Instrumental Hits from the '60s and '70s Quiz

Answer: Love is Blue

"Love is Blue" was composed in 1967, with music by Andre Popp and lyrics by Pierre Cour. The song was first performed in 1967 at that year's Eurovision Song Contest by Greek singer Vicky Leandros. In late 1967, Paul Mauriat recorded an orchestral version of the song and it reached number one in 1968, making him the first French artist ever to top the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: Theme from A Summer Place

"Theme from A Summer Place" set a record at the time for most consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, a record that stood until 1977, when Debby Boone's "You Light Up My Life", spent ten weeks at number one. The tune won the Grammy Award in 1961 for Record of the Year, making it the first movie theme and the first instrumental to do so. "Theme from A Summer Place" also ranked number one on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles from 1960.

Answer: Midnight in Moscow

Originally titled "Leningradskie Vechera" ("Leningrad Nights"), "Midnight in Moscow" was composed in 1955. In 1957 the tune had its international debut at the World Festival of Youth and Students, held in Moscow, where it won the international song contest. Kenny Ball released his jazzed-up version of the song in 1961 and it climbed the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number two in March of 1962.

Answer: Wipe Out

"Wipe Out" was originally issued as the B-side to the group's single "Surfer Joe". As it turned out the B-side was the hit, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1963, whereas "Surfer Joe" peaked at number 62. "Wipe Out" spent 30 weeks on the weekly singles chart and ranked number 20 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles chart.

The band's drummer, Ron Wilson, based the drum solo on a drum cadence he use to play as a member of the marching band from Oak Charter High School in Covina, California.

Answer: Frankenstein

"Frankenstein" was by far the band's biggest hit, spending one week at number one and selling over one million copies. You might be wondering how they came up with the title for the track, well, here's the story. The tune started out as a 20 minute jam simply called "The Instrumental", but the band decided to edit it down so it could be released as a single. According to an interview on YouTube Winter said: "Back in those days when you edited something, you physically had to cut the tape then splice it back together, so it was all over the control room, draped over the backs of chairs and the couch. We were making fun of it, trying to figure out how to put it back together.

Then Chuck Ruff, my drummer, says, ' Wow, man, it's like Frankenstein.' As soon as I heard that I went 'Wow, that's it!' The monster was born." The band also released the single "Free Ride" in 1973 and it was a moderate hit, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: Hocus Pocus

"Hocus Pocus" peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in June of 1973. The song consists of a powerful guitar rock riff, with some unusual alternating solos, such as accordion, scat singing, whistling and yodeling. "Hocus Pocus" was the only success the band would have on the U.S. charts, though they did fare better in the U.K. and especially in The Netherlands, where they had five top 20 hits on the Dutch Top 40. Focus is still touring today, but mostly in Europe.

Answer: Dueling Banjos

"Dueling Banjos", originally titled "Fuedin' Banjos", was written in 1955 by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith. The song's first wide scale airing was on a 1963 episode of "The Andy Griffith Show", in which it was performed by a fictional musical family called the Darlings, who were played by the real life American bluegrass band The Dillards.

The tune was arranged and recorded for the film by Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandell and was included on the "Deliverance" soundtrack, but the filmmakers failed to acknowledge Smith as the composer, so he sued and eventually won, receiving songwriting credit and royalties.

Answer: The T-Bones

The T-Bones were an instrumental group that released six albums between 1963 and 1966 and consisted of members from "The Wrecking Crew", who were a famous group of L.A. session musicians. In 1965 they recorded and released the single "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)" and it became a hit, reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in February of 1966.

After the success of the single, Liberty Records, the band's label, recorded an album around the single using the same musicians and wanted them to go on the road to promote it, but the members refused to go, since they were making so much money doing session work. So Liberty created the "public" T-Bones, hiring five musicians to appear on record covers, TV and in concert. Three of those members went on to form the group Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds, who had a fair amount of success in the '70s.

Answer: Hawaii Five-0

"Hawaii Five-0" reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and was The Ventures' second biggest hit after "Walk Don't Run", which reached number two in 1960. Although the tune is most widely known as an instrumental, Don Ho and Sammy Davis Jr. have both performed versions with lyrics, but using different song titles.

The TV series "Hawaii Five-0" ran for 12 seasons from 1968 to 1980 and is still shown in re-runs. At the time of its last airing it was the longest running cop show in television history.

Answer: A Taste of Honey

"A Taste of Honey" was written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow for the 1960 Broadway version of the 1958 British play "A Taste of Honey". Herb Alpert's version was released in 1965 and reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 from that year. The Beatles' version was included on their debut studio album "Please Please Me", which was released in the U.K. in March of 1963.

The song also appeared on the group's U.S. debut album, "Introducing...The Beatles", which was released in January of 1964.