The Beach Boys Started in 1961 with their first single SURFIN"  on Candix Records

Paul Revere and the Raiders released their first record in 1961 called "LIKE LONG HAIR" on Gardena Records but were not signed with Columbia until 1965

When The Quarry Men, who would one day turn into The Beatles, made their first appearance at Liverpool's Cavern Club in August, 1957, the owner shouted at them "Cut out the bloody rock!"

The Broadway Musical  HAIR produced a few top 60's hits such as The Fifth Dimension hit Aquarius and the Cowsills hit Hair.

Jimi Hendrix

The Eagles recorded their first album, which would be branded "California rock", in London England

The Group called The Yardbirds had these base guitar players in their group., Eric Clapton , Jeff Beck , and Jimmy Page.

During the first ten years of rock and roll's existence, Bobby Vinton had more #1 hits than any other male vocalist, including Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.

When Jimmy Page took over  The Yardbirds in 1966 , Kieth Moon of the Who suggested to change their name to get a new image. Jimmy listen to him and changed the name to Led Zeppelin.


The Four Tops recorded and performed together for more than 40 years without any change to their original line-up. No other group with a US number one record can make that claim.

The Association were warned against playing their first hit single "Along Comes Mary" at Disneyland by the Orange County Sheriff's Department over rumors that the song was about marijuana. Shortly after, a group of nuns from Marymount College named the record their "song of the year".

The Song Wolly Bully was about Sam The Sham's cat.

The lead guitar part on the Beatles' 1965 chart topper "Ticket To Ride" was played by Paul McCartney, not George Harrison.

MAMA CASS ELIOT

Capitol records would always change The Beatles albums releases in the USA to 12 songs verses 14 songs by the main company Paratone in the UK.  This is why Capitol released the album Yesterday and Today from the extra songs.

When John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Michelle Phillips and Cass Elliot first recorded "California Dreaming", they laid down backing vocals only, behind the voice of Barry McGuire (Eve Of Destruction). Later, McGuires's track was removed and the group added their lead vocals so the song could be used as a filler for their first Mamas and Papas album. When the song was released as a single, it was so popular, it sold 150,000 copies the first day and in May 1966, went to the top of Billboard's Hot 100.

John Phillips was the main person behind the first music festival called Monterey Pop Festival  and original the Beach Boys were suppose to headline the show but pulled out so they could attempt to finish the album SMILE

After The Beatles' filmed two feature length movies, "A Hard Days Night" and "Help", they were slated to make a third called "A Talent For Loving". Three months had been set aside in the spring of 1966, but a suitable script couldn't be agreed upon and the picture was never made.


One of Jan and Dean's first records was a song called "Linda", written in 1944 by Jack Lawrence, about a friend's two year old daughter, Linda Eastman. That same little girl would grow up to marry Paul McCartney in March, 1969.

Brian Wilson's first #1 song was SURF CITY performed by Jan and Dean.


The Song Suffer Girl  written by Brian Wilson was about his first girlfriend Judy.


Bobby Darin's "Mack The Knife" was the 59th number one single of the rock and roll era. It entered Billboard's Hot 100 at number 59 and was the second best selling song of...you guessed it...1959.


In March of 1963, producer Phil Spector heard a demo of a song called "It’s My Party". He said, ‘Great, I love it. I’m gonna do it with the Crystals.’ Phil left with the demo, not knowing that others had heard it before him and that Quincy Jones had already decided to record the song with Lesley Gore. When Jones got wind that Spector was about halfway through producing the song, he quickly released his version. Four weeks later, it was the number one record in America and launched a string of hits for Lesley Gore.

Sonny Bono of Sonny and Cher started as a errand boy for Phil Spector . Cher was 16 when she left H.S. and moved in with Sonny.

Eric Clapton has been a  member of The Yardbirds , Derek and the Dominos , The Cream and Blind Faith  plus had his solo career.

Before they became The Supremes, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard were known as The Primettes. Of the three, it was Ballard who had the most powerful voice and was considered the group's lead singer.

About eleven minutes into the album version of Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", organist Doug Ingle can clearly be heard playing a few bars of the Christmas song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen".

When Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sounds Of Silence" went to #1 in the US in 1966, Paul was performing solo in Europe and had no idea the record had even been released. Columbia Records producer Tom Wilson had lifted the song from the album "Wednesday Morning, 3 AM" and added electric guitars, bass and drums to the original track of just Paul and Art singing along with Paul's guitar. The duo quickly re-formed to hit the college circut and record a second album.

JANIS JOPIN

In 1958, Phil Spector produced a group called The Teddy Bears, who scored a US Top Ten hit called "To Know Him Is To Love Him". The title was taken from the inscription on Phil's Father's grave stone.

Phil Spector wife was Ronnie of Ronnie and the Ronnettes

In February 1982, former Black Sabbath leader Ozzy Osbourne urinated on the Alamo. He was arrested, charged with defiling a national monument and banned from performing in San Antonio. The ban was eventually lifted.

Two of the original members of The Buffalo Springfield were Neil Young and Steven Stills.

Bobby Sherman was one of the more talented teen heart throbs. He could play guitar, piano, trumpet, trombone, French horn, drums and sitar. By 2001, he had left the entertainment business and was a medical training officer for the L.A. Police Department.

Mark Lindsay released his first solo song Arizona and still maintained being the lead singer/producer and song writer for Paul revere and the Raiders.

Olivia Newton-John's Grandfather was the 1954 Nobel Prize winning German physicist, Max Born.

The Monkees song Going Down was the only song all four Monkees wrote together. Also the song Listen to the Band was originally the B side and Someday man was originally the A side even though Listen to The band was the hit.


The studio musicians hired for Carly Simon's first solo album included Blood, Sweat and Tears founder Al Kooper, future Electric Flag guitarist Mike Bloomfield, along with Robbie Robertson, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel, who would go on to form the nucleus of The Band. The sessions they recorded were left incomplete and the album was never released.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel first sang together when they were in the sixth grade in Forest Hills, New York.
 

