Saturday night (4/13), our own Brian Phillips hosts an evening of music trivia at Natalie’s in Grandview that benefits Trivillage Mentor League (learn more here). So a few of us got together to share our favorite bits of music trivia.

Brian Phillips: “Soundgarden and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron, under the  pseudonym Foo Cameron, sang the song “Puberty Love” in the 1978 B Movie Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes. The song defeated the Killer Tomatoes. Cameron was 16 at the time.”

Tom Butler: The video for [Nine Inch Nails song] “Down In It” gives the impression that Trent Reznor is committing suicide at the end by jumping off a building. While filming, one of the angles to be used for the video of the “suicide” was a camera attached to a secure rope to give a bird’s eye view of the jump. Filmed in Chicago, the rope snapped at the conclusion of the filming, sending the balloon and camera into the atmosphere. The balloon eventually landed 200 miles away in a Michigan farm and turned in to the FBI by the farmer who suspected a “snuff” film and that a criminal act took place. The FBI somehow was able to figure out it was Reznor in the video and the case was closed once Reznor proved that he indeed was alive.”[Source]

Just Emma: “Rock/blues band The Zombies broke up in 1967 due to a decline in requests for live performances and a lack of overall success. Their seminal album, Odessey and Oracle was released months after their breakup. The album was an unprecedented success for the band. CBS Records encouraged the band to get back together for a tour, but they declined. Thus, a plan was hatched to create a fake version of the band. Booking company Delta Promotions (who had already formed fake touring versions of The Archies and The Animals) put together not one but two fake versions of the band, one hailing from Michigan, the other from Texas. They toured simultaneously despite both claiming to be the real deal. After the Zombies tour for the Texas Zombies ended, members Frank Beard and Dusty Hill went on to form ZZ Top.”

Mike Cash: “John Popper of Blues Traveler had a side project called Trucking Company. Both bands had a gig on the same night, so Popper asked his high school buddy Chris Barron to sit in with Trucking Company. Barron became the permanent singer, and Trucking Company changed their name to Spin Doctors.
And because of Spin Doctors, and their unexplained success with ‘Two Princes’ and ‘Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,’ Epic Records gave all of their promotional support to Pocket Full of Kryptonite in 1991 and completely ghosted Watershed’s superior Twister major label debut.
I’m still bitter.”

Stay tuned for more Staff Picks!