Hop On The Bus, Gus Trivia Quiz

Answer: Train

The band Train formed in 1994 in the city of San Francisco. They had their big breakthrough with the 2001 single "Drops of Jupiter". This song deals with the issue of a man wondering if he still has a place in the life of the woman he loves, now that she has gone off on a journey to find herself. In 2006 the band went on a break for three years, but they went back to recording together in 2009, coming back strongly with the single "Hey, Soul Sister". This song was produced by the Norwegian team of producers called Espionage.

Train have released songs with a transport theme. In 2005 they released a song called "Cab". It featured on their album "For Me". In 2012 they charted with a song called "Drive By" off their album "California 37".

Answer: Speed

The 1994 movie "Speed" features Keanu Reeves as FBI agent Jack Traven. He goes up against the diabolical former bomb squad sergeant Howard Payne, played by Dennis Hopper. Payne places a bomb in a city bus. As a result the bus can't drive slower than 50 miles per hour. Jack boards the bus in a very dangerous manner, but soon the driver is injured as he is mistakenly hit by a bullet fired by one of the passengers that believes Jack has come aboard to arrest him. Sandra Bullock stars as Annie Porter, the passenger that has to take over the wheel to save the lives of the other passengers.

Sandra Bullock did not seem to have enough of the transport theme, as she starred in another Speed movie in 1997, called "Speed 2: Cruise Control". This time the action takes place on a cruise ship. The movie sequel did not star Keanu Reeves this time, but Jason Patric.

Answer: Taxi

In 1978, the American sitcom "Taxi" made its debut. It followed the lives of a group of taxi drivers in New York and their dispatcher. The characters had very different backgrounds. The cast included a receptionist at a gallery, an unsuccessful boxer, an actor trying to make it big and a lovable mechanic from a foreign country. The cast features actors such as Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, Andy Kaufman, Jeff Conaway and Judd Hirsch. The show would run until 1983 for a total of five seasons.

Jeff Conaway carried the transport theme into the name of the character he played on "Taxi". His name on the show was Bobby Wheeler. Conaway would portray a taxi driver again in the 1989 movie "Tale of Two Sisters".

Answer: Bus Driver

In 2007 SCS Software released the game "Bus Driver". In this game you take up the role of a bus driver, that has to drive various routes through a fictional town, trying to get to the destination on time and without errors. You will learn to drive precisely, to correctly pick up passengers from the various stops along the way and to obey traffic rules. Penalties will be scored if you break too hard, have a collision or switch lanes without using your indicator.

SCS Software is a company from the Czech Republic. They have produced various games involving transport, such as the "18 Wheels of Steel", based on driving a truck in the USA and the "Euro Truck Simulator", where you naturally drive your truck on the European roads.

Answer: Bicycle

In 1987 John Hughes directed the comedy "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". The movie stars Steve Martin and John Candy. Candy plays the role of Del Griffith, a guy selling shower curtain rings. He runs into executive Neal Page, portrayed by Steve Martin. Page tries to get home in time to join his family for Thanksgiving. Together Page and Griffith embark on a journey, which leads to a series of accidents and misunderstandings.

In 2009 the comedy series "Modern Family" was first aired. On their third season one of the episodes was called "Planes, Trains and Cars", suggesting a pun related to the 1987 movie.

Answer: Queen

Queen released their song "Bicycle Race" in 1978 as a double feature along with the song "Fat-Bottomed Girls". The song was featured on their 1978 album "Jazz". The music video for the song caused quite a lot of controversy, as it featured a group of 65 naked women on a bicycle. The video was shot in London at Wimbledon Stadium. The cover for the single features a naked woman on a bicycle. To keep it a little clean, a red bikini is usually painted on.

Queen would later feature another mode of transport in one of their videos. The video for the 1989 single "Breakthru" featured the band members riding on a train.

Answer: U-Boat

The movie by Wolfgang Petersen and the book "Das Boot" by Lothar-Günther Buchheim both follow the life of a crew on a U-Boat called U96, with World War II being the setting in both cases. In the end the boat is hit by British planes and sinks, with most of the men killed in the process. In the movie Herbert Grönemeyer stars as the narrator of the story, Lt. Werner. Other part in the movie are played by Jürgen Prochnow, Klaus Wenneman and Hubertus Bengsch.

In 1991 the German techno band U96 was named after the U-Boat in the time. They released their version of the theme song of the movie, originally composed by Klaus Doldinger.

Answer: Hayley Williams

In 2010 rapper B.O.B. released the single "Airplanes". It featured Hayley Williams singing the chorus. She is known as the lead singer of the band Paramore. Rapper B.O.B.'s real name is Bobby Ray Simmons Jr. His breakthrough came in 2010 with his single "Nothin' on you", which also featured Bruno Mars. The single "Airplanes" uses a very catchy chorus sung by Hayley that says: "Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars, I could really use a wish right now, wish right now, wish right now".

Airplanes are more often used as a song title. The Beach Boys released a song with the title "Airplane" in 1977, the band Long Natives scored with a song called "Airplanes" in 2009.

Answer: Orient Express

The book "Murder on the Orient Express" was released in 1934 and was written by famous English mystery writer Agatha Christie. In this book detective Hercule Poirot boards the famous train in Constantinople (now Istanbul). One of the passengers on the train is violently stabbed twelve times one night and it is up to Poirot to solve the crime. The victim is soon found to be travelling under a false name. He was once the kidnapper of the daughter of a millionaire. The girl was only three years old at the time. The family paid the ransom, but the girl was killed, leading the family into ruin. The kidnapper later escaped prosecution. Poirot ultimately leads the case to a stunning conclusion, presenting two solutions with the second one providing the correct solution in his opinion. Ultimately the other solution is chosen due to the awful nature of the crimes originally committed by the victim.

Agatha Christie would stage more of her crimes on a train. In the 1928 novel "Mystery on the Blue Train" a woman is strangled on a train in France. Hercule Poirot investigates the case. In the 1957 novel "4.50 at Paddington" a woman witnesses a woman being strangled on a passing train. This time elderly spinster Miss Marple takes on the case.

Answer: Paul Simon

The song "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover" was released in 1975 by Paul Simon. It was featured on his album "Still Crazy After All These Years". The song introduces several suggestions to men to leave their lover. Apparently the sung is meant to be sung by a mistress suggesting to her lover to leave his wife. So supposedly Gus is to hop on the bus, just like Stan is due to make a new plan and Lee has to drop off the key.

Paul Simon sure isn't the only artist encouraging people to take the bus. Girl group Destiny's Child released their single "Get On The Bus" in 1998. It featured Timbaland as well. The Who was way before that, writing about a "Magic Bus" in 1968.