Answers at the end.

A group of us recently hit up the grand “redebut” – a word I just made up – for the Face the Music trivia show at E.G. Nicks in Plymouth.

A little history, these shows were formerly hosted weekly at the Plymouth ROC, which closed a few years ago.

While some bars in other regions of Michigan have recently started offering music quiz shows in the My Trivia Live universe, this show at E.G. Nicks is the first one in the area that I guess you can call “The D” (if one is not very specific of course – tell someone in Plymouth that they live in “The D,” and they might dump their pear/acai martini on you if they’re feeling feisty)!

So…Metro Detroit then? Glad we cleared that up! I certainly don’t want to start a pointless trivia recap by pissing off people!

Sadly, we didn’t win any prizes in the game or know the answer to the final question. Though we did kind of kick ourselves about it just a little (no bruising, just maybe a welt or two). But I’ll go into more detail about that once we get there!

The format is similar to a garden variety MTL game. You know – six rounds, a halftime round and a final question. The only difference is that there are some audio components, or “name that tune” elements involved, though it’s “mostly” just music trivia.

Without further ado, here were our abbreviated questions, to the best of my recollection:

Round One – It all Starts Somewhere

Question One: What was the name of Hootie and the Blowfish’s 1994 debut album, which achieved diamond level sales status in the Recording Industry of America list? Great, now that I’ve spelled it out the first time, I can abbreviate it if I refer to it again!

Question Two: What was the title of Lady Gaga’s 2008 debut album? Miss.

Question Three: What was the name of Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 debut album?

All of these questions were asked in more detail and more creatively by the trivia host nicknamed “Butz,” remember, I did say that they were abbreviated.

Round Two – And We Never Heard from Them Again (one and done artists)

Question One: Here, Butz played the 1977 single “Don’t Give Up On Us” and thank the gods that we didn’t have to name the artist. He actually gave us the name of the singer – David Soul – and asked us to name the TV series that he was working on at the time – the implication being that it was OK if he just had the one song because he would be better known for his role in this cop show. Yay we got this (I got to play the “yay I’m the old lady” card here)!

More trivia involving this series…Did anyone else know that the “other” guy in the series – Paul Michael Glaser – directed the 1987 film The Running Man? I believe it’s his only directing credit, and man…this is probably one of the best action movies from the 1980s! Who doesn’t want to see Schwarzenegger wearing a yellow spandex onesie?

Question Two: What band, formed in 2001 in Oklahoma City, recorded the 2005 album Extreme Behavior, which generated the long “Lips of an Angel,” which hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts? Glad Kim and her friends were all over this one, I don’t remember ever, ever hearing this song…this is why it’s a “team” game!

Question Three: Which band, which shares its name with a 1992 teen drama series, recorded “How Do You Talk to an Angel?” Total memory lane time for my teammates here…I think they were all singing along to this one! I don’t remember watching this series when it was on, though I was aware of its existence! This is why even the smallest age differences in music trivia can actually make a big difference! Sometimes a three year age difference between you and your teammates can seem more like a decade! I can’t explain it, it’s music trivia logic!

Round Three – Girls Just Want to Have Fun (self explanatory, it’s about female artists)

Now this one would be a really tricky question for us…

Question One: What artist, got her start in the 1960s with the folk group the Stone Poneys? Here the host played “A Different Drum unsure if the song was named, and I’m fairly certain this was the song he played. Other qualifiers in the question included that she went on to have 20-some-odd hits in the 1970s and 1980s, and also that she dated both Jim Carrey and George Lucas. None of these things helped us arrive at a correct answer – honestly she sounded way different in the Stone Poneys song that they played than she did in her later hits.

Just because I’m in a fairly good mood on my day off…here’s a photo hint:

Who doesn’t love knee socks?

Question Two: After leaving a popular band, what artist released only one Grammy winning record released in 1998, and is considered to be one of the best female rappers of all time? They played her song “Doo Wop (That Thing)” as a hint. Got this.

