Another British Invasion Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brass in Pocket (I'm Special)

Chrissie Hynde was born in Akron, Ohio in 1951 and was something of a rebel in her youth not beholden to the typical Midwest sensibilities of the 1960s. Studying art at Kent State, she moved to Britain in 1973 drawn by the burgeoning punk social and musical scene there, always intent on being part of a band. Success neither came easily or quickly. She bounced from failed group to failed group until she met up with bassist Pete Farndon. Together they recruited guitarist James Honeyman-Scott and drummer Martin Chambers and The Pretenders were formed in 1978. They had a couple of minor hits in the U.K. in 1979 but "Brass in Pocket" scored on both sides of the Atlantic. Sadly, both Honeyman-Scott and Farnham would be dead by 1983 after misadventures with narcotics but Hynde filled those gaps with a rotating roster of other sidemen and the group has persisted, as such, right to the present, 2016.

Never a major presence within mainstream music circles, their other significant charting hits were "Back on the Chain Gang", a Number Five hit in 1983 and "Don't Get Me Wrong" which peaked at Number Ten on the Hot 100 in 1986. "Brass in Pocket" was deemed to be Billboard's 64th biggest hit of 1980 based on chart performance.

Answer: Morning Train (Nine to Five)

"Morning Train (Nine to Five)", so named to avoid being confused with Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" which had charted a couple of months earlier, was Sheena Easton's first foray onto the Billboard charts. Things evolved slightly differently in the U.K.

Sheena was attending the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 1980 when one of her tutors encouraged her to audition for "The Big Time", a BBC production that would chart the progress of some unknown talent as they strived to achieve stardom. With Sheena's stunning attractiveness and obvious talent, she was the perfect fit. The cameras followed her every move for several months culminating with her recording of a song entitled "Modern Girl". For some reason, the song was released before "The Big Time" was aired and stalled at Number 56 on the U.K. chart. When the show was broadcast, her second song, "9 to 5" (the parenthetical part of the title being unnecessary since it pre-dated Parton's song in the U.K.) was buoyed by the program to reach Number Three on that chart. "Modern Girl" was immediately re-released and soon peaked at Number Eight. It was the first time in the history of the U.K. chart that a female vocalist had two hits achieve top ten status simultaneously. "Modern Girl" charted Number 14 on the Hot 100.

Sheena would go on to have several more charting successes at home and abroad throughout the decade. Some of her more notable hits were the Bond anthem "For Your Eyes Only", Number Four in 1981, the bouncy "Strut", Number Seven in 1984, the sultry Prince composition "Sugar Walls", Number Nine in 1985 and then her second biggest hit in America, the Number Two "The Lover In Me" in 1988. Although she continued to record frequently thereafter right into the new millennium, charting success has eluded her. From the 1990s up to the 2010s, she has actually devoted more of her time to her other career, acting in movies and on the stage.

Answer: Eye in the Sky

So just who was Alan Parsons and what was his project?

Alan Parsons sang a little, played guitar and keyboards, but rather than pursue what might have initially been a nondescript career as a musician, he found a niche as a recording engineer and made significant contributions in that regard on the Beatles' albums "Abbey Road" and "Let It Be" and Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon". He met Eric Woolfson in 1974. Woolfson was a pianist, vocalist and songwriter/composer who was anxious to get into record production. Parsons asked him to become his manager and partner with the intent of creating music that was not run-of-the-mill and more experimental in nature, essentially "concept" albums. Usually they would perform on their records in secondary roles (Woolfson sang the vocals on "Eye in the Sky" for example) but normally they would compose, produce and engineer their records and leave most of the musicianship to an array of studio instrumentalists, many of whom were quasi-regulars in the "band". From 1974 until 1990 when the partnership dissolved, they recorded many albums, most of which managed chart placements in the Number 30 to 50 range in Billboard. Because of the experimental nature of their music and the loose association of the musicians, they never performed live concerts. I must admit I have never bought or listened to any of their albums so I have no idea what they were like and can make no personal observations as to their worth. Suffice to say, based on their sales and chart placements, these LP's had a devoted cult following if nothing else.

