2014 is toast. A brand new year is upon us. So let’s see how well you do with albums and
artists from the past. The questions are
self explanatory, so let’s dive into it shall we?
QUESTIONS
1. For the entire
month of December 1964, these ‘Boys of the Beach’ had the # 1 album on
Billboard Magazine’s album chart. What’s
the name of that album? Is it: a. All Summer Long b. The Beach Boys Christmas Album c. The Beach Boys Concert
2. From the week of
August 4, 1984 until the week of January 12th, 1985, this one-name
artist had the # 1 album on Billboards’ album chart. That’s 24 weeks at the top of the chart. An amazing feat for this Minneapolis born
performer. It was the ‘colourful’
soundtrack to his first movie, in which he also starred. You get a point if you can name either the
artist or the title of the album. So can
you?
3. During the final
week of December in 1994, this holiday album was an instrumental performer was
# 1. His real last name is Kenneth Bruce Gorelick, but he only uses an
abbreviation of his first name and the initial of his last name. For the actual title of the album, you’ll
need to think of a Motown group that had Smokey Robinson as its lead
singer. OK, enough hints, what’s the
name of this holiday # 1 album?
4. This artists’ # 1
album began its run for the week of November 30th, 1974 and
continued at the top of the charts for the next 10 weeks. Reginald Kenneth Dwight is his given name,
but he changed it to a more ’show biz’ name, using two first names from members
of the group he was in at the time. This
was a compilation of some of his hits to that point. Can you name the album? (HINT: The name of this artist is in the
title).
5. This album was # 1
for 10 weeks starting in the Fall of 1985 and continuing into January of
’86. It was another soundtrack, only
this time, for a successful television series starring Don Johnson and Philip Michael
Thomas as hip cops. The series aired
from September of 1984 until July of 1989.
Can you name this # 1 soundtrack album?
ANSWERS
1. c. “The Beach Boys Concert” is the correct
answer. That album was # 1 from the week
of December 5, 1964 until the week of December 26. The soundtrack to the Elvis Presley movie
“Roustabout” replaced it at # 1 in January of ’65. “The Beach Boys Concert” had been recorded at
the Civic Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento, California, partially in December
of ‘63 and also from their August 1, 1964 concert. The entire album was only 32 minutes long
with 13 songs, including non-Brian Wilson written hits like “Monster Mash”
(Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett), ”The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” (Jan & Dean),
“Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” (The Rivingtons) and “The Wanderer” (Dion). “The Beach Boys Christmas Album” was released
on November 9, 1964 and went to # 6 on Billboards’ Christmas album chart that
year, but wasn’t certified by the RIAA (Recording
Industry Association of America)
as a gold record, meaning it had sold 500,000 copies, until 1982. “All Summer Long” was released in 1963 and
2. The artist is Prince. The album was “Purple Rain”. It was the Princely one’s first # 1 album,
but it wouldn’t be his last. In 1985, Prince’s
“Around The World In A Day” was # 1 for 3 weeks and in the fall of ‘89, the
Prince soundtrack for the movie “Batman” went to # 1 for 6 weeks.
3. “Miracles
– The Holiday Album” from saxophonist
Kenny G is the answer we were looking for.
It was Kenny G’s only # 1 album on Billboards Top Pop Albums chart and
sold 13 million copies worldwide, making it the most successful Christmas album
to date. In 1999, Kenny released “Faith
– A Holiday Album” which did go to # 1 on Billboards’ Christmas album chart. It also climbed to # 6 on the Pop Album
chart. Kenny was born in Seattle,
Washington although his mother was originally from Saskatchewan. While
still in high school, Kenny (age 17) was a member of Barry White’s Love
Unlimited Orchestra. He signed with
Arista Records in 1982 as a solo artist and although he achieved platinum
status with his second and third albums, “G Force” and “Gravity”, his 4th
album, “Duotones” sold over 5 million copies in the U.S. alone. But it was his 6th album,
“Breathless” that went through the roof, becoming the most successful
instrumental album ever with 15 million copies sold.
4. The answer is “Elton John – Greatest Hits” which
replaced John Lennon’s “It’s Only Rock and Roll” album at # 1 for the week of
November 30th. Ten weeks
later, it was replaced by the Ohio Players album “Fire”.
5. The soundtrack to the hit TV series, “Miami Vice” was # 1 for 10 weeks from
November 2nd, 1985 to the first two weeks of January ’86. The theme music for the series “Miami Vice” was
composed by Jan Hammer and the original soundtrack album featured songs by Glenn
Frey, Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Chaka Khan and Grandmaster Melle Mel, plus
various instrumentals by Jan Hammer.
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