They claim that music is a universal language. It’s true, and they’re likely to be right. In all reality, who does not love an amazing song that has you tapping your foot? (If you believe in the plot from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, even aliens do!) As often as you love music and music theory in all its forms — and even if you think you know all about your top artists and songs–there are many more opportunities to be completely awed.
Are you skeptical? Check out the rest of this article. We’ve put together 40 completely rocking facts and trivia that will blow a music lover’s mind.
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Facts About Music
1 Musician Live a Shorter Time The General Population
A study carried out by the University of Sydney professor, entitled “Stairway To H*ll Death and Life on the Pop Music Industry,” studied how many deaths of performers occurred between 1950 to June 2014. The study focused specifically on longevity and the percentage of suicides, murders, and accidental deaths.
The length of time was calculated by formulating the average age of death for each musician based on the sex they were born in and the decade at the time of their death. The averages were then contrasted with the averages for sex and decade for the overall U.S. population. The outcomes? Musicians’ lives are cut by 25 years.
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2. In 2016 Mozart sold more CDs than Beyonce
Mozart sold the most albums in the year 2016, surpassing Adele, Drake, and Beyonce despite having Grammy-winning songs that year.
How did an 18th-century composer make more money than the biggest names in pop music? In October of 2016 The Universal Music Group released a box set that commemorated the anniversary of Mozart’s death on the 225th day of his death. The discs in the set were counted as a single CD that was sold, and each set contained 200 discs. Add in the rise of streaming, which has greatly slowed CD sales–and voilà!. Also, the box set itself slid off shelves. At the time of time, there are only four left available on Amazon ($686).
3. Singing with a group Boosts Mood
Many research studies are being conducted to demonstrate that singing as a member of a group offers multiple physical and psychological advantages. Researchers have found that singing can be soothing and can boost the Mood and spirits of people. When you sing along with your friends, the body releases a feeling-good hormone, such as oxytocin, and reduces stress-causing hormones like cortisol.
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4. Some People Feel No Feelings Toward Music
Based on the results of a study conducted by the University of Barcelona, 5 percent of the participants didn’t feel any emotion at all–didn’t feel the slightest chill or even want to tap their feet when listening to music. Before you call the subjects of your study people who are monsters, remember that they’re normal in all other aspects: they were able to enjoy other things like food and sexual activities and didn’t have any other psychological problems that could be seen. They were healthy, happy college students who naturally didn’t like any music.
5. Listening to Music Improves Physical Performance
Research has repeatedly demonstrated that synchronization of music and exercises enhances physical performance and helps people train for longer periods of time and perform more effectively. One study found that those who exercised to music could use seven percent less oxygen than cycling in the an asynchronous background (asynchronous) background music. Music, in other words, gives us temporal signals that can help you make better use of energy in the body.
6. Rod Stewart hosted the Largest Ever Free Concert
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Several free concerts are claimed to attract an audience in the millions (or more) however, such figures are usually exaggerated. But, as per Guinness World Records the 1992 New Year’s Day show at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, remains the largest free event ever held. An estimated 4.2 million attendees attended the concert. The second largest free concert was Jean-Michel-Jarre’s September 6, 1997, concert on the University of Moscow, which was reported to have an audience to be 3.5 million.
7. “Wanna Be” by The Spice Girls is the most memorable Track of All Time
The year was 2014 when a team made up of scientists from The Museum of Science and Industry in England published an online test known as “Hooked On music .” It featured a thousand pop songs’ quips that go back to the 1940s and asked 12,000 people to recognize songs as quickly as possible. They discovered it was “Wannabe” from The Spice Girls was the most memorable song, with people capable of recognizing it within 2.3 seconds, which is far below the 5-second threshold of recognizing other popular songs.
8. Finland is the country with the most metal bands per Capita
Perhaps head-banging can be a great method to stay warm. According to a Reddit user who has created an image using information from Encyclopedia Metallum’s collection for metal band members, Finland is home to the highest number of bands from this type globally, with 53.5 music groups per 100. The second spot was shared by the two Nordic countries, Sweden and Norway (27.2), and Iceland took third place (22.7). While heavy metal music began in two countries, the United States and the United Kingdom however, their figures for these states included 5.5 and 5.2 and 5.2, respectively.
9. An Astronaut released an album that contains all the songs recorded in Space
In 2015 in 2015, a Canadian spaceman called Chris Hadfield released his first album that was recorded while in Space. In addition to being one of the first Canadians to step into Space as well, but he’s also an accomplished musician who went viral after the version of Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” Hadfield spent over 144 days in Space Station International Space Station recording his eleven original songs for the appropriately-titled collection, Space Sessions Songs for Tin Cans. Tin Can.
