Welcome to MusicRadar's 101 facts you really never knew about music, the third in a continuing series of trivia blowouts born from the marriage of our insatiable thirst for knowledge with our warm appreciation of the pub quiz.
If you need to orient yourself in MusicRadar's world of trivia then give last year's 101 facts a read. Then possibly follow that up with 101 more.
Otherwise, go on ahead and dive into our 2010 selection: you'll find part 1 here, part 2 here, part 3 here and the final part below.
76. Gram Parsons was allegedly ejected from The Rolling Stones' Exile On Main St. sessions for partying too hard. Now imagine how far you have to cross the line for Keith Richards to take exception to your antics.
77. The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) is the 'most-performed' Christmas song of all time.
78. The harmonica is the world's best-selling musical instrument.
79. Frank Beard is the only member of ZZ Top not to have a beard.
80. John Cummings and Thomas Erdelyi (Johnny and Tommy Ramone) were in a band called Tangerine Puppets in 1966-1967.
81. Animals singer Eric Burdon - a good friend of John Lennon's - claimed that he inspired the chorus of I Am The Walrus on account of his penchant for egg-based sexual fetishes.
82. In the fade of The Beatles' Hey Bulldog, McCartney comments, "Don't look at me, I already have grandchildren."
83. The word cymbal comes from the Latin cymbalum, derived from the Greek word kumbalom, which means a 'small bowl'.
84. Debbie Harry's first band was called The Wind In The Willows, named after Kenneth Grahame's classic.
85. The Cocteau Twins are named after a song by fellow-Scots Johnny And The Self-Abusers - the band who would later become Simple Minds.
86. While on tour with Motley Crue in the 1980s, Ozzy Osbourne's constant companion was a blow-up doll he daubed with a Hitler moustache and addressed as "Sharon".
87. The opening riff from Girls Aloud's single 2005 single Biology is based on the riff from The Animals' Club A-Gogo.
88. The Spice Girls' Wannabe is the most successful song released by an all female group - selling around 6 million copies.
89. 5/6 of the MusicRadar editorial team play musical instruments.
90. The first song John Lennon learned to play was Fats Domino's Ain't That A Shame.
91. Tommy used to work on the dock. But since the union's been on strike, he's been down on his luck. It's tough. So tough.
92. Rolf Harris has played the didgeridoo on two albums by Kate Bush.
93. Actor/comedian/writer Simon Pegg is godfather to Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter Apple.
94. Dido was born on Christmas Day, but celebrates an 'official birthday' on 25 June.
95. Former US President Jimmy Carter is a distant cousin of Elvis Presley.
96. If you type 'the nicest man in rock' into Google, Dave Grohl dominates the search results. Wayne Coyne is the only other artist to get a look in.
97. Lars Ulrich is obsessed with tennis (no real surprise given his dad was a pro).
98. England bowler Bob Willis MBE adopted the middle name Dylan in tribute to the great man whose albums he used to train to ("My friend lent me The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and I was hooked"). Pedant's note: technically, it's third name (Robert George Dylan Willis).
99. The original Top of the Pops theme was called Percussion Piece by John Stewart and Harry Rabonowitz. In 1972, it changed to some other tune.
100. Ace Frehley from Kiss once accidently shot himself with an Uzi.
101. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith refuses to let anyone refer to him as 'Steve'.
"People like the feeling of anticipating what's going to come next - almost like ascending to the top of a rollercoaster before the breath-taking plunge": Write better songs by learning song forms
“Some of the things that age most quickly are electronic drums, which I’ve used tons of, but they usually sound very of their time”: Finneas on how he and Billie Eilish made a conscious effort to make Birds Of A Feather sound “timeless”
