Unlikely Inspiration & Timely Luck that Made Greats

[SlimTrae]

There are quite a few stories of people who became famous by the weirdest luck. Songs, movies, tv shows.


Michael Jackson was working with Steve Porcaro of Toto on his Thriller album (strictly) as a keyboardist. Michael also wanted to hear some songs from the other keyboardist of David P, not Steve! Dave was the noted song writer of the 2.

Michael's producer Quincy Jones heard David wrote 2 songs & wanted them, so Dave who couldn't make it, asked Steve to send them. But he only had one cassette tape left (damn thats technology haha). And he had just recorded one song on it.

That was because he made the song in response to his daughter who got pushed down a slide at school by a boy the previous day. She asked her dad, Why did he do me that way?"
So dad, puzzled responded, well sometimes its just human nature.

It stuck with him and he put some chords down on piano & put it on cassette tape.
At that time Dave in another room asked Steve if he had an an extra cassette tape pronto! Quincy Jones wants to hear 2 songs I wrote.
So Steve decided to fast forward to the other side and put a label to make it look like David's 2 songs were on Side A.

Quincy got the tape listened and told Steve, he got busy with another project-while listening, but due to technology (cassettes had just gotten auto reverse capability) so it went on to play the other side, he heard it, Michael heard it.

And Human Nature was put on Thriller by accident of letting that tape play till the end. A song written based on an incident with his daughter at school, how cool is that?
WOW!

[SlimTrae]

Funk GOD George Clinton of Parliament last great hit was as a solo artist called Atomic Dog. It killed the charts, music, dance, billboard. The hypnotic base line was the 1st of its kind & came by accident!


George was late to the studio because he was getting high. As hell! When he got there, they were already rehearsing. As soon as he walked in he placed his headphones on, while they rewound the tape to the beginning. But because he was high out of his mind, he thought it was the song, so he pretended like he liked it, but because he couldnt figure out what key the song was in (because the shit was simply rewinding!) Rather than start singing he said he would adlib & talk the words until he could figure out what the hell key was the song in.

The engineers realizing he was high & didnt know the shit was rewinding, thought his monotone voice sounded cool. So when they got it to the beginning, they decided to overdub the bass line the way he heard it (backwards)
A man gets high he shows up late for work. Dont know what the fuck is going on...faking like he does and fell ass backwards into not just a hit; Atomic Dog became George's 1st & only #1 hit as a solo artist.
Damn, aint that some shit?





Because of that, 3 white guys totally enamored with that concept wrote a song playing the bass line/drum backwards known as Beastie Boys.

[SlimTrae]

1970s American Sitcom Sandford & Son was a fav of mines.
It wasn't until the passing of my favorite character Rollo that I learned of how he got the part and why he was rarely seen afterward. I thought it was because he was typecast, Truth was the guy didnt want to be an actor.

Rollo was the best friend of Lamonte Sanford aka dummy!, son of Fred Sanford, Mr. Redd Foxx.

Dig this!
Nathaniel Taylor built stages, set lights for actors! Vantile Whitfield who ran the theatre he worked at saw something in him and told Nathaniel there was an influx of parts for blacks on television and he knew of a casting coming up for comedian Red Foxx. After work he went to audition, but when he got there, they saw he had a utility belt on and said, finally the phone repair man is here!

because he knew how to do it, he did, which got him past all the people waiting for audition. before he walked out & saw the man running things he called him by name excuse me Mr. Aaron Ruben?
How U know my name?!
With his raspy ghetto voice & sly humor he said well 1st of all it says it on your desk! 2nd, I'd like to audition for Rolo, Rollo, whoever it is. So the producer said since he fixed the phone I'll do this for you. I will tell you where Redd is at right now, go and introduce yourself. See what he thinks of you.

When he got there Redd Fox was talking to legend Jerry Lewis. & before he got to their table Redd Fox blurted out; “What you looking for, sucker?”
Ghetto reflex made him respond, "What did you say?"

They had chemistry and the rest was history.



And here is the wildest part. When asked if he liked working on Sanford & Son he said it was the best. Always a great time...when Red Fox was there. Not the other guy.

yeah, Lamonte best friend Rollo were NOT cool at all with each other. But Fred G Sanford who always went off on Rollo- were actually great friends in life, go figure.

Most in America assumed at the time the show was the brainchild of famous Norman lear who had a flair for making shows about narrowminded men from Archie Bunker (All in the Family) to George Jefferson (The Jeffersons) so it was a moot question as to how Sanford & Son came to be.
Wrong!
Again I learned that it wasn't an original show. Rather it was a remake of some British Show in the 1960s called Steptoe & Son!
In fact they ripped the show off totally, Steptoe a broke old dude trying to get by.
Fred Sanford same.
Steptoe didnt want his son to leave. Same with Fred, only from what I read, steptoe & son had more dramatic episodes, while Sanford & son was solely about laughs.


Now I don't know if Steptoe & Son had a counterpart for Rollo, but if not, hope some may enjoy the best of Rollo above.
What blacks liked about Rollo was his raspy voice, cool ass demeanor. Wore the best clothes (of that era) LOL! He was authentic, nothing phony about him. In fact, because he never played parts before, he was just being himself.

When Foxx left, he didnt enjoy working with his onscreen friend Lamonte (Demon Wilson) but he did take his money to open a school for inner city youth interested in arts.
When he past at the age of 80, he was given a send off from Hollywood to the Hood!
We loved us some Rollo!!!

[Master]

Muhammad Ali bike was stolen as a kid and he went into a boxing gym to toughen himself up. That could have also been Carl Froch.

[SlimTrae]

Muhammad Ali bike was stolen as a kid and he went into a boxing gym to toughen himself up. That could have also been Carl Froch.

Just imagine had that kid not taken Ali's bike? Hard to envision boxing the way it is without the influence of the big mouth Louisville Lip!! Would HWs had been as mobile? Looking to counter? Would we use the term 'sweet science' as much as we do today?

How long would those hostages had remained in Iraq?



There would've been no Rumble in the Jungle-meaning closed circuit television wouldn't have come into play giving way to cable and PPV...which I could've done without that!

Would HW's have upped their average punch output to that of MWs?


Jesse Ventura's idol...would he have wanted to get into fighting/wrestling without him?


Boxing would've been fine without him, as there are so many greats. But they didnt shape boxing like that big mouth braggart.
WOW, a thief made all this possible, great analysis!!!

[SlimTrae]

WOW @Master. A thief stole Cassius clay's bike and in return gave us Muhammad Ali!!!

[Primo Carnera]

Muhammad Ali bike was stolen as a kid and he went into a boxing gym to toughen himself up. That could have also been Carl Froch.

Did Carl Froch have his bike nicked as well then? I haven’t heard that one before. I’m surprised he doesn’t tell everyone he would’ve won the Tour de France!

[walrus]

Lennon and McCartney meeting. Paul saw Lennon playing at a fair in Liverpool and were introduced by one of Johns friends. Paul was ten times the player John was at the time, I think Johns jealousy almost kept him away from Paul but he new the band. Needed him. Although I read about there meeting 50 times I’m going by memory and may have some of the details wrong but nonetheless a meeting that changed the world.