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Great 80’s Music Trivia
Glenn Gregory of Heaven 17 fame assisted Martin Fry with ABC's Skyscraping album in 1997 and also appeared with Martin on tour at Wembley Arena in 1999 along with Culture Club and The Human League
Matt Leblanc of Friends played Alanis Morissette's boyfriend in one her early canadian release pop videos (This was before she was known as the angry young woman of "Jagged Little Pill).
Alice Cooper's main hobby is collecting old watches.
Prince wrote "Manic Monday" for "The Bangles".
Actor Bill Paxton was also part of the group Barnes and Barnes whom are responsible for the cult hit "Fisheads".
Kerry King (Slayer) played the guitar and had a guest appearance in the video of Beastie Boys "No Sleep 'Til Brööklyn". No wonder, as these artists were signed to the same label, Def Jam, at this time.
Diane Keaton directed Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven is a Place On Earth" video
Terri Nunn from the 80's group -Berlin appeared in the late 70's/early 80's movie - "Thank God It's Friday."
Before he became "Billy Idol", William Broad [aka Billy Idol] performed in the bands: "Geration X" and "Chelsea".
Cyndi Lauper was the original singer of Blue Angels.
Bow Wow Wow asked one of it's early members to leave their band because he was too outspoken and didn't fit the image of the group. That person went on to become one of the biggest names in the 80's POP scene. It was Boy George, who later founded Culture Club.
Bruce Hornsby played piano for the Grateful Dead on tour in the late 80's.
The teenager Bruce Springsteen pulls up onstage in his "Dancing in the Dark" video is no other than the not-yet-famous Courtney Cox of Friends
Bryan Adams' first chart entry was a very-disco number called "Let Me Take You Dancing". His voice was sped-up and hard to recognize.
Chaka Khan's biggest hit, "I Feel For You" was originally written by Prince (a.k.a. The Artist). In that same song, Stevie Wonder did the harmonica solos, and Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five did the rap breaks. Hence the infamous lyric: "Chaka Khan...Ch-ch-ch-ch-Chaka Khan."
Michael McDonald (Doobie Bros.) sang background "such a long way to go" on the hit single "Ride Like The Wind" by Christopher Cross.
Naomi Campbell appeared in Culture Club's 1983 video I'll Tumble 4 Ya as a dancer.
An early member of The Cure, Phil Thomalley, later became the lead singer of Johnny Hates Jazz late in 1988, after their hit "Shattered Dreams" hit the pop charts. And he also is the composer of the famous Natalie Imbruglia hit "Thorn" as well as almost all her album.
The Cure - Robert Smith, was for a short time in the band Siouxsie and the Banshees. Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols was a member at one time as well.
Cyndi Lauper
On Lauper's "True Color" album, the telephone operator at the beginning of "911" is none other than Pee Wee Herman (the credits even identify him as such).
Cyndi Lauper
Sang the theme song for Pee Wee's playhouse
Stevie Ray Vaughn did not play on the Glass Spider tour with David Bowie, but did rehearse to play on the Serious Moonlight tour, until Bowie said that SRV & Double Trouble could not be the backing band for the tour. So Stevie quit !
Stevie Ray Vaughn played lead guitar on the Glass Spider Tour for David Bowie.
Def Leppard (current spelling) was originaly named "Atomic Mass", then changed to "Deaf Leoppard", then to the current spelling Def Leppard.
On Def Leppard's "Pyromania" album, Booker T. Boffin is keyboard-specialist Thomas Dolby. He did some keyboard parts on Pyromania, but due to contractual obligations, his real name couldn't be printed on Pyromania.
Def Leppard's Rick Allen (drummer) has only one arm as of their Hysteria album.
Depeche Mode - After the preceding band name "Composition Of Sound" didn´t go well, they had borrowed their new name under which they became world famous from a French fashion magazine of the same title ("Depeche Mode" can be translated as "Fast Fashion").
Vince Clarke of Erasure was an early founding member, and chief songwriter of Depeche Mode. He left the band to form Yaz, and later Erasure, while Depeche Mode went on to rousing success.
Depeche Mode - What's their connection with Enrique Iglesias? Vince Clarke wrote "Only You" while still a member of Depeche Mode. He left the band and recorded it with Yaz. Engrique Iglesias later did a cover version in Spanish.
Dire Straits -Eric Clapton is credited on the 'Brothers In Arms' album due to the fact that he loaned Mark Knopfler one of his guitars the for album.
Dire Straits - Sting sung the "I want my Mtv" line on "Money For Nothing"
Duran Duran - Nick Rhodes produced Kajagoogoo's first album.
