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Quiz about Instrumental Hits  1955 to 1964
Quiz about Instrumental Hits  1955 to 1964

Instrumental Hits - 1955 to 1964 Quiz


Music makes the world go round, so someone said. Lyrics are critical for songs but the right combination of musical notes can stand on their own and we happily hum along. Let's consider all the great instrumental hits from 1955 to 1964.

A multiple-choice quiz by maddogrick16. Estimated time: 6 mins.
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Author
maddogrick16
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
201,938
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
10 / 15
Plays
2242
Awards
Top 5% quiz!
-
Question 1 of 15
1. For a total of ten consecutive weeks in the early months of 1956, two musical compositions stood alone at the top of the Billboard charts, both of them instrumentals. Both had the names of European capital cities in their titles. Can you remember them? Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. In 1961, Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann had a big instrumental hit. The music hinted at a Native American motif and the name of the piece reflected that image. What was it? Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. In 1962, a British clarinetist topped the charts with a haunting instrumental that he wrote and dedicated to his young daughter. His name was Mr. Acker Bilk and his hit was? Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. In 1958, a band from L.A. rose from obscurity to record a #1 hit that topped the charts for five weeks. The title of The Champs' song referred to what might have been their favorite beverage. What was it? Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. In 1960, a famous session pianist named Floyd Cramer came into his own as a soloist. His first three charting hits between October 1960 and June 1961 were all top ten successes. The first of these hits was a dreamy sort of song in slow tempo. What was its title? Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. During the mid 1950s, Latin music was the craze and the biggest hit of 1955 was an instrumental that made the point. Performed by Perez Prado and his big band, the song was top 40 for 26 weeks and #1 for 10 weeks. What was its title? Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. The biggest charting hit in 1960, #1 for nine weeks, was an instrumental performed by Percy Faith and his orchestra. It was featured and became the theme song of a movie that year, both sharing the title name. Name the song - "Theme From ___________________. Hint


Question 8 of 15
8. This question has become such a trivia mainstay that perhaps it's become hackneyed and trite... but I'll ask it anyway! What was the first British band to score a #1 hit in North America during the rock era - post 1955? Remember our focus! Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. Dixieland Jazz made a comeback on the pop charts in 1962 thanks in some degree to New Orleans stalwarts Al Hirt, Professor Longhair, Pete Fountain and Pee Wee Hunt, among others. However, it was a British traditional jazz band that had the big chart hit that year - Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen. Their #2 chart sucess was "Midnight In __________" and the blank is to be filled in with the name of a city. Just another among the "exotic" locales that were often used as a title subject during that era. Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. Santo and Johnny had a #1 hit for two weeks in 1959 with a lovely guitar duet. What was it?
Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. In 1961, three cover versions of one song all charted in Billboard. Two were instrumentals recorded by Bert Kaempfert and Louis Prima, the other was a vocal take by Anita Bryant. Kaempfert's was a #1 hit. Its title? Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. David Rose scored a #1 hit in 1962 with a raucous little number that evoked... well, think Gypsy Rose Lee! It's still popular to this day when this type of activity is performed. The title is a noun - "The _______". With those hints, you should get it!

Answer: (One Word - eight letters)
Question 13 of 15
13. The Village Stompers, a Dixieland styled band, had a major #2 hit in 1963. New York based, their hit was titled after a significant landmark in that metropolis. Can you identify it? Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. In 1962, Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper were session musicians with Stax Records in Memphis. They assembled a group of fellow colleagues, named themselves Booker T. and the MG's (Memphis Group) and cut a record that would become a million seller and a #3 hit. Its title? Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. Herb Alpert and His Tijuana Brass achieved most of their success with instrumental hits during the mid to late 1960s. However, the composition that introduced the group to the musical world was released in 1962 and became a #6 hit that year. Can you recall the title and if you can, you know your stuff! Hint



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Most Recent Scores
Sep 30 2024 : bopeep: 11/15
Sep 26 2024 : gogetem: 12/15

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. For a total of ten consecutive weeks in the early months of 1956, two musical compositions stood alone at the top of the Billboard charts, both of them instrumentals. Both had the names of European capital cities in their titles. Can you remember them?

Answer: Lisbon and Paris

The two tunes were "Lisbon Antigua" by Nelson Riddle and "The Poor People Of Paris" by Les Baxter. Riddle's song was #1 for four weeks, Baxter's for six weeks. "Heartbreak Hotel" by Presley broke up the instrumental lock on the charts and a total of four Presley hits would go on to be #1 for an amazing total of twenty-five weeks for the rest of 1956.

