Mythical Beats Trivia Quiz

Answer: Netherlands

Shocking Blue were a Dutch band formed in The Hague in 1967 and disbanded in 1974. They released eleven albums in that time and had five number one hits on various international charts, but none were as successful as "Venus" which went to number one on eleven different charts including the U.S. Cash Box Top 100 and U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts. The most successful cover version of this song was released by Bananarama in 1986 and achieved top position on seven different international charts, including the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play, U.S. Cash Box Top 100 and U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, fertility and prosperity.

Answer: Aphrodite

"She's So High" was a wildly successful single released in 1999 by Tal Bachman from his eponymous album. The song reached third position on the RPM Top Singles and RPM Rock/Alternative charts in his native Canada and top position on the U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 chart. The song won a BMI and Juno award as well. Bachman was inspired to write the song as a result of a high school experience:

"I attempted to bribe the hottest girl in our high school to go out on a date with [my stepbrother]," Bachman told MTV News. "So as the conversation between me and what I thought was this godly, exalted woman progressed, I began to feel more and more uncomfortable and awkward, and so I just remember that feeling... I don't want to say fear, but just kind of being in awe of her."

"Cause she's so high
High above me, she's so lovely
She's so high
Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite
She's so high
High above me"

Answer: Neil Sedaka

Neil Sedaka, together with Howard Greenfield, wrote "Stupid Cupid" in 1958. Connie Francis would be the first to record it and took it to number one on the UK Singles chart and fourteenth position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Neil Sedaka himself recorded the song and released it in Italy in 1959. Other cover versions of this song have been performed by Patsy Cline and surprisingly the English rock band Queen. Mandy Moore recorded this song for the soundtrack to the 2001 film "The Princess Diaries".

Answer: Cornucopia

"Carmina Burana" is a collection of manuscripts, texts and poems written 11th to the 13th century of which "O Fortuna" is one. Carl Orff was a German composer active toward the latter part of the 19th century. He composed a cantata "Carmina Burana", based on works taken from the original collection and composed the music for "O Fortuna".

Fortuna is a goddess in both the Roman and Greek pantheon and is usually pictured with a cornucopia. The cornucopia, or horn of plenty, is a horn overflowing with produce. One origin story is of Heracles tearing off the horn of Achelous, the river god.

Answer: Atlas

"Achilles' Last Stand" was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant in 1975 and recorded by the band for their 1976 album "Presence". The title is a reference to Robert Plant's auto-mobile accident in 1975 for which he was in a wheelchair for the recording of virtually the whole album due to a severe ankle injury. Achilles, invincible hero of Greek legend, was killed by an arrow that struck his only weak spot, his Achilles tendon. "Presence" was successful for the band, reaching top position on the UK Albums and U.S. Billboard 200 charts.

"Wandering and wandering
What place to rest the search?
The mighty arms of Atlas
Hold the heavens from the earth
For the mighty arms of Atlas
Hold the heavens from the earth
From the earth
I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way
I know the way, know the way, know the way, know the way"

Atlas was a Titan from Greek mythology whose punishment was to hold up the heavens for eternity.

Answer: Streetwise

"Holding Out for a Hero" was written by Jim Steinman, who was responsible for other hits such as Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Meat Loaf's "I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" and Air Supply's "Making Love Out of Nothing at All". Originally recorded by Bonnie Tyler for the soundtrack to the 1984 film "Footloose", it was included on her 1986 album "Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire". The song managed to chart in five different years (1984, 1985, 1991, 2016, 2017) reaching its best UK chart position in 1985 at second place and top position on the Irish Singles chart.

"Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn
And I dream of what I need"

Answer: Aphrodite and Uranus

"Venus" was recorded by Lady Gaga for her 2013 album "Artpop". It reached top position on the Spanish and Hungarian charts and top ten on another seven charts. The song only managed seventy-sixth place on the UK charts and thirty-second place on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the context of the song, the deities mentioned are all actually planets in our solar system, but our planets are all named for Roman gods with the exception of Uranus, who is Greek.

Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love and Uranus, also known as Ouranos, is a primordial god of the sky.

Answer: Aegis

"Medusa" was recorded for Sweet's 1974 album "Desolation Boulevard". Two different versions of the album were released, the first in 1974 released in Europe and the second in 1975 released in the United States. "Medusa" was only released on the European version though.

Aegis was a breastplate made by Hephaestus for Zeus and lent to his daughter Athena. It had golden tassels and had the head of Medusa in the centre and was said to be fearsome to behold. Many references are made of the Aegis in Homer's "Iliad". From the "Iliad 5.733-742 " :

"But Athena, daughter of aegis-holder Zeus,
dropped to her father's floor her supple robe
of many colors, which she herself had made and worked by hand;
she put on the tunic of cloud-gatherer Zeus
and armed herself with weapons for tear-bringing war.
On her shoulders she put the tasseled aegis,
terrifying, around which Panic was set on every side,
and in it was Strife, and Resistance, and chilling Pursuit,
and the dread monster's Gorgon-head,
dreadful and fearful, the emblem of aegis-holder Zeus."

Answer: Quench

The Beautiful South recorded "Quench", their sixth studio album, in 1998. "Dumb" went to sixteenth position on the UK Singles chart. The album itself went to top position on the UK Album chart. The cover of the album is a painting by Scottish artist, Sir Peter Howson, commissioned by the band. He sued the band however, after they cropped the image and used it for promotions and merchandising.

Jupiter, Neptune and Mars are all gods in the Roman pantheon. Jupiter is king of the gods and god of thunder. Neptune is god of the sea and Mars is god of war.

Answer: Percussion

"Venus as a Boy" was the second single released off the album "Debut". It went to top position in Bjork's native Iceland, but only went to twenty-ninth place on the UK Singles chart. Tablas are a pair of drums, one slightly bigger than the other. The right is called tabla or dahina and the left is called dagga or bahina. No clear evidence exists as to their origin, but theories suggest either Turk-Arab or Indian origins.

The Turk-Arab theory is based on the similarity between the Arabic word 'tabl' meaning 'drum'.

The Indian theory is based on carvings found in the Bhaja Caves in India.