weird musical history – Paul Weatherhead

Music for Plants Weird Musical History #8

I recently came across an odd vinyl album on Hebden Bridge flea market called Music for Plants by the Baroque Bouquet (pictured above). The record’s back sleeve claims that playing it to your plants will keep your plants happy and healthy. What kind of music do plants like? Well, that was worth coughing up myContinue reading “Music for Plants Weird Musical History #8”

Splatter Platters – Top Ten Teen Tragedy Death Discs

Weird Musical History #6 One of the strangest sub-genres of pop music and one that I have a macabre affection for is the death disc – songs of teenage tragedy – that rode high in the charts of the early 1960s. These splatter platters told tragic stories of teenagers and their loved ones meeting stickyContinue reading “Splatter Platters – Top Ten Teen Tragedy Death Discs“

Mandolinquents – Weird Musical History #5

Among top musicians, claimed one newspaper in 1932, the mandolin is much maligned and seen as ‘a tinkling toy, fit only for people whose musical ambition, like their musical ability, is severely limited’.[i] Not true, of course. I’ve unearthed a couple of French stories that show that the mandolin has played a role in heinousContinue reading “Mandolinquents – Weird Musical History #5”

Weird Musical History #4 ~ The Cat Organ

In 1549, a huge pageant was held in Brussels in honour of the entry of King Phillip II of Spain into the city. The musical highlight of this spectacle was a moving float upon which a live bear played tunes on an organ. But it wasn’t just any organ. It was a cat organ, sometimesContinue reading “Weird Musical History #4 ~ The Cat Organ”

Weird Musical History #3 ~ The Elvis Presley Séance (1979)

Two years after Elvis Presley died, a seance was arranged in a North London Spiritualist Church. The aim was to contact the King of Rock and Roll from beyond the grave. The event was recorded and released as a vinyl LP by Shadow Records in 1979. The event is narrated by the softly spoken RadioContinue reading “Weird Musical History #3 ~ The Elvis Presley Séance (1979)”