HAL BLAINE

Hal Blaine (Drummer) and Carol Kaye were part of a nick named group called the Wrecking Crew who performed on many of the 1960's top songs.

The Beatles were originally  applied to Decca records who turned them down.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the first hit for the Rolling Stones.

Tommy James was working across the street from The Mutual Of New York Building in New York City and looking at their sign MONY when he wrote the song Mony Mony.

Elvis Presley has sold over 1 billion records world wide. The Recording Industy Association Of America has awarded him more Gold, Platinum and Multi-Platimum records that any other artist. In the US, he has placed 149 singles on Billboard's Hot 100 as well as 114 in the Top 40, forty songs in the Top 10 and had 18 number ones.

The song "Dancing In The Street", which became a #2 pop hit for Martha and the Vandellas in 1964, was originally turned down by Motown singer Kim Weston, even though her husband, Mickey Stevenson was one of its co-writers.

The Doors released two albums after Jim Morrison's death . One was called Other Voices and the   other called Full Circle.

Before hiring Chuck Negron as the third lead singer for the newly formed Three Dog Night, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells also considered Billy Joe Royal of "Down In The Boondocks" fame, as well as Crazy Horse founder, Danny Whitten.

Reg Presley, the lead singer for The Troggs on their five million selling, 1966 hit "Wild Thing", went on to become one of Britain's premier UFO experts.

Three Dog Night originally were going to record a song by Brian Wilson on The Beach Boys label Brothers Records and they were called Redwood at the time.

Drummer Ron Wilson recorded rock and roll's most influential drum solo, "Wipeout" with The Surfaris in 1963. The group split in the late 60s and Wilson died in poverty after suffering a brain aneurysm in May of 1989.

The first time Rod Stewart performed in America was at the Filmore East in New York in 1968. Rod's stage fright was so severe, he sang the first song from backstage.

The Raiders song Indian Reservation held the top selling song for Columbia Records for over ten years until Michael Jackson released the song Thriller.

Carly Simon's father was a co-founder of the book publishing company, Simon & Schuster.

The Small Faces, who had a Top 20 hit in 1967 with "Itchycoo Park", really were small. All five members stood less than five feet, six inches in height. When Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood replaced the departed Steve Marriott in 1968, the word "Small" was dropped from the band's name, as the two new members stood a head taller than the others.

Diamond has finally revealed the real-life woman who inspired his song "Sweet Caroline." And the lucky woman was... President John F. Kennedy's daughter Caroline.

Eric Clapton was in the following groups: Yardbirds /  Cream /  Blind Faith  / and  Derek and the Dominos plus  his solo career.


Elvis Presley once told a reporter: "I don't know anything about music. In my line of business, you don't have to."
 

JIMI HENDRIX---MICHELLE PHILLIPS ---MAMA CASS

In 1963, Frank Zappa started a porno movie production company. He was arrested and jailed for sexual perversion a short while later. He might have stayed in business longer if his studio hadn't been right across the street from the Cucamonga, California court house.

The Monkees sold more records than the Beatles and The Rolling Stones combined  throughout 1966 till 1968.

The Marvelettes first big hit "Please Mr. Postman" was a re-worded version of a song written by William Garrett, who happened to be a real mail carrier.

The LP "Johnny Mathis Greatest Hits" spent 490 weeks on Billboard's Hot 200 album chart. That is the equivalent of nine and a half years.

The Turtles released their last album on the record label White Elephant which they were contracted to throughout the 60's due to legal problems between the group and the label.

Janis Joplin's former residence in San Francisco's Haight district was converted into a drug re-hab center in 1999.

Although he was appearing on the hit TV show Ozzie and Harriet, Rick Nelson had no musical ambitions until a girlfriend said that she was in love with Elvis Presley. Rick told her that he was cutting a record too, which in reality he had no plans to do. His first hit was a cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin'", which went to number four in the US and sold over a million copies.

THE TURTLES

Brian Wilson gave up fighting his own group and his record label in 1967 when he was recording the most famous unreleased album ever SMIlE which Brian did release his version in 2004 The Beach Boys recordings of this album still were never released.

When asked if it bothered him when people made wise cracks about his big nose, Beatles' drummer Ringo Starr once said "it goes up one nostril and down the other."

Sonny Curtis, a guitar player with Buddy Holly's Crickets during their hit making years, also turned out to be a prolific songwriter. Among his most memorable tunes were "I Fought The Law" by The Bobby Fuller Four, "Walk Right Back" by The Everly Brothers as well as The Theme From The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Denny Laine was a original member of The Moody Blues but left the group before they made it to their major break but went on to be a major member of the group WINGS.

"The Long and Winding Road" was written by Paul McCartney, especially for singer Tom Jones.  It was the last single ever released by The Beatles during their recording career.

According to the studio musicians who backed Otis Redding on his 1968 hit, "Dock Of The Bay", the whistling at the end of the song was made up on the spot because Otis forgot the words to the fade out ending that he had prepared.

Even though he was married, singer Tom Jones had a much publicized affair with the Supremes Mary Wilson during the 1960s.

The Monkees were suppose to record the song Sugar , Sugar but when the controversy about them not writing their own songs they fired their original producer and they recorded the album Headquarters. Do to the producer had no one to sing his song is the reason the cartoon group called the Archies recorded the song.

The Beatles album Abbey Road was actually the last album they ever recorded even though the album Let It Be was the last album ever released.  The album Let It Be was originally called Get Back

The 1962, number one hit "He's A Rebel" was credited by producer Phil Spector to his group, The Crystals, even though they never sang a note on the record. The song was actually recorded by a group called The Blossoms, featuring Darlene Love, who would later have her own series of hits, including the top 40 "He's Sure The Boy I Love".

In 1971, Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and Papas appeared in the film "The Last Movie" and later married her co-star Dennis Hopper. The marriage lasted eight days.

The Who released the first album ever dubbed a rock opera in 1967 called TOMMY

Jimi Hendrix originally played on some Paul Revere And Raiders albums and started as the opening act for The Monkees.

