Dance to the Music Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Olivia Project

The original version of "Have You Never Been Mellow" was recorded by Olivia Newton-John and released as the lead single from the album of the same name in 1975. It would become Olivia's second consecutive number one single on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. It also saw Olivia nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 18th Annual Grammy Awards. She would lose out to Janis Ian and her song "At Seventeen".

The Olivia Project is a UK based dance group that specializes in doing cover versions of Olivia Newton-John songs, in particular from her albums "Xanadu" (1980) and "Physical" (1981). Most of the vocals on these tracks are provided by Paula Lacovich. Both of these albums are dance orientated, which gives you a good indication as to the leanings of the Olivia Project and the treatment they have provided to the above named song.

Answer: Sweden

Sometimes known simply as Smile, this is a Eurodance band that was formed in 1998 by Veronica Almqvist, who has also been the sole constant member of the band. Noted mainly for their contributions to various music video games, they have been one of the most featured performers on "Dancemania", a series of remix compilation albums, since its tenth series.

Their debut single was "Butterfly", which appeared on their 1998 self-titled album, was a hit in Sweden, but it gained international attention when it was featured on the first release of "DDR". The track proved so popular that Konami re-licensed the track for "Dance Dance Revolution 3rdMix" (1998) and again for "Dance Dance Revolution Party Collection" (2003) and the tenth anniversary edition, "Dance Dance Revolution X" (2008).

Answer: That's the Way (I Like It)

Arriving on the crest of the disco wave in 1975, "That's the Way (I Like It)" was the second song by KC & the Sunshine Band to find its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Topping the charts in November of that year, it would cling to top spot for one week before being displaced by Silver Convention's "Fly, Robin, Fly" the following week.

Not to be discarded, it climbed back onto the top spot three weeks later for one more week. A fan favourite at "DDR", the track would resurface under different remixes a number of times in subsequent versions of "DDR".

Answer: Dan Hartman

"I Can Dream About You" is Hartman's most successful song, reaching number six on Billboards' Hot 100 charts in 1984, however, he also had hits with "Instant Replay" (1978) and the 1984 crossover song "We Are the Young". Dan also co-wrote James Brown's 1986 hit "Living in America".

"Relight My Fire" was the title track to his 1979 album and the follow-up single to "Instant Replay". It did well for him in Europe and reached the top spot on the US Dance charts. British boy band Take That (featuring Lulu) would give it a new lease of life by covering it in 1993 and topping the UK Singles' chart for two weeks.

X-Treme, which is one of the stage names for Italian musician Agostino Carollo, remixed the track for his 1998 self-titled album. The song's full name is "My Fire (UKS Remix)" though it does not appear with this name on "Dance Dance Revolution" (1998). The song would also find a home on "Dancemania WINTERS", two months later.

Answer: The Specials

The Specials (also Specials AKA) formed in Coventry in 1977. They brought together danceable ska with a rocksteady beat and combined that with the energy and politically charged lyrics of punk music. They had a hit with their debut single "Gangsters" in 1979. This was followed up by "A Message to You, Rudy", a re-work of a 1967 David Livingstone song. Their first two albums achieved Gold record status and their 1981 single "Ghost Town" would top the UK Singles' charts.

"Little Bitch" appears on the band's critically acclaimed, eponymous debut album (1979). Lengthwise the track is short and sweet but, lyrically it is anything but. Biting words tell a sad tale of a girl who's looking for the ultimate escape to gain attention. Despite the brightness of the band's delivery it does not diminish the darkness in this song, it simply relegates it to being the monster under the bed, waiting to pounce. The band would complete a rearranged version of the song for DDR but under their original name, The Coventry Automatics.

(Footnote) The band Bus Stop, who also featured in this version of "DDR", would do a cover of the track, which would appear on "Dance Dance Revolution 4thMIX" (2000).

