BOO!

Halloween is just around the corner.  Young ghosts, goblins and zombies will soon be out trick or treating, so be careful if you’re driving.  Our quiz this time out, is about songs that had a ‘ghost-y’ or ‘supernatural’ theme to them.  In the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, there was a group calling themselves “The Zombies”.  Rob Zombie is a well known musician (now film director) who co-founded the band, White Zombie.  There were plenty of ‘Halloween-y’ hit songs over the years too, such as “Ghost Riders In The Sky”, “Bat Out Of Hell” and “The Purple People Eater”.  All of the songs in this quiz made the Top Forty, and we give you the year each one was a hit, so how hard could it really be, huh?  So, turn out all the lights, and using only the ghostly light from your computer screen, take your best shot at each question.     

     

QUESTIONS

1.  The video for this 1984 # 1 theme song from a movie franchise about the paranormal features cameos from such celebrities as former SNL writer and now U.S. Senator Al Franken, actors Danny DeVito (“It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”), George Wendt (“Cheers”), Peter Falk (“Columbo”), Melissa Gilbert (“Little House On The Prairie”), Chevy Chase (“Community”), John Candy (“Uncle Buck”),  Terri Garr (“Tootsie”); plus singers Irene Cara (“Fame”) and Carly Simon (“You’re So Vain”).  So, if you wanted to call a friend to help you answer this question, “Who you gonna call?” (HINT ALERT).       

      

2.  In 1962, this song, perfectly geared for Halloween, skyrocketed to the # 1 spot on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart where it remained for two weeks.  Interestingly, the same song, (“It was a graveyard smash”) (HINT ALERT) jumped back into the Top Ten (at         # 10), eleven years later in 1973.  The singer did a pretty good vocal impression of one of the best known horror movie actors of his day.  Was that actor:  a. Bela Lugosi           b. Vincent Price or c. Boris Karloff?                 

                

3.  This 1978 song about ‘creatures with fangs and very sharp teeth that often hang out in dark, scary woods at night’ (especially during a full moon), had a lot of starpower connected to it.  Mick Fleetwood and John McVie of Fleetwood Mac played drums and bass respectively, on it.  Singer/ songwriter Jackson Browne produced it.  It climbed to the # 21 spot on Billboards’ Hot 100, but it gets played a lot this time of year, because of its Halloween connection.  The singer unfortunately developed cancer and died in 2003.  Can you name this song? (“Ow Ow Owooooooo”)             

                   

4.  Michael Jackson shot a very scary video for his Top Five single, “Thriller”, directed by John Landis, the man behind-the-camera for “Animal House”, “Trading Places” and “Blues Brothers”.  On the single hit “Thriller” (from Michael’s 1984 # 1 album of the same name), which legendary horror movie star appears reading a poem near the end of the song, then laughs manically?  Was it:  a. Peter Cushing  b. Peter Lorre or c. Vincent Price? 

    

5.  This singer is not to be confused with the long tongued bass player from KISS, but in 1964, he had a # 11 hit with his song about a very scary place, which normally is the place where we spend much of our time, watch TV, eat and sleep and is usually not inhabited by ghosts.  But this particular place in this particular song does have ghosts.  So, what’s the name of this song already?                       

 ANSWERS

1.  It’s “Ghostbusters” from Ray Parker Jr. and comes from the 1984 movie, “Ghostbusters”, directed by Ivan Reitman (“Twins”, “Ghostbusters II” and “Father’s Day”) starred Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, Rick Moranis and Sigourney Weaver.  The song “Ghostbusters” was nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Original Song” category, but lost to Stevie Wonders’ “I Just Called To Say I Love You” from the movie “The Woman in Red”.  There have been plenty of rumours that ”Ghostbusters 3” is being made, but we’ll just have to wait and see if it really comes off.                     

2.  The answer was c. Boris Karloff and the singer was Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett with his 1962 # 1 hit (and 1973 # 10 hit) “Monster Mash”.  Of course, to be fair, if you’d said a. Bela Lugosi, you would also have been correct as Bobby ‘Boris’ sings one line as Dracula, “Whatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?”.  Robert George Pickett was a huge fan of horror films and often did horror movie star impressions in his nightclub act, thus gaining the nickname of ‘Boris’.  Every record company in Los Angeles turned down “Monster Mash”, but a small label, Garpax, owned by singer/songwriter/ producer Gary Paxton agreed to record and produce it…and the rest, as they say, is show biz history.       

    

3.  Warren Zevon is the co-writer and singer.  “Werewolves of London” is the song.

Zevon wrote several songs that Linda Ronstadt recorded, including “Hasten Down The Wind” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” (# 31 in 1978).  Zevon died on September 7, 2003.  He was 56.              

4.  Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” featured the voice (and ultra scary laugh) of horror movie veteran c. Vincent Price.         