Question Three: Hailing from Pennsylvania, what artist has released nine studio albums since her 2000 debut and was born Alicia Beth Moore? Kim all over this one…

Halftime – Albums By Deceased Artists

Given the names of three albums by artists who are now deceased – starting with the most recently released album, identify the artists.

1 Uprising, Survival, Kaya

2 In Utero, Nevermind, Insecticide

3 I Got a Name, Life and Times, You Don’t Mess Around with Jim

4 Patience, Songs from the Last Century, Older

5 Life After Death, Ready to Die

Missed #s 1, 4 and 5 (we were torn between two on #5 and picked the wrong one).

Round Four – Places on the Map

Correct answers will be places…

Question One: In this one, they played a George Strait song with a U.S. city in the title, Amy was all over this one…

Question Two: The ninth song on the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour album, which reached #1 in 1967, begins with the lyrics “There is a barber showing photographs…of every head he’s had the pleasure to know…and all the people that come and go…stop and say hello?” We all flunked this, but I asked my former Beatlemaniac mother this question later and of course she knew this! Too bad these music trivia games go past her bedtime!

Question Three: What group, founded in Atlanta in 1988, recorded an ode to the Volunteer State on their 1992 debut album?

Round Five – Stuck in the 1980s

Question One: What was Prince’s #2 best selling album, which was released before Purple Rain and generated three Billboard hits?

Question Two: Which artist had the most hit songs in the decade of the 1980s – Journey, Huey Lewis and the News, or Chicago? Miss.

Question Three: What was Madonna’s first charting hit song? Miss (we all hung our heads in shame for missing a Madge question)!

Round Six – Didn’t Miss by Much

This is about song titles by artists who were shut out of #1 spots on the Billboard charts…

Question One: Bryan McKnight single that couldn’t compete with “Smooth” by Rob Thomas/Carlos Santana.

Question Two: Country superstar shut out of #1 a couple of different artists with her single “You’re Still the One.” I think there was another artist mentioned blocking her from #1, but I didn’t get it down. Kim knew this one…

Question Three: Song by Welsh artist Donna Lewis was playing here, a 1996 single that couldn’t overtake Macarena, had to name the single.

There were around 20 teams playing on this bustling music trivia night! We wound up in fourth place going into the final with 58 points, playing under the stage name Mighty, Mighty, Pods Tones.

Final Question: What song had its video set in the East Bronx and clocks in at 6 minutes and 31 seconds? Its artist had three previous #1 singles in the 1970s, but this song was their last #1 hit, and sounded markedly different than the previous songs?

There were more qualifiers given for this one, but we wanted to focus on trying to answer it correctly, but…we failed. Oh well, this was still a lot of fun – even if was a bit…chaotic! Maybe we can try sitting closer to the host next time? I get enough steps in a day at my job, I don’t need to get too many extra ones in trivia games!

Really though – how many times have I sung this song in karaoke bars (it’s a challenge, BTW)? Why did it miss my radar? I think I’ll go out tonight and eat some cars or something to make myself feel better! What am in the mood for ? Cadillacs? Lincolns? Mercury or Subarus?😂

We hope that these music games will continue, even if just occasionally, not weekly. We can’t commit to playing them weekly anyway (we all have enough trivia and personal commitments as it is)!

Big news though – there are plans to revisit a Flint “Face the Music” spot in a couple of weeks with the purpose of using up some prize money that Kim S. won by herself! Should be fun to go back to my native soil (sort of)! Isn’t that a vampire thing? Carry dirt around with you to sleep in or something?

We’ll be back into the “general knowledge” trivia saddle next week at McShane’s in Ypsilanti. As always, Go Pods, and stay classy, Linda Ronstadt (you led quite the interesting romantic life)!

Anawers

R1

Cracked rear view, the game, are you experienced

R2

Starsky and hutch, hinder, the heights

R3

Linda Ronstadt, Lauryn hill, pink

H

Marley and the wailers, Nirvana, j croce, George Michael biggie

R4 Penney Lane, Amarillo, arrested development

R5

1999, journey, holiday

Back at one, Shania Twain, I love you always and forever

F rapture