Lesser Known NWOBHM Bands Trivia Quiz

Answer: Boxhill or Bust

Boxhill is a popular town among the biker crowd. Located near the North Downs in Surrey, the town is only 19 miles from London. Dumpy's Rusty Nuts thrust themselves on the London music scene in 1981 playing local venues whenever they could get the chance.

Their performances at the London Marquee Club have become legendary. In fact, they have performed there more than anyone. The band has opened for acts such as Hawkwind, Status Quo and even Motorhead. Lead singer Graham "Dumpy" Dunnell even has been known to strap on his acoustic guitar and perform live sets in smaller venues to the delight of his fans.

Answer: Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden has had the luxury of having guitarists Dave Murray and Adrian Smith in their ranks for quite a long time. In fact, Dave Murray has played on every Iron Maiden from their debut "Iron Maiden" all the way to the 2010 release "Final Frontier".
Urchin was quite popular and they enjoyed moderate success. They released a couple solid tracks which were met with positive critical praise, but the line-up was never very stable enough to sustain consistency.

Answer: Starfighters

Originally named Savage, Starfighters featured a pretty good line-up with Steve Burton on vocals, Pat Hambly and Stevie Young on guitars, Doug Dennis on bass and Spencer Scrannage on drums. The band were formed in Birmingham in 1979. The group could not keep the core members of the group together long enough to really catch fire in the competitive UK metal scene.

They had minor success with the song "I'm Falling", but there wasn't much more heard from the band. The band signed with a management company in an effort to get their music released and tours developed, but nothing really caught on and the band soon fizzled.

Answer: Tony Iommi

It was Iommi who performed producer duties on the album, but his bandmate, Ozzy Osbourne provided some backing vocals and Brian May contributed some guitar work during the recording sessions. The song in which May and Osbourne appeared did not actually make the album, but it was released as a B-side to one of their singles. The song was titled "Circles".
Geoff Nicholls, who was the keyboard player in Quartz, later went on to perform with Black Sabbath, contributing his keyboard work to the album "Heaven and Hell".

Answer: A Monty Python sketch

Ethel the Frog took their name from the Monty Python sketch "Piranha Brothers".
The band's most notable single was a metal version of The Beatles "Eleanor Rigby". The B-side to this release was a song titled "Whatever Happened to Love" which has been featured on several radio programs about the NWOBHM movement.

Answer: Hollow Ground

Hollow Ground were one of the bands I was particularly interested in. They had a very good sound and they really seemed to be more professional than many of their contemporaries. The band was doomed for failure when their lead singer Glenn Coates left to join the successful act Fist. If you're interested in securing one of the original copies of the "Warlord" EP, prepare to open the wallet a little. I once saw a copy sell for over $1,500 at an auction in New York.

Answer: Bernie Torme

Brad Gillis was never a member of Gillan, but he was the man who performed on the live Ozzy Osbourne release "Speak of the Devil". Bernie Torme was recruited by Ozzy after the death of his friend and guitar player, Randy Rhoads. Torme did step in for a short period of time before he left the group to concentrate on his own band titled Electric Gypsies.

His entire stint with Ozzy was less than a month.

Answer: White Spirit

White Spirit released their self titled debut album in 1980, but they had been around for quite sometime before that. Formed in 1975, in Hartlepool, England, the band was one of the earliest outlets for a young Janick Gers. It was the departure of Gers to join the band Gillan that signaled the end for White Spirit.

After helping Bruce Dickinson on his solo record, Gers was brought into the Iron Maiden fold. His first album with Iron Maiden was the 1990 release "No Prayer for the Dying".

Answer: Vivian Campbell

Vivian Campbell joined Sweet Savage at the tender young age of 15 in his native Belfast. The group seemed to have the talent and the desire to achieve success on the metal scene, but it never materialized for them. Their biggest success was probably when Metallica covered their song "Killing Time" on their "Garage Inc." release of 1998.
Vivian Campbell has become known as a respected guitarist for bands such as Dio, Thin Lizzy, Def Leppard and Whitesnake.

Answer: Clive Burr

Before Clive Burr found fame as the drummer for Iron Maiden, he provided the back beat for several NWOBHM bands such as Elixir, Praying Mantis and the supergroup Gogmagog. His work in Samson included time during and after Dickinson's run in the group. After his time in Iron Maiden, he flipped places with Nicko McBrain and joined the French band Trust for a short period.