Music I Can't Stop Listening To Quiz

Answer: The Strokes

The song "Bad Decisions" is the second single released from the 2020 album "The New Abnormal." It reached number nine on the US Hot Rock and New Alternative Billboard chart. The chorus of the song is reminiscent of the Billy Idol song "Dancing with Myself" and both Billy Idol and Tony James are listed as co-writers.

There is an accompanying video for this song. The band are clones that families can order to inject some fun and excitement to their lives, until the clones malfunction. The video is a cheesy throwback to the 1970s.

Answer: Pixies

This was the second single from the Pixies second album, "Doolittle" and a very catchy and accessible song from the band. It was certified Gold in Canada and landed at number three on the US Billboard Modern Rock chart. It was released in 1989 and the accompanying video got some airplay on MTV.

It's one of those songs that helps a band break through to a broader audience but the band is a bit resentful about that and won't play it in concert. Apparently, they were asked to perform it on the "Arsenio Hall Show" and offered a different song instead. Arsenio and his people said no thanks and so they did not appear on his show.

Answer: Radiohead

This song can be found on the brilliant album "OK Computer." It was not released as a single, four other songs were - "Paranoid Android", "Karma Police", "Lucky", and "No Surprises". It has been used in quite a bit of media though and was originally written for the 1996 Baz Luhrmann film "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet".

It's also been used in the British TV show "Black Mirror", in "Westworld", "Person of Interest" and "Bates Motel."

Answer: R.E.M.

Found on the 1986 album "Life's Rich Pageant", this song was released as the first single from the album and reached a lowly number ninety-four on the Billboard Hot 100. In various interviews, singer and co-writer Michael Stipe has described it as a song about environmentalism and oppression.

The song has been covered a few times, including by "Death Cab For Cutie" on their 2020 EP "The Georgia."

Answer: Arcade Fire

This song was the fourth single from the debut album "Funeral." It peaked at number nineteen on the UK charts but has become a bit of a fan favorite and a song that the band often closes concerts with. In 2011, New Musical Express ranked this song number two in their list of the 150 greatest songs from the past fifteen years. Arcade Fire consists of six permanent members, including husband and wife Win Butler and Regine Chassagne who is of Haitian descent.

The group is quite active in raising awareness, support and funds for Haiti.

Answer: Weezer

This was the debut single by Weezer, from their "Blue" album. Although not as popular as "Buddy Holly" with its funny video parody of "Happy Days", it did receive quite a bit of play on college radio and got the band noticed. The song has some narration throughout, which sounds like typical surfer speak and during live concerts, this part is adlibbed.

The accompanying video was directed by Spike Jonze, and was one of his earlier directorial efforts. When the band made a video for their cover of "Africa" they parodied the video for "Undone - The Sweater Song" with Weird Al Yankovic as the lead singer.

Answer: Destroyer

When you hear the name Destroyer you might think of a Kiss album but it's also the name of a band from Vancouver, Canada formed by musician Dan Bejar. The band has had a number of different members and collaborators and each of the studio albums have sounded wildly different from each other.

The song "Notorious Lightning" can be found on the album "Your Blues" which was released in 2004 and as a reworked track on the "Notorious Lightning and Other Works" EP that was released in 2005. Initially released at just under six minutes long, the alternate EP version clocks in at about ten minutes.

Not released as a single and not immediately accessible, it grows on you!

Answer: Neutral Milk Hotel

Neutral Milk Hotel released their second and final studio album, "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea" in 1998 and the song "Holland, 1945" was the only single from the album. Some unusual instruments are used on this song, including a singing saw, euphonium, bowed fuzz bass and Uilleann pipes. The song was played during the closing credits of the final episode of "The Colbert Report". Stephen Colbert picked it in honor of his dad and two brothers who died in a plane crash in 1974. According to an article in "The New York Times" he chose it because of the sad, beautiful lyrics including the lines:

"But now we must pick up every piece
Of the life we used to love
Just to keep ourselves
At least enough to carry on. . . .
And here is the room where your brothers were born
Indentions in the sheets
Where their bodies once moved but don't move anymore".

Answer: Rage Against the Machine

This iconic protest song was the first single from the self-titled debut album from the band. It reached number twenty-five in the UK in 1993 and then reached number one in 2009 over Christmas as part of a campaign to prevent the winner of the TV show "X-Factor" to reach number one.

This song is a loud, angry anti-racism and anti-authority song that features the unforgettable line "some of those that run forces are the same that burn crosses" and quite a few other explicit lyrics. There is a censored version however poor BBC radio DJ Bruno Brookes unwittingly played the full uncensored version, which includes seventeen mentions of the "F-word" and the station received 138 complaints.

Answer: The Stone Roses

"I Am the Resurrection" is the final song on the UK version of their debut self-titled album. The song is just over eight minutes long and the final four minutes are instrumental. The single was released in 1992 and reached number thirty-three on the UK singles chart. New Musical Express named this song number eight on its list of the 'Fifty Greatest Indie Anthems Ever.' The religious language on this song continued with the release of their second album, titled "Second Coming."