107 Fun Facts About Oldies Music

Which New Orleans pianist had 1950s hits with 'Ain't That a Shame' and 'Blueberry Hill'?

Fats Domino never had a number one pop hit, even though Pat Boone's milder cover of 'Ain't That a Shame' went to number one in 1955.

Which 1973 film is often credited with kick-starting a wave of 1950s nostalgia?

American Graffiti was made for under $800,000, yet it became one of the most profitable films of all time.

Which group's 'Rock Around the Clock' spent eight weeks at number one in 1955?

Bill Haley & His Comets squeezed it into the last half hour of the session, because the producer insisted they record 'Thirteen Women' first.

Which 1955 film's opening credits turned 'Rock Around the Clock' into a hit a year after the record came out?

Blackboard Jungle had teenagers dancing in the aisles, and the single was re-released on the back of the film's success.

'Rock Around the Clock' opened which 1970s sitcom during its first two seasons?

Happy Days helped send the 1954 original back onto the US charts in 1974.

In which Mississippi town was Elvis Presley born in 1935?

Tupelo Hardware is where Elvis got his first guitar at 11, after his mother talked him out of a rifle, or in some tellings a bicycle.

Elvis Presley's three competitive Grammy wins all came for which kind of recordings?

Gospel shaped his teens, and for How Great Thou Art, his first Grammy winner, he recorded with the Imperials, led by his early influence Jake Hess.

Which Graceland room did Elvis Presley turn into a recording studio in 1976?

The Jungle Room hosted his last studio sessions, and songs from them came out on Moody Blue weeks before his death in 1977.

On Elvis Presley's third Ed Sullivan Show appearance, in January 1957, how did the cameras frame him?

Only from the waist up that night, though legend often pins that framing on his first Sullivan appearance, where he was shown head-to-toe.

In which US state did the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper happen?

Iowa is where Holly, fed up with the tour's freezing buses, chartered a small plane after their Clear Lake show; it crashed minutes after takeoff.

Which future country star gave up his seat on Buddy Holly's doomed 1959 flight to the Big Bopper, who had the flu?

Waylon Jennings had jokingly told Holly he hoped his plane would crash, a remark that haunted him for years after the deaths.

How did Ritchie Valens win a seat on Buddy Holly's plane?

A coin toss with guitarist Tommy Allsup went Valens's way, and Allsup later named his club Tommy's Heads Up Saloon after it.

Which 1971 song named the Buddy Holly plane crash 'The Day the Music Died'?

'American Pie' by Don McLean grew out of the morning the 13-year-old learned of the crash while delivering newspapers.

'La Bamba', Ritchie Valens' 1958 hit, is a folk song from which Mexican state on the Gulf Coast?

Veracruz weddings are where it is traditionally danced, with the couple using their feet to tie a ribbon into a bow as a symbol of their union.

Valens' 'La Bamba' was originally released as the B-side of which single?

'Donna' was the A-side, yet its flip, 'La Bamba', charted too and became the most enduring hit of Valens's short career.

Which band's cover of 'La Bamba' reached number one on the Hot 100 in 1987?

Los Lobos recorded it for the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic, and it became the first song sung in Spanish to top the Hot 100.

'Johnny B. Goode' is one of 27 pieces of music carried on what, launched in 1977?

The Voyager Golden Record team argued over it: folklorist Alan Lomax called Chuck Berry's music adolescent, and Carl Sagan replied that Earth has plenty of adolescents.

At which studio did Jerry Lee Lewis record 'Great Balls of Fire' in October 1957?

Sun Studio in Memphis sent the record to number one on the country and UK charts, but within a year news that Lewis had married his 13-year-old cousin stalled his career.

Which 1986 film has 'Great Balls of Fire' pounded out on a bar piano?

Top Gun gave the song to Goose, and the 2022 sequel echoed the scene with his son Rooster, played by Miles Teller, singing it at a bar piano.

