Mistaken beliefs about music you had when you were younger

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1. When I was about 7 and was a fan of the Monkees TV shows that were being rerun on Channel 4, I somehow got mixed up and thought that one of the Monkees was dead.

2. When I was a little older, I misread something about Elton John and I was convinced for a good year or so that Elton had previously been Long John Baldry. (The actual fact was that Mr Reg Dwight was supported in some way in his early career by Baldry.)

Anyone with anymore?

― Chriddof (Chriddof), Monday, 12 May 2003 17:40 (twenty-three years ago)

actually Chriddof, Mickey Dolenz is UNdead.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 12 May 2003 17:46 (twenty-three years ago)

another example of why the Monkees are/were better than the Beatles.

When I was, like, 7 or 8, I though Huey Lewis & the News was hardcore.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 12 May 2003 17:47 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought that the Beatles were somehow holy and beyond reproach. Then I began third grade.

― Neudonym, Monday, 12 May 2003 17:49 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought, as a younger lad, that the members of Pink Floyd were dead set on concealing their identities (which would become strangely true circa the live incarnation of The Wall).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 May 2003 17:51 (twenty-three years ago)

when i was REALLY young, i saw my mom's record collection and thought it weird that since she was a girl, she'd have all this music made by boys. i think i was five. :)

― janni (janni), Monday, 12 May 2003 17:52 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought all music was recorded live in the studio, no over dubs or nothing.

I was also led to believe that Roger Taylor used to play drums with water in the rims, i still haven't discovered if this is true or not.

― ss, Monday, 12 May 2003 17:59 (twenty-three years ago)

two words: redemptive powers

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Based on the pics on the inside of Night at the Opera, I thought the voice of Freddie Mercury belonged to the face of Brian May, the voice of Brian May belonged to the face of Roger Taylor.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:08 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought rock and roll had actual, physical destructive properties, i.e. one could tear down buildings or walls with its power if it were turned up loud enough. It also had the ability to conquer oppression and totalitarian governemnts.

I thought that when you got married, you had to sell your stereo and all your albums. My mom sold all my dad's records in a garage sale, a point he is still bitter about. I thought it was like a dowry - "we'll get the money for our future by selling all this Black Sabbath."

I thought that if I got a synthesizer, I'd be an instant genius musician because it can make all those different sounds. Not true!

― Fivvy (Fivvy), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Alex - that Queen reference is kinda uncanny - I had a thread idea weeks ago that I never did (similar to this one) .. it was like-uh - who did you used to think was the main-guy in the band because he looked like the coolest one? My source for this was A Night at the Opera - I thought Brian May was the coolest looking guy in the band, so therefore the leader and creative genious. Uncanny, sez I.

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:18 (twenty-three years ago)

two words: redemptive powers

From now on, Horace, I shall call you "sunshine."

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:20 (twenty-three years ago)

Call me Uncle Sunshine.

― Horace Mann (Horace Mann), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:25 (twenty-three years ago)

I also used to think the solo at the end of the first part of Bo Rhap (before the opera bit) was played on a bass guitar. Fuck knows why.

― ss, Monday, 12 May 2003 18:26 (twenty-three years ago)

thought Brian May was the coolest looking guy in the band,

Completely spot-on, Dave. That is weird.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:26 (twenty-three years ago)

because someone at school told me this once, I spent six or so months believing Ace Frehley's name was pronounced Ace Fressley. d'oh!

― M Matos (M Matos), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:28 (twenty-three years ago)

But he looks so geeky in the sleeve of 'A Night At The Opera' with a real cheesy smug grin. Roger Taylor looks far cooler.

― ss, Monday, 12 May 2003 18:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to think terms like "lead guitar" and "rhythm guitar" were not so much terms for the parts played, but for the actual instrument. In other words, were I interested in forming a band and buying a guitar, I very well might've walked into a shop and said: "I'd like to see your selection of lead guitars, please."

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:30 (twenty-three years ago)

Brian May had the coolest hair though (by 1975 standards.)

― dave225 (Dave225), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:35 (twenty-three years ago)

i didn't think that the drums would necessarily stay in the same beat after a drum fill. and when i tried to clap the beat with my hands under a fill, and the drums came right back to the beat, it was just a matter of luck ... of course, it was for some of my parents' preferred drummers, like ringo starr ...

― Jay K (Jay K), Monday, 12 May 2003 18:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Alex: I made a very similar leap in logic and wound up scrutinizing the photos on my dad's Allman Bros. albums to see if I could figure out which guitars were the "slide guitars" mentioned in the sleeve notes.