A book could be written on Riddle's accomplishments and probably has been. Suffice to say, he is best remembered for the conceptual LP's he arranged for Frank Sinatra in the 50s and 60s and then his arranging for Linda Ronstadt in the 1980s shortly before his death in 1985 at the age of 64.

Baxter was born in 1922, the year after Riddle, and he started his musical career as a pianist, then vocalist for Mel Torme's Mel-Tones. He later drifted into arranging with Capitol records, primarily with Nat King Cole in the 50s and 60s. Arranging and conducting musical scores for the movies later became his niche. Ultimately, he scored over one hundred films before his passing at the age 73 in January, 1996.
2. In 1961, Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann had a big instrumental hit. The music hinted at a Native American motif and the name of the piece reflected that image. What was it?

Answer: Apache

"Apache" peaked at #2 for two weeks in the spring of 1961.

Ingmann was born in Copenhagen in 1925 and started playing jazz guitar in the late 1940s. Later, he became a disciple of Les Paul, and, like his hero, began experimenting with the multi-track layering of music that was Paul's trademark. The experimentation paid off with this hit but he never charted again in North America; another classic one-hit wonder. He continued to maintain a fan base in Scandinavia for a number of years and in 2004, ATCO records released a CD containing all the tracks he ever recorded for them in the early 60s.

Another version of "Apache" by The Shadows, Cliff Richard's backing band, was #1 in the U.K. for five weeks in 1960. Strangely, that version never had any impact in North America at all.
3. In 1962, a British clarinetist topped the charts with a haunting instrumental that he wrote and dedicated to his young daughter. His name was Mr. Acker Bilk and his hit was?

Answer: Stranger On The Shore

Mr. Acker Bilk has led a traditional New Orleans style Dixieland Jazz band in England since 1956. This song was actually quite a departure from his usual bill of fare and now he affectionately regards the piece as his pension fund! When the song was first released in his native England in 1961, it stayed on the British charts for an incredible 55 weeks but it never reached #1 there - it was #1 for one week in North America, however. Today, Bilk performs only occasionally with his group preferring to dabble in painting in his quasi-retirement.
4. In 1958, a band from L.A. rose from obscurity to record a #1 hit that topped the charts for five weeks. The title of The Champs' song referred to what might have been their favorite beverage. What was it?

Answer: Tequila

Now "The Champs" were not a one-hit a wonder but they would never again achieve the same sort of commercial success with their subsequent recordings. Immediately after this recording, personnel changes abounded including the introduction of drummer Dash Crofts and saxman Jimmy Seals to the group.

They would later become stars in their own right as a duo in the 1970s. Glen Campbell also did a stint with the group in 1960 before striking out on his own a couple of years later. The band stayed with their formula of happy dance hits with titles like "Tequila Twist" and "Limbo Rock" but most of their efforts barely cracked the top 40 charts. Ultimately, they called it a day and disbanded in 1965, another victim of the British invasion and a new rock "sound".
5. In 1960, a famous session pianist named Floyd Cramer came into his own as a soloist. His first three charting hits between October 1960 and June 1961 were all top ten successes. The first of these hits was a dreamy sort of song in slow tempo. What was its title?

Answer: Last Date

"Last Date" peaked at #2 for four weeks, stymied on its march to #1 by Elvis' "Are You Lonesome Tonight?"

Cramer was encouraged by Chet Atkins to come to Nashville in 1955 and together they developed the "Nashville Sound", the slick musical arrangements that helped Elvis and Patsy Cline, among others, to achieve success on both the pop and country charts.

He followed "Last Date" with the musical 'answer song' "On The Rebound" that peaked at #4, then the #8 "San Antonio Rose". Thereafter, he more or less abandoned the singles charts and focused on a series of albums covering the hits of each year in his own inimitable style, and they proved to be extremely popular.
6. During the mid 1950s, Latin music was the craze and the biggest hit of 1955 was an instrumental that made the point. Performed by Perez Prado and his big band, the song was top 40 for 26 weeks and #1 for 10 weeks. What was its title?

Answer: Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White

Singlehandedly, Prado made the mambo THE dance rage of the era, mambo clubs popping up all over North America. Arthur Murray made a fortune teaching the steps and crooners like Perry Como, Dean Martin and others were releasing songs to capitalize on the fad.

Born in Cuba in 1916, he moved to Mexico in the late 1940s and started establishing himself as a big band presence throughout Latin America. Weaving the Cuban rumba with jazzy overtones influenced by Stan Kenton, Prado and a couple of other band leaders who were on the same general path can be credited with "inventing" the mambo. Although his sphere of influence in North America was limited to the late 1950s, he remained an icon in the Latin cultures of Central and South America right up to his passing in 1989.

"Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White" is best remembered for the searing trumpet introduction provided by Billy Regis. Prado had one other #1 hit, "Patricia" in 1958. By the early 60's, the Latin music phase was displaced by, what else, the British Invasion. But Prado's legacy may never die... in 1999, Lou Bega had a big hit with a Prado composition - "Mambo #5"!
7. The biggest charting hit in 1960, #1 for nine weeks, was an instrumental performed by Percy Faith and his orchestra. It was featured and became the theme song of a movie that year, both sharing the title name. Name the song - "Theme From ___________________.

Answer: A Summer Place

Faith was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1908. A piano playing child prodigy, he started in show business playing for silent movies in the 1920s. After suffering burns to his hands that effectively curtailed his playing aspirations, he gravitated to arranging music for big bands, then conducting and arranging for a CBC radio program before setting off to the big time, New York City, just after World War II.

In the early 1950's, he became the musical director for Columbia Records, arranging hits by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, Burl Ives and many others in the Columbia stable. "Theme From A Summer Place" was a classic Percy Faith arrangement - mellow mood music with lush, string oriented orchestrations. It would be his only big hit as a single, his focus always being the LP market. He was yet another individual impacted by the changing 1960s music scene and he quietly faded into semi-retirement later in the decade. He passed away in 1976.
8. This question has become such a trivia mainstay that perhaps it's become hackneyed and trite... but I'll ask it anyway! What was the first British band to score a #1 hit in North America during the rock era - post 1955? Remember our focus!

Answer: The Tornadoes

The Tornadoes reached #1 on the Billboard Charts on Dec. 22, 1962 with "Telstar" preceding the Beatles who were the next British group to achieve the feat with "I Want To Hold Your Hand" on February 1, 1964. The first British recording artist to hit #1 on Billboard was Laurie London on April 14, 1958 with "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands"

"Telstar", of course, was an instrumental hit remembered for its "space-age sound" created with the use of unusual instruments such as a clavioline, a battery operated, two octave keyboard which provided the main theme. The whole concept was the creation of producer Joe Meek who devised many technical innovations with mikes and compressors to create echo and reverberation - unique sounds at the time. Some now regard him as the British Phil Spector.

"Telstar" sold 5M copies worldwide but circumstances conspired against Meek and the musicians of The Tornadoes. First, the band was contractually bound to serve as the back-up group for British singer Billy Fury and were unable to tour independently in support of the record. Secondly, royalties from the record were being held in escrow by the courts pending the legal resolution of a copywrite infringement suit levelled against Meek. By the time the suit was settled in Meek's favor in 1968, six years later, the band had broken up and Meek was dead. Despondent and depressed over the suit, he killed his landlady then himself in the spring of 1967 in the recording studio that was his home.
9. Dixieland Jazz made a comeback on the pop charts in 1962 thanks in some degree to New Orleans stalwarts Al Hirt, Professor Longhair, Pete Fountain and Pee Wee Hunt, among others. However, it was a British traditional jazz band that had the big chart hit that year - Kenny Ball And His Jazzmen. Their #2 chart sucess was "Midnight In __________" and the blank is to be filled in with the name of a city. Just another among the "exotic" locales that were often used as a title subject during that era.

Answer: Moscow

"Midnight In Moscow" would be the group's biggest hit although they did have a couple of others chart in Billboard's Hot 100. Ball formed the group in 1958 and they're still active, recording and touring nearly fifty years later, almost exclusively in England and Europe.

Although New Orleans was the birthplace of this particular genre of music and will always be associated with it, it really seems that Europe, and England in particular, has embraced traditional Dixieland jazz and has been its hotbed for many years. Ball, Chris Barber and Acker Bilk are among the band leaders who have been able to make a very good living specializing in the genre in England. I do not know why that is!
10. Santo and Johnny had a #1 hit for two weeks in 1959 with a lovely guitar duet. What was it?

Answer: Sleep Walk

Santo and Johnny Farino were born in Brooklyn in 1937 and 1941 respectively. The steel guitar was a vehicle for country and Hawaiian music at the time but Johnny was smitten with its sound and formed a pop-rock band with the steel guitar at its core. The band became a local favorite at dances and parties, and, when Johnny was competent and old enough, the family duo was formed and they started their recording career.

