109 Fun Facts About 50s, 60s and 70s Music

'Rock Around the Clock' took off in 1955 after it played over the opening credits of which film?

Blackboard Jungle: by the account of star Glenn Ford's son Peter, director Richard Brooks borrowed the record from his collection, and teens danced in the aisles.

Who founded Sun Records in Memphis in 1952?

Sam Phillips discovered Elvis, then sold his recording contract to RCA Victor in November 1955 for $35,000.

Elvis Presley's first RCA Victor single, released in January 1956, was which song?

Some RCA executives thought Heartbreak Hotel a bad choice, yet it went to number one.

Which rock and roll pioneer turned Bob Wills's fiddle tune 'Ida Red' into his 1955 hit 'Maybellene'?

Chuck Berry pitched it to his label as an 'Ida' song, but the label had him retitle it before release.

Which 'safer' white singer's cover of Little Richard's 'Tutti Frutti' charted higher than the original?

Pat Boone's outselling cover led producer Bumps Blackwell to have Little Richard sing 'Long Tall Sally' very fast to thwart him; Boone covered it regardless.

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a February 1959 plane crash near which Iowa town?

Clear Lake was where they had just played a concert; Holly chartered the plane because the tour buses kept breaking down.

Which future country star gave up his seat on Buddy Holly's fatal flight to the flu-stricken Big Bopper?

Waylon Jennings was so traumatized by the crash that he quit the music business for a time.

Ritchie Valens's hit 'La Bamba' was adapted from what?

A Mexican folk song: Valens, loyal to his Mexican heritage, was reluctant to rock it up until his producer persuaded him.

Jerry Lee Lewis's career collapsed in 1958 when a British reporter discovered he had married whom?

His 13-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown, was traveling with him, and the outcry cut his British tour short.

Which Fats Domino hit revived a 1940 Glenn Miller number two?

Blueberry Hill: Domino knew the song from Louis Armstrong's 1949 recording, which inspired his cover.

Which record topped Billboard's first Hot 100 in August 1958?

Poor Little Fool by Ricky Nelson: he opposed releasing it as a single, then refused to approve a photo for its sleeve.

Sam Cooke's 1957 chart-topper 'You Send Me' had which George Gershwin standard as its B-side?

Cooke had come from gospel as lead singer of the Soul Stirrers, and the pop crossover made him a star.

Johnny Cash revived his career in 1968 with a live album recorded at which California prison?

Folsom had inspired his song 'Folsom Prison Blues', which he wrote after watching a film about the prison while in the Air Force.

Elvis Presley spent most of his 1958–60 Army service stationed in which country?

West Germany was his post, yet his records kept selling while he served, because RCA had stockpiled unreleased songs before he left.

Some Boston radio stations banned which 1957 Everly Brothers hit over supposedly suggestive lyrics?

Wake Up Little Susie tells of a couple who doze off at the movies and miss her curfew, and despite the ban it went to number one.

Elvis's first Sun single paired 'That's All Right' with which bluegrass tune on the B-side?

Memphis DJ Dewey Phillips played 'That's All Right' on air three days after it was cut, and the phones lit up.

About how many Americans watched the Beatles' first live US TV appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964?

73 million viewers tuned in, and the broadcast amplified the media frenzy already building around the band.

Motown's founder borrowed how much from a family savings fund to launch his first label?

$800 borrowed from the family got Gordy started, and that year he turned a Detroit photography studio into his recording studio, with his family living upstairs.

Which Motown group had the most 1960s US number ones of any American vocal group?

The Supremes scored twelve number ones, and in 1967 Motown renamed them Diana Ross & the Supremes, putting its lead singer's name first.

Where did Bob Dylan famously go electric in July 1965?

At the Newport Folk Festival, members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band backed him, and some in the crowd booed.

Woodstock in August 1969 was held on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in which New York town?

Bethel got the festival just a month before it began, after the town of Wallkill passed a law that blocked it.

Who closed Woodstock, taking the stage early on Monday morning after rain delays?

Jimi Hendrix went on so late that most of the crowd had already left, leaving only a small fraction of the festival's peak audience.

Brian Wilson made which 1966 Beach Boys album with session musicians while the rest of the band was on tour?

Pet Sounds sold disappointingly at first compared with earlier Beach Boys albums, though critics came to hail it as a masterpiece.

Brian Jones named the Rolling Stones on the spot after spotting an LP by which bluesman?

Muddy Waters' LP was lying on the floor when the band needed a name fast, and Brian Jones picked its track 'Rollin' Stone'.

Aretha Franklin's 1967 signature hit 'Respect' was first released in 1965 by which singer?

