49 Fun Facts About Classic Rock

Who played the riff that opens the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"?

Keith Richards wrote and played the fuzz-toned riff, famously sketching it onto a cassette in his sleep in May 1965; the single became the Stones' first US number one.

Which founding Pink Floyd frontman left the band in 1968?

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd's original singer and guitarist, was eased out in April 1968 as his mental health collapsed; 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' (1975) is the band's tribute to him.

Which 1969 concept album by the Who included "Pinball Wizard"?

Tommy, the Who's 1969 double album about a 'deaf, dumb and blind' pinball champion, includes 'Pinball Wizard' and made the term 'rock opera' stick.

Who replaced Bon Scott as AC/DC's lead singer in 1980?

Brian Johnson joined AC/DC in April 1980, weeks after Bon Scott's death; Back in Black, his first album with the band, was released that July.

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

Aldous Huxley's 1954 essay The Doors of Perception, itself titled from a William Blake line, gave Jim Morrison's band its name.

What is Bruce Springsteen's nickname?

Springsteen was nicknamed 'The Boss' in his late-1960s bar-band days because he collected the gig money and handed out each member's share.

Which song did Jimi Hendrix drench in feedback and distortion at Woodstock?

Jimi Hendrix closed Woodstock on the morning of Monday, August 18, 1969, turning 'The Star-Spangled Banner' into a feedback-drenched solo full of dive-bomb and explosion sounds.

Tom Petty was a member of which late-1980s supergroup?

The Traveling Wilburys formed in 1988 with Tom Petty alongside George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne; Petty recorded as 'Charlie T. Wilbury Jr.'

"Smoke on the Water" recounts a 1971 casino fire in which country?

Deep Purple were in Montreux, Switzerland, to record Machine Head when the casino burned down in December 1971; the band finished the album in the nearly empty Grand Hôtel nearby.

"American Pie" mourns "the day the music died" — the 1959 crash that killed which star?

Buddy Holly died with Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in the February 3, 1959 plane crash; Don McLean, then a 13-year-old paperboy, learned of it from the papers he was delivering.

Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson is best known for playing which instrument?

He has led the band continuously since it formed in Blackpool in 1967.

What was Elton John's birth name?

Reginald Kenneth Dwight legally became Elton Hercules John in 1972, borrowing from Bluesology bandmates Elton Dean and Long John Baldry; the other options became Sting, David Bowie and Cliff Richard.

Which 1964 single was the Kinks' international breakthrough?

'You Really Got Me', driven by Dave Davies' slashed-speaker guitar tone, topped the UK chart in September 1964 and reached the US top ten, the Kinks' first hit after two flops.

Billy Joel's nickname comes from which 1973 song?

'Piano Man' (1973) grew out of Billy Joel's stint playing a Los Angeles piano bar under the name Bill Martin after his debut album flopped; the nickname stuck for life.

What are devoted Grateful Dead fans called?

Deadheads followed the Grateful Dead from show to show, and the band encouraged them by setting aside an official tapers' section in 1984 so fans could record and trade concerts.

What were Led Zeppelin originally called?

Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham toured Scandinavia in September 1968 as the New Yardbirds to honour the Yardbirds' remaining dates, adopting the name Led Zeppelin that October.

On which Led Zeppelin album does "Kashmir" appear?

'Kashmir' closes side two of Physical Graffiti, Led Zeppelin's 1975 double album; Plant wrote the lyrics after a drive through southern Morocco, not the Kashmir region.

Which Dark Side of the Moon track became Pink Floyd's first US hit single?

'Money', written by Roger Waters in 7/4 time, opened side two of The Dark Side of the Moon and reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1973.

Before Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor played together in which band?

Smile featured Brian May, Roger Taylor and singer Tim Staffell; when Staffell left in 1970, his friend Freddie Mercury stepped in and renamed the band Queen.

Freddie Mercury described "Bohemian Rhapsody" as what kind of piece?

Mercury called 'Bohemian Rhapsody' a 'mock opera'; its operatic section alone took about 180 vocal overdubs, with the tape bounced so often it was worn nearly transparent.

Which song opens the Who's 1971 album Who's Next?

'Baba O'Riley' opens Who's Next; its title fuses guru Meher Baba with minimalist composer Terry Riley, whose looping style inspired the song's synthesizer intro.

Which Grammy did "Hotel California" win in 1978?

'Hotel California' won Record of the Year at the 20th Grammy Awards in February 1978; Don Henley later summed the song up as 'a journey from innocence to experience'.

The four founding Eagles had all been recruited as a backing band for which singer?

Frey, Henley, Leadon and Meisner were assembled as Linda Ronstadt's touring band in 1971 and all play on her self-titled 1972 album before signing to David Geffen's Asylum Records.

"Sweet Home Alabama" was written as a riposte to which musician's songs?

Neil Young's 'Southern Man' and 'Alabama' struck Lynyrd Skynyrd as blaming the whole South, so 'Sweet Home Alabama' answers him by name: 'I hope Neil Young will remember.'

Why is the cover of AC/DC's Back in Black entirely black?

The all-black sleeve was the band's sign of mourning for Bon Scott, who died in February 1980; they recorded Back in Black that spring at Compass Point in the Bahamas.

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith are nicknamed what?

Tyler and Perry were dubbed the Toxic Twins for their 1970s drug intake; the Glimmer Twins are Jagger and Richards, and Aerosmith's fans are the Blue Army.