The Beach Boys Brothers Records was the first label by a rock and roll group.

A group called REDWOOD was orginal on the Brotherhood label but they then went onto ABC label and release a song called ONE ! Three Dog Night

According to TV's Much Music, there are an estimated 30,000 Elvis imitators in the United States.

In 1962, The Shirelles recorded a song called "Soldier Boy" in one take, intending it to be an album filler. A few months later, it was released as a single, climbing to #3 on the R&B chart and #1 on the pop chart, becoming the group's biggest seller.

While the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer were forming in 1970, there were serious talks about adding Jimi Hendrix to the line up. A jam session was set up with Hendrix for late summer, but Jimi died before it came together. The rumours of the potential band with Hendrix did leak out to the British music press, who began running articles saying the band would be called "Hendrix, Emerson, Lake & Palmer" or HELP for short.

Herman's Hermit's 1965 number one US hit, "I'm Henry The Eighth, I Am" was written in 1911 by an English comedian.

Peter Noone was Herman of Herman Hermits . The name came about due to he looked allot like a UK TV character called Herman.

During a meeting being held to discuss the possibility of Revlon creating a line of cosmetics to be endorsed by Diana Ross, a company spokesman said that he was "certain that she could do quite a bit for the black woman's market of cosmetics." Ross jumped up and stormed out of the meeting. Several minutes later, one of her representatives came back into the room to say that the meeting was over and that "Miss Ross is not black...not in her mind and not in the mind of anyone who works for her."

The Who album WHO'S NEXT was suppose to be another rock opera called Lifehouse.

Drummer Richard Starkey was given his nickname by band leader Rory Storm. At first he called him "Rings" because he wore so many of them, but later changed it to "Ringo", because it sounded more "cowboy".

The Who originally closed their stage show by smashing all their instruments.

On February 10th, 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corp filed suit against George Harrison for plagiarism because of the similarities between "He's So Fine" by The Chiffons and Harrison's "My Sweet Lord". Although Harrison always claimed the resemblance was unintentional, the presiding judge said it was "perfectly obvious...the two songs are virtually identical" and awarded damages. In a fascinating twist, in 1975 The Chiffons recorded their own version of "My Sweet Lord".

Jan Berry of Jan and Dean sang lead on the Beach Boys song Barbara-ann.

Brian Wilson's first #1 song was with Jan and Dean with the song SURF'S CITY.

Janis Chaplin / Jimi Hendrix/ Brian Jones of The Stones/ and Jim Morrison all died at the aged of 27.
 

Pete Best was the original drummer for the Beatles and STEWART SHUFFLE was the original guitar player but he quit the group while they were in Hamburg and died shortly after.

In 1995, Michael Jackson contacted the British Embassy to enquire about being knighted by the Queen, for his work with children.

R.B. Greaves, who sang the number two 1969 hit, "Take A Letter, Maria", is the nephew of Sam Cooke.

Paul Revere and The Raiders were the first Rock Group ever hired by Columbia records  and Mitch Miller was in charge of the label at this time.

The Rolling Stones hold the record for the largest grossing rock and roll tour of all time. Their 1994-95 'Voodoo Lounge' tour took in $320 million The second largest money maker was the Stones' 2002-03 'Licks' tour, which saw the rockers play to over 3.4 million people and rake in $300 million.

The Electric Prunes 1967 hit "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night" was originally written as a slow piano ballad and was first recorded by night club crooner Jerry Vale.

Credence Clearwater Revival originally came from California and  not the south like their music would lead you to believe. Tom Forgerty was the original leader of the band but as their career went on his brother John Forgerty became the leader as he wrote all the hit songs but at the end Tom did quit the band.

Jerry Lee Lewis' 1957 hit, "Whole Lotta Shakin´ Goin´ On" sold over six million copies in the first year after its release, yet was recorded in just one take.

Billy Joel was only 16 years old when he played piano on the Shangri-La's' 1965 hit, "Leader of the Pack".

Paul Revere and the Raiders hold the record for the most TV time by any rock group with 720 hours.

Despite having a long string of hit singles, Rick Nelson's only Grammy Award came in 1986 for 'Best Spoken Word or Nonmusical Recording' for his contribution to an album called "The Class Of '55", a Sun Records reunion album that featured Nelson's early idols, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis.

The Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" was written in 1955 by Richard Berry, who sold all rights to the song for $750. In 1986, an artists' rights group helped Berry collect about $2 million in royalties.

Paul Revere and the Raiders recorded the song Louie Louie in the same studio as The Kingsmen and  original had a larger local hit with the song and this was the song which got the Raiders their Columbia Records contract.

The first hit for The Righteous Brothers, 1963's "Little Latin Lupe Lu", was written by Bill Medley about his then girlfriend Lupe Laguna. The song was also a top 20 hit for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1966.

Stevie Wonder was not born blind. The blindness happened shortly afterward as a result of having received too much oxygen in the hospital incubator. Stevie spent a total of 52 days in an incubator.

In 1969, Tommy James and The Shondells turned down an offer to perform at the original Woodstock Festival, when their booking agent described the event as "...a stupid gig on a pig farm in upstate New York."

The Beatles did release a Christmas song each year to their fan club only.

Songwriter Gene MacLellan wrote Anne Murray's 1969 multi-million seller, "Snowbird" in just 25 minutes. It was only the second song he had ever written.

Bobby "Boris" Pickett added all his own sound sound effects to his 1962 hit, "The Monster Mash". The creaky door opening is a nail being pulled from a piece of wood, the boiling cauldron is Pickett blowing bubbles into a cup of water with a straw and the chains are him moving chains up and down.

Brian Wilson has been called the Mozart of the Twentieth Century  since he was the writer / Producer and arranger of all the Beach Boys early albums and then came up with his module recording system.

Anton Fig, who plays drums on David Letterman's Late Show, performed on the 1980 KISS album, "Unmasked", after original drummer Peter Criss had left the band.