    

5.  “Haunted House” by Jumpin’ Gene Simmons is the answer we were looking for.  Simmons, who’s name Gene Simmons of KISS ‘borrowed’ it as a tribute, hailed from Tupelo, Mississippi, the same town Elvis Presley came from, before his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee.  In fact, Jumpin’ Gene Simmons also recorded for Sun Records, as did Elvis before he signed with RCA Victor and Gene was the opening act for Elvis quite a few times in EP’s early years.  “Haunted House” wasn’t on Sun though.  It was released on another Memphis label, Hi Records.  The ‘original’ Gene Simmons died in 2006 at the age of 73.                            

ROCKIN’ BY THE NUMBERS

Even if you’re not a math whiz, you shouldn’t have any problems with the quiz this time.   It’s all about Top Ten hits that have a number (or numbers) in their title.  For example:  Dolly Parton’s 1981 # 1 hit, “9 To 5” or Elvis Presley’s # 4 hit, “One Night” from ’58 or even The Grass Roots, “Two Divided By Love” in 1971.  See how this works?  Not much else to say, except our quiz starts in 3...2...1.    

QUESTIONS

1.  This Canadian group sings the opening theme to “The Big Bang Theory”.  The ‘number’ song we’re looking for was their first and so far, only # 1 on Billboards’ Hot 100 singles chart.  Their latest album is called “Grinning Streak” and they’ll be starting a U.S. tour in October.  What’s the name of the group and their ‘number’ # 1 hit?       

      

2.  Think of what you normally put on the top of a birthday cake.  Then, think of a teenage girl having a ‘Sweet – party’.  If you can turn your mind back to 1959, that’s when this song, featuring lead singer Johnny Maestro, was a # 2 hit.  Maestro later went on to sing lead with Brooklyn Bridge, but this was his first taste of success.  Can you come up with the name of the song and the name of the group?           

                

3.  Most office workers leave for home at this time.  It’s also the original name of the Motown group The Jacksons.  Now that you’ve got that answer, think about the planet where we all live and one of the names for it.  This hit went Top Five (HINT ALERT) in 1966 for this Pennsylvania group.  Can you name them along with their ‘number’ song?             

                   

4.  Tuskegee, Alabama is the original home to this Motown group, who had such hits as “Brick House” and “Still”.  The main lead singer eventually left for a hugely successful solo career with # 1 hits like “Hello”, “Truly” and “All Night Long (All Night)”.  This 1978 # 1 is a love ballad to a very special ‘lady’ (HINT ALERT).  What’s the name of the group and their # 1 hit?

    

5.  This song has a year in its title.  It was the year The Beatles released their second movie, “Help!” (and received MBE medals from Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace).  It was also the year former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill died, Canada got its new ‘Maple Leaf’ flag, the Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup (yeah, that really helped, didn’t it?), the Los Angeles Dodgers won the 62^nd World Series.  OK, so that’s the year in the title – the rest is about a man/woman relationship.  This song was one of only two that made the Top Ten, although this singer did chart 15 songs on Billboards’ Hot100.  (HINT ALERT:  His last name is the same as one of the cups tennis champions receive.  Who is he and what’s the name of this song?                       

     

ANSWERS

1.  In 1998, Toronto’s Barenaked Ladies had the # 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with their hit, “One Week”.        

2.  “16 Candles” by The Crests was the song we were looking for.  While it didn’t make it to the top of the singles chart, it did climb all the way to # 2 for two weeks in February of 1959.  The song that kept The Crests out of the # 1 spot?  “Stagger Lee” by Lloyd Price, which also held Ritchie Valens’ “Donna” to the # 2 position the following two weeks.     

    

3.  That would be The Vogues “Five O’Clock World”, a # 4 song in 1966.  Although they charted 14 songs on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart, only four made Top Ten.  “You’re The One” was first, making it to # 4 in 1965, followed the next year by “Five O’Clock World”.  Then in 1968, they charted two # 7, “Turn Around, Look At Me” and “My Special Angel”.             

4.  The Commodores got their name by opening a dictionary to a random page and picking a random word.  That word was ‘Commode’ (also known as toilet).  Their ’78      # 1, “Three Times A Lady”, stayed at the top of Billboards’ Hot 100 chart for 2 weeks in August of 1978.  Lionel Richie left in the early 1980’s and charted almost two dozen more hits on the singles chart.          

    

5.  Remember “65 Love Affair” from Paul Davis?  No?  It was a # 6 song in May of 1982.  During that same time period, another ‘number’ song was in the Top Ten.  That was “867-5309/Jenny” by Tommy Tutone, which climbed as high as # 4 that same month (May) in ’82.  Paul Davis previously cracked the Top Ten in 1978 with his # 7 hit, “I Go Crazy”.