Fact or Fiction?

 
Truth and tall tales from the land of classic rock. Can you identify fact from fiction?
 
  1. If you’re a Beatles fan, surely you’ve heard Revolution #9—playing forward, that is. But did you know that when you play it backwards, you hear the words “Turn Me On, Dead Man?”

    Fact! If you don’t believe us, try it yourself. (Paul wasn’t dead, though. He’s still alive and well, as of this writing.) Just keep in mind that to play a record backwards, you have to rotate the record counterclockwise by hand and you then run the risk of ruining both the record and the turntable.

  2. Led Zeppelin’s first album was recorded under the name The New Yardbirds, not Led Zeppelin.

    Fiction. Although Led Zeppelin toured under the name The New Yardbirds, they never made a recording under that name. A member of The Who inadvertently named them by telling them that they would go over “like a lead zeppelin.” (The name New Yardbirds was a tribute to Jimmy Page’s former band, the Yardbirds.)

  3. Music lovers know that the Grateful Dead are famous for their tours, not their recordings. But despite a thirty-year career and thousands of hippie fans, the group never had one top ten hit.

    Fiction. While it’s true that the Dead had more of a live following than anything else, in 1987 their single Touch of Grey hit #9 on the charts.

  4. If you mute the movie The Wizard of Oz and play Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album simultaneously, you will see and hear obvious parallels between the two.

    Fiction. This story first came up on a Boston radio station in 1997, prompting incredulous listeners to try it out for themselves. If you cue the album to begin when the MGM Lion roars for the third time, songs seem to begin and end at crucial moments, and lyrics seem to eerily mimic actions. We don’t have evidence that this was deliberate.

  5. Grace Slick was not a founding member of the Jefferson Airplane.

    Fact. Slick joined the band only after Signe Anderson left to have a baby. Prior to that, she was a model and member of the band, The Great Society.

  6. Although the Rolling Stones’ career spans more than 30 years (the longest of any rock band in history), they failed to capture a Grammy until 1994.

    Fact. Voodoo Lounge won best album in 1994—thirty-two years after the band was formed in 1962.