Otis Redding released it first, but Franklin flipped its lyrics to a woman's point of view.

The BBC banned which Sgt Pepper track from broadcast over a supposed drug reference?

A Day in the Life drew on newspaper stories, including, by its lead writer's account, the death of Guinness heir Tara Browne.

Which band took a jangly electric cover of Bob Dylan's 'Mr. Tambourine Man' to number one in 1965?

The Byrds' Roger McGuinn was the only member to play an instrument on it, as session musicians stood in for a band not yet trusted in the studio.

Under what name did teenagers Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel first record in the late 1950s?

Tom & Jerry's single 'Hey Schoolgirl' landed the teenagers a spot on American Bandstand.

The Doors took their name from a book by which writer?

Aldous Huxley's The Doors of Perception, his account of taking mescaline, had itself borrowed its name from a William Blake line.

The Ed Sullivan Show never invited the Doors back after Jim Morrison did what on air in 1967?

Sang 'higher' anyway: the show saw a possible drug reference, and after the band agreed to change the line, Morrison sang it as written.

Which 1967 California festival featured sets by the Who and Ravi Shankar?

Monterey Pop was co-organized by a member of the Mamas & the Papas, who wrote 'San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)' to promote it.

The Beatles' final live performance, on 30 January 1969, took place where?

The Apple Corps rooftop set ended after police arrived over the noise, and the group signed off hoping they'd 'passed the audition'.

Which Beach Boys single did Brian Wilson assemble from separately recorded sections?

Good Vibrations grew from his mother's talk of dogs sensing 'vibrations' from people.

Robert Stigwood reportedly had the Bee Gees keep which Saturday Night Fever ballad instead of giving it to Yvonne Elliman?

How Deep Is Your Love stayed with the Bee Gees, so Elliman sang 'If I Can't Have You' on the soundtrack instead.

ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with which song?

Waterloo gave ABBA a huge career boost, starting the group's path to worldwide fame after the contest.

Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' video spared them miming on which BBC show?

Top of the Pops kept airing the promo while the band toured, and the clip is credited with pushing music videos forward as a marketing tool.

Which 1973 Pink Floyd album has spent more than 900 weeks on the Billboard 200?

The Dark Side of the Moon features session singer Clare Torry, who improvised her wordless vocal on 'The Great Gig in the Sky' and later sued for royalties.

Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (1977) won which Grammy at the 1978 ceremony?

Album of the Year went to a record made while band members were breaking up with one another, turmoil that shaped its lyrics.

Which TV host's live December 1976 interview with the Sex Pistols ended in a stream of swearing?

Bill Grundy's interview made national headlines, and EMI dropped the band about a month later.

The Ramones all took the surname Ramone in tribute to a stage name once used by which musician?

McCartney had called himself Paul Ramon in the Silver Beetles days; the four Ramones, formed in Forest Hills in 1974, were not related.

At which London venue did David Bowie retire his Ziggy Stardust persona on stage in July 1973?

Hammersmith Odeon's crowd heard Bowie call it the last show, a surprise even to most of his own band.

Which real LA landmark did Don Henley call the Eagles' focal point when he wrote 'Hotel California'?

The Beverly Hills Hotel shaped the song, and Henley insisted on releasing it as a single though it ran far longer than radio hits.

Disco Demolition Night in July 1979 forced which baseball team to forfeit a game?

The Chicago White Sox had to forfeit after DJ Steve Dahl blew up a crate of disco records between games and fans left the field unplayable.

Village People were assembled by Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo, producers from which country?

The group was originally aimed at disco's large gay audience before 'Y.M.C.A.' and 'In the Navy' took it mainstream.

In October 1975, Bruce Springsteen appeared simultaneously on the covers of which two magazines?

Time and Newsweek covers in the same week built so much hype that it drew skepticism and a media backlash.

Don McLean says he learned of Buddy Holly's death while doing what, as 'American Pie' recalls?

Delivering newspapers at 13, McLean saw the crash story in his bundle, and the song later ran so long its single was split across two sides.

Which 1971 Carole King album stayed on the Billboard album chart for about six years?

Tapestry: James Taylor had encouraged King, who had been reluctant to perform live, to sing her own songs.

In which city did Donna Summer meet Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte as a backing singer?

Munich: she had first moved to Europe to perform in a production of the musical Hair.

Stevie Wonder wrote 'Superstition' for which guitarist, but released his own hit version first?

Jeff Beck had joined the Talking Book sessions in exchange for a song, but Wonder's version came out first and reached number one.

What did Led Zeppelin officially call their fourth album, released in November 1971?