What was Chubby Checker's 'The Twist' the first Hot 100 record to do?

Grown-ups took up the twist in late 1961, letting the record reach number one in two runs, in 1960 and again in 1962.

Which Portland, Oregon, band's 1963 recording of 'Louie Louie' reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100?

The Kingsmen beat rivals Paul Revere & the Raiders, who cut it soon after in the same Portland studio with Columbia behind them yet stalled outside the Hot 100.

What did the FBI conclude about the 'Louie Louie' lyrics?

Unintelligible, the FBI lab decided, so after 31 months the bureau could not find the record obscene and brought no charges.

Who is credited with writing 'Respect' and recorded it first, in 1965, two years before Aretha Franklin's hit?

Otis Redding sang it as a man demanding respect at home, but Aretha Franklin's gender-flipped 1967 remake became a feminist anthem.

What was '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' the first Billboard Hot 100 record to be?

Its singer's manager had thought the song too pop, yet it became a posthumous number one just over three months after his death.

Which future Blues Brothers band member co-wrote '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' with its singer?

Steve Cropper helped finish it, building on the first verse its singer had written while staying on Bill Graham's houseboat in Sausalito.

'Be My Baby' was the 1963 debut single of which group on Philles Records?

The Ronettes had just one member on the record, Ronnie Spector, while a young Cher sang among the backing vocalists.

Which Beach Boy has called 'Be My Baby' the greatest pop record ever made?

Brian Wilson answered it with the Beach Boys' 1964 hit 'Don't Worry Baby', which borrowed its groove.

Which doo-wop group took 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' to number one on the Hot 100 in 1961?

The Tokens' hit gave no credit to Solomon Linda, the Zulu singer who wrote the original, and he died in poverty in 1962.

Pete Seeger was in which folk group when he recorded 'Wimoweh', his version of 'Mbube'?

The Weavers' 'Wimoweh' took its title from Pete Seeger's mishearing of the Zulu chorus 'uyimbube'.

'Mack the Knife' comes from which 1928 stage work?

The Threepenny Opera gained it only days before the 1928 Berlin premiere, as a last-minute number to introduce its ruthless antihero, Macheath.

Bobby Darin won Record of the Year in 1959 and which Grammy that was presented for the first time?

Best New Artist went to Darin even though Dick Clark had warned him against the song, fearing it would turn off his rock and roll fans.

Which group did Ben E. King say turned down 'Stand by Me' before he recorded it himself?

The Drifters passed on it, but King's own 1961 recording charted again in 1986, when it became the theme of the film Stand by Me.

'Good Vibrations' grew from its songwriter's mother saying which animals could sense vibrations given off by people?

Dogs barked at people with bad vibrations, his mother told him, and he first called the song 'Good Vibes' until lyricist Tony Asher found that too lightweight.

Which unusual instrument gives 'Good Vibrations' its wobbling high-pitched hook?

An Electro-Theremin was custom-built at trombonist Paul Tanner's request, since he liked the theremin's sound but wanted more control than hand-waving allows.

How did Tom Wilson turn Simon & Garfunkel's flop 'The Sound of Silence' into a number one?

Overdubbing electric instruments was done without the duo's knowledge, after the Byrds' electric version of 'Mr. Tambourine Man' went to number one.

Which 1967 film opens with 'The Sound of Silence'?

The Graduate also got 'Mrs. Robinson', a song Paul Simon had been working on as 'Mrs. Roosevelt' before it took the name of the film's character.

Per BMI, which 1964 Righteous Brothers single was the 20th century's most-played song on American radio and TV?

'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'' kept Bobby Hatfield waiting through the first verse, and when he asked what to do, Phil Spector said, 'You can go directly to the bank!'

Why did Phil Spector print a falsely short running time on a Righteous Brothers label?

Radio airplay was the worry, since stations rarely played songs over three minutes, so engineer Larry Levine suggested marking it a false '3:05'.

