Sometimes, an accident can blossom into something truly beautiful. While painters may spill paint on a canvas and come up with a great new idea, other people might have an unexpected child that they couldn’t imagine their lives without. The same things happen with musicians. Some of the best songs can practically fall into a musicians lap, or the artist might make a mistake that makes a song even better. These things can’t be predicted or be prepared for, they just happen. Now, read about all of the happy accidents that have happened in music over the years that turned songs and bands from nothing into huge hits.

See how the Beastie Boys’ joke went completely over the public’s head.

Tommy James & The Shondells Lucked Out With “Mirage”

Although Tommy James & the Shondells had a few happy accidents throughout their career, one of the best was when the band’s producer, Bo Gentry, accidentally inserted a copy of their song “I Think We’re Alone Now” the wrong way into the reel-to-reel tape player. This made the song play backward, and everybody actually thought sounded pretty good.

The band took the reverse chord progression and turned it into the song “Mirage.” Amazingly, “Mirage” went on to become a Top 10 single, with few people noticing that the band was playing another one of their hit songs backward.