No title: the band left even their name off the sleeve and used four symbols instead.

Elton John met lyricist Bernie Taupin in 1967 after both answered an advert placed by which record label?

Liberty Records rejected their early demo, but Dick James signed the pair as staff songwriters for his DJM label.

Where was Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees born?

The Isle of Man was his birthplace, but the brothers first found fame after the family emigrated to Australia.

Which 1973 Elvis Presley concert special was broadcast live by satellite?

Aloha from Hawaii was staged as a benefit, with the money going to the Kui Lee Cancer Fund.

Who first recorded 'The Twist' before Chubby Checker's cover made it a craze?

Hank Ballard thought 'The Twist' was the hit side, but King Records preferred 'Teardrops on Your Letter' and made his song the B-side.

Which 1968 single became the first posthumous number one on the Billboard Hot 100?

The Dock of the Bay topped the chart even though Stax chief Jim Stewart had doubts about the song.

Which country singer, an early crossover star, was killed in the March 1963 Camden plane crash?

Patsy Cline had recorded 'Crazy' after surviving a 1961 car crash, and it became one of her biggest hits.

Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' was co-written by Obie Benson, a member of which Motown group?

The Four Tops' Obie Benson co-wrote it, but Motown's founder opposed Gaye's protest-minded record before it became a hit.

Which Simon & Garfunkel hit has Art Garfunkel singing lead alone?

Bridge over Troubled Water got its extra final verse after Garfunkel and producer Roy Halee urged Simon to make it bigger.

The Beatles' 'Hey Jude' was written in 1968 to comfort which child?

Julian Lennon was the child: the song began as 'Hey Jules', written to comfort him as his parents separated.

Which jazz trumpeter's 'Hello, Dolly!' ended the Beatles' 14-week hold on the US number one spot in 1964?

Louis Armstrong had cut the show tune only as a demo to promote a new Broadway musical. Released as a single, it became the biggest hit of his career.

The FBI spent more than two years investigating rumours of obscene lyrics in which 1963 hit by the Kingsmen?

Louie Louie was sung so indistinctly that the FBI laboratory, after 31 months, concluded the words could not be made out at all. Nobody was ever prosecuted.

Karen Carpenter, the voice of the Carpenters, joined the duo playing which instrument, which she studied in high school?

Drums were Karen Carpenter's first love, and she was the duo's full-time drummer before her voice pulled her out front. Playboy readers still voted her into their top ten in 1975.

Queen frontman Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on which island territory off the coast of East Africa?

Zanzibar was a British protectorate when Mercury was born there in 1946 to Parsi parents from India. The family later emigrated to England, where he joined Queen.

Which blues singer took 'Hound Dog' to the top of the R&B chart three years before Elvis Presley recorded it?

Big Mama Thornton recorded it in 1952, the day after songwriters Leiber and Stoller wrote it, and it spent seven weeks at number one on the R&B chart. It was her only hit.

Which cartoon band, voiced by session singers, scored Billboard's number one single of 1969 with 'Sugar, Sugar'?

The Archies were the teenagers of Archie Comics, so the year's biggest hit belonged to a band that never existed. Session vocalist Ron Dante sang the lead.

Deep Purple's 'Smoke on the Water' recounts a casino fire during a Frank Zappa concert in which Swiss town?

Montreux lost its casino when someone in the crowd fired a flare gun into the ceiling. Deep Purple had come to town to start recording the very next day.

Which rock frontman sang uncredited backing vocals on Carly Simon's 1972 hit 'You're So Vain'?

Mick Jagger phoned the studio during the session and Simon invited him to join in. His voice is on the chorus, but his name is not on the record.

The Beatles played nearly 300 shows between 1961 and 1963 at which cellar venue on Liverpool's Mathew Street?

The Cavern Club, in a warehouse cellar once used as an air-raid shelter, hosted the Beatles 292 times. Their future manager Brian Epstein first saw them there in 1961.

Dick Clark became a household name hosting which Philadelphia teen dance show after ABC took it national in 1957?

American Bandstand began as a local Philadelphia programme in 1952 and stayed in the city until it moved to Los Angeles in 1964. Singer Freddy Cannon appeared a record 110 times.

Which Texas band backed Buddy Holly on 'That'll Be the Day' and helped inspire the Beatles' choice of name?

The Crickets nearly called themselves the Beetles, and years later the Beatles picked their own insect name partly as a nod to them.

Which 1956 Carl Perkins hit, also recorded by Elvis Presley, crossed from the country chart to the pop and R&B charts?

Blue Suede Shoes passed a million sales in April 1956, weeks after a car crash on the way to a national TV booking had put Perkins in hospital.