'Sugar, Sugar', the biggest hit of 1969, was credited to which fictional band?

The Archies went unnamed when promoters first played it for radio stations, and it broke big only after its July 1969 re-release.

Which girl group had a 1964 number one with the motorcycle teen tragedy 'Leader of the Pack'?

The Shangri-Las saw their death-themed hit banned by several radio stations, yet it still reached number 11 in the UK.

Whose version of 'Georgia on My Mind' became Georgia's official state song in 1979?

Ray Charles performed it for the Georgia General Assembly that year, almost two decades after his version topped the Hot 100.

Max Crook played the eerie solo on Del Shannon's 'Runaway' on what instrument he invented?

The Musitron was Crook's modified Clavioline, and Shannon wrote the lyrics the day after an onstage jam, while at work in a carpet store.

American Bandstand went national on ABC in 1957 from which city?

Philadelphia's WFIL-TV handed the show to Dick Clark in 1956, after its original host, Bob Horn, was fired amid scandal.

What was the name of the American Bandstand segment in which teenagers scored new songs?

Rate-a-Record had teens justify their scores to Dick Clark, and it gave rise to the catchphrase 'It's got a good beat and you can dance to it'.

Which disc jockey popularized the phrase 'rock and roll' on mainstream radio in the early 1950s?

Alan Freed was fired by WABC in 1959 after refusing to sign an FCC statement saying he had never taken payola.

The Moondog Coronation Ball, generally considered the first major rock and roll concert, was held in which city?

Cleveland Arena was overrun after ticket-printing errors and counterfeiting let far too many fans in, and the show was shut down early.

Which vocal group's first Hot 100 number one was 1962's 'Sherry'?

The Four Seasons released it on Vee-Jay, but unpaid royalties drove them to leave for Philips in 1964.

The Surfaris' 1963 surf instrumental 'Wipe Out' is best remembered for its solo on which instrument?

Drums, played by Ron Wilson, drive a tune the band wrote almost on the spot as the B-side for 'Surfer Joe', yet 'Wipe Out' became the hit.

Which singer fronted the girl group that scored 12 Hot 100 number ones in the 1960s?

Diana Ross recorded the group's last number one, 'Someday We'll Be Together', as her first solo single, so Mary Wilson never sang on it.

Which duo's first hit, in 1957, was 'Bye Bye Love'?

The Everly Brothers' first single, cut for Columbia in 1956, went nowhere, so 'Bye Bye Love' on Cadence became their breakthrough.

Which Roy Orbison hit did 2 Live Crew parody, prompting a landmark 1994 Supreme Court fair-use ruling?

'Oh, Pretty Woman' publisher Acuff-Rose sued, but the justices ruled unanimously that a commercial parody can still be fair use.

Which songwriter founded Motown with an $800 loan from his family in 1959?

Berry Gordy borrowed the $800 from a family savings co-op, then gave siblings such as Esther key roles at the company.

Motown's first Detroit headquarters and recording studio, a converted house on West Grand Boulevard, was nicknamed what?

Hitsville U.S.A. kept its small Studio A running almost around the clock, with the Funk Brothers backing Motown's stars at all hours of the day and night.

Which Hot 100 first did the Beatles achieve on April 4, 1964?

All top five spots at once included 'Please Please Me' at number five on Vee-Jay, which got the song because Capitol had refused to release Beatles records.

After the Beatles, which British Invasion band topped the Hot 100 the most times, with eight number ones?

The Rolling Stones' first US number one, 'Satisfaction', began as a riff Keith Richards taped on a bedside cassette in his sleep, and he said he had no idea he'd written it.

Leiber and Stoller wrote 'Hound Dog' for which blues singer, whose original version came before Elvis Presley's hit?

Big Mama Thornton recorded it first, but Elvis took up the song after seeing Freddie Bell and the Bellboys' reworked version in a Las Vegas lounge.

New Orleans songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie shares the writing credit with Little Richard on which of his hits?

