Hey Now Trivia Quiz

Answer: London Grammar

London Grammar is a UK trio that met at the University of Nottingham in 2009 where they were all students. They pursued a music career together after they completed their studies, taking the name London Grammar as "not only was it where we're from, but London is also so international and multicultural that it felt like quite a universal name in a way" according to a 2013 "London Evening Standard" interview.

Their sound was described by "Gigwise", (a British online music news site), as "a blend of ambient, ethereal and classical sounds". Certainly, the main feature of the group was the lead songwriter and lead vocalist, Hannah Reid's, soaring vocals punctuated with sparse, melancholy guitar. The world sat up and took notice with the release of their first single "Strong" off their debut album, "If You Wait", which reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. By the time "Hey Now", the third single off the same album, was released, the album had gone platinum in the UK, double platinum in Australia and gold in New Zealand. London Grammar never looked back.

Answer: Blondie

In the mid-70s, Blondie, fronted by the blond-haired Deborah Harry, was an underground band in New York City where they had a small but loyal following. On a tour of Australia in 1977, they met Ian Meldrum, host of the very influential Australian Pop Music Show "Countdown". Meldrum asked them for some film clips to play on the show. The band gave them two: the edgy single, "X-Offender" and its B-side, "In the Flesh", a slower number that was described as "a forerunner to the power ballad". Whether it was a mistake or not, the show played "In The Flesh". It went to number two in Australia. This exposure made the UK sit up and take notice. A cover of the Randy and the Rainbows 1963 hit "Denise", then reached number two on the UK Singles Chart.

Mike Chapman, the Australian half of the prolific songwriting/producing team Chapman and Chinn, produced their third album, "Parallel Lines" which contained a Chapman reworking of a 1974 punkish song of theirs called "Heart of Glass" which when released, was a mash-up of New Wave and Eurodisco. The song went to number one worldwide as a single and the album sold 20 million copies.

"Call Me" (1980) was the group's second worldwide number one. It was written for the movie, "American Gigolo" a film about a male prostitute starring Richard Gere". It was written with lead singer Deborah Harry and European disco producer Giorgio Moroder who extended the invitation first to Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac who declined. This was their second US number one.

Answer: Evanescence

Evanescence was formed in 1994 when singer-keyboardist Amy Lee teamed up with guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas. They released some EPs on independent labels with little success but released their debut album "Fallen" in 2003. With a genre-defying style that blended goth rock with alternative metal, it was Amy Lee's soaring vocals on such tracks as "Bring Me To Life" and "Going Under" that made the world sit up and take notice. Couple that with the piano ballad of "My Immortal", Evanescence announced themselves as a world force in music. They were nominated for six Grammys that year, winning two.

"Fallen" sold over 17 million records, going platinum in almost every market and reaching number one everywhere except the US where it reached number three on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart. "Bring Me to Life" was number one in the UK and Australia and top five nearly everywhere else. "My Immortal" was a worldwide top ten hit and "Going Under" was also a top twenty hit worldwide except in the US where it was not released as a single.

Ben Moody left the band after the first album but the band's success continued without him. The band released their fifth studio album "The Bitter End" in 2021.

Answer: Sixpence None The Richer

Unfairly dismissed as a 'lightweight' band, Sixpence None The Richer (named after the book "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis) formed in the early 90s when Matt Slocum met Leigh Nash near San Antonio and formed a band. They released their first two albums, "The Fatherless & the Widow" in 1994 and "This Beautiful Mess" in 1995. Neither charted probably due to the absence of marketing rather than an absence of talent. Leigh Nash certainly had a set of pipes and she, initially, carried the band.

In 1997, after a move to Nashville, TN, they were signed to Steve Taylor's Christian Rock label, Squint, and the band released a self-titled album. The album received national attention based on the purity of Nash's voice and the tightness of the band's sound. "Kiss Me", their 1998 single, propelled them into the national spotlight when it went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number four on the UK Singles chart but it reached the top spot in Canada and Australia. This was followed up hastily with an album track which was a cover of The La's, "There She Goes" which also did well and demonstrated how good the band was when they could sing a good song better than the original. Problems with the band's label meant they could not release any music for a period so they were on hiatus until their album "Divine Discontent" was released in 2002, with the lead single being the only song not written by Slocum and/or Nash: "Don't Dream It's Over" was a Neil Finn classic and the band achieved the difficult in making a Crowded House song better than the original. The cover version was a hit and the band had quickly re-established themselves.

Answer: Mazzy Star

Mazzy Star were reluctant musical celebrities yet their music influenced a whole generation of shoegaze and dream pop musicians. They were indifferent to fame - they did not like giving interviews, and they did not like touring. Their one major hit,"Fade Into You" from 1993 was not expected to do well but it did, causing the sale of the corresponding album "So Tonight That I Might See", to go platinum with over a million sales. The corresponding film chips show a very shy lead singer, Hope Sandoval, singing in almost darkness with only a thin backlight or by contrast the same song is sung (in a second clip) in the Mojave desert where she cannot look into the camera and wears sunglasses to hide her shyness. Anyone who doubts the influence of such subsequent acts just needs to listen to more contemporaneous bands like Slowdive, Beach House, Big Thief, Wolf Alice and Still Corners to realise the enormous legacy they left for others.