After 1990, Woolfson went on to produce works for the musical stage until his passing in 2009. Parsons carried on in the industry in various capacities including solo albums.

Answer: Don't You Want Me

What the Beatles and the Merseybeat sound was to the British invasion of the mid 1960s, one could posit that The Human League and their synthesizer dominated New Wave sound was to this invasion two decades later. That's where the analogy ends, however!

The Human League (originally "The Future") was formed in Sheffield, England by two synth players, Ian Marsh and Martyn Ware. Unique to the band was their "Director of Visuals", Adrian Wright, who orchestrated slide presentations that were shown during their performances. The group's manager felt that to broaden their appeal and fan base, a vocalist was necessary to give the band a "human" touch rather than solely rely on electronics. That person became Philip Oakey and the band became "The Human League" in 1978. By 1980, they achieved some minor successes on the British charts but the founding members and Oakey were having significant philosophical disagreements over the direction the band was pursuing. Ware and Marsh left to form a new group, "Heaven 17", and Wright quickly learned how to play the synthesizer. The timing of the break up couldn't have been worse. Now contractually and financially obligated to do a tour without much in the way of a band, Oakey recruited bassist Ian Burden and in desperation, hired two girls he spotted dancing together at a local club to dance and perform as back-up singers. Susanne Sulley and Joanne Catherall had zero performing experience but somehow they did well enough to make the tour a success and became an integral part of the band... for the next 35 years.

The band would have two Number One hits on the Hot 100, "Don't You Want Me" in 1982 and "Human" in 1986, the former also topping the British charts. Other releases were, at best, marginal hits in America, slightly more successful in their homeland. From 1990 and thereafter, The Human League's impact abroad has been minimal but they continue to perform and record in Great Britain as of 2016.

Answer: While You See a Chance

If you're old enough (like me), you will remember Steve Winwood's stirring vocals on such classic hits as "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm A Man" dating back to 1967 for the Spencer Davis Group. Even though he was only 19 years old at the time, he was a musical explorer and felt constrained by the group's dedication to straight rock music.

He left and formed the psychedelically oriented group Traffic, an experiment that only lasted a couple of years before he joined forces with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker to form the "super group" Blind Faith.

After only one self-titled album that topped Billboard's Album chart, the weight of expectations on the group was too much to bear. They disbanded after only being together for a few months. Winwood reformed Traffic for a couple of projects until 1974 then did session work and issued a solo album that yielded disappointing returns in 1977. Essentially, he took a four year sabbatical from the music scene prior to the release of the album "Arc of a Diver" containing "While You See a Chance", his first hit under his own name. Playing all the instruments on the album himself, it was a brilliant piece of work and launched him as one of the most popular artists throughout the entire decade with his sophisticated pop sensibilities.

Although hit singles have eluded him since 1990, he's continued to record albums into the new millennium always exploring new avenues for expressing his musical ideas.

Answer: The Dutchie

I'm not sure about the rest of the world but in Canada, the "dutchie" is a square, deep fried raisin doughnut with sugar glaze and when THEY were being passed around, precious few escaped my clutches!

A song entitled "Pass the Kouchie" was originally recorded in Jamaica in 1981 by a group named The Mighty Diamonds. The "kouchie", in Jamaican patois, is a pot used for storing marijuana.

Frederick Waite, a Jamaican musician in Birmingham, England, had formed The Musical Youth in 1979. The group consisted of himself, his two sons and the two sons of a friend of his. They had developed a local following and were regarded sufficiently to have garnered a recording contract. When he heard "Pass the Kouchie" he thought it might go over well with the West Indian population in Britain but obviously the lyrics would need reworking to pass muster with the censors. He replaced "kouchie" with "dutchie", a Dutch stewing pot in Jamaican parlance, and voila, all drug references were replaced with food references! He replaced himself as lead singer with Dennis Seaton who was a chum of the other members of the group, all now aged 11 to 15, and the song was recorded.

