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Quiz #9

Quiz #9
Answers, Results & Commentary

Congratulations to Julie McClelland the winner of this edition of NMLQOTM with a near-perfect scores of 535 points. Gabriella Ziegler ran a close second, just 2 points back with 533 points and Bunny Zukowski followed a very close 3rd with 528 points.

Twenty of the twenty-seven songs in this edition were Top 10, and five went all the way to #1. It took a little sleuthing to track down the artists of songs #19 and 22, as both are more commonly associated with other performers; "Good Vibrations" was a #1 hit for the Beach Boys in 1966, while The Main Ingredient visited the Top 40 for the first of only three times with their 1972 recording of "Everybody Plays The Fool".

A few performers in the quiz had careers that can pretty well be summed up by the songs included here, but it's not entirely fair to call them "One Hit Wonders". Though "O-o-h Child" was the only Top 40 hit for The Five Stairsteps, the group appeared in the Hot 100 seventeen other times. Free cracked the Top 10 with "All Right Now", then scored one more Hot 100 title, 1970's "Stealer", which stalled at #49. The cynics amongst us may have noticed that a single letter exchange would turn "Men Without Hats" into "Men Without Hits", but "The Safety Dance" wasn't even their only Top 40 hit - anyone remember ""Pop Goes The World"?

Oddballs this time? Grand Funk dropped the "Railroad" beginning with their 1973 album "We're An American Band", so 1974's "Some Kind Of Wonderful", which appeared on the "All The Girls In The World Beware!!!" disc was a "Grand Funk" song. This quiz also demonstrated the freedom of choice theory of title punctuation - while The Moody Blues got exclamatory with "Go Now!" and Gerry and the Pacemakers inquisitive with "How Do You Do It?", Peter Frampton came alive with a "Do You Feel Like We Do" that lacked a question mark. The flocking Seagulls were "A Flock of Seagulls".

Here are the correct titles and artists with year of release and highest charting position on the Billboard Hot 100:

01> Aerosmith - Dream On (1973) <59>
02> Bread - Everything I Own (1972) <5>
03> Clanton, Jimmy - Venus In Blue Jeans (1962) <7>
04> Crosby, Stills & Nash - Just A Song Before I Go (1977) <7>
05> Delfonics, The - Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time) (1970) <10>
06> Diamond, Neil - Solitary Man (1966) <55>
07> Five Stairsteps, The - O-o-h Child (1970) <8>
08> Flock Of Seagulls, A - I Ran (So Far Away) (1982) <9>
09> Foreigner - Feels Like The First Time (1977) <4>
10> Frampton, Peter - Do You Feel Like We Do (1976) <10>
11> Free - All Right Now (1970) <4>
12> Gerry And The Pacemakers - How Do You Do It? (1964) <9>
13> Grand Funk - Some Kind of Wonderful (1974) <3>
14> Joel, Billy - The Entertainer (1974) <34>
15> Lennon, John - Nobody Told Me (1984) <5>
16> Lovin' Spoonful, The - Summer In The City (1966) <1>
17> Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance (1983) <3>
18> Moody Blues, The - Go Now! (1965) <10>
19> Neville, Aaron - Everybody Plays The Fool (1991) <8>
20> Peterson, Ray - Tell Laura I Love Her (1960) <7>
21> Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall Part II (1980) <1>
22> Rundgren, Todd - Good Vibrations (1976) <34>
23> Simon & Garfunkel - You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies (1967) <-->
24> Small Faces - Itchycoo Park (1967) <16>
25> Starr, Ringo - Photograph (1973) <1>
26> Strawberry Alarm Clock - Incense And Peppermints (1967) <1>
27> Turtles, The - Happy Together (1967) <1>

THEME:

As for the surprisingly difficult theme, I reverted to the hidden message trick. Reading from the very last song title in the list ("Happy Together") upwards, you should have alternated back and forth between the first letter in the first word and the first letter in the second word of each song's title. "Happy Together" offered an "H", "Incense And Peppermints" an "A", "Photograph" a "P", and "Itchycoo Park" another "P". Taken in their entirety, the letters from the 27 songs spelled out "H-A-P-P-Y V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E-S D-A-Y F-R-O-M D-A-V-I-D", which was fitting given the quiz' February 11 start date.

Listed below are the points for each player:

TRIVIA:

Just this week, I was asked to write an essay about the top two Billboard pop songs in each year of the 80s. Given that it took a while, and offered up some interesting trivia, I thought some of you might enjoy it. Next time around, we'll go back to the usual practice of including trivia about the groups and songs within the quiz.

