Music History Events: Strange But True
January 16, 2018 Eminem is questioned by the Secret Service about lyrics in his song "Framed," where he imagines Ivanka Trump murdered in the trunk of his car. Agents determine he is not a threat; Eminem later raps about it on his song "The Ringer": "Agent Orange just sent the Secret Service to meet in person."
October 31, 2011 The album Lulu, a baffling collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed, is released. The first single, "The View," reaches peak lunacy when James Hetfield screams, "I am the table!"
April 30, 2008 At the Coachella festival, Roger Waters' giant inflatable pig escapes, roams the countryside and ultimately deflates.
January 9, 2003 MC Hammer and Vince Neil star in the first season of The Surreal Life on the WB network.More
March 30, 2001 The Detroit Free Press breaks the news that Jack and Meg White of The White Stripes are not siblings as they claim, but former husband and wife. Court records show they were married in 1996 and divorced in 2000. Rolling Stone and the New York Times are among the publications previously reporting them as brother and sister, a believable claim because they look alike.
February 25, 1998 Strange things are afoot at the Grammy Awards. A shirtless dude with "Soy Bomb" written on his chest intrudes on Bob Dylan's performance, and when Shawn Colvin wins Song Of The Year (for "Sunny Came Home"), Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu-Tang Clan rushes the stage, commandeering the microphone and talking about how his group should have won the Best Rap Album award over Puff Daddy because "Wu-Tang is for the children."More
May 29, 1996 This item appears in The Guardian: Newly widowed Stella Serth has been convicted of a public order offence in Tasmania. Mrs. Serth has been fined £200 for dancing on her husband's grave and singing "Who's Sorry Now?"
March 30, 1995 Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard takes an MTV news crew along for a ride in a stretch limo, where he stops to pick up food stamps, proving that the ID card on the cover of his solo album is real.More
June 7, 1993 On his 35th birthday, Prince changes his name to an unpronounceable symbol, making him, literally, an icon.More
July 14, 1989 New York Family Court judge Judy Sheindlin, soon to become TV star "Judge Judy," orders Tom Jones to pay child support to model Katherine Berkery after making the singer take a paternity test. Their child, Jonathan Jones Berkery, becomes a singer.
June 2, 1989 Rolling Stones bass player Bill Wyman, 52, marries 18-year-old Mandy Smith in a 15-minute civil ceremony held at a registry office in Suffolk, England. The only witnesses are Smith's sister and Wyman's son. A proper celebration takes place three days later.More
May 2, 1989 Michael Jackson, wearing a wig and fake moustache, enteres a Zales jewelry store in Simi Valley, California. Security finds him suspicious and calls the police, who show up to explain that you shouldn't wear a disguise to a jewelry store.
October 4, 1986 The popular newsman Dan Rather is attacked by a man who hits him from behind and repeats the phrase "Kenneth, what is the frequency," prompting REM to write the song "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"
January 20, 1982 While performing at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne bites the head off a bat.More
March 27, 1979 Eric Clapton marries George Harrison's ex-wife Pattie, the subject of the song "Layla." Harrison attends the wedding and remains friends with Clapton.More
September 20, 1973 The body of The Byrds guitarist Gram Parsons is stolen and taken to Joshua Tree National Park, where it is set on fire.More
October 14, 1972 Michael Jackson's "Ben," a song about a boy and his love for a pet rat, hits #1 in the US.More
December 21, 1970 Music and politics collide when Elvis Presley meets President Richard Nixon at the White House. A famous photo of the two shaking hands horrifies many Elvis fans.More
June 14, 1966 Workers at a London railway station notice a large package wiggling, so they open it to discover 12-year-old Carol Dryden, a Beatles fan trying to mail herself to the group.
February 1, 1964 Indiana Governor Matthew Walsh bans the Kingsmen's version of "Louie Louie," calling it "pornographic" and making (literally) a federal case out of it.More
March 16, 1945 The #1 song in America is "Rum and Coca-Cola" by The Andrews Sisters. It's a sanitized cover of a calypso song about American servicemen in Trinidad who get drunk and solicit prostitutes.
March 19, 1919 Jazz music plays throughout New Orleans after a serial killer threatens to murder anyone not listening to it.More
February 3, 2019 In Atlanta, 21 Savage is arrested in an immigration crackdown and detained for nine days. It's revealed that he was born in England and has been living as an undocumented immigrant since his visa expired in 2006. During his detention he watches the Grammy Awards, where he's nominated for Record Of The Year for his Post Malone collaboration "Rockstar." He finally gets his green card in 2023.
May 12, 2007 Brian May of Queen goes under police protection after a schizophrenic leaves a letter at his home blaming him for his mental illness and threatening to kill him. The news is published in the Sunday Mirror the following day, against May's wishes.
June 19, 2004 An audience member hurls a lollipop on stage while David Bowie is performing in Oslo, Norway. The lollipop wedges itself in David Bowie's left eye (which already has an enlarged and frozen pupil following a childhood fight). Bowie halts the concert to remove the lollipop. Luckily, he escapes serious injury.
July 8, 2003 A tooth from the mouth of Elvis Presley, once the property of former girlfriend Linda Thompson, goes up for auction on eBay. Along with a lock of his hair and a gold record, it fetches over $100,000.
May 12, 2001 File this under strange but true: After 27 years as a fugitive from a New Jersey prison, convicted child-killer Edward Solly is arrested in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he has been masquerading as long-dead Sha Na Na guitarist Vinnie Taylor, complete with a website and nightclub act. More
December 3, 1976 It's a Spinal Tap moment for Pink Floyd when during the shoot for their Animals album cover, a 40-foot inflatable pig being photographed at Battersea Power Station on the River Thames in London breaks free. Pilots in the area are warned of a pig loose in the skies, which reaches a height of 18,000 feet before coming down in Kent.More
May 21, 1975 After a show in Knoxville, Tennessee, Alice Cooper leaves one of his stage props, a 13-foot boa constrictor, in the hotel bathroom, where it escapes down the toilet. The snake shows up two weeks later in a room occupied by country singer Charley Pride; Cooper learns to put the lid down.
November 7, 1974 Hard rocker Ted Nugent (of The Amboy Dukes) becomes national squirrel shooting champion.
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