Facts About Popular Music You May Not Know

By Paige Greene
Web Content Contributor

Behind many popular songs or albums are untold stories. Whether a song was written for someone else, or a band was not talking during recording, every album or song has a story and listed here are some of the untold stories of popular artists.

1. Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” never reached number one on the charts but was the first song to reach two million downloads.

For being the ultimate power ballad it is, the hit song never reaches number one on the Billboard Hot 100, instead reaching number nine. It became the first song to reach two million downloads and is the most covered and parodied song.

2. Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” was originally written for Britney Spears.

Lady Gaga wrote her hit “Telephone” for Britney Spears, who even recorded a demo for. It was not until Spears turned the song down that Gaga decided to keep the song and record it herself.

3. Fleetwood Mac was plagued with drama during the recording of the hit album “Rumours.”

With the divorce and breakup in the group coming to light just before recording, the band had a lot of turmoil. Christie and John McVie, after being married for almost eight years, divorced right before recording and ignored each other during the process. Contrary to the divorced couple, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham had split recently and would often have screaming matches in the studio. 

4. Eminem set a Guinness World Record with his hit song “Rap God.”

Eminem’s “Rap God” sets a record for the most words in a hit single. With an astounding 1,560 words, Eminem raps at an average of 4.28 words per second and raps 97 words in 15 seconds.

5. Dave Grohl recorded the first Foo Fighters album by himself.

Dave Grohl recorded the first Foo Fighters album in 1995 entirely solo and performed all the instruments by himself. The album was recorded in seven days and was a rough patchwork before Grohl recorded each track.

6. Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone” was turned down by P!nk and Hillary Duff.

Kelly Clarkson’s hit was turned down by two very different artists P!nk and Hillary Duff.  Writers Max Martin and “Dr. Luke” Gottwald intended the song for P!nk but when it was turned down it almost went to Duff but she could not hit the high notes. The song ended up being a hit with Clarkson reaching 2.6 million downloads.

Featured image by Paige Greene.