The top two songs of 1980 on the Billboard's Year-end (YE) Hot 100 chart were:

1. Call Me - Blondie
2. Another Brick In the Wall - Pink Floyd

"Call Me" was featured on the soundtrack of "American Gigolo", the Richard Gere - Lauren Hutton film of that year.

Interesting notes: John Travolta and Christopher Reeve were each rumored to have turned down the lead (Gere) role in the film.

"Call Me" was one of several "movie" songs to reach #1 during the 1980s, including "Footlose", "(I've Had) The Time Of My Life", and both ""Flashdance...What A Feeling" and "Maniac", from the film "Flashdance".

Giorgio Moroder wanted Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac to record "Call Me", but she turned down the role, and Deborah Harry wound up writing the lyrics for the song that became the second of four number one hits for Blondie.

Despite Pink Floyd's status as critic favorites and cult icons, "Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)" was only their second Hot 100 charter, preceded only by "Money", from the Dark Side Of The Moon album that hung on the album charts for a record 741 weeks. "Call Me" replaced "Another Brick" at the top of the charts after its 4 week run.

The album "The Wall" reflected the band's experiences on their lengthy "Animals" tour, and the "wall" refers to the increasing separation that Pink Floyd felt was growing between the band and its fans, as Floyd was pressed to achieve popular success.

The well-known kids' chant on "Another Brick" (...we don't need no education...) was created by an engineer who was asked to summon "10-15 year olds from North London, mostly boys". Although Roger Waters and David Gilmour originally intended to use the vocals as a backing chorus, they were so pleased with the sound that they decided to use the voices a capella.

Bob Geldof (Boomtown Rats/Live Aid) starred in a moderately successful 1982 film "The Wall", based on the album. Director Alan Parker didn't get along with Roger Waters - and the band took a shot at him on their next album, "The Final Cut".

If the top 2 songs are ranked soley on their chart success, the top 2 songs of 1980 were Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" and the aforementioned "Call Me", by Blondie.


1981: Billboard Hot 100 YE Chart:

1. Bette Davis Eyes - Kim Carnes
2. Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie

"Bette Davis Eyes" was co-written by Jackie DeShannon (herself a performer of hits like "What The World Needs Now Is Love" and "Put A Little Love In Your Heart"). DeShannon had recorded the song herself on a 1975 album that received little attention. The Carnes version was #1 for 9 weeks between May and July in 1981, interrupted for one week by the Stars on 45 medley.

Bette Davis Eyes was #1 in 21 countries and won Song of the Year and Record of the Year at the Grammy awards in 1981.

"Endless Love" was the other dominant song of 1981, also holding down the #1 spot for 9 weeks, from August until October. At the time, Endless Love was the most successful Motown single of all time, the most successful duet of all time, and, here again, as featured in the 1981 Brooke Shields film of the same name, the best selling soundtrack single of all time.

Lionel Richie wrote the music and lyrics to the song.

Looking at just chart success, the top 2 singles of 1981 were "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John, and "Bette Davis Eyes". "Physical", which we'll consider again in a second, is credited on this list as a 1981 song because it was released in October. Billboard's Hot 100 looks at this as a 1982 song, because it didn't hit #1 until November 21, 1981, with (apparently) most of its sales coming in 1982.


1982: Billboard Hot 100 YE Chart:

1. Physical - Olivia Newton-John
2. Eye Of The Tiger - Survivor

Physical is the rare #1 song that saw some radio stations ban it for its "suggestive" lyrics. Citing lines like:

"I took you to an intimate restaurant, then to a suggestive movie There´s nothin´ left to talk about, unless it´s horizontally",

the South African Broadcasting Corporation refused to play the song as released.

Newton-John turned the success of "Physical" into a temporary career making fitness videos, then later opened an unsuccesful clothing venture "Koala Blue", meant to invoke her native Australia.

Physical was #1 for 10 weeks, at that time, the second longest streak of all time.

"Eye of The Tiger" is yet another #1 hit with a movie tie-in, this time, featured in the soundtrack of Rocky III. The two previous Rocky films had both featured "Gonna Fly Now" by Bill Conti as "Rocky's Theme", and that song was also a #1 hit, back in 1977. Sylvester Stallone wanted a harder-rocking sound for the third film's soundtrack, and he selected little-known Survivor to provide the tune.