Duran Duran - Roger Taylor, the drummer for Duran Duran, shares the same name with the drummer for the band Queen, Roger Taylor!
Duran Duran - Simon leBon placed third in the Whitbred Around the World race aboard his vessel the Drum.
What did Eddie Money do before he was an entertainer? He was a NYC cop!
Elton John - He played Piano on Wham!'s 1986 hit "The Edge of Heaven"
Europe - Did you know... That during the filming of their video, 'Cherokee', in the scene where the horses run through the valley, someone accidentally set some brush near the set on fire? What was wierd about it was that Joey Tempest's hair almost also got torched as well. Everyone there (including band members) had to quickly dig a big trench with whatever they had to prevent the fire from spreading!
A Flock of Seagulls - Mike Score used to be a hairdresser
Foreigner / Thomas Dolby - Thomas Dolby helped with keyboards on Foreigner's 1981 smash album "4" including their #2 smash "Waiting For a Girl Like You."
Gary Numan - Gary Numan was once involved in a plane crash landing! It was his plane, but he was not the pilot. The plane crashed in Southampton (coming from France) and was not allowed to be moved until Customs & Excise classed it as an imported item! Which was a few days after! Silly really because the plane crash landed in the middle of a road!!
What do the songs "Land of Confusion" and "The Living Years" have in common? The lead singer of Mike + The Mechanics, who gave us the hit "The Living Years", was the bassist for Genesis, who had a hit with "Land of Confusion".
Glass Tiger - "Don't forget me when I'm gone" features Bryan Adams in the background.
Greg Kihn Band - Greg Kihn is now the morning drive DJ on KFOX-FM in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Guns N Roses
Question: What two bands formed to make the band guns n roses? Answer: L.A. Guns and Hollywood Roses
Haircut 100 - Before making it big as a solo artist, Nick Heyward was founding member and lead vocalist.
Hall and Oates - G.E. Smith and Tom "T-Bone" Wolk went on to become the leaders of the Saturday Night Live Band
Heaven 17 - Did you know that the band name heaven 17 came from the fictional band in the book a "Clockwork Orange"
Heaven 17 - Ian Craig Marsh and Martyn Ware were in the original line-up of Human League
Helen Terry is the strong background vocal in "Church of the Poison Mind" and other tracks on the album "Colour by Numbers" by Culture Club. She was also one of the "do-do-do" girls who sang backup to Lou Reed in "Walk on the Wild Side." She's also featured on the "Electric Dreams" soundtrack, which also has Culture Club songs.
The Hooters, around the same time as their hit LP, "Nervous Night" was released were busy acting as the studio back-up band for Cyndi Lauper's "She's So Unusual." You can hear lead singer Eric Bazilion's vocals strongly in the chorus for "Time After Time," which he also co-wrote.
Hue & Cry - Their late 80's smash "Looking for Linda" was based on a real life incident about a woman who disappears after going out to buy a packet of cigarettes.
Huey Lewis and the News - In the movie "Back to the Future", Marty's band tries for an audition in the school talent show with the song "The Power of Love", but is rejected by the teacher who says they are too loud. Who plays the teacher? Huey Lewis!
Huey Lewis and the News - What singer/songwriter wrote the song" Jacobs Ladder" for Huey Lewis and The News? BRUCE HORNSBY
Icehouse - Did you know that John Oates co-wrote and sang back-up on the 1987 hit "Electric Blue"
Janet Jackson - Before making it big in 1986, Janet Jackson was a little known dancer for the TV spin-off of the movie "Fame" in 1982
Janet Jackson - Janet was once married to one of the DeBarge brothers
Joe Satriani played lead guitar for Greg Kihn (Of Baltimore, MD) while on tour with him in the early/mid 80's.
John Elefante - This producer of countless Christian Rock bands and artists (now a solo artist himself) was once lead singer of Kansas!
Kix - The band Kixs' original name was Fruity Pebbles. But they were forced to change it.
Lisa Stansfield - What was the name of the band Lisa Stansfield fronted for before hitting it big on her solo career and what was their big '80s club hit? A: Blue Zone (sometimes known as Blue Zone UK) with "Jackie"
Lord Tracy - The bands original name was Tracy Lords, but couldn't be used because it was the name of a famous porn star(Traci Lords). Traci threatened to sue, so the band changed it. She was their favorite porn star.
Madonna - Madonna was lead singer for the band The Breakfast Club in 1982
Madonna - Danny Aiello plays Madonna´s father in the video "Papa Don't Preach"
Madonna - Richard Marx sings backup for Madonna on White Heat. (True Blue album)
Martini Ranch
Did you know that one half of 80's New Wave group Martini Ranch (Reach, and World without Walls) is none other then Bill Paxton the actor (Twister, Apollo 13)?
