Dessert Island Discs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rihanna

Rihanna's song 'Birthday Cake' first appeared in 2011 on her 'Talk That Talk' album. It was originally a short interlude track of only just over a minute in length. A longer remixed version featuring the rapper Chris Brown was released on 20 February 2012 - Rihanna's 24th birthday - and made it into the US Billboard Hot 100, although it didn't trouble either the number one spot or even the top ten.

However, anyone out there contemplating the idea that this song might be ideal for inclusion on a child's birthday party soundtrack should be aware that it has a sexual theme and contains various explicit lyrics.

Answer: Van Halen

Rock group Van Halen released their song 'Poundcake' as a single in June 1991, during the period when Sammy Hagar rather than David Lee Roth was the band's lead vocalist. It went on to reach number one on the US Mainstream Rock chart but didn't chart on the US Billboard Hot 100. The track is notable for its use of a particularly unusual item - an electric drill - as a musical instrument. Various concert performances of the song involved Eddie van Halen operating a gaudily painted drill as well as playing the guitar part.

The culinary pound cake originates from Britain and refers to any cake made with a pound each of butter, eggs, flour and sugar.

Answer: The Tornados

'The Ice Cream Man' by the Tornados made it to number 21 on the UK Singles Chart in 1963. The B-side included with the track was the theme music to the 1960s real-life crime TV series 'Scales of Justice'. Like the music played by ice cream van salesmen to attract customers across Britain, 'The Ice Cream Man' is an instrumental piece.

It was composed by band member Joe Meek, who also created the band's most famous track, 'Telstar', which had been a number 1 hit in the previous year despite its distinct lack of lyrics.

Although they had some success with their own instrumentals, the Tornados were probably best known from their time as a backing band for Billy Fury.

Answer: Warrant

The American band Warrant were at the height of their popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Their 1990 single 'Cherry Pie' was the first to be released from their second studio album, which was also named 'Cherry Pie'. The song made it into the US Billboard Hot 100's top ten (at number 10), while the album peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart and achieved a double platinum certification.

The music video for the track later gained the rather ignominious award from MTV of one of the worst music videos of all time - however, it was a success for the band's singer-songwriter Jani Lane in the sense that he later married the model who starred in it.

Answer: Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens' instrumental song 'Was Dog a Doughnut?' didn't exactly achieve critical acclaim at the time it appeared on his 'Izitso' album in 1977. It then crept into the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it to a high of number 70 on its release as a single in 1978.

It was Stevens' penultimate single to be released before he changed his name to Yusuf Islam and walked away from his career in music. Later critical review of the song has described it as a forerunner of techno-pop due to its extensive use of synthesisers and a music sequencer.

While anyone listening closely to the track will be able to identify the "dog" part of the title thanks to the audible barking, there is no indication of which part of the rest of it is supposed to sound like a doughnut...

Answer: Snoop Dogg

Americans might be forgiven for having forgotten about Snoop Dogg's 2015 single 'Peaches N Cream' since it failed to make the Billboard Hot 100 chart on its release. However, residents of Belgium might remember it since it peaked at number 3 on the Ultratop 50 (Wallonia) chart in that country.

The song was written by Snoop Dogg in collaboration with several others, including the track's producer, Pharrell Williams, and appeared on his album 'Bush'. Its vocals featured the singer Charlie Wilson (also known as Uncle Charlie) who formerly sang with The Gap Band.

Answer: Bing Crosby

The song 'A Marshmallow World', written by Peter DeRose and Carl Sigman in 1949, has been covered dozens of times over the years by a list of stars, including Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Brenda Lee and Garth Brooks. However, it was first associated with Bing Crosby who got to number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 with it in January 1951.

The timing of Crosby's chart success with the song gives away that the track is traditionally regarded as a Christmas song, despite the fact that marshmallows are probably not the first food stuff that spring to mind in relation to Christmas and that Christmas is not explicitly mentioned in its lyrics.

Answer: Little Richard

'Tutti Frutti' was the first chart hit for Little Richard (real name Richard Wayne Penniman) and paved the way for his career in music that lasted into the 21st century. It was written by Little Richard in collaboration with Dorothy LaBostrie and is also credited with being one of the first rock and roll songs to be produced. Although it never made it into the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, it was voted number one on a list of the "Top 100 Records that Changed the World" by Mojo magazine in 2007.

Tutti frutti means "all fruits" in Italian. It has been used as an ice cream flavour since the 19th century and is also a term used for a dessert or side dish of mixed fruits such as raisins, dates and apricots.

Answer: Franz Ferdinand

Scottish band Franz Ferdinand's 2014 single 'Fresh Strawberries' can be found on their album entitled 'Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions', which was released in 2013. The song, written by band members Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy, was released solely as an online digital download and didn't chart in either the UK or the US. However, the album proved popular, reaching number six on the UK Albums chart and number 24 on the US Billboard 200. The song gives anyone who fancies a nice dessert of strawberries some good advice - eat them while fresh as they tend to go off quickly!

"We are fresh strawberries
Fresh burst of red strawberries
Ripe, turning riper in the bowl
We will soon be rotten"

Answer: Don McLean

Don McLean wrote and released 'American Pie' in 1971 on an album of the same name. When the song hit the US Billboard Hot 100 as a single in January 1972 it spent a total of four weeks at the number one spot. Probably McLean's best-known hit, 'American Pie' is about the 1959 deaths of the music legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in a plane crash - an event now known as "the day the music died" thanks to McLean's lyrics.

The song was also famously covered by Madonna in 2000, when it reached number one on the charts of several countries worldwide - but not in the US since it was not commercially released there.