― Lee G (Lee G), Monday, 12 May 2003 19:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I was a dumb little guy -

I thought that 'air guitar' was something people actually played

I called Metallica "metal-issa" for a day until I was "corrected"

I believed until I was 18 or so that if you had your pictures in glossy magazines, had your stuff playing on college radio all over the country, and your CDs were available at Tower Records and Amazon, you were 'famous' enough to make a living doing music. Oh the irony!!! Some days I wanna pack it up and go get a job at fucking Microsoft. But now, having misspent my youth playing the 'air guitar' and collecting Unwound 45s, they'd never have me.

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 12 May 2003 19:22 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought that 'air guitar' was something people actually played

I sure play it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 May 2003 19:25 (twenty-three years ago)

A budding young composer at age 10, I read a biography of Johann Strauss, Jr., the "waltz king", and decided that I would have to figure out some other dance to become king of in my career.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Monday, 12 May 2003 19:33 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought The Cure were the worst band ever, Steven Tyler MIGHT be a woman and Freddie Mercury was the epitomy of masculinity

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 12 May 2003 19:36 (twenty-three years ago)

oh yeah (and this one is really embarrassing) - i thought Loren Mazzacane Connors was chick, having only heard a 7" and not having met him yet. I was young but it was still a cringewrothy error

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Monday, 12 May 2003 19:42 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought Ace Frehley unmasked would be pretty, in an androgynous way.

― Wired Flounder (Wired Flounder), Monday, 12 May 2003 19:52 (twenty-three years ago)

I was wholeheartedly convinced that heavy metal involved lots and lots of conga drums.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 12 May 2003 20:30 (twenty-three years ago)

thought Ace Frehley unmasked would be pretty, in an androgynous way.

So did I. BOY WERE WE WRONG!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 May 2003 20:31 (twenty-three years ago)

In fact, I though Joan Jett WAS Ace Frehley without make-up. Seriously, think about it. Their voices are even simillar. Kinda.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 May 2003 20:32 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to think George Michael was straight.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 12 May 2003 20:49 (twenty-three years ago)

YOU MEAN HE'S NOT???!!!!

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 12 May 2003 21:03 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to think U2 was cool. And I had never heard them. My notebooks around 4th and 5th grade were covered with doodles of U2, most of which consisted of a group of Ziggy-like (as in the cartoon, not Mr. Stardust) figures with Hitler mustaches standing on a stage with the word "U2" in block letters emblazoned it.

― Yanc3y (ystrickler), Monday, 12 May 2003 21:26 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought Beth by Kiss was sung by Weezie from the Jeffersons...

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Monday, 12 May 2003 21:28 (twenty-three years ago)

being a lil' teeny country lad, a few dozen or so summers ago, i was lead to believe for a while by a school friend of approx'ly my age in this little legend -

"Once there was this world competition for all the best beat bands and Poland's Czerwone Gitary took the second place there, whereas the Beatles only came third. Everybody had expected the Beatles to win real easy but they didn't, for they didn't sing properly, they just screamed and screamed and screamed. Moreover, all of them Beatles weren't even there, half of them were already in the army."

vow. i was impressed. even despite the fact that my friend's exceptional piece of knowledge 'bout pop history didn't reveal who was the winner then...

now, i'm not entirely sure where exactly he picked up this story, though i suspect that his elder sister, who was studying in a nearby town and was going out with geetar-playing hairy geezers, may have imported it into our village

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 12 May 2003 21:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I didn't know the difference between a bass and a guitar for a long time & thought that the person credited with "bass" on album jackets was someone who sang in a deep voice - like the guy in the "hey mr bass man" sketch on the muppets or bowzer from sha na na.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 12 May 2003 21:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Heh, that makes me feel better, Alex. And I can *kinda* hear Joan in Ace... though it's like Joan steeped in a bathtub of gin for a couple of weeks till that athletic *kick* is gone for good.

(Sorry, couldn't resist the shameless allusion to great, nay downright AWESOME Frehley-penned track).

― Wired Flounder (Wired Flounder), Monday, 12 May 2003 22:14 (twenty-three years ago)

I first became aware of the existence of Prince during the period where he wore a mask, thus leading to the belief that no-one knew what he looked like, which I thought was pretty cool. Never thought the same about Slipknot though.

― Nick H, Monday, 12 May 2003 22:17 (twenty-three years ago)

when I was four or five, I would listen to Inna-Gadda-Davedda by Iron Butterfly over and over because I thought the guitar sound on the solo was a dinosaur...imagine how many drugs you'd have to take today to have that misconception. Being little was fun.

― Brandon Welch (Brandon Welch), Monday, 12 May 2003 23:42 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought INXS was pronounced "inks" for a while. I didn't know about single releases and thought the DJs on the radio just played their favourite songs from an album, so if a band got only one song played it meant they only HAD one good song. I had the impression (gleaned from the fact we were a stay at home TV watching family) that people who bought albums and went to concerts were frighteningly intense individuals. When in grade six various classmates actually went to Vancouver to see G'n'R or the New Kids, I was in slackjawed awe.

