Note: This is a generalized recap of a recent music quiz game, not a question-by-question recap you might be used to reading here. I’ll give a lot of hints for answers, but won’t give the answers. Sorry, but I am totally mean!

It took us long enough – but we finally hit the top of the charts after 16 weeks!

But now that we’ve finally reached the top…we have to share that spot with another team! And I don’t think we’ll stay in that spot for long.

Nipping at ours and Armless Chairs’ heels is Don’t Forget to Strip Your Bartender, who trail us by just a few league points.

They’re threatening to topple us from the top spot like a Marvin Gaye song in 1968 (more about that if you read on).

It’s all part of our playbook, you see! Fighting for trivia glory is what our team is all about! It’s even in our name – Miskatonic University “Fighting” Cephalopods.

When we wage our music quiz battles, we’re actually more like a “supergroup.” By that, I mean a group with members of other musical groups joined together for awesomeness. “supergroup” does not mean “superpowers,” even if some trivia players do have certain superpowers!

You know, like that supergroup with that one guy from the Babys (John Waite), and that one guy from Journey. Neil Schon, I think? And yep, those are the only members of Bad English I can “sort of” name.

If you’re old like me, you might actually remember Bad English (sorry to interrupt but doesn’t this sound like a malt liquor brand) from that song from 1990 called When I See You Smile. It was played heavily on the radio and more sweet than aspartame and saccharine combined 🧁 😂

Ya want a more well known “supergroup?” Well, there was that hair band supergroup with Tommy Shaw from Styx, maybe that one guy from Cheap Trick…uh…uh…they had that song “High Enough?” Shared their name with an Ethel Merman musical?

Guess I don’t know much about that supergroup 🤔

The only supergroup for which I can name all of the members without cheating by looking it up – is the Traveling Wilburys, which still has two living members (Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan).

I remember a standup comedian at the time when they were popular said “They’re so ugly that their roadies get more sex than they do!” Ouch! That comedian kitty had claws!

Who knows what prog rock group Jeff Lynne founded? Speaking of Prog Rock, we had a prog rock question (which I was super excited about)!

To be fair, George Harrison and Bob Dylan were both kind of hippie cute back in the day (I like the shaggy haired mustached George myself – hey we all got a type don’t we)? Bob had a brooding Beatnik vibe, he was my mom’s crush in the ’60s.

In honor of the recent Mother’s Day holiday, this photo of Bob Dylan playing chess in a cafe (which is not my photo) is for my mom!

Our own music trivia”supergroup” has a couple of members from my ‘Pods trivia team, as well as Kim from Sparty On – who occasionally brings a couple of her former sorority sisters (and occasionally their kids and their kids’ SOs) to the party. Which is really “super” when that happens!

Looks like I’ll have to study up on what members were in Bad English and the Damn Yankees! Might be worth a nerd point or something later on, right?

Speaking of nerd points, we started off strong by knowing who Miley Cyrus’ godmother is. Though…I think every team in the room knew that one!

In game one, we had questions in categories of 2010s #1s, New Wave, 2020s Country, 1960s Hits, Pop Rock, 70s Prog Rock, Latin Pop, Ska Punk, Rock Hits and Pop Groups.

We heard a heartfelt ballad by Ms. Cyrus about that thing they recently used to demolish the 777 building on State Street in Ann Arbor. Would they have allowed me to bring my picnic blanket and some popcorn to watch the show (I doubt it)!

New Wave was that song about the country whose capital is Tehran if it’s all one word. For our nerd point, they wanted the name of the 2016 movie featuring Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling that this song was played in. For some strange reason, I remembered the name of the director started with the letter D. Isn’t it weird when your brain does that? Yes, this movie’s director has a name that does start with the letter D! Of course I couldn’t remember the last name of the guy (that would make things too easy).

Kim was the superstar for 2020s country for correctly naming the country artist whose name sounds like something sweet and delicious to eat – as well as the song title, too. Missed a nerd point asking who he lost the Grammy Award for Best New Artist to. We guessed Gracie Abrams when the answer was Victoria Monet. Oh well…shake it off!

When we got to the very exciting category of Prog Rock, I figured it would be Pink Floyd, or maybe Alan Parsons Project, or that band that Jeff Lynne founded that I asked y’all about earlier (have you figured it out yet)?