Answer: Hip hop

EMPD, which stands for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", is a New York duo made up of emcees Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith. "Strictly Business" is the title track, and fourth single to be released, from the debut 1988 album. The pair started out by creating light-hearted party tracks and differed from their rivals, who'd sampled primarily disco beats, by utilizing funk and rock breaks to build their sound upon. Apart from two short break-ups, the pair worked together for over thirty-five years and have released seven albums, all with the word "business" in the title.

The remix of "Strictly Business, which appears on "DDR", was created by a New York electro funk outfit called Mantronix. The group was put together by DJ Kurtis Mantronik (yes, the surname differ from the band name) and is best remembered for its pioneering blend of old school hip hop, electronic, and club music. The remix features samples from a number of songs including Eric Clapton's version of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" (1974), "Jungle Boogies" (1973) by Kool & the Gang and Mountain's 1972 song "Long Red".

Answer: They're reworked and re-used in later editions of "DDR"

Both of these songs were written by Konami's internal music director and were reworked several times to appear in other versions of the game. "Paranoia", for example, became "Paranoia Max - Dirty Mix" when used for "DDR 2ndMIX" (1999), "DDRMAX" (2002, as the CLUB ANOTHER) and "DDR Extreme" (2004). At the time of writing (2022) there were eleven other versions/remixes of the track recorded for "DDR".

"Paranoia" in 1998's "Dance Dance Revolution" became the first non-official "boss" song in the series. It was considered the hardest song to dance to and, as such, was used in the final. "Trip Machine", so named because it had a number of tricks built into it, which were designed to "trip up" players, was also used in the final and, at times, was used as a pseudo boss in the series.

Answer: True

De-Sire performs the track "Trip Machine", 180 does "Paranoia" and mitsu-O! belts out "Make it Better". All three artists are Naoki Maeda.

Maeda is a Japanese composer who created music for Konami for eight years from 1998 before moving to the role of sound director for the Nintendo Wii console. Early versions of "Dance Dance Revolution" were reliant on Maeda's work and many of his numbers are considered favourites of the fans.

It was not unusual for Konami's composers to use a great number of pseudonyms when performing their compositions, with each new name reflecting a new style or genre of song. Between Maeda and Konami's other main songwriter, Sota Fujimori, it is believed that they used in excess of thirty-five alternate names.

Answer: Kool & the Gang

By the time "Celebration" became a hit for Kool & the Gang in 1980, the band had been around for more than a decade. This song came from their 12th album "Celebrate!" and would prove to be the only song of theirs to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. It did, however, arrive in the midst of some great success for the band, and a period where they had a run of hits, including, "Ladies' Night" (1979), "Get Down on It" (1981), "Joanna" (1983), "Misled" (1984), and "Cherish" (1985).

JT Playaz were a short lived Euro neo-disco band that were produced by Giles Goodman and Mark Summers. They released two singles in the late 1990s, "Just Playin" (1997) which reached number thirty on the UK Singles' chart and "Let's Get Down" a year later, which wasn't as successful. However, with its big bass and infectious rhythms, and that refrain that replaced "Celebration time come on" with "Let's get down tonight come on", proved a perfect blend for Konami and "DDR".

Answer: Carl Douglas

Jamaican singer, Carl Douglas, may have been a one-hit wonder but, boy was it a beauty. Released in 1974, it would sell in excess of 11 million copies, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time, and it went a long way towards popularizing the emerging disco craze. Douglas must have also had a sense of humour as the title of the album the track came from was "Kung Fu Fighting and Other Great Love Songs"... must say, I never figured "Kung Fu Fighting" for a love song. The track would be covered by a range of artists, including Ceelo Green with Jack Black and the Vamps for two of the films in the "Kung Fu Panda" franchise.

Bus Stop is a British dance band that formed in 1998 and disbanded some four years later. Their remix of "Kung Fu Fighting" was their debut single. It featured original rap lyrics and would prove to be their biggest hit, peaking at number eight on the UK Singles' charts. The track was used by Konami for their original "DDR" release and on several other occasions. Bus Stop would also record a "Miami Booty Mix" of the song two years later which would also feature on alternate versions of "DDR".