57 Fun Facts About Oldies Music

Which New Orleans pianist had 1950s hits with 'Ain't That a Shame' and 'Blueberry Hill'?

Fats Domino never had a number one pop hit, even though Pat Boone's milder cover of 'Ain't That a Shame' went to number one in 1955.

Which 1973 film is often credited with kick-starting a wave of 1950s nostalgia?

American Graffiti was made for under $800,000, yet it became one of the most profitable films of all time.

Which group's 'Rock Around the Clock' spent eight weeks at number one in 1955?

Bill Haley & His Comets squeezed it into the last half hour of the session, because the producer insisted they record 'Thirteen Women' first.

Which 1955 film's opening credits turned 'Rock Around the Clock' into a hit a year after the record came out?

Blackboard Jungle had teenagers dancing in the aisles, and the single was re-released on the back of the film's success.

'Rock Around the Clock' opened which 1970s sitcom during its first two seasons?

Happy Days helped send the 1954 original back onto the US charts in 1974.

In which Mississippi town was Elvis Presley born in 1935?

Tupelo Hardware is where Elvis got his first guitar at 11, after his mother talked him out of a rifle, or in some tellings a bicycle.

Elvis Presley's three competitive Grammy wins all came for which kind of recordings?

Gospel shaped his teens, and for How Great Thou Art, his first Grammy winner, he recorded with the Imperials, led by his early influence Jake Hess.

Which Graceland room did Elvis Presley turn into a recording studio in 1976?

The Jungle Room hosted his last studio sessions, and songs from them came out on Moody Blue weeks before his death in 1977.

On Elvis Presley's third Ed Sullivan Show appearance, in January 1957, how did the cameras frame him?

Only from the waist up that night, though legend often pins that framing on his first Sullivan appearance, where he was shown head-to-toe.

In which US state did the 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper happen?

Iowa is where Holly, fed up with the tour's freezing buses, chartered a small plane after their Clear Lake show; it crashed minutes after takeoff.

Which future country star gave up his seat on Buddy Holly's doomed 1959 flight to the Big Bopper, who had the flu?

Waylon Jennings had jokingly told Holly he hoped his plane would crash, a remark that haunted him for years after the deaths.

How did Ritchie Valens win a seat on Buddy Holly's plane?

A coin toss with guitarist Tommy Allsup went Valens's way, and Allsup later named his club Tommy's Heads Up Saloon after it.

Which 1971 song named the Buddy Holly plane crash 'The Day the Music Died'?

'American Pie' by Don McLean grew out of the morning the 13-year-old learned of the crash while delivering newspapers.

'La Bamba', Ritchie Valens' 1958 hit, is a folk song from which Mexican state on the Gulf Coast?

Veracruz weddings are where it is traditionally danced, with the couple using their feet to tie a ribbon into a bow as a symbol of their union.

Valens' 'La Bamba' was originally released as the B-side of which single?

'Donna' was the A-side, yet its flip, 'La Bamba', charted too and became the most enduring hit of Valens's short career.

Which band's cover of 'La Bamba' reached number one on the Hot 100 in 1987?

Los Lobos recorded it for the 1987 Ritchie Valens biopic, and it became the first song sung in Spanish to top the Hot 100.

'Johnny B. Goode' is one of 27 pieces of music carried on what, launched in 1977?

The Voyager Golden Record team argued over it: folklorist Alan Lomax called Chuck Berry's music adolescent, and Carl Sagan replied that Earth has plenty of adolescents.

At which studio did Jerry Lee Lewis record 'Great Balls of Fire' in October 1957?

Sun Studio in Memphis sent the record to number one on the country and UK charts, but within a year news that Lewis had married his 13-year-old cousin stalled his career.

Which 1986 film has 'Great Balls of Fire' pounded out on a bar piano?

Top Gun gave the song to Goose, and the 2022 sequel echoed the scene with his son Rooster, played by Miles Teller, singing it at a bar piano.

What was Chubby Checker's 'The Twist' the first Hot 100 record to do?

