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--- MORE ABOUT MUSIC, BANDS, INSTRUMENTS, ETC ---
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- Most toilets flush in E flat.
- No one knows where Mozart is buried.
- The term "disc jockey" was first used in 1937.
- The US share of the world music market is 31.3%.
- Monaco's national orchestra is bigger than its army.
- The CD was developed by Philips and Sony in 1980.
- The violin contains about 70 separate pieces of wood.
- The harmonica is the world's best-selling musical instrument.
- A grand piano can be played faster than an upright (spinet) piano.
- Termites will eat wood two times faster when listening to heavy metal.
- The Nano Guitar is the world's smallest guitar, the size of a human cell.
- The Banzatar is a 5 string acoustic bass with an additional 33 strings.
- Like humans, birds can learn music while they are still in the egg stage.
- The first pop video was released in 1975. It was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.
- The first CD that was pressed in the US was Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA.
- The Contrabass Sax in Eb is the biggest woodwind in the world, and it is a monster!
- The first recorded use of the clarinet, flute, oboe, and trumpet was in ancient Egypt.
- Tap dancing originates from Irish clog dancing and what is called the Irish reel and jig.
- Warner Communications paid $28 million for the copyright to the song "Happy Birthday".
- Klezmer music is derived from two Hebrew words, clay and zimmer, meaning "vessel of music".
- The Japanese national anthem is expressed in only four lines. The Greek anthem runs 158 verses.
- The largest musical instrument in the world is the organ in the Municipal Auditorium, in Atlantic City.
- When a record company executive first met the band Pink Floyd he asked them: "Which one's Pink?"
- In the year 1988 tenor Luciano Pavarotti received a record 165 curtain calls at a Berlin opera house.
- To win a gold disc, an album needs to sell 100 000 copies in Britain, and 500 000 in the United States.
- The first CD pressed in the United States for commercial release was Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA".
- The LP record was invented by Paul Goldmark in 1948. Now more than 10 million LPs are still sold every year.
- More than 2500 cover versions of The Beatles' "Yesterday" exist, making it the most recorded song in history.
- The most recorded song of all time, with more than 2000 versions is "Yesterday", performed by The Beatles.
- About 2,4 billion CDs are sold annually. The number of recorded CDs and blank CDs sold has been about equal.
- Since its launch in 1981 the song Memory of the musical Cats has been played on radio more than a million times.
- The earliest known example of musical notation was found on a clay tablet in Mesopotamia, dated at around 1800 BC.
- The American Film Institute has named composer John Williams' score for "Star Wars" as the greatest film score of all time.
- The largest drum ever made was 12 feet in diameter for the Boston World Peace Jubilee of 1872. It weighed 600 pounds!
- At only four lines long, the Japanese national anthem is the shortest national anthem. The longest is the Greek national anthem at 158 verses long.
- The longest song title in the world belongs to Swedish group Rednex. It is a 305 characters long, including spaces: "The Sad But True Story Of Ray Mingus,
The Lumberjack Of Bulk Rock City, And His Never Slacking Stribe In Exploiting The So Far Undiscovered Areas Of The Intention To Bodily Intercourse From The Opposite
Species Of His Kind, During Intake Of All The Mental Condition That Could Be Derived From Fermentation."
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--- MORE ABOUT MUSICIANS, BANDS, RECORDS, ETC ---
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- David Bowie has a lizard tattooed on his ankle.
- Wham! was the first pop group to perform in China.
- Worldwide The Beatles sold more than 1 billion records.
- Mozart was five years old when he wrote his first piece.
- Elvis recorded more than 600 songs, and composed none.
- Before composing Beethoven dipped his head in cold water.
- Annie Lennox holds the record for the most British awards - 8.
- Michael Jackson's Thriller, is the biggest selling album of all time.
- The only guy in ZZ Top who doesn't have a beard is Frank Beard.
- Prince played 27 different instruments on his debut album "For You".
- On his debut album "For You" Prince played 27 different instruments.
- LeAnn Rimes's "How Do I Live" lasted 69 weeks in Billboard's Hot 100.
- Eddie Van Halen performs the guitar solo in Michael Jackson's "Beat It".
- Duran Duran took their name from a mad scientist in the movie "Barbarella".
- Harry Belafonte's 1956, Calypso, was the first album to sell 1 000 000 copies.
- When Billy Crystal was a child, his babysitter was the legendary Billie Holiday.
- Kenneth Edmonds was nicknamed "Babyface" by funk guitarist Bootsy Collins.
- Nick Mason is the only member of Pink Floyd to appear on all of the band's albums.
- Eric Clapton's only no 1 song was a song written by Bob Marley, "I Shot The Sheriff".
- Michael Jackson's "Bad" Album had 5 number one songs, more than any other album.
- Duran Duran was named after a mad scientist from the Jane Fonda movie Barbarella.
- Jimi Hendrix was thrown out of high school for holding the hand of a white girl in class.
- Georgia Brown is listed as having the widest range for a female voice at eight octaves.
- James Brown had 99 Hot 100 Billboard entries, yet never had a number one Hot 100 hit.
- In May 1997, Paul McCartney broke his own world record by obtaining his 81st gold disc.
- John Lennon wrote "Good morning, good morning" after hearing a Corn Flakes commercial.
- At age 22, Jerry Lee Lewis married for the third time. His bride? His thirteen year old cousin.
- In 1983, Peter Stewart of Birmingham, UK set a world record by disco dancing for 408 hours!
- Elvis Presley once entered an Elvis look-a-like contest in a US burger bar and only came 3rd!
- Dianna Ross appeared on at least one hit single every year from 1964 to 1996, spanning 33 years.
- Simon and Garfunkel, one of the most famous duos of all time, were originally called Tom and Jerry.
- Axl Rose used to earn $8 an hour for smoking cigarettes, for a science experiment at California's UCLA.
- Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Kurt Cobain and Amy Winehouse all died at age 27.
- Lisa Loeb is the only artist to hit number 1 with "Stay" on Billboard before being signed to a record label.
- Composer, Tchaikovsky was financed by a wealthy widow for 13 years, and at her request, they never met.
- In 1976 Barry Manilow sang a chart topping song named "I write the songs". The song wasn't written by him.
- Elvis' favourite collectibles were official badges. He collected police badges in almost every city he performed in.
- U2 was originally known as Feedback. To date, U2 have sold more than 70 million records, grossing $1,5 billion.
- None of Elvis's films got nominated for an Oscar, but he did win three Grammy Awards for his gospel recordings.
- Mozart's middle name was not Amadeus. His full name was Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.
- Verdi wrote the opera Aida at the request of the khedive of Egypt to commemorate the opening of the Suez canal.
- The oldest artist to top the UK singles chart was Louis Armstrong (aged 66) in 1968 with "What A Wonderful World".
- Bob Dylan's first professional performance was as opening act for John Lee Hooker at Gerde's Folk City in New York, 1961.
- When Madonna was 15 years old, she got grounded for the whole summer, for sneaking out to see David Bowie in concert.
- The Carpenters signature song, "We've Only Just Begun", was originally part of a television commercial for a California bank.
- American composer John Cage composed a work in 1952 entitled 4' 33", which consists of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence.
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