Hey there! I’ve got a cool idea. How about we each reach into our brains and pull out three of the most outrageous factoids our rock nerd-dom can muster. Make any number of your supposed facts true — from all three all the way down to zero. Share them with us, and see how many of us can correctly guess which, if any, are legit. (No fair using the internet to fact-check!) You can thematically link your supposedly true factoids for extra credit — or not, if you’re feeling lazy. Let this be a test of your rock trivia storehouse — or of your outrageous powers of creative obfuscation!
I’ll start with the following fascinating tidbits. Which, if any, are true?
Supposed Rock Fact number one: Peter Wolf of the J. Geils Band was married to actress Faye Dunaway.
Supposed Rock Fact number two: Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones dated child actress Kathy Coleman (from “Land Of the Lost”) — after she was all grown up, you perverts!
Supposed Rock Fact number three: Bonnie Raitt was married to the guy who played “Danny Noonan” in the movie Caddyshack.
I look forward to your responses.
HVB
I know the answer but I’ll give others a shot. I’ll try to come up with a contribution but that’s a daunting task with this crowd.
Well, I know #1 is true. I have no idea about the others.
Here’s some facts I’ve gleaned from reading rock star biographies. At least one item is false.
– Neil Young used to be part owner of Lionel model train company
– When Gram Parsons overdosed, his roadie stuck an ice cube up his butt
– Cheetah Chrome from the Dead Boys once threw a gerbil out of the apartment window.
– Neil Young was once in a band with Rick James
– David Crosby is so afraid of flying that he has not been on an airplane since the mid 1960s.
– Captain Beefheart named himself after his uncle’s dong
– When the MC5 got their first big paycheck, everyone bought muscle cars except Rob Tyner, who bought a station wagon.
– Keith Richard’s specialty in the kitchen is bangers and mash.
– Murray Wilson, father of Brian, Dennis and Carl, lost an eye in an industrial accident.
– No one from Led Zeppelin did anything to a groupie with a shark
– Sid Vicious had a severe lice infestation during their American tour.
I’m going to say these two are patently false. Liar!
– David Crosby is so afraid of flying that he has not been on an airplane since the mid 1960s.
– Captain Beefheart named himself after his uncle’s dong
I should point out that I actually saw David Crosby in LAX in about 2004.
#1 is indeed true. The fact that Peter Wolf wrote the lyric to “Love Stinks” shortly after their divorce has always fascinated me.
At first read I thought all were false.
But then looking again, I have a vague feeling that numbers 1, 3, 4, and 10 could be true.
He’s “been through it all”, that “Woofah Goofah wit th’ green teeth”!
But was he boarding a plane or getting a Mocha Latte?
#1 is not the only supposed fact that is true!
True, I either KNOW or think.
Neil…Lionel
Neil…Rick James
Beefheart…and his uncle’s “Beef Heart”
Keith Richard’s Cookbook
Murray “Cyclops” Wilson
Sid…Lice…Crabs…Spungen?
Bonnie Raitt was married to that Irish looking actor…don’t know the name, Michael something. I can imagine him in Caddyshack…I know he was on Roseanne for a while. TRUE
Anyone remember an SNL skit “Cooking With Keith”? I believe Gabriel Byrne playing Keith in a Julia Child kitchen, and tossing out a tip as he fills a tumbler with bronze-ish ice-cubes: “Freeze booze for yer ice-cubes; when they melt they won’t dilute yer drink.”
Arthur Conley of “Sweet Soul Music” fame spent the final years of his life as a heavy metal music promoter.
The two guys from The Black Keys have kin in Richard Hell and the Voidoids and Tom Waits’ band.
You probably know that Toni Basil of “Mickey” fame’s career stretches back to the ’60s, most notably with her appearance as one of the two hippie girls who hitch on with Fonda and Hopper in Easy Rider. You may know that “Mickey” is a cover of a Chin and Chapman song originally entitled “Kitty,” by some UK artist I’d never heard of. Those of you from the Philadelphia area, filled with your requisite Philly pride, probably know that she’s a home girl, from the heart of South Philadelphia. What I bet you didn’t know is that she choreographed and directed the legendary JaBo video for “Dancing in the Street.”
I knew this fact (late I know). I recall him more for his role as the pushed around son of Robert Duval in THE GREAT SANTINI.
Wow!
Conley — FALSE, though funny.
Black Keys — FALSE
Toni Basil — TRUE.
You are WRONG on every count! Conley finished his life in some Scandinavian country managing at least one heavy metal band.
One of The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach, is a cousin of Robert Quine, while the other guy, Patrick (?) Carney, is the nephew of Waits’ sax player, who I think was previously in one of those legendary Akron bands that were part of Pere Ubu’s circle.
Basil actually directed Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime” video. Although she actually did choreograph/stage direct 2 Bowie tours (Diamond Dogs and Glass Spider), she did NOT direct the JaBo video. All the rest of what I listed about her is true.
1. Jeff Beck wrote the iconic drum introduction/groove for Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”
2. Stevie Wonder’s mother was the inventor of the now-classic soul food combination, “chicken and waffles,” selling it first at her Detroit restaurant in the late 1960s.
