Famous Guitarists Who Named Their Guitar

B.B. King - Lucille: A black Gibson ES-355.

Edward Van Halen - Freankenstrat: Rebuilt stratocaster named after the Frankenstein monster, a creature made up from many different bodies.

George Harrison - Lucy: A Gibson Les Paul given to him by Eric Clapton.

Brian May - Red Special: Custom built, also called The Old Lady.


Eric Clapton - Blackie: Fender Stratocaster auctioned off in 2004 to raise money for his Crossroads addiction recovery center.

Billy Gibbons: 1959 Gibson Les Paul.

 Neil Young - Old Black: Gibson Les Paul.

Willie Nelson - Trigger: A Martin N-20 acoustic guitar.

Bo Diddley - Twang Machine: Custom built "cigar box" guitar. Later produced by Gretsch.

Prince - Cloud: Custom built guitar used during the Purple Rain era.

Keith Richards - Micawber: 1953 Fender Telecaster. Named after a character in Charles Dicken's David Copperfield.

Stevie Ray Vaughn - First Wife: 1963 Fender Stratocaster with a 1962 neck.

Tony Iommi - Monkey:  1965 Gibson SG.

Yngwie Malmsteen - Duck: 1971 Fender Stratocaster which had a Donald Duck sticker on it.

Trent Reznor Quotes

"I feel uncomfortable because I'm insecure about who I am."

"I foolishly thought that if I just 'made it' then everything would be okay. And everything wasn't okay."

"Books are better than movies because you design the set the way you want it to look."

"I'm not Prince or Rivers Cuomo, who brags about having hundreds of great songs."

"Balance is good, because one extreme or the other leads to misery, and I've spent a lot of my life at one of those extremes."

"I'd never want to be Gene Simmons, an old man who puts on makeup to entertain kids, like a clown going to work."

"When I was five, I got forced into taking piano lessons. And it came really naturally to me. Knowing that I was good at something played an important role in my confidence."

"I thought my goal in life was to be in a successful band, and I had got that, but I was as miserable as I had ever been, and I couldn't understand why that would be."

"My music has been a sort of personal therapy. It's got me out of tough times, it has been the friend that I needed, when I didn't have a friend there."

I become irritated when I am being written off as aloof or stand-offish when I'm shy and don't know what to say."

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't think music should be free."

Elton John Quotes

"I was just genuinely shy. I'd always been a shy kid."

"Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours."

"An agent is a person who is sore because an actor gets 90% of what they make."

"I've always wanted to smash a guitar over someone's head. You just can't do that with a piano."

"I'm not a fan of talent shows. I probably wouldn't have lasted if I'd gone on one."

"They influenced me just from the songwriting point of view. Lennon and McCartney, there's no question of it, no one will ever equal the quality of the songs they wrote."

"Every artist who makes it goes through a period where it seems they're invincible. We've seen it with Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna and Prince. It just seems like they can't fail. And then suddenly everything levels off."

"In the early 70's there were at least ten albums released every week that were fantastic. Now you're lucky to find ten albums a year of that quality.

"The whole point of being in this business and being blessed and being successful is that you're able to do things for your friends or your family, which means that they can have something special in their lives, too."

"The great thing about rock and roll is that someone like me can be a star."

Prince Quotes

"Despite everything, no one can dictate who you are to other people."

"What's missing from pop music is danger."

"People say I'm wearing heels because I'm short. I wear heels because the women like 'em."

"What If I don't want to sing Purple Rain every time I go on stage? The fans don't want that, either. It's my music, they're my songs."

"One thing I'd like to say is that I don't live in a prison. I am not afraid of anything. I haven't built any walls around myself, and I am just like anyone else. I need love and water."

"Another big influence was Joni Mitchell. She taught me a lot about color and sound, and to her, I'm very grateful."

"But again, it's the record company. If they don't want to promote a song, they don't make the effort to cross it over into other markets, and the fans don't get to know it. It's the same with my albums."

