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Rock & Roll Myths

Dan The GPI said:
...but he does have a chapter on groupie stories from his years touring.
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How could I forget? A young Mr Steven Vai with a prelidiction for firing champagne corks into groupies' soft bits... :shock:
 
breathe said:
But then, why am I surprised, since Talking Heads was first classified as punk because the crits didn't know what else to call it...
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Well, to be fair it was punk. It may not be what gets assoicated with punk these days, but they were part of the New York punk scene in the 70s, as were Blondie.

Punk wasn't all about badly dressed louts who couldn't play their instruments. For a start, the Ramones dressed quite well, considering.
 
anome said:
breathe said:
But then, why am I surprised, since Talking Heads was first classified as punk because the crits didn't know what else to call it...
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Well, to be fair it was punk. It may not be what gets assoicated with punk these days, but they were part of the New York punk scene in the 70s, as were Blondie.

Punk wasn't all about badly dressed louts who couldn't play their instruments. For a start, the Ramones dressed quite well, considering.
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Id call them more "new wave" than punk. Blondie was originally "sold" as new wave in tke UK (oh yes, i remember it well), i think the heads were too.
 
The Yithian said:
Dan The GPI said:
...but he does have a chapter on groupie stories from his years touring.
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How could i forget? A young Mr Steven Vai with a prelidiction for firing champagne corks into groupies' soft bits... :shock:
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Just some of the adolescent Steve's tentative steps into groupie-meddling are, of course, recorded in Zappa's "Stevie's Spanking".*
Having seen video footage of Zappa's late 70's / early 80's band, it's beyond me how any of them, let alone Vai (permed mullet, leopardskin vest, pre-capped teeth) got any 'action'.

* See Zappa, "Them and Us" (studio version); "Make A Jazz Noise Here" (live); "The Torture Never Stops" (best bootleg version)
 
One of my favourites is the story of Keith Moon driving a car (usually a Lincoln Continental) into a hotel swimming pool. Locations and details vary, according to the teller, but the most common time and place quoted is 21 August 1967, during Moon's birthday party at a Holiday Inn near Flint, Michigan. Even the other members of the Who had different takes on exactly what happened; Roger Daltrey has said that he saw a car in the pool afterwards, but John Entwistle always denied it.

I'd tend to go with the latter, as Entwistle accompanied Moon to get some emergency dentistry that night, when the drummer knocked half a tooth out after tripping, following a birthday debagging by members of the Who's support band Herman's Hermits (!) Some sources also claim that it was the Hermits who caused most of the subsequent damage to the fixtures and fittings for which Moon got the blame. Years later, he did manage to park his Rolls Royce in a pond near his home, which is possibly where the myth sprang from.

Anyone mentioned Bob Holness playing the sax on 'Baker Street' yet? ;)
 
On one of the "I met a celebrity"-type threads, I seem to remember someone egging a car or throwing something on it, which turned out to be Keith Moon's, hence indirectly causing the infamous swimming pool incident. Or do I need to adjust my medication again?
 
Johnnyboy said:
Anyone mentioned Bob Holness playing the sax on 'Baker Street' yet? ;)
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That myth was invented by music journalist Stuart Maconie for a spoof page in the NME. Dunno why it caught on.
 
Ah, here we go:

StoneMunky:
One of my brothers in law has the best celebrity connection (IMO) I’ve ever heard of. On a drunken night out with some friends he was copiously sick over a Rolls Royce. Staggering back into the bar he asked who’s it was. Turned out to belong to Keith Moon who later that evening drove it into a swimming pool (in the famous Rolls-in-the-pool incident) in order to clean the vomit off. (mind you I only have my brother-in-laws word for this).
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from this thread
 
As for that story involving Frank Zappa eating shit , as with all urban legends there are variations on it . The one that keeps cropping up is with Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop . Alice Cooper dumped on stage thinking it would gross everyone out , and a doped up Iggy Pop came along and ate it . I have heard this many times . In this month's Metal Hammer , Alice Cooper says somebody made that story up , and I've heard Iggy Pop deny it also .
 
GNC said:
That myth was invented by music journalist Stuart Maconie for a spoof page in the NME. Dunno why it caught on.
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ISTR it was down to one of the tabloids (Daily Star?) lifting the NME piece and printing it as fact in a "20 things you never knew about pop music" feature, after which it kept cropping up everywhere. Bob Holness himself has said in the past that it wasn't him, though he did play the guitar solo on 'Layla' ;) (He definitely played James Bond before Connery though, albeit on the radio, which makes him Very Cool Indeed in my book!)