'Tutti Frutti' is usually told as producer Bumps Blackwell hiring LaBostrie to clean up Little Richard's bawdy lyrics, though she later said she wrote the whole song herself.

Which future 'Thriller' producer produced Lesley Gore's 1963 number one 'It's My Party'?

Quincy Jones rushed the single into shops after learning at a Carnegie Hall concert that Phil Spector had cut the same song with the Crystals.

Little Eva, singer of 1962's 'The Loco-Motion', had been babysitter to which of the hit's two songwriters?

Carole King and her husband Gerry Goffin had Eva Boyd sing the demo, and she got the record herself when Dee Dee Sharp passed on the song.

Which jazz trumpeter's 'Hello, Dolly!' ended the Beatles' 14-week run atop the Hot 100 in 1964?

Louis Armstrong was 62, and the record began as a demo he cut to promote a Broadway musical that had not yet opened.

Which future solo star wrote the Monkees' 'I'm a Believer', a seven-week Hot 100 number one sung by Micky Dolenz?

Neil Diamond also strummed acoustic guitar on the session, and Smash Mouth's cover for the 2001 film Shrek took the song back into the Hot 100.

Which author of the children's book 'The Giving Tree' wrote Johnny Cash's 1969 hit 'A Boy Named Sue'?

Shel Silverstein's comic tale was so new to Cash that he read it from a lyric sheet at San Quentin State Prison while his band improvised behind him.

Bobby Pickett narrated 1962's Halloween number one 'Monster Mash' in an impression of which horror star?

Boris Karloff's voice was a gag Pickett first tried on stage during a doo-wop number; the crowd loved it, and a bandmate urged him to build a song around it.

Which Beatles ballad, one of the most-covered songs ever, began under the working title 'Scrambled Eggs'?

Yesterday came to Paul McCartney as a complete melody in a dream, and he spent about a month asking people in the business whether he had copied it.

Which band behind 'Proud Mary' had five number-two hits without ever topping the Hot 100?

Creedence Clearwater Revival saw all five stall one place short in 1969 and 1970, though 'Bad Moon Rising' did spend three weeks at number one in Britain.

Bing Crosby's 'White Christmas', the world's best-selling single, was written for which 1942 film?

Holiday Inn also lent its name to the hotel chain, christened as a joke by the founder's architect a decade after the film came out.

Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 number one, sung entirely in Japanese, was retitled after which food for English speakers?

Sukiyaki, a beef hot pot, has nothing to do with the song: the name was picked for being short, catchy and recognizably Japanese.

Which bandleader was presented with the world's first gold record in 1942 for 'Chattanooga Choo Choo'?

Glenn Miller was handed the disc for sales of about 1.2 million; less than three years later he vanished on a wartime flight over the English Channel.

Which vocal trio introduced 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' in the 1941 Abbott and Costello comedy 'Buck Privates'?

The Andrews Sisters' wartime hit was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Bette Midler's remake took it back into the top ten three decades later.

Which crooner's 1944 shows at New York's Paramount Theatre set off the 'Columbus Day Riot' among shut-out teenage fans?

Frank Sinatra's 'bobby soxer' fans would not give up their seats between shows, so only about 250 people left after the first one while 35,000 waited outside.

Which singing cowboy took 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' to number one in Christmas week of 1949?

Gene Autry was offered the song only as a possible B-side, and its success led him to follow it with the Easter hit 'Here Comes Peter Cottontail'.

Which 'Unforgettable' singer began his career as a jazz pianist leading his own trio in the late 1930s?

Nat King Cole's trio was the top-selling group on Capitol Records in the 1940s, and the label's Hollywood tower became known as 'The House That Nat Built'.

Which guitarist, a 1950s hitmaker with his wife Mary Ford, gave his name to Gibson's solid-body electric guitar?

Les Paul built an early solid-body prototype he called the Log, which served as the inspiration for the Gibson model that carries his name.

