Happy-Sounding Sad Songs Trivia Quiz

Answer: Maxwell's Silver Hammer

"Bang bang Maxwell's Silver Hammer lay down on his head. Bang bang Maxwell's silver hammer made sure he was dead." It feels good, it gets stuck in your head, and it's fin to sing along with. However, when you actually read the lyrics... maybe you don't feel so good anymore.

The Beatles were known for this kind of song. The three wrong answers are other examples of it.

Answer: Pumped up Kicks

"You better run better run, outrun my gun, all the other kids with the pumped up kicks."

You never get tired of singing that do you? However, when you notice the words "Outrun my gun" that might make you think "What!?"

"Pumped up Kicks" was inspired by the Columbine school shooting. Cubbie Fink, who created the great bassline that in large part makes this song what it is, said in an interview with CNN that he has a cousin who is a survivor of the shooting. The issue touched him very deeply. Singer Mark Foster said in an interview with the Washington Post that he wanted to bring awareness to the issue of gun violence among kids that he believes, as the second verse in the song suggests, is a result of a lack of time spent with family.

The song's title refers to shoes that popular kids from richer families wear to elevate their social status according to the Chicago Tribune.

Some people think the song is about Westroads Mall Shooter Robert Hawkins due to the first line of the song ("Robert's Got a Quick Hand"). The band denied it in the Omaha World Herald and said that it's just a coincidence.

Answer: Jump

It's fun to jump and it's fun to watch David Lee Roth jump isn't it?

What's less fun is learning the inspiration of the song. According to Richard Crouse's book "Who Wrote the Book of Love?" Roth watched a news story on TV about a man who was considering jumping off a very tall building. He figured somebody there would say "Go ahead and jump." His roadie told him that would make for a very good song, so he made it happen.

"Jump" is a love song, not a suicide song. It is Van Halen's first song to go to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: Brown Sugar

This is a fun song to dance to, isn't it?

The lyrics aren't so fun when you look at them though. The song is basically about slavery and rape. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, singer Mick Jagger said: "God knows what I'm on about on that song. It's such a mishmash. All the nasty subjects in one go... I never would write that song now."

Nevertheless, the song was a number one hit in four different countries including the U.S., and charted in the top ten in at least ten different countries.

Answer: Detroit Rock City

"Get up, everybody's gonna move their feet. Get down! Everybody's gonna leave their seat."

It's fun to dance to such a fast, upbeat song like this, isn't it?

The story of the song isn't so fun though. The lyrics tell the story of someone driving to a concert. However, he's so focused on drinking, smoking, and enjoying his favorite song on the radio that he's not watching the road. He's driving on the wrong side of the road and runs right into a truck and dies.

Contrary to the title of the song, in the book "KISS: Behind the Mask - The Official Authorized Biography," singer Paul Stanley said that the real-life incident that inspired the song actually happened in Charlotte, North Carolina. They made it about Detroit because they were popular in Detroit before they were popular anywhere else.

Answer: The Rake's Song

Oh man, doesn't the music of this song make you feel "All right, all right, all right?"

The story that the song tells is, well, not -so-fun unless you're the bad guy. This song comes right in the middle of the 2009 album "The Hazards of Love." In this song, the villain is introduced. The rake gets married hoping to have all the sex he wanted without babies. Unfortunately, babies came. He ultimately got three babies out of it... there was a fourth one, but both that baby and the mother died upon delivery. The rake then murders each of the three babies. After this he finds himself happy "to be living so easy and free." He says that his actions have not haunted him. "It never really bothers me."

This song is also where we learn the the villain is the narrator of the whole story. That makes the story even more compelling.

Answer: No Children

The piano makes this song sound happy. However, the lyrics are about as unhappy as it gets.

"No Children" is a song about a married couple that hate each other. In the song, John Darnielle screams "I hope you die! I hope we both die!" Right after that there is a calming piano that makes it sound as if everything is all right. The dissonance between the screaming angry lyrics and the calming piano make the song amusing. That's probably why it's their most popular song.

Answer: Electric Avenue

"We gotta rock down to Electric Avenue, and then we'll take it higher."

That song just makes me want to get out my electric guitar, and get me band together, and play a live performance right on the street in front of passing cars. With all our guitars and synthesizers somehow plugged in to something, they will rename the street "Electric Avenue" after us!

Actually, that's not what "Electric Avenue" is about. The song which came out in 1982, is actually about the 1981 Brixton riot. "Electric Avenue" is the name of a street in Brixton, so named because it was the first street in the world ever to be lit up by electricity.

"Electric Avenue" was a top two hit in most English-speaking countries (U.K., U.S., Australia, Canada) and charted in the top ten in at least ten different countries.

Answer: Under My Wheels

The music is really fast, which makes the song fun to dance to. Plus it has a saxophone solo. The saxophone is a happy-sounding instrument.

However, it's on an album called "Killer," a concept album about a killer. In this song, the killer's girlfriend keeps bothering him with phone calls, driving him crazy. He tells her that he can't go to the show with her because his mom his sick and he needs to take care of her. That doesn't stop the girlfriend from bothering him, so he runs her over with his car.

Answer: Tie Your Mother Down

"Tie your mother down, tie your mother down give my all you love tonight."

It's a lot of fun to sing that over that guitar riff isn't it.

But wait a minute, WHAT? Tie your mother down!?

Yes. This 1976 song by Queen is about a man who wants to make love to a woman but her family keep objecting. The man demands that she get rid of her family in the meanest way possible "Or you ain't no friend of mine." The song asks the girl to lock her daddy outside and make her brother go swimming with her brick. As for the mean thing he asked her to do to her mother, well that's in the title of the song.

This song was a top 50 hit in the U.S., Canada, UK, Austria, and Holland