The latest Word magazine (Paul Weller on the cover) has a showbiz apocrypha feature, which debunks a few music myths, including Keef Richards getting his blood changed, Mama Cass choking to death on a sandwich (she didn't, though spookily, she did die in the same flat where Keith Moon expired some four years later), Charles Manson auditioning for the Monkees (he didn't, and was in fact in jail at the time) and others. This one sounded particularly macabre:

The model covered in honey on the cover of the Ohio Players album Honey was so disfigured by the experience that she burst into the studio when they were recording Love Rollercoaster and began shooting...

...Not true. The most lurid versions of this tale even insist that her dying screams can be heard on Love Rollercoaster
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Just remembered another Iggy Pop one - anyone know if there's any truth in it? After Jim Morrison's death, the remaining Doors were considering bringing in another singer (Van Morrison was another one they thought about, apparently). Iggy turned up for his audition clad only in a pair of stinking leather trousers which he evidently hadn't removed for weeks, was crawling with lice, and freaked out the Doors by insisting that they refer to him as "Jim" (his real name, but they weren't to know that.) No wonder they never got round to a new singer until a few years ago!
 
The model covered in honey on the cover of the Ohio Players album Honey was so disfigured by the experience that she burst into the studio when they were recording Love Rollercoaster and began shooting...

...Not true. The most lurid versions of this tale even insist that her dying screams can be heard on Love Rollercoaster
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How can honey disfigure you? Or is that disturbed?
Maybe she was attacked by bees...
 
According to one of Roger Dean's books about album covers, the worst that happened to the model was that she ended up glued to the glass sheet she was posing on when the honey set, and had to be freed by strategic application of hot water. I suppose the rumour could have come from there!

Quite a few other album cover rumours out there - everyone knows about the supposed satanic messages on Led Zeppelin 4, but what about the demonic face which supposedly appears if the gatefold "hermit" painting is held up to a mirror? Have to admit, I tried this myself, and it looked more like Godzilla than the Prince of Darkness...

I quite like the way that Iron Maiden's covers take the piss out of this sort of thing - the sleeve for Powerslave is stuffed with all sorts of little quasi-symbolic bits and pieces, but any heavy meaning is sabotaged by things like "Indiana Jones was here, 1941", a glyph of Mickey Mouse, a chad saying "Wot, no Guiness?" and, most tellingly of all, "A Load Of Crap" and "Bollocks"!
 
Talking of album covers, has anyone spotted Satan on the cover of the Eagles' "Hotel California"?
 
GNC said:
Talking of album covers, has anyone spotted Satan on the cover of the Eagles' "Hotel California"?
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Although to date, the Eagles deny any connection to satanism re the Hotel California record, when you open the gatefold for the album, there, peering down from a balcony, is a fella who looks a great deal like the late, not-so-great Anton Lavey. Or, Ming the Merciless. Take your pick. Where's Buster Crabbe when you need him?
 
Album covers - There was a UL stating that the front cover of Rattus Norvegicus had little clues to the titles of all the forthcoming Stranglers albums. Since I've got 'em all, I can't see it but is it just me being stupid?
 
Wasn't there a band which put penguins on all their album covers? Whether they were giant penguins or not I don't know.
 
Those penguins ... even infiltrating the record industry!
:hah:
 
GNC said:
Wasn't there a band which put penguins on all their album covers? Whether they were giant penguins or not I don't know.
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Erm The Penguin Cafe Orchestra has penguins on their covers, not unsurprisingly!

Gordon
 
Emperor said:
The 10 greatest rock'n'roll myths

7: Jacko and the elephant man

Reports surfaced in 1987 that Wacko had offered $50,000 for the remains of the Victorian patient Joseph Merrick, aka the Elephant Man. The offer may have been genuine, but Jackson doesn't own the bones. Merrick's organs were destroyed in an air raid on the Royal London Hospital during the Second World War. Casts of his head, an arm and a foot survived, but were not up for sale.
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His skeleton also survives and is in the medical museum at the London Hopsital, Whitechapel, I saw it when I was a student there, along with hsi hat and a model church he made.

Gordon
 
Whistling Jack said:
Is that Fleetwood Mac? John McVie has a liking for penguins.
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Yeah, I think it was them, thanks.
 
This is a curious one. Ms Torry seems an elusive figure . There is only ever the same pic of her - on the web and they couldn't find any other pics or interview her for a recent programme on the making of "Dark Side" .