Which country star behind 'Your Cheatin' Heart' died in the back seat of a car on New Year's Day 1953?

Hank Williams was 29 and being driven to a concert in Canton, Ohio; the song, released weeks later, spent six weeks at number one on the country chart.

Which singer's 1950 recording of 'Tennessee Waltz', planned as an obscure B-side, became a multimillion seller?

Patti Page's label was more interested in the seasonal 'Boogie Woogie Santa Claus' on the other side, which was dropped from later pressings as the waltz took off.

Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land' in 1940 as a critical response to which Irving Berlin song?

God Bless America, sung constantly on the radio by Kate Smith, so wearied Guthrie that he first sarcastically titled his reply 'God Blessed America for Me'.

Tennessee Ernie Ford's 1955 number one 'Sixteen Tons' is sung in the voice of a worker in which industry?

Coal mining in Rosewood, Kentucky, inspired writer Merle Travis, and the song describes workers paid in credit vouchers good only at the company's own store.

Which rock and roll guitarist behind 'Maybellene' popularized the crouching stage strut known as the duckwalk?

Chuck Berry said he first did it as a child, stooping under a table to fetch a ball, and a New York journalist later gave the move its name.

Which rockabilly singer wrote and first recorded 'Blue Suede Shoes' in 1955, before Elvis Presley's famous cover?

Carl Perkins was on his way to perform the hit on national television when a car crash put him and his brother in hospital.

Which rock and roll pioneer, known for his rectangular guitars, gave his name to a much-borrowed five-accent beat?

Bo Diddley built the rhythm on hambone, the street-performer style of slapping out a beat on arms, legs, chest and cheeks.

Buddy Holly's 1957 number one 'That'll Be the Day' was credited on its label to which band of his?

The Crickets nearly called themselves the Beetles while weighing up insect names, and the Liverpool band later chose its own name partly in homage to them.

Which 'Summertime Blues' rocker died at 21 after a taxi crash at the end of a British tour in 1960?

Eddie Cochran was heading to the airport to fly home when the taxi crashed; fellow rocker Gene Vincent, riding with him, survived with a fractured collarbone.

Which teen idol from the sitcom 'The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet' had the first-ever Hot 100 number one?

Ricky Nelson's 'Poor Little Fool' led the very first Hot 100 on August 4, 1958; he had played himself on his parents' show since the age of eight.

Which 13-year-old boy soprano sang lead on the Teenagers' 1956 hit 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love'?

Frankie Lymon stepped in to sing lead at the group's audition when its usual lead singer could not, and the single topped the R&B chart for five weeks and reached number one in Britain.

Which vocal group scored four number ones in the 1950s, among them 'The Great Pretender' and 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes'?

The Platters got 'The Great Pretender' from their manager Buck Ram, who wrote its words in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.

Drafted into the US Army in 1958, Elvis Presley spent most of his service stationed in which country?

West Germany is also where Presley, then 24, met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu, whom he married after a courtship of more than seven years.

Elvis Presley made his acting debut in which 1956 Western, retitled to match his hit ballad from the soundtrack?

Love Me Tender was going to be called The Reno Brothers until advance sales of the single passed one million, a first for any single.

Doris Day introduced the Oscar-winning 'Que Sera, Sera' in a 1956 thriller made by which famous director?

Alfred Hitchcock wove the song into the plot of The Man Who Knew Too Much, where Day's character sings it as a signal to her kidnapped son.

Which singer's 1956 album 'Calypso' was the first LP by a single artist to sell a million copies?

Harry Belafonte was dubbed the 'King of Calypso', a title the Harlem-born singer wore with reservation, having never won a Calypso Monarch title.

Which 'American Bandstand' host, nicknamed 'America's oldest teenager', launched a New Year's Eve TV special in 1972?

Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve surged in popularity after rival host Guy Lombardo died in 1977 and became the most-watched New Year's Eve broadcast.

