3 Mistakes That Rock Bands Left in the Songs

Matt and I were talking about The Who's Eminence Front on the show the other day, and I mentioned the mistake that the band left in the song as part of the final recording. It made me remember an old segment we did on the old show years ago. Mistakes that rock bands left in the songs.

Recording an album takes a lot of work from the artists, producers and engineers. Everyone wants to be perfect, but sometimes things go slightly awry. You can't control everything that happens, whether you're recording in a studio of not. Sometimes when a mistake happens during a take a band may just leave it in, especially if it's the best take of the song. A lot of times these flubs add to the mystique of the song in question. Let's run down a few of the mistakes or screw ups that our WMGK artists left in their songs.

The Who - Eminence Front

A simple timing error caused this screw up. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are supposed to be singing the same lyrics at the same time "an eminence front", but Pete misses the mark by a half second. He also adds the word "behind" to the line. It's not a big thing, and if we weren't told about it then we would really never notice it. The mistake is at the 2:38 mark of the song. It's only slightly more apparent when listening in headphones.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama

Let me inform you that after reading this you will never not hear this when you listen to Sweet Home. As the song is winding down, you hear Ronnie Van Zant shout something out. In the song as a whole it really doesn't make sense with the other lyrics. The story goes that while recording the vocal track he had a couple donuts sitting on a chair and watched as someone in the band or at the recording studio sat on them. Watching the loss of his donuts made him exclaim, "My donuts! God damn!" Congratulations, you'll never not hear that line at the end of the song anymore. It happens at the 4:10 mark of the song.

The Police - Roxanne

This mistake happens very quickly in the song, but it's very noticeable too. Unlike the above Skynyrd one that may go unnoticed if you are unaware. It is clear that someone sits on a piano and laughs about it in the beginning of the song. That someone was Sting. He did not realize the lid to the piano keys was open before taking his seat, sat on some keys that were clearly picked up in the mix as was his laugh. Stings butt joins the song at about four seconds in.

Honorable mention:

B-52's - Love Shack

I mention this because it's a fun song and I remember the DJ playing at grade school dances. It was fun. When Cindy Wilson yells of "Tin roof, rusted", the music had accidentally stopped in recording, but she kept on going. Because of how the B-52's were, it fit the oddness of the group, so they left it. It hits at 3:48 in the song.

Ah, the 1980s. Nothing like big hair, acid-wash jeans, and leg warmers. As a treat, here are pictures of MGK's radio DJs in the 80s.

You know 80’s rock. All of the hairspray, guy-liner, and spandex. The decade of hair bands, metal, hard rock, and headbangers. Long hair was flying and men had bangs. Live-aid, Back to the Future, and an Olympic hockey victory over the Soviet Union.

It’s one of the best eras of music. And so many great artists came out of it all. We know you have these acts on your playlists and listen to them on MGK daily. You probably still have their records, er- cassettes?

Everyone loves a good throwback. So, for fun, we compiled pictures of MGK's jocks in the 1980s. We all know what they look like now, but do you know what they looked like way back when? Did they have bad hair? Did they wear embarrassing clothes?

A lot of them were already in the radio business! They were just getting their start in the 'biz. And some, well, they were only just born! These photos are true time capsules of the era we all know and love.

Here is Matt Cord, your morning show host, with Tommy Stinson of The Replacements circa 1988. Back when Matt's hair required its own zip code.

"Andre Gardner took this photo here in the parking lot at 1 Bala Plaza. It has to be like 1984.

Here is Cyndy Drue with Bruce Springsteen backstage at the Spectrum at The River tour (1980).

Here's a shot of Paul Kelly in the 80s with the hard rock band, Night Ranger.

Rick Springfield makes another appearance here! This is not from the 80s, but rather with an 80s icon. Here's Angel Donato feeling like "Jessie's Girl" hanging out with 80's Heartthrob Rick Springfield.