Elvis Presley scored 18 Number One hits in the U.S., while The Beatles racked up 25. Bing Crosby had 38.

The time Tommy James and The Shondells hit , Hanky Panky became a hit the Shondells had left the group and Tommy had to find new Shondells.

In the mid-sixties the song They're Coming To Take You away was banned from many radio stations.
 

In 1957 a teenager had been told by his father to get a job or get out of the house, so he wrote a song called "Be My Guest" and waited in line for a chance to pass it on to Fats Domino. He was able to do so, and heard from Domino's agent some time later. Thus began the songwriting career of Tommy Boyce, who would later team up with Bobby Hart to write some of rock and roll's best selling songs.

During one concert, Neil Diamond sang his hit "Forever In Blue Jeans" six times in a row... while wearing sharply creased slacks.

The first time that future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham ever played together was as studio musicians, backing Donovan on his 1968 hit, "Hurdy Gurdy Man". A hurdy-gurdy is actually a stringed instrument in which the strings are rubbed by a rosined wheel instead of a bow.

Bruce Springsteen and the East Street band average concerts lengths in the 70's were 4 hours and longer if you were lucky enough to see them in New Jersey.

When Crosby, Stills and Nash first started singing together, they were known as "The Frozen Noses", a vague reference to their drug habits.  Crosby was also in the Buffalo Springfield. Still tried out with his friend Peter Tork to become a Monkee.

The Beach Boys recorded the original version of "Little Honda", but didn't release it as a single because Brian Wilson didn't think the song had the potential to become a hit. A cover of the song, which featured studio musicians Glen Campbell, Richie Podolor and Hal Blaine, was credited to a constantly changing touring group called The Hondells who took the song into the Top Ten in 1964.

In 1964, Tommy James was asked by a local DJ to record a few songs for Snap Records, a tiny Michigan record label. One of those tunes was "Hanky Panky", which started to take off locally, but then quickly died, a victim of poor distribution. The song was soon forgotten, and eventually the group broke up. Two years later, the disc was mistakenly played on the air by a Pittsburgh DJ. Delighted radio listeners wanted to know where they could get a copy of "that hot new single". Tommy James was shocked when told the song was number one in the city and quickly formed a new band to take advantage of his success. By the late summer of 1966, it was the number one selling single in the nation.

The background singers on Lou Christie's 1966 hit, "Lightnin' Strikes" were The Angels, who recorded the 1963 hit, "My Boyfriend's Back".

Steven Stills with went his friend Peter Tork to the audition to try to become a Monkee

In the early 1960s, Frank Zappa appeared on Steve Allen’s TV show, performing a "bicycle concerto", plucking the spokes and blowing through the handlebars.

Van Morrison's 1967 Top Ten hit, "Brown Eyed Girl" was originally written as "Brown Skinned Girl", but was changed so it would be more appealing to AM radio programmers.
 

The label and the group disagreed with Brian Wilson when he was recording his album Pet Sounds but they did release the album but then the label released the first Greatest Hits album of the group eight week later after the release of Pet Sounds fearing the sales of the album.  Pet Sounds is listed as the all-time #1 album on many charts.

Despite producing some of the best remembered songs of the rock and roll era, the only Grammy Award that Phil Spector ever won was for "Best Sound Effects" on the 1964 Ronettes hit, "Walking In The Rain".

The Young Rascals were discovered in a Long Island nightclub by Sid Bernstein as he was organizing The Beatles Shea Stadium Concert.

Before he was signed by ABC-Dunhill Records in the early seventies, Jimmy Buffett was turned down by 26 record labels.

The rumor of Mama Cass Eliot dieing of choking on a sandwich is not true.

Bobby Vee once kicked Robert Zimmerman out of his band because he thought he had no future as a musician. Zimmerman would go on to have a career as a folksinger, calling himself Bob Dylan.

The Suggestion for the name THE BEATLES was original spelled the BEETLES but John Lennon decided to change it.

Neil Diamond was the writer of the song I am a Believer along with many other songs and Carol King also wrote many Monkees songs but their #1 writing team was Boyce and Hart

According to band legend, the name "Alice Cooper" came to singer Vincent Furnier during a ouija board session, where he was told he was the reincarnation of a 17th-century witch of the same name.

The Song Pet Sounds by Brian Wilson was original written for a James Bond movie but was turned down.

Al Kooper came up with the name for his new band when he was on the phone with a promoter, while gazing at a Johnny Cash album cover. The album was called, "Blood, Sweat & Tears". The inspiration for the band name did not come from Winston Churchill's quote, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat", as was widely reported at the time.

The theme song for the TV sit-com, "That 70s Show", was written by Alex Chilton, who was The Box Top's lead singer on their hits "The Letter" and "Cry Like A Baby".

There was no album called Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles except in the USA where Capitol used the singles which were not ever put onto a album to complete the idea of a album. In the UK it was EP which is simple 4 song record and in other areas of the world the songs were used to replace songs which people objected to on Srgt Peppers Album.


Elvis Presley's manager, Colonel Tom Parker was not really a colonel at all, it was an honorary title given to him in 1948 by Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana. Parker's real name was Andreas Cornelius van Kujik, an illegal Dutch immigrant 

Mark David Chapman, who murdered John Lennon on December 8^th, 1980, later admitted that another target that he considered shooting was former Tonight Show host, Johnny Carson.  It was also rumored that he was hired by the CIA to get rid of Lennon.

During the recording of Gary Lewis and The Playboys 1965 number one hit, "This Diamond Ring", The Playboys were used sparingly. Studio musicians, including Tommy Alsup on guitar, Leon Russell on keyboards and Hal Blaine on drums were used instead. Even Gary's vocals got some help from a singer named Ron Hicklin, who did the basic vocal track; then producer Snuff Garrett added Gary’s voice, overdubbed him a second time, added some of the Playboys, and then added more of Hicklin. Garrett would later say: "When I got through, he sounded like Mario Lanza".

BRIAN JONES OF THE ROLLING STONES

Brian Wilson recorded his first solo album in 1988

Cher's very first recording was called "Ringo, I Love You" under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.

Producer Jay Siegal took The Chiffons demo of "He's So Fine" to ten different record companies...all ten turned it down. The eleventh company, Laurie Records, liked the song and released it in February, 1963. Two months later, it was the number one song in America.

The Concert called Woodstock was suppose to happen in the upstate town in New York called Woodstock but about two weeks before the show the town backed out of the deal and the concert was actually in the town of Bethel ,  New York the Concert had about 400,000 people at it.

The Beatles song Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds was said to mean LSD but was actually a crayon picture by Julian Lennon. Also the song written by Paul McCartney called Hey Jude was originally called Hey Julian . Hey Jude was over 7 mins long and was the group's largest hit but never appeared on a actual album.

When Barry McGuire recorded "Eve of Destruction", he read the words to the song off of a piece of paper that had been in his pocket for about a week. The song was completed in one take, with the understanding that Barry would re-record the vocals later. When the final mixing was taking place, McGuire wasn't around and the record was pressed from the original recording.

The Beach Boys never released their masterpiece album called SMILE but Brian Wilson did release a version of it in 2004.

The second Woodstock concert took place in 1998. The first was in 1969.

When Ritchie Valens recorded the demo for "Come On Let's Go", he made the lyrics up as he went along. The tape had to be played back so he could write down the words to the song.

]The Rolling Stones concert , Altamont which had the Hell Angels as the guards and a member of the audience was shot was only six months after Woodstock.

"Sunday Will Never Be The Same", the 1967 Top Ten hit for Spanky and Our Gang was originally turned down by The Mamas and Papas.

Chuck Berry was inspired to write "Sweet Little Sixteen" after an eleven year old girl asked him for his autograph.

Ritchie Havens simply ad lib the song Freedom at Woodstock .

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, who scored a 1970, Top Ten hit with "Mr. Bojangles", backed Steve Martin on his 1978 novelty hit, "King Tut", which made it to #17 in the U.S.A.

The 1961 Beach Boys hit, "In My Room", was recorded by Brian Wilson with studio musicians backing him instead of the rest of The Beach Boys. The record went to number twenty-three.  Brian later used the Wrecking Crew on Pet Sounds album also.

The song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was written by George Graff, who was German, and was never in Ireland in his life.

Janis Joplin , Brian Jones , Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix were all 27 when they died.  The rumor Paul is Dead was when Paul was 27 years old. Referring to Paul McCartney.

Cuba Gooding Jr., who found movie fame with Tom Cruise in the film "Jerry Maguire", is the son of Cuba Gooding Sr., the lead singer of The Main Ingredient, who had a million selling, number one hit with "Everybody Plays The Fool" in the fall of 1972. Cuba's mother, Shirley, sang backup vocals for Jackie Wilson's touring act.

The recording of "Mr. Tambourine Man" was actually cut by studio musicians, with guitarist Roger McGuinn the only member of the Byrds actually playing on the record. The group did, however, provide the vocals.
 

Terry Melcher ( Doris Day 's Son) Was the original producer of Paul Revere and The Raiders  and the Byrds plus in their later career worked with The Beach Boys and was one of the writers on Kokomo.

The last song that Elvis ever performed publicly was "Can't Help Falling In Love", at his final concert in Indianapolis on June 26th, 1977.

The Rolling Stones appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and were asked not to sing the section of their song which said Let's Spend the Night Together and instead sing Let's Spend some Time Together and they did !

The Monkees were scheduled to record a song called Sugar ,Sugar as their next single but they wound up in a scandal about not really putting their own albums together so they made the album Headquarters and the make believe group called The Archie's went on to record the song Sugar ,Sugar

Sam The Sham often included a song called "Haunted House" in his stage act, but refused to record it for Hi Records because he didn't like the label. Hi Records then offered it to Gene Simmons, who took it to Number Eleven in the U.S. in August of 1964.

Brian Jones was the actual member who started the group called The Rolling Stones but was fired in 1966.

The song "Happy Birthday To You" was written by American sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in 1893 when they were school teachers in Louisville, Kentucky. The verse was originally intended as a classroom greeting entitled "Good Morning To All". The lyrics were copyrighted in 1935, 11 years before Patty's death, and the ownership has swapped hands in multi-million dollar deals ever since. The copyright is currently administered by Warner Communications for audio licensing in North America on behalf of Summy-Birchard Inc. The song rests in public domain in the rest of the world.
 

CHER

Cher's parents, Georgia Holt and John Sarkisian were married, then divorced and then re-married and divorced a second time.

Cher started living with Sonny at the age of 16 .

Freddie Garrity of Freddie and The Dreamers named his band after Johnny Burnettes 1958 hit, "Dreamin'".

The Doors appeared on The Ed Sullivan show and were asked not to sing the section of their song which said trying to make her higher in the song light My Fire . Jim Morrison did sing the section and they were told they will never appear on the show again and Jim Morrison's reply was " We already did the Ed Sullivan Show'

White Christmas by Bing Crosby has sold over 40 million copies...yet took only 18 minutes to record.

Murray Wilson ( father of the Beach Boys)  wrote one song for Lawrence Welch and after being fired by his son as manager of The Beach Boys he managed a group called The Sunrays

Jay and The American's 1965 number 6 hit, "Cara Mia" was originally a number 4 hit for a singer named David Whitfield and a female choir accompanied by Mantovani's Orchestra in 1954.

Dennis Wilson married a girl which was rumored to be his cousin Mike Love's daughter

At age 47, the Rolling Stones' bassist, Bill Wyman, began a relationship with 13-year old Mandy Smith, with her mother's blessing. Six years later, they were married, but the union only lasted seventeen months. Not long after, Bill's 30-year-old son Stephen married Mandy's mother, age 46. That made Stephen a stepfather to his former stepmother, Mandy.

John Lennon meet Yoko at a art show where she had a exhibit which was a ladder and he climb up the ladder and looked into the whole on top and there was the YES . John said later he would have not went with Yoko if it had said No.
 

Mason Williams, who won three Grammy Awards for his 1968 instrumental hit "Classical Gas", was also the head writer for TV's "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Show".

Charles Manson and his family lived with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson and Dennis introduced him to Terry Melcher who Manson wanted to produce his songs.  TheTate Murders took place in the house where Terry Melcher and Mark Lindsay were living but moved out two weeks earlier. The Beach Boys did actually record a song by Charles Manson.

"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" the 1960 hit for Elvis Presley was written by Roy Turk and Lou Handman in 1926 as a vaudeville recitation and first recorded by Al Jolson.

Paul McCartney is the kazoo player on Ringo Starr's 1974 version of "You're Sixteen".

Before R. Dean Taylor scored a number one hit with "Indiana Wants Me" in 1974, he worked for Motown Records as a songwriter. He penned the hits "I'll Turn To Stone" for The Four Tops, "Love Child" and "I'm Livin' In Shame" for The Supremes, and "All I Need" for The Temptations.

The 1969 Woodstock concert actually lost money as they  could not control the crowd and the concert went from a a concert you were suppose to pay to get in to a concert which was free. The New York Thruway was closed down due to the amount of people trying to get to the concert and many cars were just abandon on the Thruway.

"S.O.S" by ABBA is the only palindrome Top 40 hit. You can spell the title and the recording act both forwards and backwards -- and come up with the same thing.

Dean Torrance of Jan and Dean actual sang the lead on the Beach Boys song Barbara-ann which was on the group's Party album which Brian just had allot of family and friends sing on to keep capitol records happy as he worked on his album Pet Sounds.

Kent Lavoie, who recorded under the name of "Lobo" on his hit single "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo", once played in a band called The Legends, along with Jim Stafford, who would go on to have several hits of his own, including "Spiders and Snakes" and "My Girl, Bill".

The Turtles were named by their record company and the idea was that people would think they were a British group.

The shortest number one song of the rock and roll era is Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs' 1960 hit, "Stay" at only 1:37.
 

DENNIS WILSON ON HIS SAILBOAT

The first recording that Sly Stone ever made was a 78 RPM single called "On The Battlefield", recorded for the Church of God in Christ Northern California Sunday School Dept.

Brian Wilson owned a house in Be lair Ca.  which the Beach Boys built a recording studio in the house. The Living Room has a grand white piano inside of a sandbox where Brian would compose his songs.  The Dinning room had a Indian tent inside the room for awhile so the group could hold meeting there.  Brian even made a major executive of Capitol Records get in his pool and under a raft so they could talk due to he felt other people were spying on him.

The girl singing group who were on top in the 80's called Wilson-Phillips were made up of two of Brian Wilson's daughters Carnie and Wendy and the third member was Chynia Philips  was the daughter of John and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas.  Owen Cass the daughter of Mama Cass was also almost a member.  The Girls last major hit Flesh and Blood was more than just a hit song it got the Wilson Girls back together with their father after not seeing him for years.

Johnny Maestro sang lead vocal on the Crests' "Sixteen Candles" as well as "The Worst That Could Happen" by the Brooklyn Bridge.

Jim Morrison of The Doors was arrested twice during the group touring career , once in Hartford Ct. and another time in Miami Fl. for exposing himself on stage.

"La Bamba", the 1958 million seller for Ritchie Valens is a traditional song that can be traced back as far as the 14th century. The tune was picked up by the people of Mexico after they heard homesick African slaves singing about their village of "Mamamba" in the 1800s.

Brother Records owned by the Beach Boys was the first label formed by a rock group.

The members of the 116th General Assembly of Ohio voted The McCoys' "Hang On Sloopy" as the official state rock song in November 1985.

Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys spent most of the years 1971 to 1975 in bed.

"Wild Thing", the 1966 hit by the Troggs was written by Chip Taylor, the brother of actor Jon Voight.

Brian Hyland's 1960 Number One hit, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-dot Bikini" was co-written by Paul Vance after seeing his 2-year old daughter Paula play at the beach in her bathing suit.

John Lennon and Yoko's honeymoon was in Canada during their bed sit in for Peace.

Timothy B. Schmit replaced Randy Meisner in Poco in 1969 and replaced him again in the Eagles when Meisner quit them in 1977.

Paul Simon's 1973 U.S. hit, "Kodachrome" was banned from airplay on Britain's BBC because the song contains a product brandname.

Monkee Mike Nesmith's mother, Bette Nesmith Graham was the inventor of Liquid Paper correction fluid. She sold the rights to the Gillette Corporation in 1979 for $47.5 million and when she died in 1980, she left half of her fortune to her son Michael.

The title of the Byrds' 1966 hit "Eight Miles High" is not a drug reference. It actually refers to the altitude reserved for military air craft.

The Beatles record label ,Apple , was intended to have some current major groups on it such as The Rolling Stones. The Stones said no to the deal due to they could make more money switching labels.

'Crazy, Man, Crazy' by Bill Haley and his Comets was the first rock and roll record to make the Billboard pop chart, reaching the Top 20 in 1953.

Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees wasn't tall enough to see over the hood of his Rolls-Royce and had to sit on a phone book while driving.

John Lennon meet Yoko at art show where she had a exhibit which you had to climb up a 6 foot ladder and look into a telescope and the word YES appeared. John said if the word was NO he would have never gone with her but Yes showed him the positive energy she had.

The first record to reach number one in 34 different countries was The Beatles' White Album.  The White Album actually named THE BEATLES  was the first album released on their Apple label.

"Islands In The Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton was the 1985 American Music Awards winner for Favorite Country Single. The song was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb especially for Diana Ross.

The Beatles song Penny Lane was kept out of the #1 spot by a song Eigerbert Humperdinck sang

The group called the Yardbirds changed their name to Led Zeppelin by the suggestion of Keith Moon of The Who.

Kenny Rogers started in a group called The First edition with their most famous hit being Something Burning.

The group called The Grassroots had 14 top ten singles during the late 60's and early 70's.

LINDA ESATMAN McCARTNEY

The first 45 rpm record to hit the Billboard charts was "You're Adorable" by Perry Como, on May 7, 1949. Before that, singles were released on 78 rpm discs.

Andy Gibb was the younger brother of the Bee Gees who became a teen wonder and had many hits but then died at a early age due to drug problems.

Fats Domino has had 18 singles that were million sellers, yet only 1956's "Blueberry Hill" went to number one.

In many U.S. states, there is a law against dancing to "The Star Spangled Banner".

The Beach Boys' original name was The Pendletones, after a popular shirt manufacturer.  As The Beach Boys they started always performing in stripe shirts which their father bought at J.C.Pennys

Carl Perkins' 1955 hit, "Blue Suede Shoes" was the first Country and Western song to ever make Billboard's R&B chart.

The Beatles song Strawberry Fields was suppose to be part of their Srgt Pepper album but they used it to keep the record company happy and release a single as they worked on the album.

Johann Sebastian Bach, who was born in 1685, wrote the music for three hit records of the rock and roll era, "Whiter Shade Of Pale" by Procol Harum, "A Lover's Concerto" by the Toys and "Joy" by Apollo 100.

The Carpenters hit, "We've Only Just Begun" was written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols as a radio jingle for a California bank.

Capitol records did not believe a British group could make it in the United States and that is why the first couple of Beatles songs are on different labels .

Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker once covered all bases by selling both "I Love Elvis" buttons as well as "I Hate Elvis" buttons.

Dennis Wilson was the only suffer in the Beach Boys and it was actually his car you heard in the song 409 as Brian put a microphone on the street.

While playing at Hollywood's Palladium in 1972, the guitarist in Chuck Berry's backup band was replaced by another waiting backstage. The new musician played so loudly that Berry stopped in the middle of a song and asked the first guitar player to come back out. Unknown to Berry, the one he kicked off stage was Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones.

David Bowie proposed to his first wife Angie by saying "Can you handle the fact that I don't love you?"

Early in their career, The Carpenters were booked for three nights as the opening act for Steppenwolf. They were so out of place, Karen and Richard were fired after the first night.

Columbia records was ready to dump Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band if the next album did not contain a hit as it did which was Born To Run. Yes you now know many songs from the earlier albums.

Shelley Fabares, whose 1962 hit "Johnny Angel" topped the U.S. charts, married The Mamas and Papas producer Lou Adler in 1964. In 1984, she married actor Mike Farrell, who played Captain B.J. Hunnicutt in the TV series M*A*S*H.

The British Invasion in 1964, claim such groups as The Beatles , The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds ,The Who, The Kinks , Dusty Springfield , Petula Clark,The Dave Clark Five ,Peter and Gordon Chad and Jeremy The Hollies ,  Freddie and The Dreamers  ,Davy Jones  of The Monkees and Herman Hermits The AnimalsThe Spencer Davis Group  (featuring Steve Winwood) and The Moody Blues , The Zombies , The Troggs , Donovan .
All had major hits from 1964 thru 1966 which came from the United Kingdom across the pond.

In 1965, Gary Lewis was Cash Box magazine's "Male Vocalist of the Year", winning the honor over other nominees, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.  Gary Lewis si Jerry Lewis son

Cher ended her marriage to Gregg Allman in 1979 after he had passed out in an Italian restaurant, face first in a bowl of spaghetti. It was three days after her divioce to Sonny.

Eddie Van Halen played guitar on Michael Jackson's hit, "Beat It".

The Beatles song All You Need is Love is the first song ever to be heard around the world at the same time by satellite.  Mick Jagger was one of the many back up singers.
 

Although it is often considered a Rock and Roll anthem, "My Generation" by The Who, only reached # 74 on the U.S. record chart. The Who did not really break through in the US until the Woodstock concert and the group playing songs from Tommy.

After John Lennon's statement That the Beatles were more popular than Jesus many southern radio stations would not play Beatle songs. The Statement was really taken out of context.

The Song Good Vibrations was thought of by Brian Wilson due to his mother told him that dogs could feel the good vibrations.  It was the most expensive single ever record to that date.

The Rolling Stones were signed by Decca records who turned down The Beatles and labeled them the New Hit Makers. they  were also known as the bad boys verses the clean image given by The Beatles.
 

The Moody Blues re-formed the group in 1967 as  they added two new members and got a gig to record a rock album with a orchestra to prove the new technology of Polygram records which wound up producing their style and great songs like Nights in White Satin.
 

HOW GROUPS GOT THERE NAME!!!

ASSOCIATION
After breaking away from a thirteen member band called "The Men", someone suggested a name for their new group, "The Aristocrats". Singer-songwriter Terry Kirkman's wife went to the dictionary to look up the word for them and found a better name on the very same page..."The Association".



BADFINGER
The working title of the Beatles song "A Little Help From My Friends".



BEATLES -
Original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe came up with the Beetles in 1960, which was a play on Buddy Holly's Crickets. John Lennon is generally credited with combining Beetles and Beat to come up with the Beatles spelling.


BEE GEES -
Although the press often refers to them as the 'Brothers Gibb', the band said that they took their name from two friends that helped them out in their early days... Bill Goode and a disc jockey named Bill Gates.


BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS
Founder, Al Kooper came up with the name when he was on the phone with a promoter, while gazing at a Johnny Cash album cover. The album was called, "Blood Sweat & Tears". The inspiration for the band name did not come from Winston Churchill's quote, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat", as was widely reported when the band first started to gain attention in 1967.


D
THE BUCKINGHAMS
After The Pulsations won an audition for a variety show called All Time Hits, Chicago radio station WGN decided that they wanted a more British sounding name for the band. A security guard for the show, John Opager, came up with a few name suggestions, including the one that was liked best, The Buckinghams.

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD
The band took their name from a brand of heavy asphalt roller they saw while stuck in Los Angeles traffic.