Jim Peterik of Survivor had been in Ides of March, which had a 1970 hit with "Vehicle", and he wrote the lyrics for "Eye of the Tiger" after seeing a rough early cut of Rocky III. He noticed that Rocky's trainer kept exhorting him with the claim that he had the "eye of the tiger", so he wrote a song around the phrase.

Top 2 hits of 1982, based on chart success: "Eye of the Tiger" and "Centerfold", by the J. Geils Band.


1983: Billboard Hot 100 YE Chart:

1. Every Breath You Take - The Police
2. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

Forget the British Invasion of the late '60s, 1983 was the most successful year ever for British acts on the American pop charts. Billboard's Year End chart for 1983 listed 33 songs by British acts. "Every Breath You Take" became the fourth song by a British band to top the Billboard chart for an entire year (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Queen).

In "Rolling Stone", Sting was quoted as saying "Every Breath" wasn't intended as a sweet love song - "I consider it a fairly nasty song. It's about surveillance and ownership and jealousy."

The other major influence on the 1983 singles charts was Michael Jackson - six of the songs on the year end Hot 100 were his.

"Billie Jean" was from the smash album "Thriller", which spent 37 weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart and featured seven top 10 singles.

When Billie Jean reached #1 in March, Jackson became the first ever artist to top the singles and album charts in both pop and R&B simultaneously. The song also was #1 on the dance/disco chart and #1 on the singles and album charts in England.

Chart-only rankings:
1. Every Breath You Take
2. Flashdance..What A Feeling - Irene Cara


1984: Billboard YE Hot 100:

1. When Doves Cry - Prince (TAFKAP?)
2. What's Love Got To Do With It - Tina Turner

Prince Rogers Nelson, a self-taught musician who claims proficiency in 27 instruments, included When Doves Cry in his 1984 autobiographical film "Purple Rain". Oddly, the album was written after the film was completed. This song became the 5th ever soundtrack tune to be the #1 song for an entire year.

"What's Love Got To Do With It" has the odd distinction of being the #1 song with the longest gap between its artist's first chart appearance and their first #1 song. Tina Turner had first charted in 1960 with her then-husband Ike, and 24 years later, here she was at #1 for the first time.

When Turner first heard "What's Love", she hated it. Given a little reworking (to make it "rougher"), the song won Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Pop Vocal of the Year, and Rock Vocal of the Year" at the Grammys, and held the #1 spot for 3 weeks in the fall of 1984.

The same two songs (in the same order) were the top two songs of 1984 in chart performance.


1985: Billboard YE Hot 100:

1. Careless Whisper - Wham! Featuring George Michael
2. Like A Virgin - Madonna

The charting version of Careless Whisper was released as a solo single in England. George Michael reportedly wrote the song as a bored 16 year-old theater usher. Although Andrew Ridgely did not perform on the recording, the song was released as by "Wham!" to capitalize on the success of the 1984 hit "Wake Me Up Before You Go Go"

Wham! became the first major Western rock act to peform in China, when they played at the People's Gymnasium in Peking before 12,000 on April 7, 1985. Another show at the Opera House in Canton attracted 5000 fans, who paid $1.60 for the concert and a cassette copy of the band's album "Make It Big".

Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was first heard nationally singing backup vocals on the Patrick Hernandez disco hit "Born To Be Alive". 1985 was her breakout year, and "Like A Virgin" was her very first of (now) eleven #1 songs.

Chart-only rankings for the year:
1. Careless Whisper
2. Say You, Say Me - Lionel Richie


1986: Billboard YE Hot 100:

1. That’s What Friends Are For - Dionne and Friends
2. Say You, Say Me - Lionel Richie

"That’s What Friends Are For" almost qualifies as yet another soundtrack #1, but when the Rod Stewart-performed song appeared in 1982's "Night Shift", it was virtually ignored. It wasn’t until Dionne Warwick and "friends" Gladys Knight, Stevie Wonder and Elton John re-recorded the tune in 1985 that it became a monster hit, #1 for four weeks in 1986.

"That’s What Friends Are For" is a joint effort of the Burt Bacharach-Carole Bayer Sager marriage. Though Bacharach was well known for writing earlier Dionne Warwick hits ("I Say A Little Prayer", "This Girl’s In Love With You", "Walk On By", "I’ll Never Fall In Love Again"), the "Friends" collaboration was somewhat unexpected. In 1971, Warwick had sued Bachrach and his partner, Hal David, alleging breach of contract, and Bacharach had not spoken to the singer in over 10 years. By the way, Bacharach was formerly married to Angie Dickinson, and Dionne Warwick is Whitney Houston’s cousin.