What connection does Megadeath have with Metallica? Prior to getting a recording contract, the band Metallica had good old Dave Mustaine in it but was asked to leave because he drank too much. He later formed, of course, Megadeath.
Eddie Van Halen, played guitar on Michael Jackson's song Beat It.
New Order - In the end of the song "Don't Do It", NEW ORDER used a phrase from the movie "The Exorcist" backwards.
Did you know that Brad Gillis of Night Ranger replaced Randy Rhodes of Ozzy Osbourne but later quit to become part of Night Ranger with Jack Blades, Kelly Keagy, Jeff Watson, and Alan "Fitz" Fitzgerald
Oingo Boingo
Danny Elfman (who used to be the lead singer of 80's band Oingo Boingo) produced the musical score for the hit comedy cartoon show the Simpsons. He also produced all of microsoft's desktop noises. He is worth over $60 million dollars.
Billy Joe Armstrong, now lead singer of Green Day, played guitar in the early punk band Operation Ivy
The song "In the Air Tonight" by has an urban legend attached to it. The story says that a friend of Phil's was drowning in a pond and Phil was too far away to help. He sees another man closer and yells for him to help, but he doesn't. So Phil writes the song and sends the man a front row ticket to his next concert. During the concert, Phil sings the line "Well, if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand" directly to the man. The man then runs out of the concert hall and kills himself. This is just a rumor.
After Sting moved away from teaching to get into music, what was the name of the first band he played in? Last Exit
The Police
Sting,Andy Summers,and Stewart Copeland were the first band to appear on the MTV commercial and say, "I Want My MTV" (which Sting later used for "Money For Nothing" by Dire Straits) along with Pat Benatar and Pete Townshend(The Who).
This rock star co-starred in the hit show "High Tide", who was it? Rick Springfield
Robert Palmer's song Addicted to Love was originally recorded as a duet with Chaka Kahn.
Michael Jackson sang background vocals on the Rockwell's 1984 hit "Somebody's Watchin' Me".
Scritti Politi made the first album recorded internationally. The vocalist and keyboardist recorded their tracks in London and sent them over the the US for the drummer to lay down his tracks.
Shakespears Sister - Lead Singer Siobhan Fahey was once part of Bananarama; She later married David A Stewart of the "Eurythmics" -Singer/Guitarist Marcella Detroit co-wrote "Lay Down Sally" With Eric Clapton; She also Sang Backup on the "Slowhand" Album (She was then known by her real name Marcy Levy) -David Stewart Co-wrote both Shakespears Sister's Albums under the name Guiot
Sique Sique Sputnik founder Tony James was originaly in the band Generation X with lead singer Billy Idol
Did you know that Michelle Collins, who played Cindy Beale on Eastenders, also sang backing VOX on Squeezes "Cool for Cats"?
Sting was a teacher before making it big with The Police!
Do you know which famous musical man of the 80's/90's made a contribution to Tears For Fears' album Sowing the Seeds of Love in 1989? Phil Collins
The comic book that The Thompson Twins took their name from was "The Adventures of Tin-Tin" (comic book). Of the three members in the band, none of them were twins or named Thompson.
In the video for "Mickey", Toni Basil is wearing a LVHS cheerleading uniform, standing for Las Vegas High School, where she was a cheerleader. Today it is Las Vegas Acadamy.
Toni Basil played a hooker in Easy Rider before making it big in the early 80's with "Mickey!" She's great in the graveyard scene towards the end of the movie....
Which 60's artist was in Tracy Ulmans video? Paul Mc Cartney.
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister's lead singer, Dee Snider, is now a morning radio talk show host for WMRQ 104.1 in Hartford CT.
U2 were originally going to be called 'The Hype'
U2's biggest selling album ever, "The Joshua Tree" was originally going to be called "The Two Americas". But when the band took pictures at the Joshua Tree National Park, they changed their mind.
The Band "UB40" got their name from: A British Unemployement Form
Van Halen - During the making of the video "Jump", the band spent more money on beer than they did on the production of the video.
Which 70/80/90's band insisted they had five pounds of M&M's in their hotel room with the brown ones separated from the rest of the colors?????? Van Halen of course. That's Rock and Roll!!!
Z.Z. Top - Their video, "Velcro Fly" was choreographed by Paula Abdul.
Mick Jaggar sang backup vocals to Carly Simon's hit "Your so Vain"
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