Titanic Tom: Great Musicians Called Tom Quiz

Answer: Tom Jones

Sir Thomas Woodward started his recording career in Tommy Scott & the Senators who, despite a loyal local South Wales following and being recorded by the legendary Joe Meek, never got anywhere.

Sir Tom relocated to London in 1964, got the name Tom Jones, released "Chills and Fever" (which sank), and then struck gold with his signature tune "It's Not Unusual" in 1965. Since then his career has had peaks and troughs, but he's always managed to capture the enthusiasm of new generations.

Tommy Steele is often referred to as Britain's first rock n roll star. Tommy Lee is best known as Mötley Crüe's drummer, although he's been involved in all sorts of other projects.

Tommy Bolin was involved in a plethora of projects including Zephyr, Billy Cobham (ex-Miles Davis/Mahavishnu Orchestra)'s album "Spectrum", the James Gang, and had the unenviable task of replacing Ritchie Blackmore in Deep Purple for the album "Come Taste The Band". He died in 1976 aged just 25.

Answer: Creep

Although "Creep" is a million miles away from where pioneering, awkward rock luminaries Radiohead ended up, it is a fairly important part of their history and represents their early approach perfectly. It was off the album "Pablo Honey" (1993), which is a fairly pedestrian indie pop/alternative rock album, something the band were trying to distance themselves from by their third release, "OK Computer" (1997), hence their refusal to play "Creep" live. It has since come back onto their set-list occasionally.

Through the 2000s, Radiohead's style shifted rather dramatically, embracing electronica, avant-garde jazz, contemporary classical, and krautrock, yet somehow still sounding like Radiohead. Quite a feat.

All the other choices were released in 1993; "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus, "Let's Get Rocked" by Def Leppard, and "Rhythm Is a Dancer" by Snap.

Answer: Switzerland

Thomas Gabriel "Warrior" Fischer formed the seminal Hellhammer 1982, with whom he recorded the primal blast "Apocalyptic Raids", although they fell short of a full length opus before splitting up in 1984.

Celtic Frost rose from Hellhammer's ashes and heavy metal hasn't been the same since. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes Frost stand out from the mire, but it's something about their odd pace, awkward riffs, and Fischer's vocals. His eclectic influences must have contributed too, and their take on other folk's songs is always a fascinating insight. Wall Of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" and David Bowie's "Heroes" come to mind.

Although our Thomas had previously disparaged the Hellhammer days, he set the record straight in "Only Death Is Real", an intriguing book about his youth and the forming of the band, published in 2010.

Giger has long been involved with music, having done stuff for people like E.L.P., Deborah Harry, Carcass, Danzig and Dead Kennedys.

Answer: Cheap Trick

"Heaven Tonight" was Cheap Trick's third album and one of their best as it managed to marry the raw, edgy side of the band (evident on the debut) with their finer pop sensibilities whilst avoiding the saccharine, trite rubbish they later nosedived into. This schizophrenic nature of the band was captured brilliantly on the album cover, showing pretty boys Robin Zander and our Tom on the front, with outlandish freaks Rick Nielson and Bun E. Carlos being relegated to the back cover.

Manowar bassist Joey DiMaio is well-known for brandishing a 12 string bass, on which he pumps out some blinding solos whilst dressed in a loincloth.

Cheap Trick got the name when Tom saw Slade and commented that they "used every cheap trick in the book".

Don Costa had a brief tenure as bassist with Ozzy Osbourne, but got kicked out for being too wild. He used to have a cheese grater on the back of his bass that he would flay his knuckle skin on to entertain folk.

Answer: Tommy McCook

Tommy McCook was born in 1927 in Cuba, but moved to Jamaica at an early age. He was directly involved in the early days of ska, being involved with legendary record producer/ entrepreneur Coxson Dodd in the early 1960s, and ended up being part of the fledgling Skatalites through him. They went on to become one of the most influential Jamaican bands of all-time, and with or without them our Tommy managed to record with more or less everyone who was around Jamaica at the time, most notably on recordings made by Duke Reid, Bunny Lee and The Aggrovators.

The immediate thing one notices about his stuff is how fresh is sounds, compared to some Jamaican artists (even the sacred Bob Marley), who are definitely of their time. Tommy McCook died in 1998, aged 71.

Tommy Walker is a fictional character from The Who's rock opera "Tommy". Tommy Shaw is from rock band Styx. Tom Robinson is a British singer-songwriter, best known for his song "Glad To Be Gay".

