More Concert Rider Fun

Whenever a band agrees to play a concert, there’s a part of the contract that’s known as the “rider.” 

This is the list of things the promoter is required to provide in the dressing room for the artist before, during and after the show. 

Most performers are quite reasonable about these things–but others are, well, a little weird. 

Marilyn Manson’s rider begins normal enough–ten packs of Tic-Tacs, five packs of spearmint gum–but then it ends with “one pair of queen-size pantyhose.” 

And consider what the guys in a band called Monster Magnet demand: several pairs of edible panties and two blow-up sex dolls, one male and one female.  I really don’t want to know…

 

Bono Tends to Lose Stuff

There have been two occasions where a U2 album was derailed because Bono lost his lyrics. Back on March 22, 1981, U2 had just played a show in Portland, Oregon.

There was something of a party backstage, attended by three girls. After maybe a half hour of talking with the boys, the girls left.

One of them took Bono’s briefcase. Inside was $300 cash and pages and pages of scrawls: Bono’s lyrics for the next album. All of them.

As a result, most of the October album was practically ad-libbed. No wonder October is considered to be one of U2's weakest albums. Then in 2000, he lost his laptop when the band was working on All That You Can’t Leave Behind.

Fortunately, though, the computer was found and returned. Crisis averted.

Secret History of Rock Trivia Video Blog 002

Welcome to Who Wants to be a Know-It-All?, the game where we see just what kind of trivia geek you are! 

Every week, I’ll post one of my "I Did Not Know That!"-type videos, what I like to call The Secret History of Rock Trivia of the Week. 

And remember: if you have any kind of weird trivia, I'm always interested in it! Send it via tiwtter (@alancross), Facebook, or leave a comment at the bottom of this post. If your trivia happens to be credible, I'll use it in one of my video blogs and will credit you. 

See you next time. 

Go here for previous episodes

Rock and Roll Revolutions

Here's a question I'm often asked: "How important is music in reflecting the ideas, angers and frustrations of our times?" To know what I think, check out this interview I did with TVO. And, as always, let me know what YOU think. 

Some Great Ramones Stories

A couple of good stories about the Ramones. 

(1)The band members were very good record keepers.  This is how we know that the group played exactly 2,263 shows between August 1974 and August 1996. 

(2) There’s a story told by one of the Ramones producers who came across Joey Ramone trying to write a song on a guitar that had only one string.  He said, “Joey, I can replace the other strings for you.”  To which Joey replied “Other strings?” 

And (3) few people realized this: Joey was a whiz at the stock market.  He made a quiet fortune trading stocks over the Internet before he died.  His posthumous album even contains a song called “Maria Bartiromo,” a financial commentator on CBNC.