Odds and Ends in Music

1971: The phrase "Mr. Mojo risin'" is repeated as a chant in The Doors' song "L.A. Woman". The phrase can be anagrammed to spell "Jim Morrison", the group's frontman and songwriter.

1971: The fifth album by Sly & The Family Stone is released, titled There's A Riot Goin' On. The title is meant to be the answer to Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On". The label lists a track on the record called "There's A Riot Goin' On", but its running time is 0 minutes and 0 seconds long.

1979: Their very first single a chart-topper, The Knack encounter an unexpected backlash from struggling musicians and radio audiences sick of hearing "My Sharona". Artist Hugh Brown creates the "Knuke The Knack" movement, complete with pins, bumper stickers, and T-shirts. Imitation groups, with names such as "Igknore The Knack" soon crop up. Twenty years later, Hugh Brown is hired by the band to create the artwork for The Knack's CD compilation "Proof".

1988: In separate incidents on the same day, Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg assaults two Vietnamese men on the streets of Boston. The second man, Hoa Trinh, loses his eye in the attack. Wahlberg is arrested and later sentenced to two years in prison for his crime. He serves 45 days.

1990: Rapper Vanilla Ice adamantly denies accusations of sampling the David Bowie and Queen collaboration "Under Pressure" for his hit song "Ice Ice Baby". Despite the immediate and glaring similarities between the songs, Vanilla Ice protests when asked, saying "Theirs goes, 'Ding ding ding dingy ding-ding.' Ours goes, 'Ding ding ding ding dingy ding-ding.'"

1996: Coolio, fresh from the success of "Gangsta's Paradise", claims comedic musician "Weird Al" Yankovic was denied his permission to record a parody of the hit rap song. Yankovic's song, the featured track on his Bad Hair Day album, is called "Amish Paradise". Since the beginning of his career, "Weird Al" has taken great care to always receive the permissions of the original artists before releasing a parody, even if it means throwing out a finished song or rewriting it to new music. Coolio would later be faced with claims that "Gangsta's Paradise" was an unauthorized copy of Stevie Wonder's "Pasttime Paradise".