Golden Earring earned their first number one hit in the Netherlands with the pop song "Dong Dong Diki Diki Dong" in 1968.

The title of Menomena's record I Am The Fun Blame Monster is an anagram of "The first Menomena album".

C.W. McCall = Mannheim Steamroller (well, more or less)

For a while, Slint were looking for a female vocalist. They put a notice of it in the cd liner notes. It wasn't until months later, after the band broke up, that they discovered in their stack of fan mail a submission from a girl named Polly Jean Harvey.

"Convoy"?

Right. There were two guys behind the fictional "C.W. McCall" character, one of whom went on to become the founder and main guy in Mannheim Steamroller. I'm sure our own Malachi could elaborate even further, as this was an Omaha phenomenon.

yikes.

Here's what's under the Wikipedia listing for C.W. McCall:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.W._McCall

Washington Post wrote this up a few years ago. They were radio guys who created the McCall character for a jingle, who turned out to be wildly successful. At the same time, the main guy was trying to figure out how to perform, produce and promote public domain songs that he could peddle himself, so that he could take all the cash and not have to worry about royalty checks.

My favorite part was that in the heyday of McCall, they would go on tour, with Mannheim Steamroller as the opening act. The two guys would come out in tuxes, play all the Steamroller songs, then go backstage and change into trucker/cowboy get-ups for the McCall set.

It's a shame the Mannheim dude makes such wuss-ass music because he's a very sharp businessman who controls every aspect of the group's (his) career, from writing and recording to marketing, distribution, booking, etc. His profit margin is vastly higher than most artists, though the sweat equity involved is fairly high.

At least that's how it's seemed the couple times I've talked on the phone to him and whenever he sends promotional material to the station.

The band James were named after James Kirk, the Orange Juice guitarist (not the USS Enterprise captain).

Some members of James had toured with Orange Juice earlier in their careers and were so impressed by the oddball/brainiac guitarist they borrowed his Christian name for their new band.