Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs (351-375) Quiz

Answer: Roger Waters

Roger Waters actually appears in the wedding scene as an uncredited wedding guest. It took me forever to actually spot him, but if you look closely, you can see his unique mug in the shot.
The incredible Alan Marshall produced this film. His other producing credits include "Fame", "Jacob's Ladder", "Basic Instint" and "Hollow Man".

Answer: Centerfield

If you listen to the last verse of Berry's song, the lyrics are as follows:

"Two, three count with nobody on
He hit a high fly into the stand
Rounding third he was headed for home
It was a brown eyed handsome man"

John Fogerty's "Centerfield" has these lyrics in the opening verse:

"Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today
We're born again, there's new grass on the field
Roundin' third, and headed for home, it's a brown-eyed handsome man
Anyone can understand the way I feel"

Coincidence? I don't know. I think Fogerty, as well as the rest of rock and roll music, owes a certain debt of gratitude to Mr. Berry.

Answer: National Lampoon's Animal House

You may have noticed a certain something in common with each of these movie titles. They were all directed by John Landis, the one and only. Landis has directed over 30 films in his career working with the likes of John Belushi, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Dan Akroyd, Chevy Chase, Phil Hartman and Darrell Hammond. Now, if that doesn't make him the man to direct the most "Saturday Night Live" alumni ever, then I'd like to meet the man who has.

Answer: Television

In fact, it was Television's accomplished guitarist Tom Verlaine who wrote the song. If you've never heard of Televison and you think you know anything about punk rock and new wave music, then think again. After all, the band actually constructed the stage at famed punk venue CBGB's in New York City. Now that's a bullet in the old resume. Television took the best elements of punk rock, jam bands and jazz and molded complex and often epic songs that lasted upwards of five minutes or longer, quite a long time for the standard punk rock number.

Many bands will list Television as an influence if given the opportunity.

Answer: Jimmy Page

Jimmy Page was a studio musician when he backed up Pete Townshend on this song. Producer Shel Talmy, who had also produced The Kinks at the time, thought the guitar-heavy riffs in the song might be too much for Townshend to handle, but Pete came through with flying colors, relegating Page's duties to that of rhythm guitar only.
This is the song that introduced The Who to American television audiences as well. This would be the first song performed by The Who on television, appearing on the ABC show "Shindig".

Answer: Kathy Mary Etchingham

In January of 1967, Jimi and his girlfriend had a major blow out that resulted in the actual throwing of pots, pans and dishes at one each other. An incensed Hendrix stormed out of the apartment to clear his head. While recovering from the argument, the lyrics came to him.

He brought the song back to her and she insisted he record them. After recording his debut album and realizing that he had studio time left, Hendrix taught the song to his band and they laid out the track in under 20 minutes. Etchingham has written a book titled "Through Gypsy Eyes" about their time together in London.

This is a very good book that really gives some insight to Hendrix during his days in England before he hit it really big.

Answer: Checker

This song has been covered by literally dozens of rock groups over the years. Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page and Ron Wood have all recorded this cover. That should tell you about the respect that Bo Diddley garners in the music community.

Answer: Johnny Cash

Marilyn Manson also covered this song, but Cash's interpretation is a bit more surreal.
The original version of the song was based on a line in the book "Elvis and Me", Priscilla Presley's book where she described Elvis as her "man and her mentor". Depeche Mode's version appeared on the "Violator" album.

Answer: Pete Brown

In addition to this song, he wrote several other hits by Cream including: "Dance the Night Away", "I Feel Free" and "Sunshine of Your Love".

Answer: Saturday Night Fever

The Bee Gees provided songs for all these movies. Because this song was not a disco tune, many people forget that it was on this soundtrack. The soundtrack also features music from Ralph MacDonald, Walter Murphy, The Trammps, K.C. and the Sunshine Band and Kool and the Gang.

