Flashes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Arcade Fire

'Flashbulb Eyes' by Arcade Fire explores the idea that having your photo taken can rob you of your soul. It opens with the lines:

"What if the camera
Really do
Take your soul"

Before the singer defiantly says:

"Hit me with your flashbulb eyes
You know I've got nothing to hide"

Showing that he's not afraid of the potential soul stealing.

Arcade Fire are one of the most critically acclaimed indie rock bands of the 21st century, having received significant praise for their first four albums, including their 2004 debut 'Funeral' and 2010's 'The Suburbs".

Answer: The Rolling Stones

"I was born in a cross-fire hurricane..."

Surely one of the most iconic opening lines of any rock song in the history of rock songs, 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' is an enduring classic. Despite The Rolling Stones releasing albums thick and fast in the late 1960s (both 'Between the Buttons' and 'Their Satanic Majesties Request' were released in 1967 and 'Beggars Banquet' in 1968), 'Jumpin' Jack Flash' was released as a standalone single. This did not hamper its success as it reached number one in the U.K., Netherlands and Germany, and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.. A live version of the song was released on the 1970 album 'Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out'.

'Jumpin' Jack Flash' has been covered by numerous other artists over the years, including Aretha Franklin (with Rolling Stones members Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards on guitar), Peter Frampton, Tina Turner and the cast of the hit TV show 'Glee'.

Answer: Iron Maiden

'Flash of the Blade' is notable for the way in which it makes the listener the subject of the song, likening them to famous figures with lines such as:

"You're St. George or you're David
And you always killed the beast"

'Powerslave', the album on which 'Flash of the Blade' can be found, contains some of Iron Maiden's most popular songs, including 'Aces High' and 'Two Minutes to Midnight'. However, it also contains the 13-minute track 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner', a re-telling of the classic Coleridge poem in heavy metal form. The cover of the album features an Ancient Egyptian pyramid, as referenced in the song 'Powerslave', and the album was accompanied by the dubiously-named 'World Slavery Tour'.

Answer: Jessie J

While 'Flashlight' was recorded by Jessie J, it was written by several other notable artists of the 21st century including Sia Furler and Sam Smith. It was included on the 'Pitch Perfect 2' soundtrack album, and released as a single later in 2015, reaching number two in the Australian charts.

The 'Pitch Perfect' films centre around an a cappella singing group from the fictional Barden University, known as the 'Barden Bellas'. The song 'Flashlight' is sung by Hailee Steinfeld during her audition for the Bellas in 'Pitch Perfect 2', and it later becomes part of their set at the World Championships.

Answer: Kanye West

The 'flashing lights' in Kanye West's 2007 song seem to refer to the fact that he is often hounded by the paparazzi and their flashing cameras. He expresses his disapproval of those members of the fourth estate in no uncertain terms and spends the rest of the song discussing lots of things that he has either bought or is going to buy. All in all a classic Kanye track.

The song features the Detroit-based soul singer Dwele and the Australian singer-songwriter Connie Mitchell. It was the fourth single released from the album 'Graduation' after 'Can't Tell Me Nothing', 'Stronger' and 'Good Life' and reached number two in the U.S. Rap Singles Chart.

Answer: Queen

While the song on the soundtrack was officially called 'Flash's Theme', the song released as a single was simply titled 'Flash'. The difference between the two is that 'Flash's Theme' is cut straight from the film and thus contains the dialogue used in the opening scene of the film, while the single uses dialogue from throughout the film.

Written by Brian May, 'Flash' was considered good enough to be included on the 1981 compilation album 'Greatest Hits', the first of three volumes of greatest hits released during Queen's career. The song enjoyed some chart success, reaching the top ten in many countries, notably number one in Austria and number three in Germany.

Answer: MGMT

'Flash Delirium' was released as the first single from MGMT's second studio album 'Congratulations' after some indecision amongst the band's members. Initially, there were to be no singles released so that the album could be appreciated as a single piece of work.

This wasn't consistent with their first album 'Oracular Spectacular' from which they had the three hit singles 'Time to Pretend', 'Electric Feel' and 'Kids'. Eventually they changed their minds and released 'Flash Delirium' as a teaser for 'Congratulations', followed by 'Siberian Breaks', 'It's Working' and 'Congratulations' later in 2010.

Answer: The Kinks

'Preservation Act 1' was intended as a concept album in which to extend some of the themes and characters of 1968's 'The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society'. Unfortunately the album was not received anywhere near as well as 'Village Green' and was panned by critics, with a similarly poor performance commercially, reaching a mere number 177 on the Billboard 200. The song itself centres on a somewhat creepy character called Flash who we are generally warned to stay away from with lines like:

"Hide your daughters, hide your wives.
Lock your doors and stay inside.
Here comes Flash."

Answer: Irene Cara

"Flashdance... What a Feeling" was an absolute smash hit upon its release in 1983. Not only did it reach number one in the United States (Billboard Hot 100), Japan, France, and a host of other countries, it also won Best Original Song at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes, and won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Its popularity is long-lived, having placed at number 55 in the AFI's '100 Years...100 Songs' list of the most important songs in cinema history in 2004, and at number 26 in Billboard's 'All Time Top 100' list in 2008.

The song was co-written Irene Cara, Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey and marks Cara's only number one single in the United States.

Answer: Klaxons

Klaxons are a British indie rock band based in London. Their debut album 'Myths of the Near Future' won the Mercury Prize in 2007 and the follow-up album 'Surfing the Void', containing the song 'Flashover', also fared well with critics. The album art, featuring a cat in a spacesuit, came about when the band were out drinking together and became obsessed by how great such a picture would look on a billboard.