3. Jeff Beck wears his trademark sleeveless T-shirts because he has a genetic disorder that causes him to sweat excessively.
To return the possible shame and humiliation, I’m gonna say TRUE, FALSE, FALSE.
All of mine were true except for David Crosby’s fear of flying.
To clarify the Led Zeppelin item, it was (allegedly) members of the entourage and not the band members themselves.
You are CORRECT!
The following American bands all have at least one Irish-born member:
Dropkick Murphys
The Crickets
The Count Five
House of Pain
Jay and the Americans
The Flying Lizards
Metallica
We Are the Fallen
I guess False, only Jay and the Americans had an Irish born member.
1 As a kid Warren Zevon received personal music lessons from Igor Stravinsky.
2 St. Hubbins is the patron saint of quality footwear.
3 Randy Newman wrote “Short People” in response to being insulted at a party by Paul Williams.
aloha
LD
Actually more than one (and less than five) of these bands have an Irishborn member, but Jay and the Americans are not one of them.
I know The Count Five was led by an Irishman. House of Pain has one too, if memory serves. I can’t speak for the others.
True, True, False?
A+
aloha
LD
Yes and no.
Geez, Toni Basil got around as a piece of a**. She was also one of the two chicks that Jack Nicholson picked up in Five Easy Pieces. How do I know this? My uncle was living with Nicholson at the time in Topanga Canyon and Nicholson’s girlfriend was Helena, the OTHER piece of that duo.
1 Pearl Jam did a commercial for Smuckers Jam
2 David Bowie recorded his Sound of Philadelphia album at Sigma Sound Studio. 212 N. 12th street, Phila,PA. Joe Tarsia owner and manager. While recording the album, Bowie was so shy his face was facing the wall while singing. His back was to the recording engineers. I think the album was “Young America”
3The Moody Blues were named because the members are bipolar.
Yes, Black Keys drummer, Patrick Carney, is the nephew of Ralph Carney, and sax player who has played with Tom Waits. The legendary Akron band that he was a founding member of and that Mod is thinking of is Tin Huey. The connection to Art (Honeymooners) Carney is more questionable.
False, False, False. #2 is only false because Bowie wasn’t too shy, he was too coked up and thought the tapestry on the wall was the engineering booth.
aloha
LD
Whoah, there’s a connection. Ralph Carney is 1/3 of Carneyball Johnson, who are opening for Stan Ridgway in an upcoming show I’m going to. Saw them once before… a bit weird for my tastes, but interesting and listenable.
1) Not only is Stevie Wonder blind, but he has no sense of smell.
2) Arlo Guthrie turned down an offer to appear as a guest star on the Monkees’ TV show.
3) Spencer Dryden of Jefferson Airplane holds a lucrative patent for a design of bass drum pedal which is now the music industry standard.
3’s false, for sure. They needed a name that had the initials MB in return for sponsorship (probably in the form of beer if I know musicians) from Mitchell and Butler’s brewery, Birmingham, and “Moody Blues” seemed to fit that requirement best.
1) The boy on the cover of U2’s War is Larry Mullen Jr’s little brother.
2) At one point, some of the Talking Heads approached Adrian Belew about replacing David Byrne, but he turned down the offer.
3) In the late 90s, Cheap Trick re-recorded but did not release a ground-up, more raw version of their album In Color that was produced by grunge king Butch Vig.
Good ones. I knew 1, and 2 sounds about right!
The Count Five and Flying Lizards were American bands with Irish members. I wanted to find more but only came up with We Are the Fallen, a current neo-goth-metal band I hadn’t actually heard of.
House of Pain and Dropkick Murphys act like they are Irish, but none of them are.
Are the Dropkick Murphys at least of Irish descent? Those guys are riding that ethnic horse so hard, it would be criminal if it was all just a marketing calculation.
So did Arthur Conley ever get around to doing an updated version of “Sweet Soul Music” Scandanavian death metal?
“Spot-LIGHT on Mayhem, y’all!
Such a groovy group, y’all!
Ate their singer’s brains for soup!
Oh yeah oh yeah!”
Yeah. Both of those groups are what they call Boston-Irish and appear to have (some amount of) ethnic pride that is based on participation in an actual community.
1 is false
I will guess that 2 and 3 or true
1. False
2. True/who cares
3. True
I believe SK is correct here.
I think #3 is a trick question. I thought Steve Albini did the rerecorded version.
I agree with cdm. I think only #2 is true.
Correctamundo!
Actually, I think that #1 is true. I remember reading in the Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock ‘n Roll that Stevie got involved in a serious car accident in 1973 where he lost the sense of smell.
Seriously RaualG 2 is true. Joe Tarsia is a family friend. He can vouch for it.
yeah, it was Albini
1. “Billion Dollar Babies” is a duet sung by Alice Cooper and Donovan
2. Prince has made more than 30 fully produced bug budget music videos that no one will ever see, and many albums worth of material no one will ever hear.
3. While Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top records guitar tracks, he demands that all acoustic guitars be taken from the studio and he props a framed picture of his ex-wife on the mix desk for inspiration.
False, True, False
Give that man a cigar! It’s true. #2 and #3 are complete falsehoods, though.