog: Hallmark Guitars
Hall’s luck seemed to change when Bob Bogle, the Venture’s bass player showed him a crude drawing of an instrument, he had envisioned. This was the year when the Batman TV series was one of the number one TV shows.
Hallmark Swept Wing
Last edited:
The background singers on 'All Things Must Pass' credited as the George O'Hara Smith Singers were...George Harrison himself. Harrison multitracked and overdubbed multiple takes of his own voice and vari-sped many of them for the super high parts.
Cartoone were formed in 1967 from a band called The Chevlons. They toured all over Scotland in support of other acts such as the Tremeloes, the Merseybeats and the Hollies.
In 1968, the band moved to London in hope of landing a recording contract. Through Lulu they contacted songwriter Mark London and showed him some of the songs they had written. London was impressed with the band and their songs and took them into a recording studio to record four songs with just acoustic guitars.
London then took those songs to Ahmet Ertegün and Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, who subsequently signed Cartoone to a two-album deal. They were the first British rock band to sign with Atlantic, predating Led Zeppelin by several months.
The self-titled debut album, featuring Jimmy Page on guitar for several tracks, was released on Atlantic in January 1969.
In April 1969, Cartoone went to the United States to support Led Zeppelin on tour.
In 1968, the band moved to London in hope of landing a recording contract. Through Lulu they contacted songwriter Mark London and showed him some of the songs they had written. London was impressed with the band and their songs and took them into a recording studio to record four songs with just acoustic guitars.
London then took those songs to Ahmet Ertegün and Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, who subsequently signed Cartoone to a two-album deal. They were the first British rock band to sign with Atlantic, predating Led Zeppelin by several months.
The self-titled debut album, featuring Jimmy Page on guitar for several tracks, was released on Atlantic in January 1969.
In April 1969, Cartoone went to the United States to support Led Zeppelin on tour.
Richie Havens with his parents in Brooklyn, 1970. The musician who opened the show at Woodstock grew up with his folks, Richard and Mildred, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, but he bought them this home in nearby East Flatbush when his music career took off. The Havenses had nine kids and, as Mrs. Havens told LIFE, “Richie is the only one who’s really moved away. I can’t get rid of most of them.”
Greg Munford may have one of Psychedelic Rock’s most famous vocals, but despite that, he remains a foot note in Rock history. He was born on June 21, 1949, and his big break came in 1967 when he was still a teenager. He collaborated with the Californian Psychedelic Rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock on a day that he was a guest musicians in the studio where they were recording. When it came time to record the vocal tracks, none of the members of the Alarm Clock sounded right for the lead vocal and Greg was picked to try it, he end up singing the lead vocals for what became their biggest hit and most memorable song, the Psychedelic classic “Incense And Peppermints”. However, despite the fact the song peaked to No.1 on the Hot 100 (the only Strawberry Alarm Clock No.1) Munford never officially joined the band. After a few more years working as a professional musician, Greg returned to college during the 1970’s, he majored in music composition and theory at the University of Southern California, then earned a graduate degree in musicology at the University of Chicago. It was there that he met his wife and decided to pursue a career in advertising. As of 2014, Greg was playing guitar with a local band, Out of the Blues, as he stated back then “just enough to have a reason to rehearse”. He turns 73 today.
Just one more Greg Munford tid bit. From Greg himself. He probably still has it in his possession too..
The success of Incense and Peppermints” led to tours, but being younger (17) than the rest of the band, Munford did not find the touring particularly enjoyable.
But there was one show he remembers very fondly - a concert stage Strawberry Alarm Clock shared with The Who.
“We were big Who fans and we knew how they ended their act,” Greg said. Not only did we get to meet The Who, but we were backstage, and during ‘My Generation,' I positioned myself and grabbed [Pete] Townshend's guitar neck” when they started smashing their instruments.”
The success of Incense and Peppermints” led to tours, but being younger (17) than the rest of the band, Munford did not find the touring particularly enjoyable.
But there was one show he remembers very fondly - a concert stage Strawberry Alarm Clock shared with The Who.
“We were big Who fans and we knew how they ended their act,” Greg said. Not only did we get to meet The Who, but we were backstage, and during ‘My Generation,' I positioned myself and grabbed [Pete] Townshend's guitar neck” when they started smashing their instruments.”
Last edited:
