Bowie And His Missing Memories

Most of David Bowie’s best work was done in the ’70s. But he also had to deal with a heavy schedule, and he did this by developing a cocaine and drinking problem. This reached its peak during 1975 and ’76 when he made the film  “The Man Who Fell To Earth” and the album “Station To Station.”

The funny thing is Bowie didn’t remember anything about the album’s recording. He even said that he only knew the recording studio was in Los Angeles because he read it. His biographer even described his state in this period as being “a state of psychic terror.”

Ozzy Osbourne Did Bite The Head Off A Bat

In a move that may have singlehandedly inspired the birth of the band Slipknot, Ozzy Osbourne had his crowning moment. This happened at a show in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1982, and, yes, you guessed it, he bit the head off a bat. Not the baseball kind either.

The Prince of Darkness, as he came to be known, was warned not to do anything animal-related on this gig. He would usually release seven doves into the crowd but refrained from that in this one. Then someone threw a limp bat on stage, it was never confirmed if it was a prop or the real thing, and the rest is history.

Ramones Held Hostage In Studio

The Ramones are regarded as the first genuine punk band. They were also quite the image, with none of the members having Ramone as a last name, despite using it as stage names. While there are some wild stories about them, none get wilder than this one.

Reportedly, producer Phil Spector pulled a gun on them and held them hostage during the recording of their “End Of The Century” album. Bassist Dee Dee Ramone and guitarist Johnny Ramone claimed this was true. However, drummer Marky later debunked this rumor. The truth will never be known since all of the members from that recording, barring Marky, have passed away.

Neil Young And Rick James Were In The Mynah Birds And Signed To Motown

Neil Young and Rick James are two of the most respected singers and songwriters in the music industry. But despite being from different countries, both were in a band called The Mynah Birds. They met after James was drafted for Vietnam. He ran to Toronto, Canada, to avoid the draft, where he met Young and formed the Mynah Birds.

They were set to record for Mowtown, but after the record label discovered that James was a fugitive, they broke off all plans to work with him, and he ended up doing hard labor to make up for missing the draft. Hence this project never really left the ground.

It’s Our Party, And We’ll Crash If We Want To

Grunge wasn’t just a sound or genre. It was a way of life, and Nirvana was its most prominent proponent. A lot of this is owed to the album Nevermind and its megahit “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” This catapulted them to stardom, although the speed with which this happened left them a little flabbergasted.

This is why they showed up in their low-key grunge best to the album launch party with a room full of suits. Then they proceeded to get drunk, take over the DJ booth, and throw food. This eventually got them thrown out because the venue owner feared he might lose his liquor license.

How Blondie Became Blondie

Blondie is a famous rock band famous for hits like “The Tide Is High” and “Heart of Glass.” Some people often mistook the bans singer, Debbie Harry, for the eponymous Blondie, and they weren’t half wrong, although ultimately, she never carried the name.

She did inspire it, though. This is because she used to work as a performer on the New York club scene as a go-go dancer, among other things. Men used to try and get her attention and referred to her as blondie, especially when none of their other cat calls and whistles did the trick. Hence, when she started the band, this inspired the name.

Finding Inspiration On A Drug Bust

Jewel’s debut album “Pieces of You” took the world by storm and became one of the best-selling albums of all time. Ironically one of its hits, “You Were Meant For Me,” was written while she was out on a drug bust with her boyfriend Steve Poltz and some police from Mexico.

They wanted to go whale watching in Mexico, and some Mexican police officers were going out on a boat. While there, the cops got a call and had to do an impromptu drug bust. Jewel and her man stayed on board and when it was over the song was written… or at least so they say.

Madonna To The Rescue

During her 1986 American tour, Madonna wanted a fresh New York act to open for her. Her initial interest was in Brooklyn natives Fat Boys, but instead, she got fresh-faced Beastie Boys from her buddy at Def Jam. When the tour started, she was excited about the Beasties, but her crowd wasn’t as enthusiastic.

Every crowd on tour booed them, but they were never perturbed and instead took on the role of a WWE heel, jibing the crowd and giving them stick. This boded well for Madonna, who had an ecstatic crowd eating out of the palm of her hands like she was some heroine. The perfect warm-up act.

Jenny From The Block Proving Her Diva Status

Over the years, Jennifer Lopez has been labeled a diva by many who have encountered her. The singer, actress, dancer, and businesswoman is renowned for not only wanting everything her way but also making extravagant demands. We guess no one makes it like she did if they don’t want things perfect.

Once, she even did a charity gig but demanded a 45-foot trailer with two entrances and three sides. Over and above this, she wanted everything inside to be white and wanted specific fruits and no tomato, apple, or grape juice. She also demanded music from 40 R&B and hip-hop artists.

Burning Down The House

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was an integral part of the chart-topping group TLC. She is noted for her contribution to the group’s major hits like “Waterfalls,” “No Scrubs,” and “Unpretty” but is also known for her feisty demeanor and hot temperament. Hot is the literal reference for the incident that occurred here.

Legend had it she was so angry at her boyfriend and NFL player Andre Rison that she put his shoes into the bathtub, doused it in fuel, and set them on fire. But then the bath melted, and the fire spread, and next thing you know, the house burned down. She was convicted of first-degree arson.

Sheila E. And Prince Were A Secret Item

Throughout his illustrious career, Prince has been linked with many female partners. These include Kim Basinger, Madonna, Vanity, Jill Jones, and Carmen Electra, among others. But one of the intriguing relationships was the one rumored between him and his drummer Sheila E.

Sheila E toured with Prince on several occasions, and during the  Loves*xy Tour they embarked on in the late ’80s, the two were said to be engaged. The pair remained a secret until 2014 when she revealed it all in her autobiography titled “Beat of my Own Drum.” Their relationship didn’t last, though, and they never got married.

What Is A Zaghroota? Ask Shakira

Before achieving mainstream success, singer and songwriter Shakira made her name in her home country of Colombia. Although she was born and bred in Colombia, her heritage includes some Lebanese from her father’s side. This is evidently where she got her penchant for Bellydancing from. She also learned another skill from that side of the family.

This skill is called a Zaghroota and is like a howling ululation with tongue movement giving it character. This is normally reserved for weddings as a sign of honor. She made the sound at the Superbowl in 2020, confusing the American viewers, but maybe not the Arabic ones.

The Sci-Fi Film That Inspired Pat Benatar’s Look

In November 2022, Pat Benatar will be inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. She owes much of this respect to her four Grammy awards, multi-platinum-selling albums, and a campy sci-fi horror that inspired her ’70s look. This debunks the idea that she got the look from Ziggy Stardust.

The film in question is “Cat-Women Of The Moon,” a pretty bad movie with a 3.9 rating on IMDb and 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. Benatar appeared to stay in the cinema long enough to be inspired by the clothing, and at least she has the distinction of inspiring a superstar.

Cher Nearly Didn’t Have An Acting Career

If there was one artist who indeed was a master of everything she did, it was Cher. She has won Grammy awards and an Oscar for Best Actress for her role in the film “Moonstruck.” But she rarely landed any of those roles, all because of a film called “Chastity.”

Her husband Sonny Bono wrote the film, and it was bad enough to get a 4.7 rating on IMDB. This was in 1969, and Cher would only appear in another film in 1982’s “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.” This time she made sure she was good.

Too Hot For Sesame Street

Katie Perry may have switched from songs about kissing girls to songs about last Friday night, but she still didn’t mind dressing a little edgy. It was this edginess she went for with her video for the song “Hot ‘n Cold,” which features the cast of Sesame Street.

The video was intended to air on an episode of Sesame Street, but that was soon vetoed after it was uploaded to YouTube and received backlash for Perry’s low-cut princess dress. Sesame Street issued a statement the video didn’t get aired, ad Perry appears on “Saturday Night Live” in a low-cut Elmo T-shirt.

Just About Holding It Together

In 2014, “Bang Bang” by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj was a smash hit single. It was so popular that the three artists opened the show at that year’s MTV Video Music Awards. During the performance, Minaj appeared to be loving her Yves Saint-Laurent dress.

She couldn’t keep her hands off it, although that was an oversight. The truth is that the dress was coming apart and, to avoid a Janetgate-like incident, She was keeping her hands on it to prevent falling off with thousands at the venue and millions watching around the world. She eventually explained on Instagram about the wardrobe malfunction.

Ozzy And Vince Neil Commit GTA

Ozzy Osbourne again, although this time, he isn’t biting anything. Instead, now he is stealing something, with Motley Crüe man Vince Neil. This was after the latter band was kicked off the tour with Kiss because their raucous behavior was too much.

Ozzy invited them on his tour instead, and the two bands hit it off like spaghetti and meatballs. One night in Memphis, Tennessee, Ozzy and Neil went out on the town and found a car with the keys still in the ignition. They stole it, took it for a joy ride, and when they were finished, they smashed the window and cut up the interior.

Just Going For A Run Boys

The Clash is one of the most important punk bands in music history. But by 1982, the band was coming apart, and the recording of the “Combat Rock” album threatened to be their last. The band needed a break, and guitarist/vocalist Joe Strummer just disappeared for one.

He turned up in Paris, hooked up with a girlfriend, and ran the Paris Marathon, among other activities. He’s run another marathon before, the London Marathon. He once said his training consisted of no running four weeks before the race and ten pints the night before. He also warned that it works for him but may not work for others.

Becoming Famous For Being A Stalker

Gert van der Graaf is a stalker who became famous because of his pursuit of ABBA songbird Agnetha Faltskog. In fact, at one point, the two were a couple, although when they eventually broke up, van der Graaf became what is known as a super stalker.

This must have been stressful for Faltskog, who wasn’t one for the spotlight and was most likely relieved rather than disappointed when ABBA broke up. In the end, van der Graaf was deported and banned from ever entering Sweden. But alas, he has found a way in several times and even has a nickname: “Agnetha-man.”

How To Keep A Feud Going

In 2001 “Lady Marmalade” was one of the biggest hits on the radio. The accompanying music video added even more allure to the song and also made its stars look like best friends. But alas, not everyone got along, most notable Christina Aguilera and P!nk. Things got turned up a notch one hear later.

This is after Christina got a song from singer-songwriter, Linda Perry. That song was titled “Beautiful” and would peak at number two on the Billboard charts. The problem was that Perry had also worked with Pink, who took exception to Aguilera imitating her. They eventually made amends and worked together on “The Voice.”

Sing It Like You’re Jailbait Nancy

Nancy Sinatra hit the heights of her father’s fame when she released the song “These Boots Were Made For Walking” in 1966. The sultry song became an instant hit and catapulted her into stardom. But the sensual nature of the music was challenging to find for her during the recording sessions.

Sinatra was singing the song in a more wholesome manner, despite producer Lee Hazlewood wanting a more female appeal to the song. To get his message across, he told her to sing the song like a teenager who has relations with truckers. Somehow that did the trick, although how hazelwood knew what that would sound like is questionable.

They Made Him An Offer He Couldn’t Refuse

The music business is a seedy industry. This is why in 1967, after the owner of Bang Records passed away, the legendary Van Morrison was an employee of the New York mafia. It’s unclear what kind of deal was struck between Bang owner Bert Berns and the mob or if this story is even legitimate at all.

But what is known is that Morrison had to buy out his contract for $20k and had to release 37 songs for the Berns music company. He did this, singing songs about sandwiches and ringworm while playing an out-of-tune guitar. Some say a jazz band was also involved.

Did The Go-Gos Sell Out?

The Go-Go’s gained fame for their upbeat and happy pop tunes like “We Got The Beat,” “Vacation,” and “Our Lips Are Sealed.” But they got their start as a punk band from Los Angeles and only cleaned up to take advantage of the MTV generation. But they never really let go of their roots.

They admit that they were on a bender for the entire run-up to their first break-up in 1985. They partied hard and were still punk at heart. Things got out of control, though, and guitarist Charlotte Caffey was so out of control on heroin that Ozzy Osbourne threw her out of his dressing room.

Dolly Parton And Her Girls

Dolly Parton is a tiny woman. But she always went big with everything she did. She is also an artist who just had the complete package: a big voice, a big personality, and a bosom that had men in awe and women in envy. But it all came together to make her one of the most successful recording artists in history.

She isn’t ashamed of it either. While many other artists would intimate that they’re not about the image, Parton has embraced this, especially the role her bosom, which she calls “The Girls,” played in her success. This is why even people who don’t like country music know who Dolly Parton is.

I Bet You Think This Song Is About You

The song “You’re so Vain” by Carly Simon is memorable for many men thinking it was about them. There is a long list of famous men who Carly Simon encountered. These include David Geffen, Jack Nicholson, John Travolta, and Mick Jagger, among others. She eventually revealed who the song was about in an interview four decades after the song’s release.

It turns out there were three men she had in mind when writing the song. But the one that features most prominently is Warren Beatty. He has the whole second verse dedicated to him. Ironically, Beatty believed that the entire song was actually about him for the longest time.

The Who Try Something New

During their heyday, The Who were renowned for smashing their instruments on stage at the show’s end. Guitarist Pete Townshend used to say that it was part of the art. But when they played on The Smothers Brothers Show, they wanted to do something even more eye-catching for the TV Audience.

So they packed some explosive material into drummer Keith Moon’s kick drum. Unimpressed by the effect it had during their rehearsal of “My Generation,” Moon wanted more. Someone must have added more because when the effect went off during the actual performances, it was three times louder, and Townshend even blamed it for his hearing loss.

No Royal Highness For Duran Duran

Most bands would take it as a compliment if a member of the British Royal said they were a personal favorite act. The exception to that rule is Duran Duran, who was not very fond of the fact that Princess Diana named them one of her favorite bands. Royalty just doesn’t work for them.

This is because the rest of their fanbase consists of rockers and emo kids. The band saw the lighter side of it, though, and joked about it a lot. Simon Le Bon did this during an interview with The Guardian in 2003 as if Diana was stalking them and always looking for an autograph.

Madonna Knew It… S*x  Sells

Madonna built her initial reputation around being an edgy artist who pushed boundaries on stage and in the recording studio. She developed a reputation for her racy and sultry image. So in 1992, Madonna decided to just go for it. She released an album called “Er*tica,” and the entire song list dealt with intimacy.

Alongside the album, she released a coffee table book called S*x. The book contained her and other celebrities in various levels of undress. Like everything in this vain, it was vilified and also sold like hotcakes. It pushed 150k copies in its first day and, despite resistance, was distributed worldwide and pushed 1.5 million copies.

Post Malone Does Hero Worship

Post Malone isn’t just a musician. He’s a fanatic who loves various genres and has many musical heroes. He has a strange way of paying tribute to them, though. Of the roughly 80 tattoos he has, ten are of his musical heroes. Some of the names include Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, and Johnny Cash, among others.

He also has the words Whatever and Nevermind from the Nirvana song “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Other notable tattoos include Just look cool, and stay away. He also has the mascot for the band Motörhead and the title of an album by heavy metal Megadeth that goes “So Far, So Good… So What.”

Courtney Love Was Ready To Rumble

Courtney Love has had a controversial career. She was even blamed for her husband and grunge legend Kurt Cobain’s shooting, attracting further negative attention. She nearly killed journalist Lynn Hirschberg in 1992 for writing a story about her that brought her some negative publicity.

The story says that Love used heroin for a few weeks, but the timeline coincided with her pregnancy. Love didn’t like this and held onto it until they crossed paths at the Oscars in 1995. When Love saw her, she grabbed the first thing around her, an Oscar statuette, and threatened to smack Hirschberg with it.

Janis Joplin And Her Woodstock Adventure

Despite being the voice of a generation, Janis Joplin still had plenty of bad habits. One of her favorites was to drink. Although she performed at the 1959 Woodstock festival, her stage show was marred by technical issues and the fact that her set was heavily delayed.

To pass the time while she waited to hit the stage, Joplin hit the bottle, and there were several photos of her at the festival doing just that. It was drinking that led to her untimely death, and drinking that also prevented her from reaching her full potential. This was reiterated by Roger Daltry of The Who, an admirer of hers.

James Brown And His Cape Man

Showbiz is nothing without a little bit of drama. Soulman James Brown knew this all too well and incorporated it into his live show. One song with plenty of the big D was the emotive “Please, Please, Please.” He had a segment where he drew energy from a cape during this song.

Brown would crumple to the ground, exhausted, then an MC named Danny Ray would bring out his cape, put it around him, and Brown would stand up and continue the song. Eventually, the MC became more known for his role as cape man. When Ray died in 2021, Brown’s daughter laid a cape on his coffin.

Hero Tupac Shakur Saves Flavor Flav From Prison

Tupac Shakur may have come across as a hardcore thug, but he was a sensible guy. This was especially true during his early days before taking on a more brazen, gangster rap persona. One person who can attest to this sensibility is Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav.

He remembers a time when Tupac saved him from prison. According to Flav, he had lost his cool and was about to hit them over the head with a fire extinguisher when Shakur stepped in. Flav says if he had gone through with it, he would have gone to prison for sure and had none of the success he achieved.

Was Tom Jones The Original Panty Dropper

Cedric, the Entertainer’s intro monologue in “Cadilac Records,” may say differently. Many people out there say that Tom Jones was the original singer who had women throw their underwear on stage for him. There is even an origin story, which occurred when Jones played a show at the Copacabana in New York.

Legend has it he was sweating so much that a woman in the audience removed her underwear and gave them to him to use. This became a trend, and women would throw their underwear and even their hotel room keys on stage to him at subsequent shows.

How David Lee Roth Picked His Backstage Girls

David Lee Roth is renowned for his backstage party exploits. The former Van Halen singer had a reputation for having many girls backstage and even had a system for how the girls were chosen. It was revealed by MTV’s Mark Goodman that the frontman used a color coding system to choose his girls.

Goodman says that Roth marked each section of the barriers with a color, and when he chose a girl, he would tell the assistant which color section, row, and seat the girl was sitting in. The assistant would deliver a backstage pass to the girl, and by the end of the show, 25 girls would be backstage.

The One Thing Besides Acting Maria Carey Can’t Do

Mariah Carey is one of the most gifted singers in pop music history, and her string of massive hits are proof of that. While she can do anything with her vocal cords, she isn’t a complete package like Britney Spears, Shakira, or Beyoncé. This is because Mariah can’t dance… at least not on her own.

Luckily her shows are structured so that everyone moves around her making her look good. But she doesn’t just stand around. Her former creative director explained that while everyone else danced, Mariah would move around the stage looking like she contributed to the routine. She could still randomly ask to be picked up.

A Stolen Body And A Roadtrip… Like A Classic Movie

If you’ve seen the film “Weekend at Bernie’s,” then this story won’t shock you. That’s because someone stole the body of country-rock legend Gram Parsons. This started after a disagreement between Parson’s stepfather and his road manager, Phil Kaufman.

Kaufman knew that Parsons wanted to be cremated, but his stepfather wanted to bury him. In the end, the latter had his body shipped to Lousiana to be buried. But Kaufman stole the body and took Joshua Tree National Park to cremate it. They failed and were arrested instead, while the body was sent back to the stepfather to be buried.

Witches Are So Rock N Roll

While Fleetwood Mac were a big deal in the blues and rock circles, they only became a big deal in the pop music circles after Stevie Nicks and her boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham joined the group in 1975. Ironically, despite the success she brought to the group since joining, she still felt lonely.

She didn’t need to fret, though, because she had bandmate Christine McVie who she developed a friendship. Then there is the group of roughly five blonde women who dressed like her (in all black garments). They were almost like a team of personal acolytes to her, and some even referred to them as witches.

Something Out Of How High

In the film “How High,” rappers Redman and Method Man play college students who smoke the ashes of their friend who visits them as a spirit and helps them pass their exams. In real life, the group is known as The Outlawz, featured Tupac Shakur as a member, and smoked his ashes after he died.

It appears that Shakur had requested this according to the lyrics of the song “Black Jesuz” where he raps the lyrics, “We die clutchin’ glasses, filled with liquor bombastic cremated, last wish is n****s smoke my ashes.” They held a wake on the beach and rolled a marijuana joint, dropping Tupac’s ashes inside.

Some Inside Love In The Spice Girls?

During the late ’90s and early ’00s, The Spice Girls were the biggest girl band acts globally. Their new take on the industry shows off different styles and personas instead of all looking the same. This changed the game and gave fans something more relatable to aspire to.

They were also desirable to both men and women, and eventually, a revelation was spilled by Mel B, aka Scary Spice, that intimated they were even desirable to each other too. This is after she said that she and Geri Halliwell had an intimate encounter. Halliwell denied this, and there was some tension, but it’s behind them now.

The One Shot She Didn’t Want

Back in the ’70s, Linda Ronstadt’s image brought her much fame. The American beauty played sold-out shows and sold millions of albums without necessarily being one of the hardest rockers in the industry. Part of her appeal was seen in a 1975 feature in Rolling Stone magazine, which shows how her image drove her success.

The story had some sultry images of Ronstadt in red lingerie. One of these images, the backshot above, was not approved by Ronstadt and her manager. But photographer Annie Leibovitz vetoed their protests and published the photo, which added to her popularity.

Britney Show Everyone She’s Going Bald

As can be seen, by Britney Spears’ conservatorship battle with her father, she was in a bad mental state for a while after her peak. She did many kneejerk and shocking things, including a shotgun wedding to dancer Kevin Federline and driving with her son on her lap.

But the most talked about was the time she shaved all of her hair off, the ultimate image change for pop stars. What gave it even more shock appeal was that she did it in full view of the paparazzi, who snapped away at the cutting process, which was top news on the gossip rags not long after it happened.

Ozzy Osbourne Didn’t Bite The Head Off A Bat

Drunken behavior and over-the-top antics are what Ozzy Osbourne was all about. Although he is also regarded as one of the founding fathers of heavy metal, his reputation was pretty bad in the early ’80s after being kicked out of Black Sabbath. He eventually signed up with CBS for cheap.

He was meant to sit in a sales meeting and release some doves at the end to impress them. But as he explains, he was drunk, and a PR person kept haggling with him about various things. So to shock her, he pulled the doves out of his pocket and bit both their heads off. True story.

Beyoncé Expects Military Dedication From Her Dancers

Being a backup dancer is a pretty intense job. Michael Jackson was renowned for aiming for perfection, and so does Beyoncé Knowles. At least according to her dance captain Ashley McEverett, who has been with Queen Bey for over a decade and knows the ins and outs of dancing with her.

She’s said that rehearsals can carry on for up to three months, and the routine is never mastered on the first try. She also said that people feel strain, break down and suffer from exhaustion. Bey isn’t a slave driver, though, and once even allowed McEverett’s boyfriend to put a ring on it during a performance of single ladies.

Curves Ended Jessica Simpson’s Music Career

Jessica Simpson is well known for her curvy body, which was the object of many boys’ affection when she starred in the film version of “The Dukes of Hazzard.” But those curves are the same thing that ended her gospel music career. That’s right; she started as a gospel singer.

She started singing gospel at a young age and had a record deal and everything. But she also developed her bosom young, and they were so large that, her father says, she had to leave the industry because she was considered too sensual for the genre. She did okay in the end, though.