Well, it wasn’t any of these groups! Turns out the song they played was one specifically mentioned by Jack Black’s character in School of Rock. He’s talking to the Asian kid that he picked to play keyboards in the band, so he wanted him to listen to the song – which shares its name with a traffic circle – because of the keyboard solo.

Don’t you just love it when a movie you watched less than 24 hours before game time helps you with a trivia question?

Oh OK! I’ll give a big hint. This band also recorded that Owner of a Lonely Heart song in the 80s. Which was fun if you wanted to replace the lyrics with other ones – like “Owner of a stinky fart,” or “Owner of a shopping cart,” or “Owner of a stale Pop Tart.” What? You didn’t do that in the 80s? I feel so sad for you!

Speaking of questions about stuff that I watched on TV the night before…

The Latin Pop category was a song by that artist who was killed by someone who ran her fan club in 1997. For the nerd point, they wanted the name of her signature style of music, which blends Mexican folk traditions with American rock, country and blues.

The night before, I was watching an episode of Hacks. In this episode, lead character, washed up comedian Debra Vance, decided that she wanted to vie for some competitive performance awards. In this case, a Grammy. Her idea was to be a featured artist along with a singer in this genre to hopefully get a Grammy nod. Seriously, this specific word was in my head at this time so bam…nerd point!

Hey I really don’t get to help out a whole lot in these music quiz games – I gotta celebrate all my teenie victories!

For our last category of Ska Punk, they played (I’ll give this one to you) Just a Girl by…which band? We missed the nerd point asking the setting of the video – was it a beach, bathroom, park, or library?

We were in second place with 62 going into the game one final behind orlando magik, who had 65 points.

We flunked the final question. They played four different songs whose titles have names that can be found in state nicknames. The trick was to name the state that is located farthest east.

Those songs were:

Sunflower, Post Malone; Golden HunterX; Natural, Imagine Dragons and Treasure by Bruno Mars.

Keep in mind they just played audio clips of these songs, we were not given artists and titles like…I just gave you all! You’re welcome! So it was much harder for us than it will be for those of you playing along at home while you’re on the toilet, or wherever else you are when you read these pointless things! I’m not judging!😂

Yeah we missed it…

For game two, we had questions in categories of Rock Hits, Pop Groups, 2000s Hip-Hop, Motown, Going Solo (not Han Solo 😢), 2020 Pop, 2020s R&B, and Funk Rock.

For Rock Hits, they played Highway to Hell, by…what group? For our nerd point, we had to name the band’s original lead singer, who died in 1980.

Because of my unhealthy fascination with rock star/celebrity deaths, I not only knew this, but remembered the make of the car that this guy died in and where it happened! It was a Renault, and it was England. I guess I was the only one in the bar remembering his name. Really? Just me?

Of course I was a total loss on the category of pop groups, because the song wasn’t recorded in the 70s or 80s. That’s where Kim stepped in – like she does for 90 percent of these music questions, by knowing the song was “Summer Girls” by the group whose name is initials. Missed the nerd point asking about which 1984 film this singer apparently hates (which is mentioned at the three minute mark).

In a shocking development, I actually knew the Hip-Hop song! It was that song by Eminem that samples Dream On by Aerosmith. I actually downloaded that song a few years ago, along with his song Berzerk that samples The Stroke by Billy Squier (hey I at least dabble in Eminem, aight?)

Eminem also sampled Life’s Been Good by Joe Walsh in his song So Far, which is a hilarious commentary on the trials and tribulations of fame.

It seems that since Eminem and I are about the same age, that we were exposed to the same music growing up. I can appreciate that!

For Motown, Kim was the heroine again for spotting the correct Stevie Wonder song title (For Once in my Life). We missed the nerd point asking which Marvin Gaye song edged this song out of the #1 spot in 1968. We talked ourselves out of our original guess…

We missed the nerd point in the Going Solo category asking what was advertised using the Lionel Richie song All Night Long – was it mattresses, hotels, or financial services?

I think Don’t Forget to Strip Your Bartender won both games (I didn’t get screen captures of final scores). So…go them? Way to slay with only three players! We also had only three, but we were having an off night!

Let’s hope for a little better luck in Monday’s game! Will it be outside in the biergarten – or not? I already know where the best WiFi spot is, so that is the one I’ll be heading for when we arrive! If it’s not occupado…

As always, Sparty On, Go Pods and stay classy, Bon Scott!