CLARE TORRY TO SUE PINK FLOYD?

Clare Torry, vocalist on Pink Floyd's
Dark Side Of The Moon, 1973
A rather strange report has appeared in today's UK Daily Express newspaper. They report that vocalist Clare Torry is taking Pink Floyd and its record company EMI, to court, suing them for damages and lost earnings.

Torry provided the improvised vocal on The Great Gig In The Sky, and was paid the standard fee of £30 for her work on January 23rd 1973. However, some thirty-one years later she is now claiming that she composed the song, and has asked the High Court for monies she believes are due to her, a half-share of copyright ownership and a 50 per cent share, possibly worth millions, of past and future income.

Torry says they (the band and EMI) have breached her copyright and is asking for damages and for "all illicit copies of the song to be destroyed". This could result in the album being withdrawn from sale temporarily.

EMI declined to comment on the matter. If the story is correct, it is rather strange that she has waited until now to pursue the matter. The album has, since release, been a high seller, and one of the most well-known releases of all time. She has also previously been on very good terms with the band, including an appearance at both nights of Roger Waters' 1987 Wembley shows as part of his encore.
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http://www.brain-damage.co.uk/news/0407082.html
 
Took her time to claim breach of copyright, hasn't she?
:hmm:
 
CLARE TORRY WINS SETTLEMENT AGAINST PINK FLOYD

On 8th July last year we reported on a rather strange news story - that vocalist Clare Torry was taking Pink Floyd and its record company EMI, to court, suing them for damages and lost earnings.

Torry provided the improvised vocal on The Great Gig In The Sky, and was paid the standard fee of £30 for her work on January 23rd 1973. However, some thirty-one years later she claimed that she composed the song, and asked the High Court for monies she believed were due to her, a half-share of copyright ownership and a 50 per cent share, possibly worth millions, of past and future income.

Torry said they (the band and EMI) had breached her copyright and asked for damages and for "all illicit copies of the song to be destroyed". This could have resulted in the album being withdrawn from sale temporarily.

This week, the High Court judged on the side of Ms Torry, and have awarded her a half-share on copyright ownership of the song. The amount of the out-of-court settlement has not been disclosed, prompting much speculation as to the amount.

The argument which won over the High Court was the claim that Ms Torry used a special "wailing technique" which effectively helped to compose the track during its fruition in the studio.

The album has, since release, been a high seller, and one of the most well-known releases of all time. Torry has also previously been on very good terms with the band, including an appearance at both nights of Roger Waters' 1987 Wembley shows as part of his encore.

Date news posted: 15 April 2005

brain-damage.co.uk/news
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Re Pink Floyd, the most loony legend concerning them must be the supposed links between The Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wizard Of Oz. David "not Dave" Gilmour seemed rather exasperated about the whole thing in a few interviews I've read which brought this up, but if anybody wants to give it a try, handy instructions can be found at http://classicrock.about.com/library/mi ... rdofoz.htm

The post-Floyd Syd Barrett seems to have spawned a mini-cottage industry of rumour and myth all of his own, what with all those lurid tabloid tales about him barking like a dog at his neighbours, painting his fridge green and the like. The one about him turning up unannounced during the recording of Wish You Were Here, confused and wanting to know where to plug in his guitar, was sort of confirmed by a snap of him in Nick Mason's recent Floyd biography. The saddest came about after the death of his mother - allegedly, without her to make sure he took his medication, he'd ended up blind and prone to lapse into diabetic comas, but more recent photos have shown him out and about in Cambridge, in truth, looking not that much worse than any of the other members of the band.[/url]
 
Johnnyboy said:
The saddest came about after the death of his mother - allegedly, without her to make sure he took his medication, he'd ended up blind and prone to lapse into diabetic comas, but more recent photos have shown him out and about in Cambridge, in truth, looking not that much worse than any of the other members of the band.[/url]
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I believe that particular rumour originated in a 'Mojo' article by one Cliff Jones (later of Gay Dad) - bearing in mind that this is the same Cliff Jones who wrote a Pink Floyd book which was so inaccurate that the group successfully took legal action against him, I'd regard that tale with a handful of Saxa...
 
OK, here's another one. Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes are brother and sister. Or is it, Jack and Meg White of the White Stripes were husband and wife? Stuart Maconie on Radio 2 tonight seemed convinced they used to be married. So which is it?
 
If memory serves, someone at Rolling Stone supposedly unearthed a marriage certificate from back in the late 90's showing that they had most definitely been married, but not for very long.
 
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