Which Georgia-born pianist's 1960 recording of 'Georgia on My Mind' was later made that state's official song?

Ray Charles was invited to sing it at the state capitol when Georgia adopted his version nearly two decades later. The song was written in 1930 by Hoagy Carmichael, who came from Indiana.

Which former teen idol won Record of the Year for his swinging 1959 version of 'Mack the Knife'?

Bobby Darin was warned by Dick Clark that a song taken from an opera would never suit a rock and roll audience. Clark later admitted he had been wrong.

Which guitarist, a pioneer of multitrack recording with his wife Mary Ford, gave his name to a Gibson solid-body guitar?

Les Paul built his prototype, the Log, after hours in a guitar factory. Gibson showed no interest in a solid-body instrument until rival Fender began selling one in 1950.

Which 1950s vocal group followed 'Only You' with their first national number one, 'The Great Pretender'?

The Platters' manager Buck Ram wrote the words to 'The Great Pretender' in the washroom of a Las Vegas casino resort. It also spent 11 weeks on top of the R&B chart.

Fats Domino lived nearly all his life in the Lower Ninth Ward of which city, where he was born in 1928?

New Orleans stayed home even after Domino sold tens of millions of records. He kept living in his old neighbourhood and chose to ride out Hurricane Katrina there in 2005.

Which original Beatle was sacked in August 1962, after the group's first EMI session, to make way for Ringo Starr?

Pete Best's mother ran the Casbah, a coffee club in the family cellar where the pre-fame group held a residency. Manager Brian Epstein did the firing on his bandmates' behalf.

Keith Richards came up with the fuzz-guitar riff of which 1965 Rolling Stones hit in his sleep?

Satisfaction gave the Stones their first US number one, even though Richards meant the fuzz tone only as a sketch for a horn section and was outvoted on releasing it.

Which single from the Who's rock opera Tommy did their guitarist write to win over a New York Times critic?

Pinball Wizard was added because reviewer Nik Cohn was a fan of the game. It turned the opera's deaf, dumb and blind hero into an arcade champion and gave the album its hit.

Bob Dylan was born Robert Zimmerman and grew up in the town of Hibbing in which US state?

Minnesota's port of Duluth was his birthplace, and at 17 he watched Buddy Holly play the Duluth Armory, three days before Holly's fatal plane crash.

Which Motown group scored its first US number one in 1965 with 'My Girl', co-written by Smokey Robinson?

The Temptations got the song only after persuading Robinson, who had meant it for his own group. It was their first single with David Ruffin singing lead.

Which soul singer, billed as the hardest-working man in show business, cut a hit live album at the Apollo in 1962?

James Brown forced the album out over the objections of his own label, which thought a live record with no new songs could never turn a profit. It sold fast.

Producer Phil Spector's dense early-1960s style, built on a crowd of Los Angeles session players, got what name?

The Wall of Sound came from packing doubled guitars, basses and pianos into one small studio and feeding the mix through echo chambers. Its session players later became known as the Wrecking Crew.

Which pop group was put together by two television producers for an NBC sitcom that first aired in 1966?

The Monkees at first supplied little more than lead vocals while session players made the records, which caused a press storm when it came out during their 1967 UK tour.

Simon & Garfunkel's 'Mrs. Robinson', begun as 'Mrs. Roosevelt', was reworked for which 1967 Mike Nichols film?

The Graduate contains only fragments of the song, which was still unfinished during filming. The completed single became the first rock song to win Record of the Year.

The Beatles walk across a zebra crossing outside EMI Studios on the cover of which 1969 album?

Abbey Road was the last album the group recorded, even though Let It Be reached the shops later. The cover photograph was based on a sketch by one of the band.

Which pop artist designed the peelable banana sleeve of the Velvet Underground's debut album and paid for its recording?

Andy Warhol is the album's only formally credited producer, although he had little influence on the music beyond paying for the sessions and lending the band his fame.

Which fictional character did David Bowie introduce in 'Space Oddity' and bring back in the sequel 'Ashes to Ashes'?

Major Tom first appeared in a single rush-released five days before Apollo 11 launched. The BBC then stopped playing the gloomy song until the astronauts were safely back on Earth.

Which Manhattan nightclub opened in 1977 inside a former CBS broadcast theatre and became a byword for the disco era?

Studio 54 kept much of the old theatrical and broadcasting equipment, and its founders opened with workers still finishing the decorations hours before the first guests arrived.

Which Gloria Gaynor anthem, first issued as a B-side, won the only Grammy ever given for Best Disco Recording?

