What better way to take a trip down “memory lane” than a music trivia game based on music from the past? When I was taking a shower before the game, I had…an idea! Does anyone else get their most brilliant ideas and inspirations when they’re in the shower – or on the toilet – or is that just me? 🙂 OK, maybe it wasn’t THAT brilliant! But I thought… “How about a ’70s music theme trivia night?” Might be a tough sell for trivia players, unless they’re older – or have “crossover” music knowledge from decades when they were just clueless kiddos – or weren’t even born. I have an older player on my trivia team who said he’d be interested in that topic! Since I don’t see THAT happening anytime soon (unless maybe the My Trivia Live league does a ’70s music theme night), I just might come up with my own ’70s music question set! Stay tuned, if I get around to doing it, you’ll be able to read those questions here!

But back to the topic of ’90s music, shall we? Two of us – me and a “trivia comrade” named Kim – put our heads together on an interesting mix of questions in a “virtual” trivia game served up by Sporcle Live, playing under the team name “COVID Test Dummies.” We ended finished in a tie for second – so this was our best performance in quite a while!

The most exciting part of the night (at least for me) was learning that Kim’s husband – Brent – owns an autographed copy of Weird Al Yankovic’s album “Off The Deep End!” Apparently, Brent met Mr. Yankovic while he was a student at Michigan State University, where he worked setting up stages for performances. I would have been STAR STRUCK if I had a chance to meet Weird Al! I would be like this crowd of people in this scene from the movie From The Files of Police Squad: The Naked Gun when he is getting off the plane and is mobbed by fans (a twisted view of reality for sure, but that is really how I would be)!

Here are the questions as presented to us:

1. Music Crimes – According to the title of a 199 single by Len, what is being stolen from the singer?

2. Tributes – What Grammy Award-winning 1997 by Puff Daddy, Faith Evans and 112 is a tribute to the memory of The Notorious B.I.G.?

3. Grammys – What prolific band has only won two competitive Grammy Awards, one of which was Best Rock Album for the 1994 album “Voodoo Lounge?” Good guess – we remembered a band that had a high-profile concert tour around this time and happened to also be a “prolific” band.

4. Rappers – What rapper released the song “Ninja Rap” on the soundtrack of the 1991 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze?

5. First #1s – In 1997, what became Savage Garden’s first #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100? Second “Thank God Kim knows this” question in a row…(whew)!

6. Album Covers – The cover of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s 1992 album “Off the Deep End” is a parody of Nirvana’s “Nevermind.” Instead of a dollar bill, Al is swimming after what object on the end of a fish hook? Glad my guess of “Grammy Award” was overruled! I was thinking of the scene in his movie UHF where he is spoofing Indiana Jones and trying to steal an Academy Award from an underground crypt.

7. Spoken Lyrics – What words fill in the following blanks from the opening spoken lyrics of “All I Wanna Do” by Sheryl Crow? “This ain’t no (BLANK); And it ain’t no (BLANK BLANK) either?”

8. 1993 – What artist reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1993 with “Informer?” And yet another “Thank goodness Kim knew this” question…

9. Metal – What metal band, formed in 1982 by brothers Vinnie and Darrell Abbott, reached the height of their success with the #1 album “Far Beyond Driven” in 1994? Only miss of the game – not our combined wheel house.

10. Debut Albums – In 2996, what band released their debut album, “Yourself or Someone Like You,” catapulting them to success? A bit of debate – and a LOT of guessing – but the guess wound up being correct, woot! We were trying to think of bands that were maybe “kind of emo,” LOL.

Mystery – ’90s Albums – Fill in the Blank

M1 – 1992 – En Vogue – (BLANK) Divas

M2 – 1993 – Counting Crows – (BLANK) and Everything Else

M3 – Garth Brooks – In (BLANK)

M4 – 1990 – Madonna – The (BLANK) Collection

Got them all.

We were tied for second going into the final.

Final Category – Alternative Music

The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album was first given out in 1991. Nine different artists or groups won that Grammy during the 1990s. Of those nine, three of them were solo artists. Name any one of those solo artist.

Got it, but so did the two teams tied with us/ahead of us.

Until next time, as always, Go Pods (also Sparty On) – and stay classy, Vanilla Ice!