Musical Performances facts

While investigating facts about Musical Performances, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Weird Al' Yankovic recorded a parody of Lady Gaga's "Born This Way," entitled "Perform This Way," and all of the proceeds from the parody and its music video were donated to the Human Rights Campaign, to support the human rights themes of the original song.

The Emperor's New Groove was originally intended to be a musical epic similar to the Lion King titled Kingdom of the Sun, but after bad test screenings, the poor box office performance of Pocahontas, and creative differences between the directors, it was made into a light comedy

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Musical Performances I managed to collect.

1. In 1994, in an attempt to ban raves, the UK passed a law banning public performance of music “wholly or predominantly characterized by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.” In response, the electronic band Autechre issued a track, Flutter, in which no two bars have the same beat.

2. Prior to their music careers, Sid Vicious and Johnny Rotten would often perform Alice Cooper covers on the streets for money. People would pay them to stop.

3. The song "Edelweiss" in "The Sound of Music" was written for the musical, but sounded so much like a classic folk song that after the first performances, native Austrians said they were delighted to "hear that old folk tune again"

4. The Nightman Cometh," the musical Charlie writes in It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, was adapted into a live-action performance for two nights at the Troubadour theater in 2009. It starred the original cast and began with title cards reading "7:15, On a Friday, Philadelphia PA."

5. Comedian Demetri Martin incorporated music into his act to prevent Comedy Central from rearranging his performance for TV

6. Vexations' an 18hr long piece of music. After a public performance in New York in 1963 only 6 people remained to the end, one stood up and shouted "Encore!"

7. The musical Hamilton has over 20,000 words, and would take 4-6 hours to perform if songs were sung at traditional musical paces

8. In 1994 a man named Tony Cicoria was struck by lightening while standing next to a public telephone, and resuscitated by a nurse who was waiting to use the phone. Not long after recovery he said his head became flooded with music. He bought a piano and is now a successful composer and performer.

9. Singer Adele won't play any music festivals because she has a severe panic disorder and can't perform in front of large audiences

10. Metallica performed in Antarctica just to break a record and be the first musical act to perform on all 7 continents.

What is true about musical performances?

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The 2012 Olympic Committee asked Music Manager Bill Curbishley to have drummer for "The Who" Keith Moon perform the opening ceremonies. Curbishley replied "If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him." Keith Moon had been dead for 34 years.

In 1992 dance/pop duo The KLF were invited to play at the BRIT awards. They unexpectedly performed with a grindcore metal band, fired machine gun blanks into the audience, announced they were leaving the music industry, dumped a dead sheep at the afterparty, and deleted their entire back catalog - source

Weird Al's parents both died on the same day of carbon monoxide poisoning. Only hours later, he performed a concert and started by saying "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well." - source

Wendy Williams had to pay Warner Music $700 in royalties in order to sing 'Happy Birthday' to someone on her TV show. Warner bought the song in 1990 for $15 million and claims all public performances of the song are illegal unless royalties are paid to them.

Both of Weird Al's parents died on the same day due to carbon monoxide poisoning. Hours later he performed at a concert, saying that "since my music had helped many of my fans through tough times, maybe it would work for me as well". - source

When Simon and Garfunkel first began performing, their music was considered a joke. The words "Hello darkness, my old friend" were enough to cause an audience to break out in laughter.

The videogame music genre has become a main income source for concert halls ever since traditional classical music performances declined in popularity over the years.

During WWII, over 400,000 German POWs were sent to the United States. In the POW camps, they often held theatrical and musical performances, were allowed to leave the camps without guards on the honor system, and were able to work on farms, mills, and other places for fair wages.

In 2008 there was a music festival called 'Festival of the fuck bands' where bands such as Fucked Up, Holy Fuck and Fuck buttons performed live. It was held in Fucking, Austria.

Only 5% of average musicians' income comes from music sales, and only 12% of overall music industry income goes to the performers

A lot of that weird creepy music in horror movies is performed on one unique instrument called a waterphone