It proved to be an enormous hit in Britain, selling over 100,000 copies in one day and reaching Number One on the British charts in short order. It reached that exalted position on the Australian, Belgian, Canadian, Irish, Dutch, New Zealand and Swiss charts while peaking at Number 10 on Billboard's Hot 100. It barely squeezed into the top 100 of Billboard's year end rankings at Number 99. When the final tally was recorded, the disc sold over four million units worldwide. As is often the case with bands that achieve success with a novelty number, following up that hit with another is exceedingly difficult and they only managed minor charting placements with subsequent recordings in Britain, even worse in other markets. When Seaton left the group in pursuit of a solo career in 1985, the group disbanded.

Answer: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me

When the video for "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" first aired on MTV, the viewing audience was captivated. Was this person who looked like, dressed like and behaved like a woman really a guy? Most of us had never seen the ilk of "Boy George" before, at least as the frontman for a band, but we eventually learned that this was no "schtick" - he was what he was!

The song, performed with a lilting reggae motif was composed by the band as a unit, the lyrics being provided by "Boy George" O'Dowd about his ongoing relationship with the group's drummer, Jon Moss. Their love affair, carefully concealed from the public, lasted for six years and the song reflected George's vulnerability in that relationship.

George O'Dowd bounced from group to group in the underground, post-punk music scene of the late 1970s in London before the constituent members of Culture Club came together in 1981. Driven by O'Dowd's gaudy appearance and personality, their rise to fame was mercurial... but so was their descent largely fueled by his heroin addiction and the tense personal relationships that festered within the group. Like many of the new wave bands who had their genesis in Britain in the early 1980s, they were defunct by 1986, but reformed in 1998 when O'Dowd had overcome his addictions. With the new millennium, it appears that they have not issued any new discs but mostly perform nostalgia tours.

The chronology of Culture Club's Billboard's hits listed as your options in the question and their chart placements on Billboard are as follows: "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" - Number Two - March 1983; "Time (Clock of the Heart)" - Number Two - June 1983; "Karma Chameleon" - Number One - February 1984 and "Miss Me Blind" - Number Five - April 1984. "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" stalled at Number Two for three weeks due to Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" which was in the midst of a seven week run atop the Hot 100.

Answer: Come On Eileen

"Come On Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners topped the British chart for a month in August, 1982 then replaced Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" in April, 1983 as Number One on Billboard's Hot 100. Its stay was a short one... just one week when Jackson's "Beat It" strode to the top. Nevertheless, when the final tally was calculated, the song ranked a commendable 26th in Billboard's year end ranking!

The eight-man group specializing in a unique fusion of Northern Soul, New Wave and pop with a Celtic twist was formed by Kevin Rowland in 1979 and was met with early success in England with a handful of hits in 1980 including a Number One, "Geno", a disc never released in North America. Initially it was reported that "Come On Eileen" was written about one of Rowland's earliest girlfriends and how their relationship evolved from one of puppy love to a sexual one. Later, Rowland denied those claims and indicated that it was a personal observation of Catholic repression in general.

Apparently, Rowland was something of a control freak martinet as group leader and most of the band had deserted him prior to the recording of this song, almost a whole new slate of musicians forming the group for its recording. Within the year, most of the new members also jumped ship and by 1985, Rowland had had enough and decided to go solo. As a consequence, this would be their only Billboard charting success although a second release briefly entered the Hot 100 later in the year. Rowland allowed the band to remain dormant for almost two decades before a new group just named "Dexys" emerged in 2003. A CD by the group was released in 2016.

Answer: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Annie Lennox's gender bending spin in the "Sweet Dreams" video was a little different than Boy George's in "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me". Certainly there was no question about her sexual orientation!