David Roback the other member of the duo, was the guitarist and producer. He died on February 24, 2020, from cancer but Hope Sandoval can still be heard in the shoegaze band Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions.

"Fade Into You" has been used in at least eight movies and ten TV shows, nearly always at a place in the plot where a tone of introspection is needed.

Answer: The Pretenders

The Pretenders was the classic example where everybody knew of the lead singer, in this case, Chrissie Hynde, but few could name the male members of the band.

Chrissie Hynde, originally from Akron Ohio, worked at the rock journal "NME" in London in 1973 as well as at renowned punk manager Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's clothes store. She was involved in the punk scene (she taught Sid Vicious to play guitar) and played in several short-lived bands. It was when she started recording her own music that people began to take notice. In 1978, she formed a band with Pete Farndon on bass, James Honeyman-Scott on guitar, and Gerry Mcilduff on drums. She named the band The Pretenders after "The Great Pretender", a Platters song.

They released their self-titled debut album in 1980 to commercial and critical acclaim. Still regarded as one of the best debut albums of all time, the third single from the album, "Brass in Pocket", went to number one on the UK Singles Chart and top ten in the US, Canada and Australia. The album had a similar trajectory.

The band went on to have a dozen hits despite numerous line-up changes (Ms Hynde being the only original member). They released the 11th studio album, "Relentless" in 2023.

Answer: Divinyls

The Divinyls were a hard rock band from Sydney fronted by Chrissy Amphlett, who attracted attention for performing on stage in a school uniform and fishnet stockings as much as for their music. Over time their stage persona gradually changed when the band began wearing expensive clothing to appear almost glam rock in appearance and produced more pop-orientated songs. They had numerous hits with "Science Fiction" voted as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) in 2001.

Their biggest hit was "I Touch Myself" written by Christina Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee in conjunction with the songwriting duo of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg. The latter two had a penchant for writing anthems for female vocalists such as "I'll Stand By You," "Like A Virgin," "Eternal Flame," "True Colors" and "So Emotional.". "I Touch Myself" reached number one on the Australian ARIA charts, number four on the US Billboard Hot100 and number ten on the UK singles chart. While the subject matter was controversial, it was rarely banned because it was so lighthearted or probably tongue-in-cheek. A poignant after-story was that Chrissie Amphlett died in 2013 aged 53 of breast cancer. After she was diagnosed, she hoped that "I Touch Myself" would remind women to perform annual breast examinations.

Answer: Martha and the Muffins

Martha and the Muffins was a Canadian rock band formed in 1977 with Martha Johnson as lead singer and keyboardist. A second Martha, Martha Ladly, joined the band in 1978. The name was chosen as anathema to the contemporaneous trend of punk bands adopting aggressive names.

The group moved to England in 1979. to record their debut album "Metro Music", a homage to the band's native Toronto. That album spawned "Echo Beach" a synth-driven upbeat number punctuated with some heavy sax with the two Marthas sharing vocals. Echo Beach is fictional but was inspired by Sunnyside Beach on Lake Ontario in Toronto. The song went top five in Canada, and top ten in the UK and Australia but was only a minor hit in the US where it nudged the top forty on the Billboard US Dance Charts.

Answer: Heart

Heart was an American band from Seattle based in Vancouver where they earned a small recording contract with Canadian label Mushroom. The band was fronted by two sisters: Ann on vocals and Nancy on lead guitar and they favoured a heavy metal sound.

"Magic Man" was their second single from their 1975 debut album "Dreamboat Annie". The song was a minor hit in Canada but when it was later released in the US it went to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and top ten in the UK and Australia. The album followed a similar trajectory and went platinum.

Mike Fisher, the group's original guitarist, was Ann Wilson's boyfriend and is the magic man in the sob's title. She had followed him to Canada as he wanted to evade the US draft into the Vietnam War. The song is a dialogue between the singer and her mother who is pleading for her daughter to return to Seattle, " "Come on home girl..." she pleads with Ann who responds, "Try to understand, Mama, he's a magic man".

Answer: No Doubt

Eric Stefani founded the ska group No Doubt in 1986 with John Spence as lead vocalist and his 17-year-old sister Gwen singing harmonies. When Spence died a year later, Gwen became the lead vocalist. Their breakthrough album, their third, "Tragic Kingdom" (1995) contained their first hit "Just a Girl" which went to number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and top five in Australia and the UK Subsequently another single off the album, "Don't Speak" was a worldwide number one. The album went on to sell 16 million copies and garnered a swag of Grammy nominations.

"Just a Girl" was written by Stefani after her brother left the band. It was a reaction to her overprotective father who kept her on a short leash where her brother had no such restrictions. While the song was a modest hit by the group's standard, the song became a girl power anthem that still resonates today. Stefani became such a presence in the otherwise all-male band, that there were many times it appeared as if she was a solo singer and No Doubt was her backing band.