The most interesting pieces of pop music trivia that you know (that are 100% false)

Rapper and political activist 50 Cent has come out with heaters blazing against Colonel Oliver North for his alleged role in the tangled Iran Contra scandal. In an interview in the latest issue of Vibe, 50 had this to say about the sordid ordeal:

"These government n****s like this mofo Oliver North cat are fronting like they all heroic and sh*t with this guns for hostages bullsh*t, but the truth is that they causing all kinds of problems in Nicaragua and the Mid-East -- all praises be and all that sh*t, nahmsaying? It's like, yeah, they saving like 10 people, hostages, you know-- from the US of A!-- nahmsaying, but it's like, there's about 5,000 people dying in Nicaragua during all this. On top of all that, you know, they violating UN sanctions."

50 Cent went on to perform what some political commentators are calling a "verbal drive-by" on President Ronald Reagan, who he described in unequivocal terms as a "braindead Alzheimer's-having motherf***er."

Jason Farmer, a spokesperson from 50's record label Interscope had not read the interview at press time, but didn't believe that the rapper's inflammatory comments would have an effect on album sales. Of course, some beg to differ: the Republican Party, which has traditionally embraced the pro-gun and pro-money sentiments championed in 50's Billboard topping record Get Rich or Die Tryin', is now in the process of organizing a nationwide boycott of the album.

381. Lil' Jon is terribly, terribly agoraphobic.

382. Johnny Cash? Gay as a circus.

383. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan had an enormous collection of pogo sticks, most of which had names.

384. The Beatles "Dr Robert" was actually written as an homage to John Lennon's childhood pet, Doctor Rabbit.

385. Morrissey wrote "Frankly Mr Shankly" not as a dig at Geoff Travis, but in fact as a slight directed at Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, Morrissey always having been more of a Newcastle United man himself.

386. When Ozzy left, the other members of Black Sabbath were really after Elton John to take his place. Though he was never officially a member, it was in fact he who wrote and sang "Sign of the Southern Cross," though it's always been credited to Ronnie James Dio.

387. Neil Young can ball, man. Neil Young got game.

388. Bone Crusher often cites shakuhachi player Kohachiro Miyata as "a major influence of mine, you know?"

395. Spandau Ballet actually began as a four-piece outfit minus Tony Hadley. They were known as The Kemps and played Phil Spector-influenced '60s-style pop in small clubs in Utrecht. They only decided to change musical direction after seeing the glam-rock Japan on German TV in 1979 and listening to a copy of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures Gary Kemp picked up from an outdoor music stall. They were inspired to move back to London, where they met Hadley at a Curtis Mayfield concert and subsequently formed the "classic" Spandau Ballet lineup.

396. David Bowie had a short-lived love affair with Visage's Steve Strange. It was kept quiet not because Strange didn't want the public to know but because Bowie thought of it more as a fling and only really slept with Strange to get close to Strange's then-friend Midge Ure, whom Bowie had a crush on. Ure, however, was an asexual who didn't want to get involved in relationships with anyone. This was Bowie's secret shame and a large part of why he suddenly decided to embrace heterosexuality, and why he didn't want anything to be said about the Strange affair.

397. Japan didn't break up because of Mick Karn's girlfriend, as the fans think. Japan broke up because they had grown tired with the secret they had been hiding -- that Rob Dean went missing, a la Richey from the Manic Street Preachers, sometime in early 1982. The band didn't want their fans to know about this, though, so they'd been quietly searching for Dean as Tin Drum became successful and they toured in support of the album. The burnout was what made Japan break up. Even now, Steve Jansen, Richard Barbieri, and Mick Karn each try to scour the whole of Western Europe in search of Dean. (David Sylvian's too busy in America to help out, though he does give financially to the cause.)

ps - i heard that the pixies reunited, isn't that greattt?!?! whoa!

404. Calvin Broadus wanted to call himself Snoop Doggy Cat, but was overruled.

405. By the same token, Sean Combs first (short lived) stage name was actually Yanoush Pohar and his Exciting Member!