Great Daves: Musicians called David Quiz

Answer: Dave Grohl

Dave Grohl joined the highly underrated Scream when they were already an established act on the hardcore scene. He toured extensively with them and recorded two studio albums, "No More Censorship" and "Fumble".

When Scream split up he was put in touch with Nirvana through Melvins singer/guitarist Buzz Osbourne, and they asked him to join. They'd already created quite a buzz with their album "Bleach", but nothing can have prepared them for what was to come.

When Nirvana split due to Kurt Cobain's suicide, Grohl formed The Foo Fighters who went on to be huge, if not as iconic as Nirvana.

He's enjoyed great peer admiration too and been invited to play on all kinds of projects, as diverse as Melvins' singer and old cohort Buzz Osbourne's Kiss styled solo effort, "King Buzzo", and with Tom Petty, Killing Joke, Tony Iommi and more. He's also in Crooked Vultures, a band with Led Zeppelin star John Paul Jones and Josh Homme of KYUSS/Queens Of The Stone Age fame.

Answer: Japan

David Sylvian (real name David Batt) formed Japan with his brother Steve Jansen (drums), Richard Barbieri (keyboards)and Mick Karn (bass) in 1974. Sylvian sang and played the guitar. "Adolescent Sex" and "Obscure Alternatives" weren't big sellers in the UK, but did well for them abroad, especially in Japan rather fittingly.

By the time "Quiet Life" came out their sound had shifted from being guitar oriented towards more keyboard-led songs. Next came "Gentlemen Take Polaroids", and then "Tin Drum", the latter finally breaking them in the UK.

Unfortunately, not all was well within the band and the inevitable split came in 1982. Their last gig was in Japan. Recordings from their final UK show at the Hammersmith Odeon were released as "Oil On Canvas", which became their biggest selling UK album.

Answer: David Lee Roth

When David Lee Roth joined the Van Halen brothers the band was called Mammoth. That quickly changed to Van Halen. Gene Simmons of Kiss fame is credited with discovering the band in 1976 and he helped them with their first demo. In 1977 they were spotted by Ted Templeman who signed them to Warner Brothers and became their producer of choice. The eponymous debut was a huge hit and David Lee Roth went on to record a string of six great albums with them. He was getting itchy feet though, and recorded his debut solo EP effort "Crazy From The Heat". It was a huge success and he left Van Halen.
His solo career was fruitful and he was much loved for his OTT behavior, wacky videos and not least for his ability to recruit top class rising stars for his band, most notably Steve Vai.
The 1990s weren't kind to David Lee Roth, sales dwindled and his cartoon style character was out of kilter with the dour, self-conscious zeitgeist.
He rejoined Van Halen in 2007.

Answer: Dave Clark Five

The Dave Clark Five's biggest hit was "Glad All Over" which actually knocked the Beatles off the top spot in the UK in 1964. Quite a feat. They were actually the second so-called "British Invasion" band to go on US TV, leading to them being hugely popular there for a while. Dave Clark played the drums, and put them at the front of the stage when performing, marking his territory as band leader. They even released their own film, in much the same vein as The Beatles had done.

The Dave Clark Five film was called "Catch Us If You Can" in the UK, and "Having A Wild Weekend" in the USA.

It's definitely worth a watch if you're into British sixties music.

Answer: Slayer

Cuban-born Dave Lombardo was Slayer's original drummer and he played on their first five studio albums from 1983 to 1990, although he left the band briefly in 1986, only to return in 1987. He left again in 1992, this time for a bit longer. He formed Grip Inc. and then was involved in the very odd Fantômas project alongside members of Faith No More and Melvins.
By 2002 he was back where he belongs to my thinking; on the Slayer stool.
Lombardo is undoubtedly one of the most influential heavy metal drummers of all time. Slayer's "Reign In Blood" is a landmark in extreme music not only due to Lombardo's performance, but without him it would have been a very different album.

Answer: Coe

David Allan Coe has produced some raucous social commentary that is not to be sneered at. He has achieved much wider popularity in the US than Europe, and even had a hit with "Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)" and "Take This Job And Shove It" there. The latter has been covered by Johnny Paycheck and hardcore punksters the Dead Kennedys.

He was hugely influential on punk rock lunatic GG Allin who took his outlaw imagery one step beyond.

Hank Williams is arguably the greatest talent country music has given the world, just looking at the amount of songs written about him is a legacy in itself.

Answer: Super Furry Animals

Super Furry Animals formed in Cardiff in 1993 and have experimented with many genres, but have always remained accessible. They started as a techno band and still veer into electronic mayhem now and again, but are generally lumped in with the rock grouping.

Although they usually sing in English, they have sung in Welsh, most notably on the completely Welsh language release "Mwng". In 1995 they released "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (In Space)" EP, earning them a place in the Guinness Book Of records for the longest titled EP ever.

Dafydd Ieuan is actually from the North Wales town Bangor. He also played for fellow taffies Catatonia before joining Super Furry Animals.

Badfinger and Budgie are also Welsh bands, but from an earlier era.

Answer: David Johansen

Native New Yorkers David Johansen and Johnny Thunders were very much the face of legendary band The New York Dolls. The Dolls only managed to get two albums out before falling apart at the seams, but they have stood the test of time and still sound "fresh" (actually, they sound a bit fetid, but fresh fetid) today.
After the Dolls, Johansen went on to a decent solo career, but the legacy of the Dolls was always looming over him, as it was Johnny Thunders to a certain extent.

His acting highlight has to be in "Scrooged" where he gets the balance between cranky, scary and affable just right.

Iggy Pop's real surname is Osterberg, Rob Tyner was singer in the MC5, and Gerry Roslie shouted in The Sonics.

Answer: Uriah Heep

David Byron (born David Garrick) was vocalist in Uriah Heep during their golden era from 1969 to 1976. He appeared on their best albums and was a natural born performer with enormous talent.

Unfortunately, Byron had a penchant for the booze and was sacked in 1976. He had a decent solo career but never again reached the heights of fame. Uriah Heep's Mick Box asked him to join up again in 1981, but he rejected the offer. He died in 1985 aged 38 of alcohol related illness.

Answer: Chas 'n' Dave

His full name is Charles "Chas" Hodges. Chas 'n' Dave started out to combat all the fake American accents British singers were putting on, and came up with "rockney", a mixture of Cockney rhyming slang and rock n roll. It's all very mild, but amusing if you have time for novelty bands.

In the UK they hit the charts in the late 1970s/early 1980s, their most well-known song being "Rabbit" in which a bloke complains about how much partner talks, or rather, "rabbits". They were even given their own TV show, set in a pub, where they invited some quite special guests. Clips are easily found.

They also recorded a number of FA Cup singles for London team Tottenham Hotspur, and even opened for Led Zeppelin at Knebworth festival 1979.