Wednesday, December 10, 2008

My First Trivia Quiz

I'll be the first to admit that I glean (read: blatantly steal) some of my blog ideas from other blogs. So in the spirit of Trivia Tuesday from Sean's Ramblings, I've decided to do one, and maybe two, trivia quizzes of my own. Since Sean probably has a copyright on "Trivia Tuesday", I'll just call mine "Trivia [InsertDayHere]". It's a little clumsy, but I think it has potential.

I've decided to do the quiz(zes) on things that interest me, of course, so this first one will be on music. You may not be interested. If not, don't play. If you do play, you should bear in mind that this is probably going to be weighted heavily toward my era, the late '60s and early '70s. I may throw in a little later stuff, but don't count on it.

As with Sean's quizzes, I'd appreciate it if you didn't just surf the web to find these answers.

Please feel free to enter your answers in the comments.

Here we go:

1) In the chorus of Donovan's song "Mellow Yellow", the words "quite right, Slick" are whispered. Who's doing the whispering there?

2) Speaking of Donovan, what famous actress is his daughter?

3) Speaking of famous daughters, who is Nora Jones' father?

4) What late sixties/early seventies group had 7 platinum albums without ever producing a #1 hit?

5) What artist has the most top-10 records for an artist who's never had a #1 hit? (not the same artist as 4)

6) In 1965, The Easybeats had a top-20 hit with "Friday On My Mind". It was the only top-40 hit they ever had. The guitarist for The Easybeats was the brother of two guys in an eighties hard rock group that's still performing today. Who was he and who are his brothers?

7) What's Alice Cooper's real name?

8) What's David Bowie's real name and why did he change it?

9) What famous novel was the basis of a rock opera written by David Bowie which was never produced because the estate of the author wouldn't grant permission?

10) What female dance singer was the only artist to produce 4 top-10 hits from an album that didn't even make it to the top 20?

11) Two songs have reached #1 on the charts, then been off the charts for 12 months or more, and then reached #1 again. What are they? (Hint: One of these is not actually a rock & roll song, but it did make #1 on the pop charts.)

12) Who played the steel guitar on Crosby, Still, Nash & Young's "Teach Your Children"?

13) Who was the first white group to record for Motown Records?

14) Where did Elton John & Bernie Taupin come up with the name "Levon"?

15) What garbled lyrics gave us the title "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"?

16) What singer has had at least one top-10 hit in each of the last five decades, including this one?

17) What song hit #1 in 1964, but wasn't a certified million-seller for another 17 1/2 years?

18) What was the only group to have #1 singles on 4 different labels?

19) What do Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods, The Spencer Davis Group and Manfred Mann's Earth Band all have in common?

20) Which duo had more hits than any other duo?

21) What name did Arnold Dorsey record under?

22) Who won the first Grammy in the "Heavy Metal" category? This may surprise you as much as it surprised the members of Metallica, who thought they were a cinch to win.

23) Which #1 hit boasts the longest title of any #1 hit (excluding multiple-song medleys)?

24) With 58 charted hits, 44 top-40 hits, and 26 top-10 hits, who is #3 in all-time hits after Elvis Presley and The Beatles?

25) In the '70s, there was an occasion in which a hit song, the album from which the song came, and the name of the artist were all the same. What was it?

26) What's unique about Led Zeppelin's most famous song, "Stairway To Heaven", among all of their other hits?

There's more, but that should be enough for now. Let's see if there's any response to this at all.

And it's been a long time since I said this, but thanks for reading my blog.

10 comments:

Mike said...

Your welcome about the blog read. But that's all I can say today. I'm quite proud of the fact that trivia is not my thing. I actually know none of the answers. Keep 'em comin'. Let's see if you can come up with one so simple even I might know it.

Gilahi said...

Mike - So you're looking for a "Who's buried in Grant's tomb" sort of thing, right?

fiona said...

I'm stooopid OR make the questions a wee bit easier will ya!

Mike said...

I think it's some guy named Cary.

Gilahi said...

fiona - All right, all right. It's easier than you think. Look how well Mike is doing.

Mike - You mean Drew Carey?

Sean said...

Thanks for the link. There are some really tough questions here, but I'll try to answer a few.

1. Great question. I've always wondered that.

3. I feel like it's not Quincy Jones.

12. Nash?

15. In the garden of Eden.

16. Tony Bennett?

19. They are all music groups. :)

22. Jethro Tull

24. Mariah Carey?

I did terrible. I may come back and try a few more.

Anonymous said...

I only know any of these because of you, and most of these re way harder than I thought they'd be.

1. Paul McCartney

3. Ravi Shenkar (sp?) -- famous sitar player! :)

7. Vincent Furnier

8. David Robert Jones, and because of Davy Jones of Monkees fame.

9. 1984, George Orwell

15. In the Garden of Eden

21. Englebert Humperdinck (Thank you for that one, Eddie Izzard.)

25. Bad Company, I think.

I tried to answer mostly unanswered ones. :) I hope you give out the answers to these soon, or I am totally calling you to find out. However, based on the ones I did get, I hope you're proud I'm your daughter. *laughs*

Bilbo said...

I thought I was pretty good at music trivia, but you've stumped me on these. I need to spend more time studying my liner notes.

Herb said...

More cowbell! More Cowsills!

I think I am going to pass on taking this quiz! I've had enough humiliation this week!

Gilahi said...

Sean - 1. Thanks!
3. And you'd be correct (does that mean you got this one right?)
12. Sorry, no.
15. That's correct.
16. Incorrect.
19. Again, you're correct, but that's not really what I was looking for.
22. Correct.
24. Good guess, believe it or not. Ms. Carey has sold more records (CDs, downloads, whatever, than anyone except the Beatles, but with the criteria in the question, she's not nearly as popular as the artist we're looking for.

You got a couple of them.

Dixie - 1. Correct
3. Correct (Ravi Shankar)
7. Correct
8. Correct and correct
9. Correct
15. Correct
21. Correct
25. Correct!

Pretty good, although Sean had already gotten #15. I'm very proud of you.

Bilbo - I heartily recommend Joel Whitburn's "Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits". It's a gold mine of this sort of information.

Herb - That's just the fever talking.

I'll post the answers to this one on Monday. Give folks the weekend to mull it over.

 
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