"Sleep Walk" was one of their earliest recordings and among the first of Santo's compositions. The mellow song was a perfect slow dance for the end of the night and was wildly popular around the globe. Subsequent recordings were much less successful and apparently the novelty of the steel guitar wore off except in Europe, especially Italy, where the lads continued to maintain their popularity for a number of years. Eventually, they would do all their later recording on small Italian labels. The duo broke up in 1976, Santo carrying on as a solo act. If he's achieved any success at all, it hasn't been in North America.
11. In 1961, three cover versions of one song all charted in Billboard. Two were instrumentals recorded by Bert Kaempfert and Louis Prima, the other was a vocal take by Anita Bryant. Kaempfert's was a #1 hit. Its title?

Answer: Wonderland By Night

Kaempfert was born in Hamburg, Germany and may now be best remembered as the fellow who produced the Beatles first recordings. This was his only top 10 recording although he did have a total of twelve instrumental hits to crack Billboard's Hot 100.

Prima led a big band dating back to the 1930s and was known more for his showmanship than for the esthetic values associated with his music. His wife, Keely Smith, was the vocalist with his band from the late 1940's until their divorce in 1961. His recording of this melody charted at #15.

Anita Bryant's version charted at #18 that year, and, musically, was an almost precise cover of Kaempfert's version. In fact, all three versions were very similar and featured Harry James' style trumpet stylings. It was a very nice, mellow tune!
12. David Rose scored a #1 hit in 1962 with a raucous little number that evoked... well, think Gypsy Rose Lee! It's still popular to this day when this type of activity is performed. The title is a noun - "The _______". With those hints, you should get it!

Answer: Stripper

Whenever somebody at a party mimics the act of doffing their duds, the tune is "da-da'd" to the invariable amusement of everyone present. It's become a classic - of sorts!

Rose was born in London, England in 1910 and moved to the U.S. just before WWI. He started performing with big bands in the 1920s, did radio work in New York in the 1930s, then moved to Hollywood in 1938 to do arranging and conducting for the big screen. He was briefly married to Martha Raye, then Judy Garland in the early 1940s.

He composed songs like "Holiday For Strings" in the early 1950s that became commercial successes but now is best remembered for his scoring on such TV programs as "Bonanza" and "Little House On The Prairie" and, of course "The Stripper". He passed away in 1990.
13. The Village Stompers, a Dixieland styled band, had a major #2 hit in 1963. New York based, their hit was titled after a significant landmark in that metropolis. Can you identify it?

Answer: Washington Square

The group consisted of eight collegiate musicians, some of whom were classically trained, others casual instrumentalists who were part of college skiffle groups or semi-pro Dixieland bands that were popular at the time. "Washington Square" was an original composition that caught the public fancy by storm.

They packaged it into an album that featured Dixieland arrangements of popular folk music hits of the day, stuff like "If I Had A Hammer" and "Blowin' In The Wind" and the album proved an enormous success as well.

Unfortunately, they followed it up with more of the same and without something unique and original like "Washington Square", the buying public soon lost interest. Then, like so many other groups victimized by the looming British invasion, their style quickly became dated and passe.

They officially folded in 1967 but many of the members stayed active in the music industry as session musicians on pop, rock and jazz albums for several years thereafter.
14. In 1962, Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper were session musicians with Stax Records in Memphis. They assembled a group of fellow colleagues, named themselves Booker T. and the MG's (Memphis Group) and cut a record that would become a million seller and a #3 hit. Its title?

Answer: Green Onions

"Alley Cat" was recorded by Danish clarinetist Bent Fabric, the other songs were Booker T. hits but recorded later in the decade. Ultimately, the success of the group translated into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction for the group in 1992. The group disbanded in 1971. Jones later became a noted record producer while Cropper and bass player Donald "Duck" Dunn joined the Blues Brothers in the late 70s. Since then, they periodically reassemble to record and serve as the back-up band for major events and tours, most notably the Neil Young tour in 1993.
15. Herb Alpert and His Tijuana Brass achieved most of their success with instrumental hits during the mid to late 1960s. However, the composition that introduced the group to the musical world was released in 1962 and became a #6 hit that year. Can you recall the title and if you can, you know your stuff!

Answer: The Lonely Bull

This hit with a melancholy air featured recorded background noises taken from an actual bullfight in Tijuana. Aficionados of the instrument inform me that Alpert really wasn't that skilled as a trumpet player but with his quasi mariachi-marimba styled group, he produced a string of hits that were invariably mood lifting and good fun.

It is ironic, however, that his only #1 hit was "This Guys In Love With You" where he did something else that he wasn't terribly proficient at either - singing!
Source: Author maddogrick16

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