Music Artists That Altered Their Name After Becoming Famous

Prince: Due to a dispute with his former record label, Prince began releasing albums under a new "name". He changed his name to just a symbol and since there was no pronunciation for it, he became referred to as "The Artist Formally Known As Prince". Later he wisely changed his name back to Prince.

Grand Funk: Originally calling themselves Grand Funk Railroad, They dropped "Railroad" from their name after a legal dispute with an ex manager.

Chicago: The band released their first album under the name "The Chicago Transit Authority" but shortened their name to just Chicago after being sued by the actual Chicago transit authority.

Jefferson Airplane: They went from Jefferson Airplane to Jefferson Starship to just Starship, then the original members reunited and began calling themselves Jefferson Airplane Again. Why not, it wasn't being used.

Matchbox Twenty: Originally called Matchbox 20, but changed name to Matchbox Twenty because they felt there were too many bands with numbers in their names (i.e. Blink 182, Sum 41...)

John Mellencamp: Released albums under the names Johnny Cougar and John Cougar because his management felt Mellencamp would be too hard to sell. Became John Cougar Mellencamp on 1983's "Uh-Huh" and finally just John Mellencamp on 1991's "Whenever We Want".

Sean Combs: Changes his name every other week it seems; has been known as Puff Daddy, Puffy, Puff, P. Diddy, Diddy and even "Swag?"

Rock Artists Who Won Oscars

The Beatles: Best  Song Score - Let It Be - 1970.

Isaac Hayes: The Theme From Shaft - 1971.

Stevie Wonder:  I Just Called To Say I Love You - The Woman In Red - 1984

Prince: Best Song Score - Purple Rain - 1984

Carly Simon: Let The River Run - Working Girl - 1988

Bruce Springsteen: The Streets Of Philadelphia - Philadelphia - 1993

Elton John: Can You Feel The Love Tonight - The Lion King - 1994

Phil Collins: You'll Be In My Heart - Tarzan - 1999

Bob Dylan: Things Have Changed - Wonder Boys - 2000


Eminem: Lose Yourself - 8 Mile - 2002

Annie Lennox: Into The West - Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King - 2003

Three 6 Mafia: It's A Hard Life For A Pimp - Hustle & Flow - 2005

Melissa Etheridge: I Need to Wake Up - An Inconvenient Truth - 2006

Trent Reznor: Best Original Score - The Social Network - 2010

Great Songs About Cars

Little Deuce Coupe - The Beach Boys (1963): This song was originally released as the B-side to Surfer Girl. It is one of many tracks about cars that the band recorded; Fun Fun Fun, Little Honda, 409 etc.

Low Rider - War (1974): Released off the Why Can't We Be Friends album, this track reached #7 on the billboard singles chart. Over the years it has been featured on many films and TV shows including both The Simpsons and Family Guy.



I'm In Love With My Car - Queen (1975): This song is written and song by drummer Roger Taylor. Along with Radio Ga Ga, it is his most famous recording with the band.

Long May You Run - The Stills Young Band (1976): Neil Young wrote this song about his Buick Roadmaster Hearse. He performed the song during the closing ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Mercury Blues - David Lindley (1981): A cover of a song written in 1949, there are many versions but David Lindley's is the most famous.

Red Barchetta - Rush (1981): This song from the Moving Pictures album is about a boy and his uncle restoring an "illegal" motor car and outracing the authorities, who are in flying cars (I'd rather have a flying car). Barchetta is an Italian word for a two seater convertible.

Little Red Corvette - Prince (1983): This track from the album 1999 is actually about a woman, not a car. Prince feels it's the woman who's "...movin' much too fast".

Panama - Van Halen (1984): Panama is the nickname of David Lee Roth's car. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen would record music onto a cassette, give it to Dave, and Dave would have someone chauffeur him around L.A. playing the cassette while he wrote lyrics.

Pink Cadillac - Bruce Springsteen (1984): Originally released in 1984 as the B-side to the single Dancing In The Dark. A few years later Natalie Cole would score a hit with her version. It was also the title of a Clint Eastwood film.

Dragula - Rob Zombie (1998): Dragula is the name of the car from the TV show The Munsters.