Answer: Hung on You

If you actually thought that the duo were brothers, don't feel bad, many people have made that mistake before. Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield were both born in 1941, but in different states. Medley was born in California and Hatfield was born in Wisconsin. The song was originally written in 1955 for a movie titled "Unchained" starring footballer Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch.

Answer: Duluth, Minnesota

Bob Dylan was born Rober Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in the frigid town of Duluth, Minnesota. Although this song was written in 1965, Dylan did not perform it live until 1969 at the Isle of Wight festival with backing group, The Band.

Answer: Big Star

The thing that makes this recording incredible is the fact that Chilton was only 16 years old when he sang the vocals. The vocals sound like they were performed by a much older, gruff voiced bluesman from the deep south, not a fresh faced kid barely able to get a drivers license. The simplicity of this song is what makes it the most appealling in my opinion.

Answer: All You Need Is Love

This song begins with a short clip of the French national anthem, contains fade-outs of "Greensleeves" and Glen Miller's "In the Mood" (which the band paid royalties for) and was even played at the wedding of Al and Tipper Gore. This song was played for the first time live at the "Our World" broadcast, a world wide concert event played in 24 countries and seen by over 400 million viewers.

The concert event featured music from six continents.

Answer: Complete Control

The Clash wrote this song in protest of having to record the song "Remote Control". They hated the fact that their management could have any control over what they recorded or how it was released. Joe Strummer, chief songwriter and vocalist of the band, sadly passed away of a heart attack in 2002.

Answer: Don McLean

Lori Lieberman was a folk singer attending a performance by Don McLean at a local Los Angeles club when the idea for this song struck her. After the performance, she took the lyrics to Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox (who had written the theme song to "Happy Days") and they completed the lyrics. Roberta Flack heard the song on a flight and knew she had to record it.

Her version went to number one on Billboards Pop Singles chart and won two Grammy's in 1973.

Answer: Muddy Waters

The song was written by Preston Foster for R&B singer Ann Cole. She actually made the song famous, but Waters made the song his own. He and Cole were touring together in 1956 and after hearing the song on a nightly basis, he decided to record it himself. This is possibly one of the most recorded blues songs of the 1950s.

Answer: Combining a street name with an actress' name.

The "Van" comes from Van Dyke Street in Detroit and the "della" comes from actress Della Reese, the heroine of Martha Reeves. The song "Nowhere to Run" is yet another Holland-Dozier-Holland hit in this list of Top 500 Songs of All Time.

Answer: Little Wing

In my humble opinion, this is one of the greatest songs ever written. The lyrics, although only two verses long, have always epitomized what the 1960s were all about. The song was instantly loved by Eric Clapton as well. He and Duane Allman recorded a version of it for the Derek and the Domino's album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs".

Hendrix never heard the song, he died nine days after the albums release.

Answer: Eurythmics

This song was a number one song for the Eurythmics on Billboards Pop Singles chart in the USA during 1983. Many people don't realize that this song was about sado-masochism, yet used for advertisements for matresses and sleeping pills in the USA.

Answer: An American Werewolf in London

CCR took this song to number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in 1969. The song was partly inspired by the movie "The Devil and Daniel Webster". Nirvana performed a great cover version of this song in concert.

Answer: Detectives

"Watching the Detectives" was the reggae influenced song written by Costello after listening to The Clash for 36 straight hours. The song originally appeared on the "My Aim is True" CD.

Answer: Rush

This song won Clapton three Grammy awards in 1992. The song won for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Clapton has won over 15 Grammy awards in his long and storied career.

Answer: Otis Blackwell

Otis Blackwell was a great songwriter who penned several classic hits including: "Fever", "Don't Be Cruel" and "Great Balls of Fire". Blackwell passed away in 2002 at his home in Nashville, Tennessee.

Answer: The Great Pretender

The Platters had three other number one songs on the chart during the late 1950s making the group one of the best charting doo-wop groups of the era. The singing group was formed in Los Angeles in 1953. Now, there are over 125 "licensed" versions of the band out performing at state fairs, high school reunions and other events.