Precious Paul: Great Musicians Called Paul Quiz

Answer: Ace Frehley

Paul Stanley is really Stanley Harvey Eisen, Gene Simmons is Chaim Weitz, Peter Criss is George Peter John Criscuola, and Ace Frehley is Paul Daniel Frehley.

Beyond the theatrics and gimmicks, Frehley's guitar playing is surely one of the reasons why Kiss became the giants they are, as he secured them a certain amount of respect from serious music fans. His influence on heavy metal guitar playing is enormous. He is also a talented songwriter, although he tended to get sidelined in Kiss by the more confident members.

When he left in 1982 (that old chestnut "musical differences" was stated as the reason), he formed Frehleys' Comet, a solo project in all but name. Unfortunately, he opted for poppy hard rock at a time when heavy metal was veering more towards very heavy, or very sleazy. Dogged by line-up changes and lacklustre receptions on the live circuit, he changed the name to just Ace Frehley, but hardly anybody cared.

In 1996 the classic Kiss line-up did a reunion tour, made an album ("Psycho Circus") and toured it, then did a farewell tour. That seemed to be the end of it, and our Ace went back to his solo career (which was kickstarted by the renewed interest in Kiss). Then, Kiss drafted in Tommy Thayer as guitarist and even had him dress up as Ace's character, "The Spaceman" (they own the stage persona), proving that business is business.

Answer: Butthole Surfers

Our man Paul Leary is best known as guitarist in the band, but he also sang on early releases and has been involved in the production of their records. When the band broke into the mainstream (briefly), he also got production jobs for many other bands. In 1991 he also released a solo effort called "The History of Dogs".

Butthole Surfers stumbled out of San Antonio Texas in the early 1980s, but they weren't appreciated madly in their home town, so they packed up and headed towards San Francisco. Luckily, Dead Kennedys' singer Jello Biafra saw them live, was flabbergasted by what he saw, and invited them to support the punk hardcore legends. He then went further and offered to release their stuff on his label, Alternative Tentacles, which they gracefully accepted. Although they were a little off the usual punk radar, they gained a lot of fans worldwide thanks to the high profile the label enjoys.

The band became weirder and weirder as time went on, which actually widened their appeal, and soon all the cool kids were listening to the Buttholes. They eventually signed with major label Capitol, a move that alienated some of the band's grass roots fans who would have liked them to stay independent. They were then given a big name, John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, to produce their next effort, 1993's "Independent Worm Saloon". The album did get them mainstream air play, but for many it was a downwards spiral into novelty wackiness.

Answer: Saxon

Paul Quinn formed Saxon began with Biff Byford (vocals), fellow guitarist Graham Oliver, Steve Dawson on bass and Pete Gill on drums in 1977, although some form of the band (albeit under other names) had been knocking around for a few years. He and Biff Byford are the two mainstays of the band.

Their eponymous album came out in 1979, and by the time the follow up album ("Wheels Of Steel") came out a year later they had built up such an ardent folowing on the gig circuit that it even got them in the UK charts. The "Strong Arm Of The Law" album came out the same year, and the following year, "Denim & Leather" came out. Although the albums are now considered classics of the genre, in his biography ("Never Surrender") Biff Byford admits it was all a bit of a rush.

1982 saw the release of a live album, "The Eagle Has Landed", which marks the end of an era, as afterwards Saxon tried to crack the American market and the material suffered somewhat until many years later when they realised what the punters is straight forward traditional British heavy metal. And that's what they get.

Answer: Happy Mondays

The Happy Mondays' line-up that debuted with an ep called "Forty Five E.P." in 1985 managed to stay stable right through until the first break-up in 1993, which is quite a feat for a bunch known for their erratic behavior. That line-up was Shaun Ryder (vocals), our Paul Ryder (bass), Mark Day (guitar), Paul Davis (keyboards), and drummer Gary Whelan. Bez joined a bit later and danced around like a loon.

In that time they managed to release three superb albums ("Squirrel and G-Man... ", "Bummed", "Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches"), and one absolute stinker ("Yes Please!") that led to their initial downfall and the collapse of Factory Records due to high production costs and poor sales. The band were sent to reggae star Eddy Grant's studio in Barbados to record it, partly to get our Paul and his brother Shaun off heroin, but they ended up selling furniture from the studio to get crack cocaine. Shaun was too off his face to write any lyrics so didn't record any vocals, Bez (who didn't actually play an instrument anyway) broke his arm after fighting with a car, and above all, the album was rubbish.

Nevertheless, the band's reputation wasn't tarred, and the first three albums remain classics of awkward pop, and tales of the band's antics have entered the annals of rock history.

Since the split, they've reformed, been involved in other projects, and our Paul has worked as an actor, journalist and pundit.

Answer: 2 Tone

Although 2 Tone is widely associated with the Midlands city Coventry, Pauline Black was born Belinda Magnus in Essex to a Nigerian father and an Anglo Jewish mother. She was adopted and given the name Pauline Vickers.

The Selecter were formed by guitarist Neol Davies and debuted with a single shared with other 2 Tone band The Special AKA (who later became The Specials). Davies heard our Pauline and asked her to join the band in 1979, a shrewd move as her distinctive voice is certainly what makes the band stand out from the crowd.