Journey was formed in 1973 by former members of which band?

Guitarist Neal Schon and keyboardist Gregg Rolie left Santana to found Journey in San Francisco in 1973, joined by bassist Ross Valory, a Steve Miller Band alumnus.

Who is Springsteen leaning on in the famous Born to Run cover photo?

Springsteen leans on saxophonist Clarence Clemons, whose half of Eric Meola's 1975 photograph is only revealed when the Born to Run gatefold is opened.

On whose dairy farm was the 1969 Woodstock festival held?

Max Yasgur rented his 600-acre dairy farm in Bethel, New York, to the promoters after the original site near Wallkill backed out weeks before the August 1969 festival.

Eric Clapton's "Layla" was inspired by his secret love for whom?

Pattie Boyd was married to George Harrison when Clapton wrote 'Layla' in 1970; she divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979.

Which Led Zeppelin member missed a writing credit on "Kashmir" for arriving late?

John Paul Jones arrived late to the Physical Graffiti sessions, after Page and Bonham had already worked up the riff, so 'Kashmir' is credited to Page, Plant and Bonham alone.

Which session singer wails on Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky"?

Clare Torry, a session singer suggested by engineer Alan Parsons, improvised the wordless vocal in a few takes one Sunday in January 1973 for a £30 fee; a 2005 settlement added her as co-writer.

Who's Next grew out of which abandoned Pete Townshend project?

Lifehouse, Townshend's abandoned science-fiction rock opera, supplied eight of Who's Next's nine songs; only John Entwistle's 'My Wife' came from elsewhere.

Which 1968 instrumental gave Fleetwood Mac a UK number one?

'Albatross', Peter Green's languid guitar instrumental, reached number one in the UK in January 1969 and remains Fleetwood Mac's only UK chart-topping single.

Who produced both Highway to Hell and Back in Black for AC/DC?

Robert 'Mutt' Lange produced Highway to Hell (1979) and Back in Black (1980), the latter cut in seven weeks at Compass Point in the Bahamas and mixed at Electric Lady in New York.

How long did Springsteen spend working on the title track of Born to Run?

Springsteen spent six months on the song 'Born to Run' alone, chasing a Phil Spector-style Wall of Sound; the full album took from January 1974 to July 1975.

Whose concert was on at the Montreux casino when the "Smoke on the Water" fire began?

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention were playing the Montreux Casino on 4 December 1971 when a fan's flare gun set the roof alight, the 'some stupid with a flare gun' of the lyric.

What superlative did the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records give Deep Purple?

Guinness named Deep Purple 'the globe's loudest band' after a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre measured 117 decibels, reportedly knocking three fans unconscious.

Bob Seger co-wrote which number-one Eagles hit?

'Heartache Tonight', a 1979 number one, was written by Henley, Frey, J.D. Souther and Bob Seger, Frey's old Detroit friend; Seger's own Hot 100 number one was 'Shakedown' (1987).

Which earlier radio format, known by a three-letter abbreviation, spawned classic rock?

Album-oriented rock; consultant Lee Abrams' 1982 "Timeless Rock" format mixed current AOR with 1960s and 1970s hits.

Foreigner's Ian McDonald had been a founding member of which prog band?

Ian McDonald played saxophone, flute and Mellotron on King Crimson's 1969 debut In the Court of the Crimson King before co-founding Foreigner in New York in 1976.

Who wrote Kansas's "Carry On Wayward Son"?

Kerry Livgren, Kansas's guitarist and keyboardist, wrote 'Carry On Wayward Son' at the last minute for 1976's Leftoverture; it became the band's first top-40 hit, reaching number 11.

Who refused Atlantic's requests to release "Stairway to Heaven" as a US single?

Manager Peter Grant refused Atlantic's requests in both 1972 and 1973, so fans had to buy the fourth album to get 'Stairway to Heaven'; only a radio promo single was ever pressed.

Near which town did Lynyrd Skynyrd's chartered plane crash in October 1977?

The Convair 240 ran out of fuel between Greenville and Baton Rouge and came down in woods near Gillsburg, Mississippi, on 20 October 1977, killing Ronnie Van Zant and Steve Gaines among others.

Which guitarist co-wrote "Free Bird" with Ronnie Van Zant?

Allen Collins had the music for 'Free Bird' two years before Van Zant added lyrics; released as a single in November 1974, it peaked at number 19 in early 1975.

Which band did AC/DC's second long-term singer front before joining in 1980?

Brian Johnson fronted Geordie, a Newcastle glam-rock band with a 1973 UK top-ten hit 'All Because of You', before AC/DC recruited him after Bon Scott's death in 1980.

Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" was recorded at Fantasy Studios in which city?

Fantasy Studios sat in Berkeley, California, across the bay from Journey's San Francisco base; the title came from advice Jonathan Cain's father gave him while he struggled in Los Angeles.

Which city's station M105 billed itself as "Classic Rock" in 1980, an early use of the term?

M105 was Cleveland's WWWM-FM; Chicago's WMET followed in 1981, and Houston's KRBE ran an early all-vintage classic rock format in 1983.

Where did Aerosmith's "Dream On" peak on the Billboard Hot 100 on its 1973 release?

'Dream On' stalled at number 59 on the Hot 100 in 1973 despite being a big hit in the band's home city of Boston; Columbia's 1976 reissue took it to number six.