some music facts
To win a gold disc, an album needs to sell 100,000 copies in Britain, and 500,000 in the United States.
Music was sent down a telephone line for the first time in 1876, the year the phone was invented.
The CD was developed by Philips and Sony in 1980.
40 billion songs are downloaded illegally every year, that’s some 90% of all music downloads.
The music industry generates about $4 billion in online music but loose about $40 billion to illegal downloads.
Top-selling albums used to reach sales of 20 million copies before the advent of online piracy – by 2009 it had dropped to about 5 million.
The Star-Spangled Banner became the US national anthem in 1931. Prior to that, it was My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” which had the same melody as Britian’s national anthem God Save the Queen, which is based on music written by John Bull in 1619. Bull’s melody has been used more than any song in national anthems.
It was at a concert in Minneapolis in 1954 that Al Dvorin first closed Elvis’s concerts with: “Ladies and Gentleman, Elvis has left the building. Thank you and good night.”
Elvis favorite collectibles were official badges. He collected police badges in almost every city he performed in.
Elvis was an avid gun collector. His collection of 40 weapons included M-16s and a Thompson submachine gun.
Duran Duran took their name from a mad scientists in the movie Barbarella.
Bob Dylan’s first professional performance was as opening act for John Lee Hooker at Gerde’s Folk City in New York, 1961.
Before they were known as Journey, Steve Perry called his band Golden Gate Rhythm Section.
Kenneth Edmonds was nicknamed Babyface by funk guitarist Bootsy Collins.
The world’s largest disco was held at the Buffalo Convention Centre, New York, 1979. 13,000 danced a place into the Guinness Book of World Records.
Annie Lennox holds the record for the most Brit awards (8).
The Beatles holds the top spot of album sales in the US (106 million), followed by Garth Brooks second (92 million), Led Zeppelin (83 million), Elvis Presley (77 million), and the Eagles (65 million). Worldwide The Beatles sold more than 1 billion records.
The longest song to reach number one on the Billboard charts on LP was “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That)” by Meatloaf, the shortest: “Stay” by Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs.
The first pop video was Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, released in 1975.
The Beatles song “Martha My Dear” was written by Paul McCartney about his sheepdog Martha.
The term “disc jockey” was first used in 1937.
The only guy without a beard in ZZTOP surname (last name) is Beard.
Paul McCartney was the last bachelor Beatle when he married Linda Eastman in a civil ceremony in London, 1969. Paul’s brother Mike was his best man. No other Beatle attended the wedding.
In 1952, John Cage composed and presented ‘ 4’33″ ‘, a composition consisting of 4 minutes and 33 seconds of silence.
The Carpenters signature song, We’ve Only Just Begun, was originally part of a television commercial for a California bank.
In 1972 Leslie Harvey of Stone the Crows died after being electrocuted onstage in England.
In 1976 Keith Relf, who used to play for The Yardbirds, was electrocuted by his guitar while playing in his basement.
During a mid-performance in 1994 Ramon Barrero, a Mexican musician famous for playing the world’s smallest harmonica,
inhaled the harmonica and choked to death.
U2 was originally known as Feedback. To date, U2 have sold more than 70 million records, grossing $1,5 billion.
In May 1997, Paul McCartney broke his own world record by obtaining his 81st gold disc.