KEY POINTS:
Before you start shopping for leopard-print couch covers let's see if you know the answers to a few questions about musicians' home decorating skills. Eventually you may be inspired to install a giant swing covered in fur, in your lounge as Lenny Kravitz - apparently he's also
skilled as an interior decorator - once did.
1 Why did Ringo Starr paint the walls of the central London flat he owned white?The flat had also been home to Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Jimi Hendrix.
a) He was going to rent it out to McCartney.
b) Some graffiti artists broke in and tagged the walls.
c) Jimi Hendrix threw paint at the walls after he took drugs.
d) Yoko Ono stripped and "painted with her body".
2 The Hit Factory in New York was one of America's best-known recording studios, where the likes of Madonna, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen recorded. One of the first artists to work there in the early 70s was Stevie Wonder. What did he say about the interiors?
a) "The sound is all wrong - it's those 11ft-high ceilings."
b) "I love the place, but you got to stop moving the doors."
c) "I went into the studio and there was hay all over the floor."
d) "I want to use the studio you had decorated for John and Yoko, the one with the chaise longues and paintings that looks like an English living room."
3 What's happening at the Hit Factory these days?
a) It is still a recording studio.
b) It has been demolished.
c) It has been turned into an apartment complex.
d) It has been developed as a boutique shopping mall.
4 There's plenty of tacky decor at Elvis Presley's former mansion, Graceland, now a museum. They go on about what's now known as The Jungle Room with its indoor waterfall and fur armchairs. How did Elvis get this room to such a high standard of kitsch?
a) He employed the most fashionable interior decorator of the time.
b) He allowed his wife, Priscilla, to furnish this one room for him.
c) He was very fond of tropical themes and brought lots of mementoes back after filming in Hawaii.
d) He bought the furnishings during a crazy 30-minute shopping spree in Memphis.
5 Which rockstar is mad for Victorian architecture and, even as a teenager, was interested in the pre-Raphaelite movement?
a) Joni Mitchell.
b) Marianne Faithfull.
c) Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin.
d) Andre Benjamin of OutKast.
6 What covered the walls of the San Francisco house that Janis Joplin used to live in?
a) Black paint.
b) White paint.
c) Pictures of naked hippies, mainly men.
d) Pictures of naked hippies, mainly women.
e) Pictures of Joplin naked.
7 Lenny Kravitz had his New York apartment re-decorated in a rock'n'roll style. Which of the following things does Kravitz' apartment not have?
a) A translucent glass staircase.
b) A spa pool.
c) A wall in the bedroom that undulates and spits fire.
d) A gourmet kitchen in marble.
e) Ostrich feather-covered lamps.
Answers:
1. C. Jimi was tripping.
2. B. Wonder used to like to roam around between takes but because the Hit Factory was such a rabbit warren, he kept banging into things. But it is also true that the studio's owner once put 40 bales of hay in a studio to make a country artist feel more at home, and he decorated a suite of rooms in a British style for Lennon and Ono to use.
3. C. If you're in the market for an apartment that's been part of rock'n'roll history, visit www.thehitfactorycondo.com.
4. D. Legend has it that Presley went on a half-hour furniture shopping spree in Memphis.
5. C. Page is so keen on Victorian architect, William Burges' work he bought the house the architect designed in central London and he also recently contributed to a book about the architect.
6. A and E. The living room in Joplin's hippie pad was painted black and there was apparently also a wall covered with pictures of Joplin, topless.
7. Trick question. Mr Kravitz has all these delightful things. But after several rounds of redecoration, no one is telling whether the giant rabbit fur-covered swing that he installed is still there.
