Thanks to the Big Man Restless for the 80s pop quiz at the Retro bar last night. He put together the usual marvellous nostalgic selection of music, and my hastily-compiled team of three tried to work out what all the tracks were. We dropped only half a mark, storming to victory with an unexpectedly magnificent 19½ out of 20. Even better, we avoided the booby prize (the Gareth Gates Comic Relief single) and walked off with a much less sugary chocolate Easter egg each instead. To round off a great night I even bumped into one of my brother's best friends from school as well, although it took us a while to work out how we actually knew each other (Is it? It is, isn't it?). His team didn't win though. Sorry, did I mention that my team won?
Reproduced below are the twenty 80s questions. (Well, that's reproduced as as far as it is possible to reproduce a music quiz without music. Questions 14 and 16 really don't work without sound, so have two free marks to start you off.)
How would you have done? Answers in the 'comments' box.
Name the one hit wonders associated with these one hits.
1) Dance hall days (January 1984) 2) The future's so bright I gotta wear shades (January 1987) 3) Never never (November 1983) 4) Twilight cafe (January 1981)
Name that Fruit
5) ...in the title of a Kajagoogoo single from September 1983.
Here are three song titles containing brackets. (What goes in the brackets?)
6) Scritti Politti - Wood beez (?) 7) Culture Club - Time (?) 8) Twisted Sister - I am (?)
What, exactly, are the next twelve words in this Thompson Twins hit?
9)"Somebody's watching me, and now i'm nervous and I shouldn't be. Somebody's got their eye on me, perhaps I should invite him up for tea? We saw him smoking by the newspaper stand, there's something odd about his gloved left hand. Saw him again inside the old cafe, he makes us tense we wish he'd go away"
These songs were all the less well-known side of a double A-sided 80s single. Name the more well-known A-sides.
10) Kraftwerk - Computer love 11) Spandau Ballet - Glow 12) The Jam - Precious 13) Depeche Mode - Somebody
15) Arrange these ABC hits in chronological order
a) Be near me; b) When Smokey sings; c) That was then but this is now; d) All of my heart.
Name the bands.
17) Living by numbers (January 1980) 18) Live it up (February 1987) 19) Living on video (July 1985)
Haysi Fantayzee's Shiny Shiny, The B52s' (Song for a) Future generation and the Human League's (Keep feeling) Fascination.
20) Name the year.
