I heard this story at a trade school for studio recording. Recording urban legend validated. Here's another that I've found vastly interesting:

On the Fleetwod Mac song Dreams, they had two mics on the snare drum. One was on the top, the other was on the bottom, where the "snares" are (these are small metal chains that rattle, at least in my experience; other materials may be used?). The song only opens / turns on the lower mic during the chorus, making the drum slightly more present but also boxier. It's a really subtle technique to add movement to the changes and it blew my mind when I learned about it. Studio magic is a thing.

The 80s were a really interesting time in music. I feel like everything became even more formulaic due to MTV. Everything sort of converged in a way that was more pointed than before or since. Maybe that's just me due to when I grew up. After all, it also gave rise to hip hop and rap (I know, Motown came before that). That wasn't part of the monoculture.