Weird Music History
Never too late for great
Jazz great Louis Armstrong is an essential part of the his Jazz,
but there was not a lot of money in it and he got tired of being
more respected than wealthy. So he decided to become a pop
star. At sixty-seven years young, in 1967 coincidentally, he
released the record “What A Wonderful World”, which climbed
to the top of the charts all over the world. Even now, you are
unlikely to attend a wedding or a bar mitzvah where it will not
be played.
Think you know everything there is to know about music? Prepare to be blown away as we take a look at some of the most interesting, unbelievable facts about musicians and the music industry.
1. The Cursed “27 Club”
Created by superstitious fans, the “27 Club” is a “club” that includes great musicians who died at age twenty-seven but managed to achieve so much in their short lives. To get an idea of the magnitude of the artists in this group, members include Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, and Kurt Cobain, whose death became the reason the “27 Club” began to gain wide notoriety.
2. Fleetwood Mac’s Guitarist Curse
Much has been made of the “curse” on Fleetwood Mac’s guitarists. Following Peter Green’s departure, Jeremy Spencer went AWOL in LA in 1971—he was eventually found among the Children of God cult. Another guitarist, Danny Kirwan, was fired in 1972 after a drink-fueled episode that saw him bashing his head against a bathroom wall and smashing up his guitar. And then the curse struck again: Mick Fleetwood’s wife, Jenny Boyd, had an affair with guitarist Bob Weston. He was also fired, in 1973. Mick and Jenny would divorce, remarry, and divorce again.
3. A Rihanna Video Predicted Whitney Houston’s Death
In the “We Found Love” video, there are shots of prescription pills falling down the screen, bouncing around, driving home the reasons for the character’s descent into a drug-induced safe-haven relationship. The bathtub scene is quite chilling, and it is easy to imagine Whitney Houston replacing Rihanna in the scene. Sure, Rihanna has long been targeted as a possible Illuminati-controlled figure but her predicting the future is a new one.
4. Gene Simmons’s Unusually Long Tongue
There was a myth going around in the 1970s that Gene Simmons had a cow’s tongue surgically grafted onto his own. Rumors said Simmons had had this procedure to help him develop the character of the “Demon” that he portrayed onstage. The rumors continued for years but in reality Gene just has a long tongue for a human. There’s nothing more to it.
5. Led Zeppelin’s Contract with the Devil
According to rumors similar to that surrounding Delta bluesman Robert Johnson, the band made a deal with the devil to ensure its success, especially that of the most overplayed song in rock history, “Stairway to Heaven.” The only member not to have taken part in the pact was bassist John Paul Jones, who thus far has avoided major hardships.