THE BYRDS
A band called the Beefeaters was having Thanksgiving dinner when they tried coming up with a new name. Singer, Gene Clark offered "The Birdsies." Nobody liked that name and producer Jim Dickson said, "How about the Birds"? "Birds" was slang in England for girls and the band didn't want to be called "the Girls". Guitarist, Roger McGuinn came up with the B-Y-R-D-S spelling, and it stuck.


CHICAGO -
Their first album was released as 'Chicago Transit Authority', but after the city of Chicago threatened to sue them, the name was shortened.


CREEDANCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL -
Originally called The Golliwogs, unconfirmed reports say the band took their new name from Norvel Creedence, a friend of band leader John Fogerty. John's favorite beer was called Clearwater, which, after it disappeared from the market for a time, was re-introduced by another brewery. The result: Creedence Clearwater Revival.

THE CRICKETS
After learning that he was unable to re-record "That'll Be The Day" because of earlier contract obligations with Decca Records, producer Norman Petty wanted Bubby Holly to come up with a name for his three piece group. They hoped that Decca wouldn't recognize the singer's voice as one that they once had under contract. Inspired by one of Buddy's favorite groups, The Spiders, Holly, Jerry Allison and Niki Sullivan got out an encyclopedia and started looking at insects. Grasshopper was dismissed immediately, but they did give some consideration to beetles. Finally, it was Allison who suggested crickets, noting that "they make music by rubbing their legs together."

CROSBY, STILLS AND NASH
While still trying to decide on a name for the new group, the trio considered calling themselves The Frozen Noses as a vague reference to their growing cocaine habit. They also came close to including their drummer, Dallas Taylor, but decided that drummers were expendable.

THE CYRCLE
In 1963, a band called the Rhondells was brought to the attention of Beatles' manager Brian Epstein. Rumor has it that it was John Lennon who suggested the new name and attention getting spelling of "The Cyrkle".



DOOBIE BROTHERS
Tom Johnston says that the band, originally known as Pud, were sitting around a breakfast table when a friend who was not part of the band said "why don’t you call yourselves the doobie brothers". The guy was just kidding and that they all took it that way, but later on someone said "hey, that’s not such a bad idea" and the name stuck.

DOORS
The band took their name from the title of a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, which was in turn borrowed from a line in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, a poem by the 18th century artist and poet William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is: infinite".


ELTON JOHN
Reginald Dwight took his stage name from two other British musicians, Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.



FOUR SEASONS
A band called the Varietones auditioned to appear at a local bowling alley, but were turned down flat. Instead of just walking away, they adopted the name of the place and became The Four Seasons.



GUESS WHO
When George Struth of Quality Records heard the band's version of "Shakin' All Over", he feared that the effort would be lost in the flood of British records and came up with a plan to garner some interest by radio program directors. A number of promotional copies were pressed with just a plain white label, the song tile and the words 'Guess Who?', implying that the disc may have been the product of someone more famous.

HERMAN'S HERMITS
In 1963, Peter Noone joined a Manchester beat group called The Heartbeats, after their vocalist failed to show for a gig. On stage, Peter used the name Peter Kovak. The change to Herman came after the band remarked on his resemblance to the character Sherman in the TV cartoon 'The Bullwinkle Show', although he misheard the name as Herman. Soon after, the band changed their name to Herman and The Hermits, although it soon became abbreviated to Herman's Hermits.

THE HOLLIES
According to those close to the band, they chose the name from some Christmas holly decorating Graham Nash's house - not in homage to Buddy Holly, as a long time rumor has it.



GARY LEWIS AND THE PLAYBOYS
Two of the members of the band where late for a rehearsal one day and when they finally showed up, Gary Lewis said "Where have you Playboys been?" The others said "Hey, that's a good name."

LED ZEPPELIN
The Yardbirds were just wrapping up their final US tour before splitting up. Guitarist Jimmy Page was determined to keep the act going, renaming a new line-up The New Yardbirds. Keith Moon of The Who is rumored to have said "...it'll probably go over like a led zeppelin", thus inspiring the final name change. The 'Led' spelling was to make sure people pronounced the name right.


LOVIN' SPOONFUL
From the lyrics of John Hurt's "Coffee Blues". It's also slang for sperm.


MEATLOAF
The man with one of the most colorful stage names in show business was born Marvin Lee Aday. Over the years, he has given several different stories on how he got his nickname. The most common one is that he stepped on the foot of his high school football coach, who, instead of cursing, shouted 'Meat Loaf!'.



MOODY BLUES
The band originally called themselves the M&B 5, because they wanted to perform in a Birmingham brewery called 'Mitchell's Bottlery.' The building had a big 'MB'. When that didn't work, they changed names, using one member's favorite song, Duke Ellington's 'Mood Indigo'.



PAUL REVERE AND THE RAIDERS
In late 1960, a keyboard player named Revere Dick took his band to a small recording studio where they cut a half dozen tracks and began shopping them around. In early 1961, he landed at the Gardena Records pressing plant of John Guss, who not only agreed to cut a record from Revere's tape, but suggested a name change to Paul Revere and the Nightriders. Revere rejected the name, but later settled on Paul Revere and the Raiders.



ROLLING STONES
From the Muddy Waters song "Rolling Stone". The name was suggested by guitarist, Brian Jones.



ROYAL GUARDSMEN
When asked how the group came by their name, guitarist Barry Winslow had this to say: "Bill Balough and John Burdette were kind of like the founding members of a group called Posmen. The rest of us kind of auditioned for it within a couple weeks period. When I came into the band, I had bought a Vox amp and auditioned as a singer / rhythm guitar player and I guess they liked it. They wanted to keep me. Then they said we need an English name. And so they look over to my amp and I said "Vox?" They said "no idiot, Royal Guardsmen". I had the Royal Guardsmen amp that Vox made. I said "Boy, that's a mouthful guys." They said "well, we like it."

 

ROCK GROUPS ESTABLISHED IN 1993

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