Grown-ups took up the twist in late 1961, letting the record reach number one in two runs, in 1960 and again in 1962.

Which Portland, Oregon, band's 1963 recording of 'Louie Louie' reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100?

The Kingsmen beat rivals Paul Revere & the Raiders, who cut it soon after in the same Portland studio with Columbia behind them yet stalled outside the Hot 100.

What did the FBI conclude about the 'Louie Louie' lyrics?

Unintelligible, the FBI lab decided, so after 31 months the bureau could not find the record obscene and brought no charges.

Who is credited with writing 'Respect' and recorded it first, in 1965, two years before Aretha Franklin's hit?

Otis Redding sang it as a man demanding respect at home, but Aretha Franklin's gender-flipped 1967 remake became a feminist anthem.

What was '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' the first Billboard Hot 100 record to be?

Its singer's manager had thought the song too pop, yet it became a posthumous number one just over three months after his death.

Which future Blues Brothers band member co-wrote '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' with its singer?

Steve Cropper helped finish it, building on the first verse its singer had written while staying on Bill Graham's houseboat in Sausalito.

'Be My Baby' was the 1963 debut single of which group on Philles Records?

The Ronettes had just one member on the record, Ronnie Spector, while a young Cher sang among the backing vocalists.

Which Beach Boy has called 'Be My Baby' the greatest pop record ever made?

Brian Wilson answered it with the Beach Boys' 1964 hit 'Don't Worry Baby', which borrowed its groove.

Which doo-wop group took 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' to number one on the Hot 100 in 1961?

The Tokens' hit gave no credit to Solomon Linda, the Zulu singer who wrote the original, and he died in poverty in 1962.

Pete Seeger was in which folk group when he recorded 'Wimoweh', his version of 'Mbube'?

The Weavers' 'Wimoweh' took its title from Pete Seeger's mishearing of the Zulu chorus 'uyimbube'.

'Mack the Knife' comes from which 1928 stage work?

The Threepenny Opera gained it only days before the 1928 Berlin premiere, as a last-minute number to introduce its ruthless antihero, Macheath.

Bobby Darin won Record of the Year in 1959 and which Grammy that was presented for the first time?

Best New Artist went to Darin even though Dick Clark had warned him against the song, fearing it would turn off his rock and roll fans.

Which group did Ben E. King say turned down 'Stand by Me' before he recorded it himself?

The Drifters passed on it, but King's own 1961 recording charted again in 1986, when it became the theme of the film Stand by Me.

'Good Vibrations' grew from its songwriter's mother saying which animals could sense vibrations given off by people?

Dogs barked at people with bad vibrations, his mother told him, and he first called the song 'Good Vibes' until lyricist Tony Asher found that too lightweight.

Which unusual instrument gives 'Good Vibrations' its wobbling high-pitched hook?

An Electro-Theremin was custom-built at trombonist Paul Tanner's request, since he liked the theremin's sound but wanted more control than hand-waving allows.

How did Tom Wilson turn Simon & Garfunkel's flop 'The Sound of Silence' into a number one?

Overdubbing electric instruments was done without the duo's knowledge, after the Byrds' electric version of 'Mr. Tambourine Man' went to number one.

Which 1967 film opens with 'The Sound of Silence'?

The Graduate also got 'Mrs. Robinson', a song Paul Simon had been working on as 'Mrs. Roosevelt' before it took the name of the film's character.

Per BMI, which 1964 Righteous Brothers single was the 20th century's most-played song on American radio and TV?

'You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'' kept Bobby Hatfield waiting through the first verse, and when he asked what to do, Phil Spector said, 'You can go directly to the bank!'

Why did Phil Spector print a falsely short running time on a Righteous Brothers label?

Radio airplay was the worry, since stations rarely played songs over three minutes, so engineer Larry Levine suggested marking it a false '3:05'.

'Sugar, Sugar', the biggest hit of 1969, was credited to which fictional band?

The Archies went unnamed when promoters first played it for radio stations, and it broke big only after its July 1969 re-release.

