IT’S A BRAND NEW YEAR Y’ALL!

2014 is toast.  A brand new year is upon us.  So for the first quiz for 2015, our questions are all about songs that have the word ‘new’ or ‘brand new’ in their title. As usual, there’ll be a clue or two…so let’s kick it all off with 5 ‘brand new’ questions. 

QUESTIONS

1.  They called him the hardest working man in show business.  He charted nearly 100 songs on Billboards’ Hot 100 singles chart, but never had a # 1 hit, although he came close a couple of times (8 of his hits went Top Ten).  His ‘new’ song climbed to # 8 during the week of September 4^th, 1965.  A couple of this artist’s Top Ten hits include:  “I Got You (I Feel Good)” (# 3 in ’66), “Cold Sweat – Part 1” (# 7 in ’67) and “Living In America (# 4 in ’86).  Do you know the name of this ‘new’ song by a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame legend?                

2.  This Sydney, Australian group’s ‘new’ song hit the Top Ten singles chart in 1988.  In November of 1997, the groups’ lead singer Michael Hutchence, died in a hotel room in a tragic accident.  The group stopped performing for nearly a year before slowly edging their way back into the music scene.  In 2004, the band was involved in a reality TV show to find a new lead singer.  The series, which ran on Global in Canada and CBS in the U.S. was called “Rock Star: INXS”.  A Canadian from Nova Scotia by the name of J.D. Fortune won.  But the ‘new’ INXS song we’re looking for had Michael Hutchense as lead singer.  Can you name the song (since you already know the group)?    

3.  This performer appeared at the original Woodstock Festival in August of 1969.  She was a pop/folk singer/songwriter who took her ‘brand new’ song to # 1 in December of 1971.  She performed professionally using only her first name, Melanie.  The ‘brand new’ song in question was banned by some radio stations because they thought the lyrics had sexual innuendos.  Thinking ‘brand new’ is the key (HINT ALERT) to the answer.  What’s the name of Melanie’s # 1 hit?          

4.  Philadelphia is the home of this group.  They had style (HINT ALERT), they had class, they had hits.  Their song with the words ‘brand new’ in it climbed to # 2 in 1974.  Two years previously, “Betcha By Golly Wow” made it to # 3.  In total, this group has had 5   # 1 hits.  Do you know the name of this groups’ ‘brand new’ hit from ’74?       

5.  This group, several of whom were formerly in Linda Ronstadt’s back-up band, racked up 5 # 1’s between March of 1975 and November 1979.  They’ve sold over 150 million records, CD’s, cassettes, 8 tracks and Edison cylinders (OK, I’m kidding about the cylinders).  They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 and are still touring today, even though when they broke up in 1980, they swore they would only get back together ‘when hell freezes over’…which apparently it did in 1994 because the band reunited for a new album called, appropriately enough, “Hell Freezes Over”.  What is this high flying (HINT ALERT) band’s # 1 ‘new’ song from 1977?

     

ANSWERS

1.  “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” from James Brown is the correct answer.  The ‘hardest working man in show biz’ first debuted on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart in 1958 with the song “Try Me” that only climbed as high as # 48.  “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” climbed as high as # 8 in September of 1965.  It stalled at # 8 for two weeks, then dropped out of the Top Ten entirely.  That same year, Browns’ follow up single, “I Got You (I Feel Good)” was released.  It reached # 3 for the week of December 18^th, 1965 and remained in that spot for 3 weeks before it fell to # 7, and the following week,  dropped out of the Top Ten.                               

    

2.  INXS took their song “New Sensation” to # 3 in 1988.  INXS first hit the Billboards’ Hot 100 chart in 1983 with a Top Thirty hit “The One Thing”.  It wasn’t until 1986 that they had their first Top Ten hit with “What You Need”, which climbed to # 5.  In 1988, they charted 4 Top Tens, “Need You Tonight” (INXS’s only # 1), “Devil Inside” (# 2), “New Sensation” and “Never Tear Us Apart”.  Two years later, they hit the Top Ten singles chart again with “Suicide Blonde” (#9).  “Disappear”, the last INXS song to crack the Top Ten in North America, made it to # 8 in 1991.           

3.  Melanie’s “Brand New Key” was # 1 for 3 weeks, beginning the week of December 25^th, 1971.  It replaced “Family Affair” by Sly and the Family Stone.  “Brand New Key” was replaced at the top of the charts for the week of January 15^th, 1972 by Don McLean’s “American Pie”.  Melanie (her last name is Safka) was one of the many performers at the original Woodstock Festival in 1969.  “Brand New Key” was Melanie’s only # 1 hit, although she did get to # 6 on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart in 1970, backed by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, with the song “Lay Down (Candles In The Rain”).  Melanie says she wrote “Brand New Key” in 15 minutes.  She also wrote The New Seekers 1970 hit “Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma”.      

                  

4.  The Stylistics had the hit “You Make Me Feel Brand New”.  This Philadelphia group first hit the charts in 1971 with “You’re A Big Girl Now”, although that one only climbed as high as # 73.  In 1972, they had three Top Ten hits, “You Are Everything” (# 9), “Betcha By Golly Wow” (# 3) and “I’m Stone In Love With You” (# 10).  The following year, “Break Up To Make Up” zoomed up to # 5.               

5.  “New Kid In Town” by The Eagles was # 1 for one week in February of 1977.  The Eagles made their debut on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart in 1972 with “Take It Easy”, which climbed to # 13.  Besides “New Kid In Town”, their other # 1’s were:  “Best Of My Love” (1975); “One Of These Nights” (1975); “Hotel California” (1977) and “Heartache Tonight” (1979).