# Myths that form about songs and bands / band members **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [February 11, 2025, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173 "2025-02-11T16:37:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2025, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/261 "2025-03-31T07:35:19Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Plus, he kept falling asleep every few seconds while composing his lullaby. Well he famously _did_ fall asleep while **Liszt** played his famous piano sonata, much to the latter’s furor. These two were not too fond of each other. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2025, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/262 "2025-03-31T18:53:16Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > [@Tibby](#): > > > > Some folks claimed **Beethoven** was Black. But German records, which track his lineage in detail, show no evidence of African ancestry. > > For a White guy, he sure could swing… Seriously though, the scherzo from Ludwig B’s Piano Sonata #18 has always struck me as almost presaging boogie woogie. I could never play it without wanting to swing with it a little. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/263 "2025-03-31T20:06:06Z")
I’m all about boogie woogie—it’s my go-to when I sit down at the keyboard. Here’s [Jörg Hegemann](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prsZcOdgCu8), a German pianist who trained in the classical tradition but made the switch to boogie—and it tells! He plays with the precision and polish of a concert hall virtuoso but brings the chops and groove of a smoky blues bar player. It’s as though Beethoven came back from the dead and decided to start playing honky-tonk in a Berlin jazz club. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/264 "2025-04-02T17:39:53Z")
> [@Moonrise](#): > > Well he famously _did_ fall asleep while **Liszt** played his famous piano sonata, much to the latter’s furor. These two were not too fond of each other. well, to Liszt’s defense: Brahms couln’t stay awake to “Sweet Home Alabama”, either … so there is that. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/265 "2025-04-02T23:14:04Z")
May as well leave this here… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Nc76XcVUObY/hqdefault.jpg "Neil Innes - Blue Suede Schubert - Innes Book of Records") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc76XcVUObY) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/266 "2025-04-05T01:51:33Z")
Béla Bartók’s “Allegro Barbaro” is a metal headbanger. A natural choice for Emerson Lake & Palmer. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q3NQvDTpbqw/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AH-BIAC4AOKAgwIABABGGUgZShlMA8=&rs=AOn4CLB0FdZhpn7UAAg93cQLDeS8CkKlFg "Allegro Barbaro (Sz.49) - Béla Bartók") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3NQvDTpbqw) ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/267 "2025-04-05T03:08:16Z")
Big ELP fan here. Keith Emerson didn’t just play the keys—he attacked them. The guy had perfect pitch and a fearless style that fused classical precision with pure rock fury. Mostly self-taught (no fancy conservatory like Juilliard for this guy), but he was an obsessive student of music, diving deep into Bach, Bartók, Prokofiev, Ginastera, and others. I especially loved when he went wild on the Hammond B3 + Leslie cabinet—what a fat sound! (I had the pleasure of playing that rig in HS jazz band—alas, not nearly as good as Emerson). And his Moog? Keith made it scream like a banshee. Some of ELP’s most unforgettable classical spins include: - Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition - Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man - Bartók’s Allegro Barbaro - Ginastera’s Toccata - And Holst’s “Mars” from The Planets—Emerson had a thing for that one Keith left us way too soon. A brilliant mind, an explosive performer, a true original. He didn’t just play music—he detonated it. Rick Wakeman (solo and with YES) is another great progressive rock keyboardist with classical chops. Great sense of humor, too—check out some of his pod casts. ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/268 "2025-04-06T08:06:17Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > Béla Bartók’s “Allegro Barbaro” is a metal headbanger. A natural choice for Emerson Lake & Palmer. When you mentioned **Bartók** , I thought you were going to link to this : [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJb3T2f8hkQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJb3T2f8hkQ) I don’t know whether ELP covered it but the first movement is as metal as it gets (on a piano). ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/269 "2025-04-06T08:42:48Z")
If you want a Romantic era metal headbanger, try Liszt’s _[Totentanz](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGBXA1tBiLw)_. It takes the grim Dies Irae and turns it into a gothic shred-fest. One second you’re tiptoeing past coffins under torchlight, the next you’re ripping through the abyss on a fire-breathing nightmare horse. It would make Ozzie Osbourne proud. 💀😈 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2025, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/270 "2025-04-06T11:35:36Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > > > Wasn’t there once a radio station that had “Stairway to Heaven” on continuous play? > > WKRL in Tampa, FL switched to an all-Led Zeppelin format for a few weeks in 1990. They led off with 24 straight hours of “Stairway”. > > [Thunder carves slice of the airwaves](https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1995/12/09/thunder-carves-slice-of-the-airwaves/) Led Zeppelin did another song _besides_ “Stairway to Heaven”? Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2025, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173/271 "2025-04-12T07:24:30Z")
Not Watt? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/myths-that-form-about-songs-and-bands-band-members/1014173.md?page=13)