What happens when you bring together players from four different longtime trivia teams – whom all share a love of all types of music from the ’80s? Well, in this case? A $100 first place prize happens! Four of us – Heb (myself) from the ‘Pods, Kimberly from Sparty On, Scott from More Beer Less Pants and Mike B. from the team One is the Loneliest Number met at The Bowery Grille & Pub in Canton Wednesday for an all’ ’80s music theme night hosted by Sporcle Live and host Sporcle Trivia Nights With Paul M.. Some of the players attending this event dressed for the part – there was a guy in overalls playing on a team whose name was inspired by the one-hit wonders Dexy’s Midnight Runners. There was a blonde woman with hair that looked straight outta 1987. Does anyone still get perms anymore? Apparently she does, or ’80s era Mother Nature was kind to her! Seriously, her hairdo was PERFECT for this event. If this is how she normally wears her hair, uh…nice hair? 🙂On our team, Kim wore a Bon Jovi T-shirt (this is one of the key things to remember about her – never, ever bad-mouth Bon Jovi around her or she will CUT you!), and I wore my old Guess denim jacket, which I bought with babysitting money in 1988. What better gig than babysitting than to show me I would probably never, ever want to be a mommy, but I digress! This jacket was literally cut off me when I got into a car accident in 1989, and as you can imagine, I was devastated! My mom, the home-ec goddess that she was, actually SEWED IT BACK TOGETHER. This made it the most unique fashion accessory ever! Hipster millennials would give their (fill in the blanks with body parts of choice) to get their hands on this thing! And of course this act of renegade seamstressing allowed her entry into the “mom of the year” club! Unfortunately, the 1987 Buick Century station wagon could not be salvaged, but I would forever have an unhealthy love for the station wagon style of car. And I still love station wagons. (sigh) Wood paneling…luggage rack…fold-down seats…(ahem). All right…I’ll give you guys the questions now!
Game One
1. What 1986 soundtrack, which spawned three top 40 hit singles, was the only movie soundtrack to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that year? One of the songs received an Academy Award for best original song. Teamwork kicked in here, several options tossed for being the wrong year, 5 points.
2. What musical instrument is mentioned in the 1988 Brenda Russell song? When the answer was revealed, my “joke” answers of “flute” and “didgeridoo” seem really, really funny…got this for 4.
3. What 1984 #1 single mentions the colors green, red and gold in the chorus? Kim instantly knew this one for 10, first of many fist-bumps of the night, woot!
4. What 1980 studio album by the J. Geils Band had two Top 40 singles, including one sharing its name with the album, and one other song? Helpful that my older brother used to like this band, first teamwork for Mike and I for 9.
5. What was the girl’s first name in the Rick Springfield song “Jessie’s Girl?” Multiple choice – Jennifer, Michelle, Amy, or Patti? The question also said that her name is mentioned in one of Springfield’s other songs, but I could not confirm which song that was. But we got this for 2.
6. What singer joined New Edition in 1987, becoming the only member of that group to not be from the Boston area? I am so glad they didn’t need my help on this one, I’m kind of weak on R&B stuff…8 points.
7. Cyndi Lauper’s “She’s So Unusual” album had four top five hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts besides “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” Name two of the other three. Miss, though we did consider the right song for SEVEN.
8. What singer from Twisted Sister testified before the U.S. Senate about censorship? Why? Because he wasn’t gonna take it! Sorry, had to throw that in there…got this.
9. What two members of the Go-Gos had solo careers in the 1980s? I wrote down three members of the group, two of them were correct, got this for 3.
10. In what year did Prince release the single 1999?
Mystery- lyrics from hair band songs – name the band based on the following lyrics
1. “You know I call you…I call you on the telephone..” I joked that David would piss himself with ecstasy when this question was read #fanboy
2. “I count the falling tears…they’re falling from my eyes…”
3. “Ricky had a heart of stone…”
4. “He’s gonna be your Frankenstein…”
#2 was our only miss…
Scores: Fifteen teams…scores ranging from upper 20s (did not hear the low score) to 62, with More Music, Less Pants in first. Some of the other ’80s-inspired team names: Dexy’s MIdnight Runners, purple eye shadow, Trivia Killed the Radio Star, Like a Virgin (no really), Level 42, She Blinded Me With Trivia, I Want my $2 Back (inspired by funny quote from “Better Off Dead,” one of my favorite movies).
Game Two
1. What 1988 album had a hit song that mentioned Benito Mussolini and Josef Stalin? 10
2. The 1980 single “Tennessee River” was the first of 21 consecutive hit country singles for what solo artist/or band? A bit of debate, but Scott’s knowledge of geography kicked in for the points, but only 2. He was talking about this very band before the game started!
3. What video by the cars was the first to win the MTV Video of the Year award in 1984? 9
4. According to the lyrics to “Summer of ’69,” what was the name of the two bandmates mentioned in the song? Lots of debate here, wound up being off by a LETTER in one of our names, miss for 3.
5. What 1980 debut solo album by Ozzy Osbourne included the single “Crazy Train” and featured a title similar to that of a classic movie? Metal boy Scott stepped up to the plate here for the points.
6. What one-hit wonder song features the lyrics, “I study nuclear science/I love my classes/I got a crazy teacher, he wears dark glasses?” 8
7. Which of the following music icons was the only one to score a number one hit in the 1980s? Elton John, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, or Bruce Springsteen? Miss for 4.
8. What song, from the “Stop the Violence” movement, was the first #1 rap single, staying in that spot for nine weeks? I’m not 100 percent sure of the wording on this question, but I was the only completely clueless one at the table for this question! Miss for 1.
9. Name two #1 songs from the ’80s by Madonna that were also featured in films that she appeared in. Miss for 5. One of the singles we picked did hit #1 – AND featured her then-husband Sean Penn – but she was not in the movie. Disappointing…
10. Who recorded the single “You Better Run,” which appeared on the “Crimes of Passion” album? Got this…
Mystery – Matching – Match the albums to the artists.
1. Riptide
2. In Square Circle
3. Songs from the Big Chair
4. Different Light
Artists – Stevie Wonder, Bangles, Robert Palmer, Tears for Fears.
I didn’t even realize this was matching at first and knew three of these. And #3 is a well-loved album by both Mike and I (the Mike playing with us, not my husband, who HATES this band…but then he pretty much hates most music), but Kim cannot STAND this band either. So we had a good laugh over this one…but you had to be there.
Scores – Fifteen teams – low score 53, we were in first again with 112 points.
Final Category – Unusual Hot 100 Occurrences
I asked Scott to do the math and wager just enough for us to win, which in this case, was 25 points. We could wager up to 30 points on this question:
In the week of Oct. 22, 1988 there were two songs in the top 10 in consecutive positions (#8 and #9 respectively) to have the same title. The #8 song was a hit single for an R&B artist who recently left a group and was the first of several hit songs for this artist, and the #9 song was a cover version of a hit song from 1956. Mike came up with the guy for #8 song right away, and I remembered the band that did the cover song, so we got this…
Top Scores: Dexy’s Midnight Runners (did not log their score, but they won $25) Von Trapp Family Singers – 80s Edition, 136 ($60); and More Music, Less Pants, 137, ($100).