What Wild Fact — Like How Jerry Lee Lewis Married His 13-Year-Old Cousin — Do You Know About Classic Rock Stars?
Wait, which rocker almost dosed President Nixon with acid?!
As this recent "facts" post proved, Old Hollywood and its stars were absolutely wild.
But you know what else was totally wild? The classic rock era and its rock stars. So I thought I’d ask the BuzzFeed readers: What's the coolest, wildest, or even the most bizarre fact you know about the classic rock era (which, for the sake of this post, let’s call 1955–1989)?
Maybe your crazy fact is that Jerry Lee Lewis (the high-energy pianist/singer behind "Great Balls of Fire") had his career derailed when it was discovered that he was married to his 13-year-old third cousin.
Also jaw dropping? The marriage was the 22-year-old singer's third marriage.
Or maybe you were shocked to learn that Canadian folk/rock legend Neil Young and American funk superstar Rick James were in a band together before they became famous for very different styles of music.
In the early '60s, James Johnson (later named Rick James) left America for Toronto, Canada to avoid having to serve in Vietnam. There, he met Neil Young and they played together in a band called The Myrnah Birds. The band even got signed to Motown Records and were about to release this single when Rick was arrested for going AWOL. That ended the Young/James partnership.
Perhaps you can't get over how Jefferson Airplane's lead singer Grace Slick — after being invited to the White House — went with some acid and a plan to dose President Nixon.
The president's daughter, Tricia, invited many of her fellow Finch College alums, including Grace, to a tea at the White House. So the "Somebody to Love" singer went with acid and a plan drop it into the president's drink. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), the secret service viewed her as a security risk and didn't let her anywhere near the president.
Or maybe you're in awe of the fact that the Beatles' Paul McCartney wrote "Yesterday" — the most-covered song in popular music history — literally in his sleep.
Paul woke one day with the melody in his head and went to the piano to find the chords. He then played it for everyone he came across for months to make sure he hadn't remembered some other song, but no one had heard it before. He had, indeed, written one of rock's most timeless songs in his sleep.
Now it's your turn. Know a cool, wild, or bizarre fact about classic rock and its musicians? Share it in the comments below and it could be featured in an upcoming BuzzFeed Community post or video!
