We all love music here at Whaddayaknow? Free Pub Trivia. We host music bingo, music trivia, ask music questions at general trivia, and our staff goes to Riot Fest every year (speaking of- music bingo winners right now could come away with their OWN Riot Fest passes!)
Music can be a lot of things – entertaining, joyful, enthralling, weird, hilarious, but it also is steeped in something special – lore. Often, the story BEHIND the song or the story BEHIND the artist is even more captivating than the magic in a bottle that they manage to capture.
You know a lot of the crazy stories already. Afterall, successful musicians tend to live, let’s say, eccentric lives. So you might know how Prince was a basketball god.
Or you read in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers about how the Beatles helped establish the 10,000 hours rule (the Beatles started off as teenagers playing two years of marathon concerts in bars in Hamburg, which many say led to them them learnomg all types of musical styles that made them future icons).
Or how Creed was actually the first band created by AI (okay that one was a lie, sorry).
But if you dig deeper you’ll find some truly astonishing stories about the bands you love and grew up with.
For example- did you know:
- The world’s shortest song is Napalm Death’s “You Suffer” which clocks in at a whopping 1.136 seconds long.
- Over 2,200 artists have covered The Beatle’s “Yesterday”, making it the most covered song in history.
- The first song ever recorded was captured in 1860 with “Au Clair de la Lune” by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville. It was recorded on a phonautograph, a device that can visually record sound waves.
- Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar to Parsi-Indian parents with the birth name of Farrokh Bulsara.
- By the way, Freddie Mercury had extra teeth at the back of his jaw that resulted in both his unique dental appearance as well as his enhanced vocal range.
- Four American Idol winners, and one runner-up, have released a number one Billboard hit from their performance on the show. Clay Aiken, a runner-up, had a top hit with “This Is the Night”, and Taylor Hicks reached number one with “Do I Make You Proud?” The other three are Kelly Clarkson with “A Moment Like This”, Fantasia with “I Believe”, and Carrie Underwood with “Inside Your Heaven.”
- Kesha (formerly Ke$ha) has written songs for such legendary artists as Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears and Alice Cooper.
- Speaking of Miley Cyrus, her huge hit “Wrecking Ball” was first offered to Beyoncé, but the Queen Bee declined to perform the single.
- Aretha Franklin was the first woman inducted into the Rock-And-Roll Hall of Fame. Talk about R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
- Paul McCartney and John Lennon worked together to write…a Rolling Stones Song? They were the songwriters for “I Wanna Be Your Man” (The Beatles later released their own version in 1963).
- The band Chicago has released songs that have made the US charts for six decades.
- The Weeknd’s (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye) massive hit “Blinded By the Light” samples A-Ha’s “Take Me On.”
- The first rap song to make the Billboard Top 40 was “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang.
- The first music video to air on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles.
- Blink-182 became mainstream with their cheekily-titled hit album “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket.” Alternative album titles included “Diarrhea De Janeiro”, “Anne Frank’s Diarrhea”, and “Vasectomie Vasectoyou.” By the way, you can see them perform their hits at Riot Fest in September.
We’ll be creating a series of articles about more surprising music trivia facts that you won’t believe, talking about many of your favorite bands. Do you know the connection between The Beatles and The Ramones? What two famous bands went to high school together? Did Styx play your parents’ prom?
Look out for these fun trivia stories and so much more! But for now, why not test your knowledge with some tried-and-true Whaddayaknow music trivia questions. Let’s see how you do!
Q: Who was the highest selling FEMALE solo music artist of the 1990s? She released 7 albums during the decade.
A: Mariah Carey
Q: What female music artist holds the record for the most nominations for the Grammy Award for BestAlternative Music Album, with 7? She is known by her first name, and is NOT American.
A: Björk
Q: What FEMALE music artist has by far the most Grammy Award nominations in “Rap” categories – ie.Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, etc – of any female artist in history?
A: Missy Elliott (Queen Latifah/Eve/Nicki Minaj/Lauryn Hill also have several each)
Q: What 2 actors does Madonna reference in her hit song “Vogue” just prior to the line “on the cover of a magazine?”
A: Marlon Brando & James Dean
Q: “Billie Jean” is one of five songs released by Michael Jackson that went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and has a title that begins with the letter B. Name all four songs.
A: Bad, Beat It, Ben (his first #1 single at age 14), and Black or White
Look forward to plenty of more fun music trivia to come! (And don’t forget to check our music bingo schedule and show up for your chance to win those Riot Fest passes!)