I Will Survive was recorded in 35 minutes as the flip side of 'Substitute', because the label refused to believe Gaynor when she insisted it was the hit.

Which Led Zeppelin song became the most-requested track on US FM radio without ever being sold there as a single?

Stairway to Heaven stayed off the singles racks because manager Peter Grant twice refused the label's requests, so many fans bought the whole album just to own it.

Which Sugarhill Gang single, built on the bass line of Chic's 'Good Times', brought hip-hop into the US Top 40?

Rapper's Delight borrowed so heavily from Chic that Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards threatened to sue. A settlement gave the two of them songwriting credits.

Which reggae star was wounded by gunmen at his Kingston home in 1976 but played a free concert two days later?

Bob Marley was hit in the chest and arm two days before Smile Jamaica, a concert meant to calm two warring political camps, and he still performed as scheduled.

Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote 'Sweet Home Alabama' as a reply to two songs by which Canadian-born rocker?

Neil Young had criticised the South in 'Southern Man' and 'Alabama', and the band answered him by name. He later wrote that his song 'Alabama' had deserved the reply.

Elvis Presley's manager, 'Colonel' Tom Parker, hid the fact that he was an illegal immigrant born in which country?

The Netherlands was home until he slipped into the United States at 20 and took a new name. Born Andreas van Kuijk in Breda, he got his 'Colonel' as an honorary Louisiana title.

Which Cleveland disc jockey popularised the term 'rock and roll' on air before a payola scandal wrecked his career?

Alan Freed called his late-night rhythm and blues programme The Moondog House. In 1959 a New York station fired him for refusing to sign a statement that he had never taken payola.

What nickname did Motown give its first headquarters, a converted house on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit?

Hitsville U.S.A. had a photography studio out back that became a recording room open 22 hours a day, while the Gordy family lived upstairs.

Buddy Holly opened for Elvis Presley in 1955 as a local teenager in which West Texas city, his birthplace?

Lubbock saw Holly share a stage with Presley three times that year. After the first, he decided on a music career, and his sound moved from country and western to rock and roll.

Which 1969 California free festival, headlined by the Rolling Stones, turned deadly with Hells Angels as security?

Altamont was a last-minute venue, a speedway its owner offered at the eleventh hour. Its stage was so low that the bikers were asked to ring it, and a spectator was stabbed to death.

Which Canadian songwriter wrote the anthem 'Woodstock' despite skipping the festival to appear on The Dick Cavett Show?

Joni Mitchell built the song from what her then-boyfriend Graham Nash told her about playing there. Her manager had judged the television booking the better career move.

Which singer's album Pearl, released three months after her death, included the number one 'Me and Bobby McGee'?

Janis Joplin recorded her final song for the album only three days before she died. 'Me and Bobby McGee' was written by Kris Kristofferson, and she played acoustic guitar on it.

Which British band launched the careers of Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page before Page formed Led Zeppelin in 1968?

The Yardbirds split in 1968, and Page carried their stage favourite 'Dazed and Confused' straight over to his new group's first record, credited to himself.

Which band behind 'Proud Mary' and 'Born on the Bayou' came from El Cerrito, California, rather than the Deep South?

Creedence Clearwater Revival knew bayous and catfish mostly second-hand. Three of the members had met at junior high school in their Californian home town.

Dolly Parton wrote 'I Will Always Love You' in 1973 as a farewell to which country star, her mentor for seven years?

Porter Wagoner was the business partner she was leaving to go solo, and the song was her way of softening the blow while thanking him.

Black Sabbath, often credited with inventing heavy metal, formed in 1968 in which English city?

Birmingham's factories shaped the sound: guitarist Tony Iommi lost two fingertips in a sheet metal plant, and the band took its name from a horror film showing across the street.

The Jackson 5, whose first four Motown singles all reached number one, formed in which Indiana city?

Gary is where the brothers won their first talent show, at a local high school in 1966. 'I'll Be There' later completed their record run of four chart-toppers.

Which radio host co-created the weekly countdown show American Top 40 and presented it from its launch on 4 July 1970?

Casey Kasem developed the programme with Don Bustany, a childhood friend from Detroit, and stayed in the chair for 18 years.

Which British band got the distorted riff of 'You Really Got Me' from an amplifier speaker slashed with a razor?

The Kinks' guitarist Dave Davies sliced the speaker cone of his small Elpico amp in frustration and poked it with a pin, then was so excited by the noise that he showed his brother.

Which duo's signature hit 'I Got You Babe' was written by one of them late at night for his live-in girlfriend?

Sonny & Cher owed the song to Sonny Bono, who had learned his trade working for producer Phil Spector. It spent three weeks at number one in August 1965.