Which Canadian teen idol of the 1950s composed the theme of 'The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'?

Paul Anka let Carson add lyrics so the host could claim a co-writing credit, which gave each man half the royalties every time the theme was played.

Which singer of 'Who's Sorry Now?' became the first solo woman to top the Hot 100, in 1960?

Connie Francis got there with 'Everybody's Somebody's Fool', a country-flavoured single that also crossed over to the R&B and country charts.

Which singer, nicknamed 'Little Miss Dynamite', recorded 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree' in 1958 at the age of 13?

Brenda Lee's Christmas standard finally topped the US charts in 2023, 65 years after she recorded it, once she made a music video to promote it.

Patsy Cline's 1961 hit 'Crazy' was written by which struggling Texas songwriter, later a country superstar himself?

Willie Nelson struggled to place the song because it used more chords than a standard country tune; in 1996 Cline's version was named the most-played jukebox song ever.

Which New Jersey quartet's 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' made them the first girl group to top the Hot 100?

The Shirelles nearly passed on it: lead singer Shirley Owens thought the song sounded too country until a string arrangement was added.

Which girl group gave Motown its first Hot 100 number one with 1961's 'Please Mr. Postman'?

The Marvelettes' debut single was covered by the Beatles in 1963 and went back to number one in 1975 in a version by the Carpenters.

Which soul pioneer, once lead singer of the Soul Stirrers, went to number one in 1957 with 'You Send Me'?

Sam Cooke's ballad was meant to be the B-side of 'Summertime', but disc jockeys preferred it and it sold an estimated 1.5 million copies.

Which Miracles frontman co-wrote and produced the Temptations' first number one, 'My Girl'?

Smokey Robinson wrote it with his wife Claudette in mind and gave the lead to David Ruffin, who had never fronted a Temptations single before.

Before Marvin Gaye's 1968 chart-topper, which group first had a hit with 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine'?

Gladys Knight & the Pips took their brisk version to number two on the pop chart in 1967, and it became Motown's biggest-selling single up to that time.

Which Motown prodigy was 13 when the live single 'Fingertips' went to number one in 1963?

Stevie Wonder cut it live at Chicago's Regal Theater, and its success carried his album 'Recorded Live: The 12 Year Old Genius' to number one as well.

Which Motown songwriting team wrote 'Baby Love', 'Stop! In the Name of Love' and 'You Keep Me Hangin' On'?

Holland–Dozier–Holland split the work: Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland composed and produced, while Eddie Holland wrote the lyrics and arranged the vocals.

Phil Spector's dense production style, developed at Gold Star Studios in the early 1960s, became known as what?

The Wall of Sound quadrupled the usual four-piece rock band and added woodwind, brass and strings, an approach Spector himself described as Wagnerian.

Which 1966 Beach Boys album, home to 'God Only Knows', has Paul McCartney often named as his favourite album?

Pet Sounds was itself a reply to the Beatles' Rubber Soul, and rock historians in turn link it to the making of Sgt. Pepper a year later.

Which folk star divided the crowd at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival by playing a loud, amplified rock set?

Bob Dylan played just three songs with a band, and some sections of the audience booed; the set is now seen as a pivotal moment in the birth of folk rock.

Which Los Angeles folk rock band took 'Turn! Turn! Turn!', with words drawn from Ecclesiastes, to number one in 1965?

The Byrds' hit was written by folk singer Pete Seeger, who took nearly all the words from the Bible and added only the title phrase and the last two lines.

Which guitarist ended his set at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival by setting his instrument on fire?

Jimi Hendrix poured lighter fluid over the guitar at the end of 'Wild Thing', then smashed it on the stage and threw the remains into the crowd.

The 5th Dimension's 1969 number one 'Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In' joined two songs from which Broadway musical?

Hair reached the group by luck: singer Billy Davis Jr. left his wallet in a New York cab, and the man who found it worked on the show and invited them along.