10.The British Navy Uses Britney Spears Songs to scare off Pirates
British Navy officers are known to play Britney Spears’s songs to frighten away Somali pirates who are threatening Africa’s east coast. She hits “Oops You Did It Once More” as well as “Baby A Second Time” are the two songs that are being played. The reasoning behind using these songs is that it is believed that Somali pirates are known to have a deep dislike of western culture and music. This makes Britney Spears’ music perfect for Somali pirates. The perfect option to help the bandits go as fast as they can.
11. “Jingle Bells” was originally an American Thanksgiving Song
“Jingle Bells” is a holiday classic; however, it wasn’t written this way. It was written by James Lord Pierpont and published in 1857, it was meant to be sung at Thanksgiving. The song’s original title used to be “One open Sleigh for Horses” The title was later altered to “Jingle Bells or the One Horse Open Sleigh” when it was published in 1859. There’s a memorial on the wall in Medford, Massachusetts, at the former location of a pub, where the song was believed to have been composed in the area in which it was a time when Sleigh races were extremely popular.
12. Barry Manilow didn’t write “I Sing the Songs.”
“I write the songs” was famousized by Barry Manilow, but he did not compose it. The song was composed by Bruce Johnston in 1975. The song was originally made by The Captain & Tennille on their album 1975 “Love Will Hold Us Together.” The first release of this single was made by the teen idol David Cassidy in his 1975 album “The Higher They Climb.” In the same time, Manilow made his own version available on the album trying to find the Feeling, and it made it to at the very top of Billboard music charts in the early part of 1976.
13. Music can alter your perception of the World
A study in 2011 by the University of Groningen showed that music doesn’t just impact Mood, but also has a more profound impact upon impressions. Subjects tested were influenced by musical compositions they heard and based on their images. Participants were required to listen to music and recognize smiling faces. Smiley faces that corresponded to the music were identified more precisely. Even in the absence of a smiley face displayed, the participants believed they could recognize a smile while listening to music that was happy as well as a sad face when listening to sad music.
14. Music Aids Plants to Grow Faster
A study carried out by South Korean scientists from the National Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology discovered that plants grow more quickly as music plays in their vicinity. The study utilized 14 classical pieces which included Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” in the fields of rice. Results showed that the music helped crops grow at a more rapid rate, and also pointed to the fact that plants possess genes that enable their plants “hear.”
15. None of the Beatles Could Read or Write Music
There was speculation for a long time, and then Paul McCartney finally admitted during the 2018 60 minutes interview that he and none of his Beatles groupmates could write music or read it as well as they were unable to comprehend the music theory. McCartney claimed that the music was a natural flow to him and the band members John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison, and it wasn’t recorded. It is evident that knowledge doesn’t necessarily lead to success.
16. The Most Expensive Musical Instrument It was sold for $15.9 Million
In the last couple of decades, demand in fine Italian string instruments, specifically violins, violas, and cellos, has been hitting the highest levels… on value. In 2011 The “Lady Blunt” Stradivarius violin sold for the world-record $15.9 million and was four times higher than the previous record set by auctions for an Stradivarius. Industry experts estimate the returns on Stradivarius and Guarneri del Gesu violins at between 10 and 12 percent per year, which is a good thing for anyone’s ears.
17. Metallica is the first and only band to have performed on every continent.
In 2013, the rock group Metallica earned a New Guinness World Records title, becoming the first group to perform a concert across all seven continents. They achieved this record following playing for 120 scientists and competitors in a glass roof in the Carlini Station in Antarctica. The band performed across all seven continents in one calendar year. They also performed concerts across North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
18. The “Happy Birthday” Song is a plethora of Royalties
In 1893, in 1893, the Hill sisters needed a song they could use in their Kindergarten class at birthdays. Nowadays, “Happy Birthday” is the highest-grossing ever recorded song. The ownership of the song had changed hands several times over the last 100 years. However, the the music-holding company Warner Chappell bought the rights for $15 million in the year 1990 and has been holding them ever since. Today, the song earns 2 million dollars annually in royalties, amounting up to $5,000 per day. Another interesting fact: the song is priced at $25,000 to be used in a TV or movie show.
19. Musical Education and Education in the Classroom Leads to Higher Test Scores
Students who have had experience in musical performance or who have taken music appreciation classes are more successful in their SAT. A study found that they scored, on average, 63 points better on the verbal test and 44 points more in math. Music students are also more likely to have higher self-confidence, are cautious risk-takers, excellent team players, have improved cooperation, tend to be more imaginative and emotionally mature and possess a positive feeling of accomplishment.
20. Listening to music uses the entire brain
In 2011, Finnish researchers developed an innovative method to investigate ways that the brain processes various elements of the music that include tonality, rhythm, and the timbre (sound color) in a live listening scenario. The research was groundbreaking in that it revealed previously for the very first time that vast brain networks that are responsible for emotional responses, motor activities and creativity are activated when playing music. This method has helped comprehend the intricate dynamics of the brain as well as the numerous ways that music can affect
