#200
Number of chairs broke at one of the final Billy Joel concerts in Russia in 1987 when fans went wild and danced on them. The audience in at least the first of six Moscow shows was filled with members of the Communist Party, who received tickets from the government as a perk. Most of that audience took a long while to warm up to Joel's energetic show, something that never had happened in other countries he had performed in. As a result of that, a minor international incident occurred when he famously flipped over an electric keyboard during the second Moscow show as a show of frustration that the lighting engineers would not turn down the house lights. The lighting engineers were more concerned with the amount of light being adequate for filming, as a documentary film crew was filming the concert. According to Joel, each time the fans were hit with the bright lights, anybody who seemed to be enjoying themselves froze. In addition, people who were "overreacting" were removed by security.
#199
Number of days Lenny Kravitz and Nicole Kidman dated in 2003, coming pretty close to getting married – rumor has it that they were engaged and went house-hunting in Manhattan -- but they broke up at the end of the year. Whatever the rumors about a possible engagement, Kravitz has confirmed that his song Lady is definitely about his time with Kidman.
#198
Number of days between the Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and The Margarita” appeared in a Moscow publication for the first time and the recording of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Sympathy For The Devil.’ Mick Jagger states that the lyrics of the song were inspired by the Bulgakov book. ‘The Master and The Margarita’ tells the story of a visit by the Devil to the fervently atheistic Soviet Union. Many critics consider the book to be one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, as well as one of the foremost Soviet satires.
#197
Cost of tuition and room ($197,000) for a four-year college education from Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. This is the college attended by Donald Fagen and Walter Becker and is the focal point of Steely Dan’s 1973 hit, My Old School. In an interview, Fagan revealed a raid by sheriff's deputies on Halloween 1967. Fagen, his girlfriend, Steely Dan bandmate Walter Becker, and some 50 other students were arrested. Charges were dropped, but the harassment was the origin of the grudge alluded to in "My Old School". Fagen was reportedly so upset with the school being complicit with the arrests that he refused to attend graduation.
#196
What Steve Miller paid (including tax) for the synthesizer used on Fly Like an Eagle. In order to get the sound he was looking for, he deliberately went for the “trashiest synthesizer in the store.”
#195
Number of days following the death of Kurt Cobain that Dave Grohl went into a studio in Richmond Beach, north of Seattle, to record the first Foo Fighters album.
#194
Length (in feet) of the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago, from which Dave Matthews’ tour bus dumped 800 pounds of human waste onto 120 passengers looking skyward from the upper deck of a sightseeing boat passing directly beneath the bridge in 2004.
#193
Number of pounds shed by John Popper of Blues Traveler following gastric bypass surgery in 2000. (He went from 420 pounds to 226.)
#192
Number pages in the book ‘Automatic Y'All: Wever D's Guide to the Soul’, written by Dexter Weaver, the owner of Weaver D’s Delicious Fine Foods in Athens, Georgia. The slogan on the sign in front of the place reads, ‘Automatic for the People,’ which is where R.E.M. got the title for their eighth album.
#191
Distance in miles of the British Formula 1 race. It was the BBC’s coverage of Formula One in which they used Fleetwood Mac's song “The Chain” as its theme. The ending bass line is one of the most recognizable in the world due to the BBC using it as the theme.
#190
Price of a ticket (not including city tax) to see the Talking Heads at the KISW catch a rising star show Friday, September 8, 1978 at the Paramount.
#189
Number of weeks Gregg Allman was married to Cher. (They were married in 1975, separated after nine days, reconciled, separated again and the divorce was final in 1979.)
#188
Height, in meters, of Solsbury Hill, which rises above the River Avon near Bath, England, the home of Peter Gabriel, who had a spiritual experience atop the hill and wrote the song "Solsbury Hill" following his departure from the band Genesis.
#187
Number of years Alabama has been an official state of the US. It was in this state in 1969 where the initial inspiration for Neil Young’s Southern Man song came from – though it is still very much debated. That being said, it is commonly believed to have stemmed from an incident in a roadhouse in Alabama while Young was having a drink. Two local men came up to him, took him outside, and beat him up because he had long hair.