― Poppy (poppy), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 00:13 (twenty-three years ago)

As a small child, I used to think my dad's Gilbert & Sullivan records were the same thing as "The Sullivans", the old aussie soap opera.

― Philip Alderman (Phil A), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 00:23 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought "van" was jim morrison's cool nickname.

― brian badword (badwords), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 00:42 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought Wings' 'Jet' was actually called 'Jump' - right up until i was 18

― stevem (blueski), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 09:09 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought Scooter's Sheffield Dave was actually from Sheffield and was pretending to sound very German indeed as some kind of art joke.

("Younger" here = "until last month")

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 09:19 (twenty-three years ago)

i thought "van" was jim morrison's cool nickname.

I didn't know that "Van" was a first name. I thought "Van Morrison" was the guy's last name, like "Van Halen."

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 09:36 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought punk rockers listen to heavy metal, because that's what they did in American movies.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 09:39 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh I thought XTC was a metal band for years in my teens, because in a music lesson people had to name a band beginning with every letter and Ian W1lliams who was the class metalhead said them.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 09:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, I believed the electric guitar sounds on records came from bass guitars, because I thought all guitars sound like acoustic ones.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 09:43 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought "Van Morrison" was the guy's last name, like "Van Halen."
Eddie Van Morrison...
rock god with a soul full of anguish
and this is the story
Behind the Music...

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 12:13 (twenty-three years ago)

When I was really young I had a brief spell as a Kiss-fan and there were definitely some crazy stories going about the band among us boys. Like Peter Criss was the fastest drummer in the world, with about 100 hits a minute.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 12:15 (twenty-three years ago)

I didn't know that "Van" was a first name. I thought "Van Morrison" was the guy's last name, like "Van Halen."

I thought the same thing, but about the pianist Van Cliburn.

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 14:33 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to call REM 'rem'.

― ss, Tuesday, 13 May 2003 14:49 (twenty-three years ago)

"Fast" music = cool
"Slow" music = rubbish

Saxophones in rock songs = cool

Leather=cool

Sci-fi videos=cool

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 14:51 (twenty-three years ago)

wait, i thought this was a mistaken beliefs thread.

― brian badword (badwords), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 14:54 (twenty-three years ago)

*rimshot*

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 14:56 (twenty-three years ago)

When I bought my first issue of Melody Maker somewhere around age 15, I thought the "indie" chart referred to bands that were popular in India.

― John Hunter, Tuesday, 13 May 2003 14:58 (twenty-three years ago)

It used to puzzle me that the singer from the Rolling Stones was always referred to by his last name, McJagger.

― slutsky (slutsky), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 15:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Did anyone else hear this one? It was a popular story in 5th grade:

There was a grossest man in the world contest and Alice Cooper took a S-H-I-T on stage and said, "I'm the grossest man in the world!"

Then Gene Simmons came out and ate it.

(It wasn't until 15 years later that I would hear about GG Allin.)

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 16:35 (twenty-three years ago)

Too many...far too many. Here's one: that (band x) is better than (band y) because they've been doing it longer and are for real(whatever that means). In some a review I wrote in high school I explained this is why Soungarden is better than Bush. They might be, but that's not why.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 16:45 (twenty-three years ago)

< MISTAKEN BELIEF >Exactly...Bush sucks because they're British. And Brits should stick to Pop 'cuz they sure can't rock.< MISTAKEN BELIEF >
(*ducks and runs away being pelted by irate Robbie Williams fans*)

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 17:51 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, I knew this girl who thought music was recorded live in the studio, incl. vocals, she had no idea about overdubs or anything. Even Madonna. When I told her how it actually works she renounced music.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 18:07 (twenty-three years ago)

OMG! Is *That* the true story of Tanya Headon?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 18:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought all the songs on the radio were 30 min. long.

― goodnight gracie, Tuesday, 13 May 2003 19:20 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to call REM 'rem'.

This reminds me of a story I once heard Robert Forster tell about his parents calling R.E.M. "Rem"..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Tuesday, 13 May 2003 22:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I was a font of misinformation when I was little. Witness the shitness below...

