Great Ironies In Music Trivia Quiz

Answer: It doesn't contain a single example of irony

All of the situations in Morissette's song are POTENTIALLY ironic, but none of them are elaborated enough to actually fit the title of the song. Perhaps the Irish comedian Ed Byrne summed it up best when he said "There's nothing ironic about being stuck in a traffic jam when you're late for something. Unless you're a town planner. If you were a town planner and you were on your way to a seminar of town planners at which you were giving a talk on how you solved the problem of traffic congestion in your area, and couldn't get to it because you were stuck in a traffic jam, that'd be well ironic."

The other three options are all lines from "Ironic".

Answer: Leaving On a Jet Plane

One of my friends pointed out that this would only have been ironic if the song had been called "I'm Living My Life On a Jet Plane". I beg to differ; after all I'm sure John Denver wasn't thinking about the likelihood of dying in a plane crash when he wrote the words, and hence it is, indeed, ironic. Not very pleasant admittedly, but ironic all the same.

The other three options are, of course, all well known songs by John Denver.

Answer: Roger Daltrey

The line comes from The Who's best known song, "My Generation", and is one of the most quoted lyrics in rock history.

Obviously the other three answers are also ageing vocalists from The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Velvet Underground respectively.

Answer: Ronald Reagan

To be fair, the song's video probably contributed to Reagan's endorsement of The Boss, as it featured mass flag waving reminiscent of a political campaign ad. When Springsteen heard of the president's comments, he introduced a track, "Johnny 99" (about a laid off factory worker), at one of his gigs by saying that he "didn't think Reagan had heard this song"!

George Bush Snr. of course, succeeded Reagan as President in 1989, his office lasting exactly four years. Democrat Clinton followed him and lasted 8 years, from 1993 to 2001, and George W Bush was voted President in 2001.

Answer: Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama"

Amusingly named after a gym teacher, Leonard Skinner, whom some of the band had disliked in High School, Lynyrd Skynyrd were a legendary American Southern Rock band.

Buscemi's character in "Con Air" was rather misinformed though, as only two full time members of the band perished in the 1977 crash - singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines, as well the latter's sister Cassie, who had become the group's backup singer in 1975.

The other three options were thrown in because they also featured musicians who died in air crashes: Buddy Holly (real name Charles Hardin Holley) and the Big Bopper (real name Jiles Perry Richardson Jr.) both died in the tragic accident of February 3rd 1959 when their small Beechcraft Bonanza aeroplane crashed eight miles from Iowa airport into a cornfield owned by Albert Juhl.

The Skyhooks were an Australian group who featured a vocalist called Graham "Shirley" Strachan. He died aged 49 in August 2001, as a result of a helicopter crash in Queensland.

Answer: Step Right Up

Waits has always vehemently opposed the use of his own songs in commercials, and had previously been openly critical about artists who DO go down that road, so Frito-Lay employed a soundalike to impersonate Tom on a variation of "Step Right Up", a song from his "Small Change" album. Waits was none too pleased so he filed a lawsuit against the food giants and emerged victorious.
Lifelong Waits fan Stephen Carter, the soundalike, felt so guilty about his part in the fiasco that he became one of Waits's strongest witnesses.

I chose the other three options for various reasons: "Small Change" was a spoken word piece on the eponymously named album about a gangster who was killed by his own gun. I also thought the title might suggest shopping to some people.

"In The Neighborhood", from Waits's classic "Swordfishtrombones" album, mentions food in its lyrics - "The eggs chase the bacon round the frying pan"

...and "Rain Dogs" may have suggested corn dogs or hot dogs to some folk, and is another classic Waits album whose title actually refers to homeless people sleeping under newspapers or sheltering in shop doorways.

Answer: Every Breath You Take

It still makes me smile when I hear a deluded local radio station DJ referring to Sting's menacing classic as "a beautiful love song".

The other three options were songs by The Police that actually DID relate to love in one way or another. The title "Walking On The Moon", for instance, was meant to describe the actual feeling of being in love. The remaining options explain themselves.

Answer: Iron Maiden's "Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter"

Originally recorded and released by frontman Bruce Dickinson on the soundtrack album to "A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child", the band decided to record their own version upon the frontman's return to the band after a two year hiatus. The single caused much mirth amongst music fans when it replaced the purer than pure Cliff Richard at the top after just one week. Despite spending a fortnight at the summit, "Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter" is one of the lowest selling number one singles of all time, with an overall total of around 100,000 copies sold, so you could say Sir Cliff had the last laugh on that one!

Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up" was a three week UK chart topper in 1991.

"Sacrifice" was Elton's first solo UK number one. It spent 5 weeks at the top in 1990 as a double A-side with "Healing Hands".

Adamski's "Killer", featuring the vocal talents of Seal, was also a 1990 number one, spending 4 weeks as chart champion.

Answer: Rick Wright

Wright's relationship with Floyd singer/songwriter Roger Waters had been deteriorating somewhat in the days leading up to the musical extravaganza, and there are conflicting reports as to whether the pianist quit the band himself or was fired. Whatever the case, Wright got off lightly, as the remaining three members had to foot the bill for the large stage shows, which were colossally expensive. Wright rejoined the band upon Waters' departure following their 1983 album "The Final Cut".

The other three options are also members of Pink Floyd.

Answer: The Who

The album in question was 1978's "Who Are You", and equally spooky was the fact that it included a track called "Music Must Change", which was rather prophetic as it was the only song the band had ever put out that featured no drums. Apparently Moon had trouble with the song's 6/8 time signature and instead only contributed a few cymbal crashes.

Moon died after overdosing on Clomethiazole, a drug he was taking as part of a medical programme to cure him of his alcohol addiction, which is another unpleasant irony in itself.

The remaining options are all bands who featured deceased drummers, with the exception of The Rolling Stones, whose former guitarist and founding member Brian Jones was found dead at the bottom of his swimming pool in Hatfield, Sussex in 1969. Although the coroner's report stated "Death by misadventure" as his liver had been significantly enlarged due to excessive drug and alcohol abuse, there are many theories that suggest suicide or possibly even murder as the cause of death.

John Bonham had been Led Zeppelin's drummer at the height of their success. He died in 1980 as a result of "asphyxiation from vomit" after downing 4 quadruple vodkas (for breakfast) and falling asleep later after continuing to drink heavily at rehearsals.

Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden died of colon cancer in 2005, 35 years after quitting the band.