Which girl group had a 1964 number one with the motorcycle teen tragedy 'Leader of the Pack'?

The Shangri-Las saw their death-themed hit banned by several radio stations, yet it still reached number 11 in the UK.

Whose version of 'Georgia on My Mind' became Georgia's official state song in 1979?

Ray Charles performed it for the Georgia General Assembly that year, almost two decades after his version topped the Hot 100.

Max Crook played the eerie solo on Del Shannon's 'Runaway' on what instrument he invented?

The Musitron was Crook's modified Clavioline, and Shannon wrote the lyrics the day after an onstage jam, while at work in a carpet store.

American Bandstand went national on ABC in 1957 from which city?

Philadelphia's WFIL-TV handed the show to Dick Clark in 1956, after its original host, Bob Horn, was fired amid scandal.

What was the name of the American Bandstand segment in which teenagers scored new songs?

Rate-a-Record had teens justify their scores to Dick Clark, and it gave rise to the catchphrase 'It's got a good beat and you can dance to it'.

Which disc jockey popularized the phrase 'rock and roll' on mainstream radio in the early 1950s?

Alan Freed was fired by WABC in 1959 after refusing to sign an FCC statement saying he had never taken payola.

The Moondog Coronation Ball, generally considered the first major rock and roll concert, was held in which city?

Cleveland Arena was overrun after ticket-printing errors and counterfeiting let far too many fans in, and the show was shut down early.

Which vocal group's first Hot 100 number one was 1962's 'Sherry'?

The Four Seasons released it on Vee-Jay, but unpaid royalties drove them to leave for Philips in 1964.

The Surfaris' 1963 surf instrumental 'Wipe Out' is best remembered for its solo on which instrument?

Drums, played by Ron Wilson, drive a tune the band wrote almost on the spot as the B-side for 'Surfer Joe', yet 'Wipe Out' became the hit.

Which singer fronted the girl group that scored 12 Hot 100 number ones in the 1960s?

Diana Ross recorded the group's last number one, 'Someday We'll Be Together', as her first solo single, so Mary Wilson never sang on it.

Which duo's first hit, in 1957, was 'Bye Bye Love'?

The Everly Brothers' first single, cut for Columbia in 1956, went nowhere, so 'Bye Bye Love' on Cadence became their breakthrough.

Which Roy Orbison hit did 2 Live Crew parody, prompting a landmark 1994 Supreme Court fair-use ruling?

'Oh, Pretty Woman' publisher Acuff-Rose sued, but the justices ruled unanimously that a commercial parody can still be fair use.

Which songwriter founded Motown with an $800 loan from his family in 1959?

Berry Gordy borrowed the $800 from a family savings co-op, then gave siblings such as Esther key roles at the company.

Motown's first Detroit headquarters and recording studio, a converted house on West Grand Boulevard, was nicknamed what?

Hitsville U.S.A. kept its small Studio A running almost around the clock, with the Funk Brothers backing Motown's stars at all hours of the day and night.

Which Hot 100 first did the Beatles achieve on April 4, 1964?

All top five spots at once included 'Please Please Me' at number five on Vee-Jay, which got the song because Capitol had refused to release Beatles records.

After the Beatles, which British Invasion band topped the Hot 100 the most times, with eight number ones?

The Rolling Stones' first US number one, 'Satisfaction', began as a riff Keith Richards taped on a bedside cassette in his sleep, and he said he had no idea he'd written it.

Leiber and Stoller wrote 'Hound Dog' for which blues singer, whose original version came before Elvis Presley's hit?

Big Mama Thornton recorded it first, but Elvis took up the song after seeing Freddie Bell and the Bellboys' reworked version in a Las Vegas lounge.

New Orleans songwriter Dorothy LaBostrie shares the writing credit with Little Richard on which of his hits?

'Tutti Frutti' is usually told as producer Bumps Blackwell hiring LaBostrie to clean up Little Richard's bawdy lyrics, though she later said she wrote the whole song herself.