Lennox and Dave Stewart met in the mid-1970s, became romantically involved and along with a fellow named Pete Coombes, formed a group named Catch which later evolved into The Tourists. They had a handful of hits in Britain most notably their 1979 cover version of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be with You" which peaked at Number Four. It's available on YouTube and worthy of a look. You will see that they were pretty much a straight ahead pop group at the time and that was posing problems. The burgeoning New Wave movement had captured Dave Stewart's attention and he was anxious to pursue that genre musically. Coombes was reticent in that respect so the group splintered. Although Stewart and Lennox had recently broken up, she decided to cast her professional musical fate with Stewart and Eurythmics was born. It took a couple of struggling years but this hit in 1983 elevated them into an elite status that they maintained on both sides of the Atlantic for the rest of the decade before retiring the Eurythmics brand for most of the 1990s. Lennox released a couple of enormously successful solo albums while Stewart formed The Spiritual Cowboys and did production work for other acts before reviving the group in 1999. Although they once again broke up in 2005, the door remains open for another reuniting sometime in the future.

Incidentally, this is a definition of the word eurythmics - "a system of rhythmical physical movements to music used to teach musical understanding (especially in Steiner schools) or for therapeutic purposes, created by Émile Jaques-Dalcroze."

Answer: Every Breath You Take

The Police were formed in early 1977 by bassist and vocalist Gordon Sumner (A.K.A. Sting - so named by his elder brother because the striped orange and black sweaters he wore made him look like a bee), drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Henry Padovani. They were a quartet briefly when guitarist Andy Summers joined the band in June but his skills so eclipsed Padovani's that the latter was dismissed from the band shortly thereafter. Subsequently,they remained a trio, a rarity for the era. They also defied labelling. They weren't a punk band although they sought to be one originally. They just weren't musically "tough" enough. Without a synth player, they didn't fit the new wave mold either. For want of something better, most critics considered them a progressive rock band.

They started to make an impact on the British charts almost immediately, their inroads on the Billboard Hot 100 taking about an extra year with their Number 32 "Roxanne" in 1979. It wasn't until 1981 and 1982 when their full presence began to be noticed with songs like the Number Ten "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and the Number Three "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". All paled to "Every Breath You Take", an eight week Number One Billboard hit, the biggest hit of 1983 and fourth biggest of the entire decade only trailing three major hits from 1981 - "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John, "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes and "Endless Love" recorded by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie.

Songs about stalking women should never be treated lightly but Sting later revealed that he wrote it when he was in the midst of breaking up with his wife and admittedly in a "dark" place in his life. He called it an evil, sinister song about surveillance and ownership and finds it hard to understand how so many people over the years have misinterpreted it as a love song. Interestingly, it was not the only song to chart that year with a similarly disturbing theme. Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio had a Number 12 hit with one of your other choices "I Still Can't Get Over Loving You". Consider this slice of the lyric which may be even more graphically menacing than Sting's:

"There's no way that this thing is through, no
Not yet, I ain't through lovin' you
I'm gettin' mad lovin' you, girl, don't you ever try to leave, no, no
It'll be the last thing you'll ever do"

Anyway, this song was essentially the last thing the Police ever did. Although three more songs from their "Synchronicity" album would ultimately invade the Hot 100 in 1983-4, they would record no more new material. Following a grueling worldwide tour in support of that album, the group took a sabbatical to recharge the batteries although they did stay active with each member releasing a solo LP. Sting's was a tremendous success reaching Number Two on Billboard's album chart while the efforts of Copeland and Summers languished in the 150s range. When they reconvened in 1986 in the studio to record again, it became apparent to the others that Sting was withholding his best compositions for personal use. They wound up re-recording some of their older stuff and that would be that. Outside of a 2007 reunion for an immensely successful world tour, the band has remained dormant and will likely remain so.