#186
Amount in millions ($1.86 million) that the northern-California Broken Arrow Ranch, which Neil Young purchased in 1970 would’ve cost if he purchased it today – taking into account inflation/cost of living. In 1970, he purchased the ranch for $350,000. Neil Young stated that at the time there was a couple living on the ranch who were the caretakers, an old gentleman named Louis Avala and his wife Clara. One afternoon, Louis took Neil for a ride in his Jeep and asked him, “Well, tell me, how does a young man like yourself have enough money to buy a place like this?" And Neil said, "Well, just lucky, Louie, just real lucky." Louie responded, "Well, that's the darndest thing I ever heard." Neil Young then decided to write a song for him. That song? Old Man.
#185
Number of Stevie Ray Vaughan “Lenny” Stratocaster guitars reproduced and offered for sale in the United States in a limited edition by the Fender Custom Shop as part of Fender’s Tribute Series of guitars and made available exclusively through Guitar Center. “Lenny” was the nickname Vaughan gave his guitar. It was also the nickname of his wife, Lenora. Stevie Ray Vaughan wrote his ode to his wife in 1982. By the way, Guitar Center stores throughout the United States will introduce the guitar on Dec. 12, 2007, and will offer them to customers for $17,000.
#184
Number of days Billy Joel played solo piano as the musical entertainment at the Executive Club in Los Angeles in 1972. His experiences there led to The Piano Man.
#183
Number of days between the time Harry Nilsson recorded his rendition of Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers To Cross” and John Lennon – being so moved by the flow and production of Nilsson’s cover – recorded a song around it. # 9 Dream was the result of this process. The arrangement forms the vocal melody during the verse. This was all done during Lennon & Nilsson’s “Lost Weekend.”
#182
Height (in meters) of One Tree Hill, the volcanic peak in Auckland, New Zealand that inspired the U2 song.
#181
Difference in time (181 seconds – 3 minutes, 1 second) between Led Zeppelin’s 1979 hit “Fool In The Rain” and Genesis’ 1980 hit “Misunderstanding” – which both tell the story of a man waiting in the rain for the woman to show up. The difference is that Zeppelin’s man is on the wrong corner while he waits and the Genesis’ man is being stood up because his lady is with someone else. Both songs were massive hits for both bands.
#180
Normal seating capacity of a Boeing 720B passenger jet, one of which was modified to accommodate just 40 passengers in decadent luxury and christened The Starship by Led Zeppelin when they used it to tour between 1973 and 1975. (The main cabin contained seats and tables, revolving arm chairs, a 30-foot long couch running along the right hand side of the plane opposite the bar, a television set and video cassette player; an electronic organ was built into the bar. At the rear of the plane were two back rooms, one a den with a low couch and pillows on the floor, the other a bedroom, complete with a white fur bedspread and shower room. The Starship was even staffed by two stewardesses, Susie, an attractive eighteen-year old blonde, and Bianca, a twenty-two year old with a dark complexion and a sense of humor.)
#179
Number of months between Jackie Wilson’s song “Reet Petite” and Van Morrison’s song “Jackie Wilson Said” which features the line “Jackie wilson said it was "reet-petite."
#178
While many theories surround the origin of the “Rebel Yell,” 178 refers to the number of pages in the 1986 James Hill book where he states and supports the Rebel Yell being of Celtic. The first United States census in 1790 revealed a well defined ethnic division between the Northern and Southern states. In new England 75 percent of the people were Anglo-Saxons in origin, while Celts outnumbered Anglo-Saxons in the South two to one." "A decade before the American Civil War the South - from Virginia to Texas was probably three-quarters Celtic." The rebel yell (sometimes called the pibroch of the Confederacy) was a battle cry used by Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War.
#177
Number of days Lowell George was a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention before Zappa fired him. There are three legends about the genesis of Little Feat. One has it that George showed Frank Zappa his song "Willin'", and that Zappa fired him from The Mothers, because he felt that George was too talented to merely be a member of his band, and told him he ought to go away and form his own band. The second version has Zappa firing him for playing a 15 minute guitar solo - with his amplifier off. According to George's recollection, he was kicked out of Zappa's group after proposing the song "Willin'," ostensibly because it was about drugs.
#176
Cost of a pack of cigarettes and two Mrs. Wagner’s Pies in 1968. Mrs. Wagner’s Pies were single-serving pies sold on the East coast until 1969, often along side candy and cigarettes. They were a handy snack to carry along on a bus ride or a car trip, like the narrator of Simon & Garfunkel’s song America. (So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner's pies And we walked off to look for America).