Back when I was twelve I thought:

a Bass Guitar was just a normal guitar with the strings from an Upright Bass (the Cello-like monster that Jazzbos dig so much) strung onto it.
Drumsticks had little microphones in the tips.
Boy George was a Shemale
Lou Reed wore shades because -- like Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and Ronnie Milsap -- he was as blind as a stone and must've had really ugly cataract clouded eyeballs.
Frank Sinatra ran the mob.
That Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" was a cover of the version by the Sex Pistols.
That Sid Vicious co-wrote the pistols songs with Johnny Rotten.
That Mick Jagger was dead.
Prince was reaallly, realllly tall.

later on, I mistakenly believed that

Robert Smith was very skinny and wore really baggy clothes.
I suspected that Richard Butler was David Bowie's son.
and I didn't know that Aerosmith wrote "Walk This Way", I just thought that Run DMC were fans and wanted to hire an out-of-it 70s metal band to sing the choruses on their song.

Sad, No?

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 01:33 (twenty-three years ago)

When I was quite young I really really liked Blondie's "Heart of Glass" but didn't hear it that often. It got played on the radio and I was too slow to tape it off the radio and I cried and cried because I was convinced I'd never get to hear it again..

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 02:16 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought INXS was pronounced "Inks".

I thought Jimmy Somerville did the low vocal on "Don't Leave Me This Way" and the girl did the high one.

I thought Chris de Burgh was a poet of some reknown.

I've since thought better.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 02:24 (twenty-three years ago)

I was a country fan as a youngun, and I remember listening to a song called "Papa Loved Mama" by Garth Brooks, and my dad explained that the song was about the narrator's dad killing the narrator's mom after finding out she was cheating on him and subsequently going to jail. I remarked that Garth must have had a rough time growing up. Dad had to explain to me that songs aren't always based on true stories, and that songs aren't always written by the person singing them.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 03:57 (twenty-three years ago)

Did anyone else hear this one? It was a popular story in 5th grade:
There was a grossest man in the world contest and Alice Cooper took a S-H-I-T on stage and said, "I'm the grossest man in the world!"

Then Gene Simmons came out and ate it.

It's a common urban legend, also told of Frank Zappa. See here.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 06:18 (twenty-three years ago)

My biggest mistake as a youngster: Around 1984, I did actually like hip-hop.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 11:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Drumsticks had little microphones in the tips.

Ya mean they don't?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 14:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought that Blondie were French, on the basis of 'Denis'.

― cis (cis), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 14:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Similarly, I initially thought the Police were French, given their first few album titles, and Sting's bizarre Franco-Jamaican accent.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 18:18 (twenty-three years ago)

and I didn't know that Aerosmith wrote "Walk This Way", I just thought that Run DMC were fans and wanted to hire an out-of-it 70s metal band to sing the choruses on their song.

I'm guilty of this one too.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 18:29 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought that a garage band ment that the band must have recorded in a garage, altho its not necessarily untrue.
eeeeh and i thought Michael Jeckson was woman! scary. altho i was only 4 years of age hehe.

― rexJr., Wednesday, 14 May 2003 18:54 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought an electric guitar made noise when you applied pressure to a string with the pick.

― Sam J. (samjeff), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 19:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Has someone hacked Geir's account?

― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 19:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought album was pronounced "Alblum"

― bklynbee, Wednesday, 14 May 2003 19:42 (twenty-three years ago)

(clool, ol wlat?)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 19:50 (twenty-three years ago)

vlery clool.

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 21:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh...here's another one:
Up until 6 months ago, I thought it was Barry White who did the voice of Chef on South Park. (I think it's an honest mistake...Chef looks more like Barry than he does like Isaac.)

― Lord Custos Epsilon (Lord Custos Epsilon), Wednesday, 14 May 2003 21:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to think that an electrical current ran through the strings on electric guitars, and when the electric "got stopped", that's how they knew that it made a sound.

By the way, life would be FAR cooler if this was ACTUALLY how guitars worked.

― Johnney B (Johnney B), Thursday, 15 May 2003 09:02 (twenty-three years ago)

I used to think the 'She's Leaving Home' by the Beatles was really sad because she like, might get run over or something being away from her parents.

funniest thread *ever* btw

― Zora (Zora), Thursday, 15 May 2003 19:34 (twenty-three years ago)

When I bought my first album, Kiss' "Love Gun," I was very disappointed to come home and find that I didn't recognize any of the songs on it -- I thought it would have some of the stuff from "Destroyer" or "Alive", etc. on it.

I thought Paul Stanley and/or Ace Frehley might possibly have been women.

I thought the scream on "Love Rollercoaster" was a woman being killed in the park where the song was recorded. I since realized that the song was not actually recorded at an amusement park, and that no females were harmed during its recording.

The first time I heard Bruce Springsteen (my brother in the room next door playing "The River"), I thought it was a new Kiss album, with Peter Criss singing.

Yes, I was a wee bit obsessed with Kiss.

― Baked Bean Teeth (Baked Bean Teeth), Thursday, 15 May 2003 20:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, I was a wee bit obsessed with Kiss.

Nothing wrong with that.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 15 May 2003 20:27 (twenty-three years ago)

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