The first fruit of the new line-up was the single and one of the band's most famous tracks, "On My Radio". The debut album "Too Much Pressure" was recorded within the year and released in 1980, marking the zenith of the band's career since shortly afterwards members started leaving. They recorded one more album, "Celebrate The Bullet", and then Pauline left to embark on a solo career as well as getting involved in acting. The Selector split up.

Years later, Pauline reformed the band, as did Davies, which led to legal disputes over the name. Pauline won.

Answer: Free

Although Free were only active fairly briefly compared to many of the rock titans of their generation, what they left is all good due to everything being just right, each member pulling his weight and no overbearing egotist stealing the limelight. Part of it might have been their youthful innocence (the youngster Andy Fraser was only 15 when they recorded their debut album) when compared to some others on the blues rock scene who were veterans of the gig circuit and already had an overblown idea of self-worth, something blissfully lacking in Free.

Having said that, their first couple of albums didn't really grab the imagination of the record buying public's attention and it was tireless gigging that exposed their talent to Joe Public. And, when talking talent and Free, we're talking about the guitar brilliance of Paul Kossoff who had a depth to his playing rarely heard in one so young. Unfortunately, he also had a penchant for drugs which ultimately led to the band's break-up in 1972, and despite a last gasp attempt to get it back together and possibly help Kossoff in 1972, his unpredictable behaviour led to another break-up. Paul Kossoff died in 1976.

Paul Rodgers went on to the highly successful Bad Company who honed down the rough blues of Free and molded it into a much more accessible sound.

Answer: Pantera

Drummer Vincent Paul Abbott and guitarist Darrell Abbott came from a musical background as their father, Jerry Abbott, recorded country music as both a performer and a producer. In fact, he even produced some of the early Pantera stuff. The brothers grew up gorging themselves on hard rock and heavy metal, Kiss seemingly being a major influence.

Pantera split up due to friction between the Abbott brothers and erratic front-man Phil Anselmo, who had developed a heroin addiction to deal with acute back pain. He took an overdose after a gig in Texas in 1996 which left him dead for a few minutes, got involved in more and more side-projects, appeared on stage drunk and abusive, and was rather standoffish towards his band mates. They struggled on until 2003 when they split, the Abbotts vowing never to speak to Anselmo again. Dimebag wouldn't get the chance to go back on his word as he was murdered whilst playing live with Damageplan in Ohio, shot dead by a member of the crowd.

All the wrong choices are hard rock/heavy metal bands from Texas.

Answer: Punk & Rockabilly

Although psychobilly blatantly has its roots in 1950s rockabilly, 1960s garage, and the odder end of the music business throughout the decades, it was really the emergence of punk in the 1970s that spawned it as a genre in itself. The musical set up is usually akin to rockabilly (guitar, double bass, spartan drum kit), but the themes tend towards horror films, gruesome tales, yobbish violence, and cheap allusions to sex, all done in a rather flippant and garish way.

The Cramps are generally accepted as the proto-psychobilly band (and the first to use the term relating to a style, taken from a Johnny cash song "One Piece At A Time"), but it was The Meteors and other British acts in the early 1980s who really ran with it. The Meteors' debut album, "Heaven" (1981) and its follow-up "Wreckin' Crew "(1983) set the standard, which to my ears has rarely been surpassed. The Guana Bats came along hot on the Meteors' heels, and the legendary Klub Foot club in London was a hot-bed of talent, each act adding something of their own to the movement yet staunchly staying put within its conventions.

The style gradually gained momentum in mainland Europe, and then the world, although the USA was notably slow to catch on despite the strong influence of Americana the genre embraced.

Answer: The Beautiful South

Paul Heaton formed The Housemartins in 1983 and they had quite an impact on the Englsih indie scene despite often being referred to as a soft version of The Smiths. The apparent Christian overtones of the lyrics brought them a fair amount of attention, although Heaton has since ardently confirmed that he is in fact an atheist. An early shake-up in the line-up brought in Norman Cook, who went on to international fame as mainstream DJ /house music maestro, Fatboy Slim. Their biggest hit was an awful version of the Isley Brothers' "Caravan Of Love".

When the band split up, Heaton and most of The Housemartins' entourage started The Beautiful South, who roped in a variety of female singers to give the band a more soulful slant. This they managed and they really caught the mellow zeitgeist, grabbing an audience who were after something akin to easy listening but with a bit of bite in the lyricism.

When they split, the throwaway comment about "musical similarity" was not as glib as it might have seemed as The Beautiful South seemed able to produce album after album of the same thing without really going anywhere.

Answer: John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)

The great thing about Them Crooked Vultures is that Homme and Grohl get to play with a musician they grew up listening to, and our John Paul gets to play with people at the top of their game rather than old has-beens being trundled out to top up the bank balance, as is the fate of many an aging rock god.

What is also great about the project is that the stuff is actually really interesting, like most stuff Homme gets involved in is. The debut album was generally well-received, despite a few dissenting voices who labeled it second-rate Queens Of The Stone Age. Others pointed out that Jones' incredible talents on just about any instrument you chuck at him, and years of experience meant that the record was musically miles beyond anything either Grohl or Homme had ever been involved in.