Rock Talk

Hey rock trivia buffs. Welcome to another edition of Rock Talk. This week – a potpourri of questions. That means it could be about anything in the rock genre. You’ve got three choices, so if you don’t have a clue as to the answer, you’ve got a 33 1/3 chance of getting it right. As usual, there are 10 questions, so score yourself 10 points for each correct answer – see how close you can come to 100%. Answers are below the final question – here we go.

1. Which British musician once played guitar on a Cheech &
Chong hit record? Was it:
a. Peter Frampton
b. Jeff Beck
c. George Harrison

2. Which Hollywood movie icon co-wrote a film for The Monkees?
Was it:
a. Jack Nicholson
b. Peter Fonda
c. Dennis Hopper

3. Which Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame member once was in the group Attila? (HINT: His
songs have been covered by such diverse performers as Frank Sinatra and Barry
White). Was he:
a. Elton John
b. Billy Joel
c. Stevie Wonder

4. Which guitar player once opened for The Supremes in front of 10,000 + people with his
then group when he was 13 years old? (HINT: He’s from the same state as The
Supremes and is still performing today). Is it:
a. Bob Seger
b. Ted Nugent
c. Stevie Wonder

5. Which legendary Canadian group was originally known as Chad Allen & The
Expressions? Was it:
a. The Guess Who
b. Rush
c. Loverboy

6. Which legendary singer/songwriter and member of a Rock’N’Roll Hall of Fame group
has a brother who won a Silver medal for swimming in the 1968 games in Mexico City?
(HINT: He’s also a producer and quite the guitar player). Is it:
a. Roger McGuinn of The Byrds
b. Pete Townshend of The Who
c. Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac

7. One of this groups’ members had a father who worked for the C.I.A. Was it:
a. Cheap Trick
b. The Eagles
c. The Police

8. This performer, who’d previously played with Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and
Joey Dee & The Starlighters, was the opening act for The Monkees in 1967. Was it:
a. Barry White
b. Jimi Hendrix
c. Marvin Gaye

9. This famous producer once played a drug dealer in a classic film from the 1960’s and
didn’t utter even one word? Was he:
a. Phil Spector
b. George Martin
c. Smokey Robinson

10. This superstar played guitar on recording sessions for The Rolling Stones, The
Kinks, Petula Clark, The Who, Brenda Lee, Joe Cocker and Them (with lead singer
Van Morrison). Is he:
a. Pete Townshend
b. Keith Richards
c. Jimmy Page

ANSWERS

1. c. George Harrison played guitar on Cheech & Chong’s hit record, “Basketball Jones”,
which reached # 15 on Billboards’ Hot 100 singles chart in the fall of 1973.

2. That would be a. Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson who co-wrote the script for
The Monkees 1968 movie “Head”. Jack also starred in 1969’s “Easy Rider” with Peter
Fonda and Dennis Hopper.


3. b. Billie Joel, born William Martin Joel, was in Attila, which was actually a duo
consisting of Billy and drummer Jon Small. Both had previously been in the band The
Hassles. Attila had one album released in July 1970 and they broke up 3 months later.

4. b. Detroit native Ted Nugent, who was born in December of 1948, has been performing
since 1958 when he was 10. His early success came with the group The Amboy
Dukes, who had the hit, “Journey To The Center of Your Mind” which made it as far as
# 16 on the charts in 1968. A longtime advocate for hunter’s rights. Ted almost
decided’ to run for Governor of Michigan in 2006.

5. a. The Guess Who were once known as Chad Allen & The Expressions and had the hit,
“Shakin’ All Over” in 1965. They had originally been called Chad Allen & The
Reflections, but changed their name to The Expressions after the U.S. group The
Reflections hit with “Just Like Romeo & Juliet”. After Chad Allen left, the group
recruited a new lead singer named Burton Cummings and the rest, as they say…is
rock’roll history.

6. c. Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac fame was also into athletics, but music was
a stronger draw. It was Lindsey’s brother Greg who won the Olympic Silver medal in
Mexico City in 1968.

7. Stewart Copeland, drummer with c. The Police, had a father who worked for the CIA.
Copeland, who was once ranked ‘the 5th greatest drummer of all time’ by Rolling Stone
Magazine, grew up in Cairo, Egypt and Beirut, Lebanon. Stewarts’ older brother, Miles
Copeland III, who managed Squeeze, The Police and later Sting, formed a record
company called I.R.S. Records and a company to book bands called F.B.I.

8. It was b. Jimi Hendrix, who was born in Seattle on November 27, 1942, who opened for
The Monkees on that 1967 tour. Jimi joined the tour, already in progress, on July 8th
in Jacksonville, Florida and left on July 16th after a concert in Forest Hills, New York. In
total, Jimi only played 7 tour dates with the Pre Fab 4.

9. a. Phil Spector was the legendary producer who played a non speaking drug dealer in
the landmark film “Easy Rider”. In the credits, Phil is listed as ‘Connection’.

10. That session guitar player would be c. Jimmy Page. Before launching Led Zeppelin,
Jimmy played guitar on hundreds of other peoples sessions. In that studio world,
Jimmy was known as ‘Little Jim’ as the other session guitar player was ‘Big Jim’
Sullivan.