No answers in these recaps for the foreseeable future…sorry for the inconvenience.

A couple of us playing under the name “Wannabe Arthurs” (it’s a lame Golden Girls/Spice Girls reference, for inquiring minds) made our best effort to correctly answer a diverse set of trivia questions about ’90s music on Saturday. Some of them left us shrugging and making our best “duh” faces, others a bit better! Special thanks to Kimberly for not only submitting the answers – but for knowing a good number of them too (she was hands down the game MVP)! We played in a virtual version of a Sporcle Live game.

I set up for the game in a different room than usual! I wanted to watch the 2020 Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, but if it ran long, I didn’t want to miss the trivia game. So I set up “camp” in my husband’s upstairs office, streamed the virtual ceremony on his iMac (which has pretty good sound), and had my laptop on “standby” to play the virtual game. Turns out the ceremony was over by the time the game started, but I was already quite comfy on the futon up there, and had a cooler of beers, so…I stayed put!

The 2020 Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony was winding down by the time the game started – what better way to get into the spirit of a music-based ’90s trivia game then to watch nine inch nails and Depeche Mode get inducted? No, there weren’t any questions about either band (boo go figure), though there was one about 2019 inductees Radiohead. Whitney Houston (who had some big hit song used in a 1992 movie that was a cover of a Dolly Parton song or something) was also inducted posthumously. And this song was mentioned in the final question. Before this turns into a blog about how starry eyed I was to watch this 2020 virtual induction ceremony (the Depeche Mode zoom meeting was quite amusing and I loved those glasses, Trent Reznor!), I’ll get on with the questions!

1. Bands -The 1992 album Bigger, Faster, Better, More!, which includes the top 40 single “What’s Up?” is the only studio album by what band?

2. Other Songs – In addition to his #1 single “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That),” Meat Loaf had two songs reach #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Name either song. Neither of us had any idea that he had other ’90s hits besides the movie Fight Club (which was the first movie I ever bought on DVD – I bought it in Best Buy when I was buying my first DVD player).

3. Lyrics – According to the lyrics of a 1998 song, what two-word title phrase is “the way you love me,” “that pivotal moment,” and “perpetual bliss,” among other things? Yay Kim…

4. Concerts – In 1996, the first Tibetan Freedom Concert was held in which U.S. city? Huh? We brainstormed the correct city, but didn’t put it down. This must’ve been totally off our collective radar.

5. Samples – The 2016 single “Bad Things” by Machine Gun Kelly ft. Camila Cabello samples the 1999 song “Out of My Head” by what band?) Again, yay Kim!

6. Albums – Name two of the first three studio albums released by Radiohead. Took us a minute, but managed to get ’em.

7. #1 Songs – What is the only song to reach #1 by the band who also reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 with the songs “Before I Let You Go” and “Take Me There” with Mýa featuring Mase and Blinky Blink?

8. Ballads – What band’s most recent top 40 hit in the U.S. is the 1994 power ballad “I’ll Stand by You”? Kim again (woot)!

9. Titles – What is the numeric title of the Smashing Pumpkins’ highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100? Kim again…

10. TV in Music – What X-Files character is mentioned in the lyrics of Barenaked Ladies’ 1998 hit “One Week”? Kim again (way to be game MVP)! Was I too deep in my six pack to be any help this game?

Mystery – Which Came First? Choose which self-titled 1990s album was released first.

1. Sublime OR Weezer (The Blue Album)

2. Backstreet Boys OR ‘N Sync

3. Brandy OR Christina Aguilera

4. Third Eye Blind OR Alice in ChainsI think we got 2 or three right (as Meat Loaf would say, “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad).

Final Category – Solo Artists

Five solo albums released in the 1990s have sold at least 15 million copies as of 2018, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, including the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, which is attributed to Whitney Houston. Name two of the other three solo artists who released the other four albums, none of which are soundtrack albums.

We got one of these correct. One out of three ain’t bad?

As for a little ‘Pods team update, we’re still not “going out” for pub trivia these days, we’ll resume doing that when this pandemic calms down a lot more. In the mean time, as long as the virtual games remain available to play, we’ll continue with those occasionally. I know at least a couple of my teammates do miss the pub trivia games and there are some of those going on right now, but now just isn’t the time for us to be doing them. Maybe if we get some encapsulated hazmat suits, but until then or a vaccine becomes widespread and doesn’t have terrifying side effects, no live trivia for us. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Donald Trump!