Top 10 Most Ironic Things in Music History

Leo Fender, the developer of Stratocaster and Telecaster electric guitars, couldn't play the guitar

Fender Stratocaster and Fender Telecaster are iconic electric guitars, used by many famous guitarists: Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Ritchie Blackmore, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jeff Beck, Mark Knopfler, and many more.
Check out the lists:
Top Ten Stratocaster Players
Best Songs Featuring a Fender Stratocaster

Paris Jackson, daughter of the King of Pop Michael Jackson, is a fan of metal music

Wow, she is? That's ironic and nice!

Black Sabbath's most popular song, "Paranoid," was written in 20-25 minutes as filler

Bassist Geezer Butler:
"We basically needed a 3-minute filler for the album, and Tony (Iommi) came up with the riff. I quickly did the lyrics, and Ozzy was reading them as he was singing."
He added that the music was written in 5 minutes, then he wrote the lyrics (it took some time, like 15-20 minutes), and then they recorded it. "It was all done in about two hours."
Drummer Bill Ward:
"We didn't have enough songs for the album, and Tony (Iommi) just played the guitar lick and that was it. It took twenty, twenty-five minutes from top to bottom."

"The Beatles have no future in show business. We don't like your boys' sound. Groups are out. Four-piece groups with guitars, particularly, are finished." - Decca Records executive, 1962

One of the most ironic predictions ever.
The Fab Four vs. "Four-piece groups with guitars, particularly, are finished."

If irony were illegal, someone would have been executed. Because, irony.

Eminem trashed the Grammy Awards in "The Real Slim Shady," which ended up winning a Grammy

I'm not a rap fan by any means, but I thought this was too ironic not to mention. In "The Real Slim Shady," Eminem says, "You think I give a d*** about a Grammy? Half you critics can't stomach me, let alone stand me."
It won the 2001 Grammy for Best Solo Rap Performance.

LOL, great addition, Gg2000. Thanks!

GG Allin's real name is Jesus Christ Allin

A little pretentious, perhaps, calling someone that?

The only ZZ Top member without a beard is their drummer, Frank Beard

Elvis Presley posed with a double-neck electric guitar despite not playing one

The guy who couldn't play guitar very well and just strummed along with the band.

Opera singer Leonard Warren died on stage in 1960 just after singing Verdi's "To Die, a Momentous Thing" ("Morir, Tremenda Cosa")

"Rock 'n' Roll? It will be gone by June." - Variety magazine, 1955

?

Newsweek in April 1982 claimed no stars of the time would have a big impact like Elvis and The Beatles

?

In Rainbows by Radiohead was released for whatever consumers were willing to pay, yet still experienced high rates of piracy

I suppose it was kind of fitting though for the follow-up to "Hail to the Thief."

One of Foreigner's biggest hits was "Double Vision," and when their singer Lou Gramm suffered a benign brain tumor, his first symptom was actually double vision

The song Double Vision was about John Davidson, a New York Rangers goalie, who got knocked out during the 1977 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

62-year-old tenor Richard Versalle sang the line "you can only live so long" and died at the Lincoln Center in New York City

John Entwistle wrote the song "Love Is a Heart Attack" and died of a heart attack before the tour began

Nicko McBrain from Iron Maiden is a practicing Christian who plays heavy metal in his band and worship music at his church

Varg Vikernes' real name is Kristian Vikernes

Louis Cachet (born Kristian Vikernes), more popularly known as Varg Vikernes, is a Norwegian musician, writer, and convicted murderer and arsonist. He is known as the sole member of the one-man band Burzum, named after a word in the Black Speech from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings... read more

"I think we're pretty well set up for at least another year." - Mick Jagger, 1965

He knew that fame was fleeting in the pop music world and considered himself lucky to make it for two years. Therefore, he assumed that the Rolling Stones would have at least another year before their fame came crashing down.
Luckily for them, they made it through the year and then some - they've been together for 56 years (and counting!)

Red Hot Chili Peppers and Mr. Bungle, rival bands, ended up on the same record label, Warner Bros.

Rappers sing about thug life but are afraid of it

Anyone with a lick of sense would be afraid of it.

James Hetfield of Metallica didn't want to release "Nothing Else Matters" because he wrote it for himself

It's definitely the most popular Metallica song. People even play it at weddings.

People pay $200 for headphones but spend $0 on the music they listen to with them

Diamond-encrusted headphones? Why is that ironic?

Live Aid broadcast faded out as Roger Daltrey of The Who sang "Why don't you all fade away"

I tried to add this once, but for some reason, it didn't go through.
While the Who were playing at Live Aid, the satellite broadcast was cut off during the middle of their set. Ironically, they were playing "My Generation," and the broadcast faded out while Roger Daltrey was singing, "Why don't you all fade away?"

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards didn't want to release the final cut of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as a single

Keith Richards originally intended for the fuzzy guitar riff to be played by a horn section, so he and Mick Jagger wanted to re-record it. The other three Stones, engineer David Hassinger, and manager Andrew Loog Oldham disagreed, so the guitar version was released as a single.
Of course, it went on to be their first smash record and the one they would be most associated with, and the guitar riff is one of the most recognizable guitar riffs in music history.

The members of The Byrds, the first successful folk rock band, had never played in a rock group before, and two members had never played their dedicated instrument

You would think that the Byrds were made up of rock musicians who decided to integrate folk into their style. But no. Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and David Crosby were all solo folk musicians who had doubled as sidemen for other folk groups.
Chris Hillman was in a bluegrass band called the Hillmen, and Michael Clarke played congas around San Francisco and LA. Chris Hillman had never played bass before. Rather, he was one of the premier mandolinists in the area.
Furthermore, Michael Clarke had never even owned a drum kit before joining the Byrds! He was recruited mainly for his good looks (he looked a lot like Brian Jones from the Stones).

The Notorious B.I.G.'s debut album Ready to Die was the only album he released in his lifetime, and his posthumous sophomore album was aptly titled Life After Death

He died three years after Ready to Die.