When the recording was first made, only Warwick and Wonder appeared on the tape, Gladys Knight and Elton John added their voices later, after it was agreed that all profits from the song would be donated to the American Foundation for AIDS research.

"Say You, Say Me" was one of two #1 songs from the soundtrack of 1985's Mikhail Baryshnikov-Gregory Hines film hit "White Nights" - the other was "Separate Lives", a duet for Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin. Oddly, the chart performance of "Say You, Say Me" wasn’t assisted by its appearance on the film soundtrack album; Richie’s recording label, Motown, asked that their star’s song not be included.

Chart performance rankings:
1. That’s What Friends Are For
2. Walk Like An Egyptian - The Bangles


1987: Billboard YE Hot 100:

1. Walk Like An Egyptian - The Bangles
2. Alone - Heart

"Walk Like An Egyptian" was originally offered to Toni "Mickey" Basil, but when she rejected the song, it accidentally wound up with The Bangles. The song’s publisher sent a tape of tunes to the group, asking them to consider recording the first song. Somehow, the order on the tape was confused, and they wound up considering "Walk Like An Egyptian", rather than the intended song "Rock And Roll Vertigo".

The Bangles had scored a #2 hit with their 1986 debut "Manic Monday", written by Prince under the pseudonym "Christopher", and enjoyed even more success when "Walk Like An Egyptian" reached #1 for 4 weeks in late 1986 and early 1987. There’s little doubt that the song was helped immeasurably by MTV play - Susanna Hoffs’ eye-motions in the video were both parodied and adored.

"Alone" was the second #1 record for Heart, featuring sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. Though most people associate the Wilsons with Heart, they weren’t original members. Ann joined the band in 1970, Nancy joined in 1974. The band was originally "The Army", when formed way back in 1963, and later "White Heart". By 1979, all of the founding members had moved on.

One interesting note about Heart. The band began in Seattle, but moved to Vancouver in 1975, so manager Mike Fisher could avoid the Vietnam war draft. They returned to the states after amnesty was declared for draftees.

Chart performance rankings:
1. Faith - George Michael
2. Alone - Heart


1988: Billboard YE Hot 100:

1. Faith - George Michael
2. Need You Tonight - INXS

George Michael became the third artist in the rock era to have two year-end #1 hits, joining only The Beatles and Rod Stewart. "Faith" was the first of four consecutive solo #1s for the artist, after disbanding his relationship with Andrew Ridgely in 1986. Michael claimed that "Faith" represented his feelings of optimism at the time the song was written - by chart performance alone, you would have to say that his "faith" was well rewarded.

"Need You Tonight" became only the third song by an Australian group to top the Billboard Hot 100. Air Supply had reached #1 in 1981, and Men At Work followed in both 1982 and 1983. Lead singer Michael Hutchence committed suicide in 1997, but a controversy has grown up around the incident, with many, including his girlfriend Paula Yates, insisting that they have "evidence" that contradicts the coroner’s determination.

Chart performance rankings:
1. Need You Tonight
2. Look Away - Chicago


1989: Billboard YE Hot 100:

1. Look Away - Chicago
2. My Prerogative - Bobby Brown

Chicago had been successfully recording for 19 years before "Look Away" became the band’s first-ever #1 song of the year in 1989. "Look Away" was the band’s 24th charting single, and their best-selling song of all-time. The lead singer on "Look Away" was Jason Scheff, who had replaced original member Peter Cetera in 1985. The song was one of three top ten hits from the album simply titled "19", a slight change from the usual practice of naming the band’s releases "Chicago 15", "Chicago 17", etc. The lone exception to the formula was the group’s 1978 effort "Hot Streets".

"My Prerogative" was from the #1 album "Don’t Be Cruel". The album featured a song with that title, but it wasn’t the Elvis Presley hit. Nonetheless, the album’s surprise success made Brown the youngest male artist to top the album chart since Stevie Wonder’s "Little Stevie Wonder/ The 12 Year Old Genius" in 1963.

Brown, who had appeared in the R&B boy band "New Edition", would later become more famous for his badboy image and his contentious marriage to fellow singing star Whitney Houston.

Chart performance ranking:
1. Another Day In Paradise - Phil Collins
2. Miss You Much - Janet Jackson