Answer: 1980s

Poison Idea had a huge range of influences, shown in their choice of cover versions collected on the album "Pajama Party", running from the rock n roll greats ("Lawdy Miss Clawdy" and "Jailhouse Rock"), to reggae ("Harder They Come"), and r'n'b ("Green Onions") via classic punk rock ("New Rose", "Flamethrower Love"). That they still haven't been recognized as one of the best bands of their genre/era is still a mystery, although their firm independent stance might give us a clue.

Pig Champion was hugely overweight (the band were once introduced as "the world's fattest junkies"), and a heavy drinker, which might have led to his premature death in 2006. Unfortunately, many a critic/reviewer focused on his size rather than noticing that he was a blazing guitarist who could shred as convincingly as some of the high profile metal guitarists, whilst retaining the rock n roll vibe.

Answer: Garota de Ipanema

Tom Jobin was a fake Tom. He he was born Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim in Rio de Janeiro in 1927 (he died in 1994 in New York). The world knew him as Tom Jobin, however. He became an international star thanks to making a couple of albums with Stan Getz, the first of which included "Girl From Ipanema". It was the first time the masses had been exposed to bossa nova (Portuguese for "new trend").

Jobim grew up in the seaside neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro whose name made him world famous, i.e. Ipanema. The track is said to be one of the most recorded songs of all time, has been sung in all kinds of languages, and even had its lyrics changed to "The Boy From Ipanema", Ipanema being pretty much the only thing all versions have in common. Interestingly, Ipanema translates into English as "Stinky Lake", ruining the songs charm somewhat.

"Ferch o Ipanema" is my rough translation into Welsh, "Our Lass Frum Ipanema" into Yorkshire, and "Mädchen von Ipanema" into German, at least one of which has actually been done.

Answer: The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing

Thomas Francis Dorsey, Jr. was brother to Jimmy Dorsey, another big band leader, with whom he worked until the mid-1930s, but they fell out and went their separate ways. Whilst together as The Dorsey Brothers they boasted star-to-be Glenn Miller amongst their ranks, and Miller's brilliantly daft hit "Dese Dem Dose" was recorded with the act.

Tommy Dorsey is remembered as a hard-driving taskmaster who wasn't averse to cracking the whip and even firing musicians if they didn't pull their weight, but his methods yielded results and the band were hugely successful throughout the 1930s.

In the early 1940s, Frank Sinatra made his name with Tommy's band, an association which didn't end happily, with rumours of Sinatra's Mafia connections helping him get out of contractual obligations lasting for years.

When the American big band era ended in the 1950s, Tommy Dorsey ended up on TV. He died in 1956, aged just 51.

The Duke was Duke Ellington. Trombone Shorty is the real name of New Orleanian trombonist Troy Andrews. El Rico is ska/reggae trombonist par excellence Rico Rodriguez (MBE).

Answer: Reign In Blood

Slayer had already gained quite a following due to the ferocity and extreme nature of their first two albums, "Show No Mercy" (1983) and "Hell Awaits" (1985), but it was "Reign In Blood" that signaled a turning point in the band's career. Partly thanks to Rick Rubin's brutal production (the production on the previous albums was lacklustre), but also due the songs that had been stripped down, with all superfluous fat trimmed off, the album set a new benchmark for extreme thrash, and it might be argued that no thrash/speed band has done it better.

The album was received well by the heavy metal press, although even fans of the genre were somewhat dumbstruck on first listening. Mainstream journalists and radio stations didn't know quite what to make of it, so they either ignored it, or condemned it.

The other choices were all released in 1986; "Jazz From Hell" was by Frank Zappa, "The Queen Is Dead" was by The Smiths, and "Graceland" was by Paul Simon.

Answer: Tom Waits

Tom Waits will have a stab at anything, and quite amazingly is usually pretty successful at whatever he lends his hand to. His musical endeavours started off as pretty derivative (but highly entertaining) takes on bluesy jazz and folk, but he quickly incorporated more rock influences into his albums, then dabbled in soundtracks.

By "Swordfishtrombones" (1983) he was getting experimental and from then on he took more control over his releases, which seems to have worked as his personality is stamped onto everything he does, whatever the style. He's long had an ardent fan base, and built up a reputation that means most serious music fans will always be willing to have a listen to hat he's up to.

Tommy Tucker was a big band leader.

Tom Petty is another multi-talented singer-songwriter, most famed as leader of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, as well as his involvement in supergroup The Traveling Wilburys.

Tommy Stupid was drummer/singer in hardcore band The Stupids. He now goes by the name Klute and produces top quality dubstep.