Punk Rock Quotes VII - Fun, Filth & Fury! Quiz

Answer: "Psycho Killer" - Talking Heads

In 1979 the Boston band The Fools recorded "Psycho Chicken", which was a parody of "Psycho Killer", with clucking noises in the chorus and everything.

Answer: "Roadrunner" - The Modern Lovers

There's a nice passage in the Sex Pistols' movie (or shambles, if you want) "The Great Rock & Roll Swindle" where the band is playing Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" in the studio. Johnny Rotten keeps shouting it's awful though, and wants them to play "Roadrunner". So in the end the band launch into the Modern Lovers' beloved groove, only for Rotten to realise he doesn't know the lyrics. Only when drummer Paul Cook starts screaming the first lines, Rotten remembers and takes it from there.

Answer: "Janie Jones" - The Clash

"Janie Jones" was the song that opened the original UK version of the Clash' debut album "The Clash" (1977). The US version had a different track list - as if it were the Beatles and the Stones all over again - and opened with "Clash City Rockers". Janie Jones was an actual person.

She was an infamous cabaret performer, who scored a minor hit single in 1965 with "Witches Brew". In 1973 she was imprisoned for being a 'madam'. She was released from jail in 1977, the same year as the Clash' debut album. Clash singer Joe Strummer even wrote a song for her, and his band recorded it together with the woman herself. "House of the Ju-Ju Queen" was released on a 7" single in 1983 by Janie Jones and the Lash. Geddit?

Answer: "No Feelings" - Sex Pistols

When it was first recorded - with the demo's that were released in 1977 as the "Spunk" album - "No Feelings" was called "Feelings" (possibly referring to the classic standard of the same name). When it appeared as the b-side of the withdrawn A&M single of "God Save the Queen" it was retitled "No Feeling". Only when it appeared on the 'Never Mind the Bollocks" album was it given its final title of "No Feelings".

Answer: "This Perfect Day" - The Saints

The Saints were never the most fashionable of punk bands - what with their long hair and all - but when "This Perfect Day" was released as a single, it seemed they were going to score a hit single after all. The buzz around the release was big, but when EMI failed to print enough copies of it to supply demand, it only reached number 34 in the UK charts.

Answer: "In a Rut" - the Ruts

The Ruts got involved with Rock Against Racism when they saw the extremely right wing party National Front getting more popular all around them. They evolved from a rather straight working class punk band into incorporating reggae influences and a social conscience into their songs, like the classic singles "Babylon's Burning" and "Jah War".

The latter single failed to chart when the BBC deemed its content - inspired by riots in London's Southall neighborhood in April 1979 - too inflammatory and banned it.

While the band was working on their second album, singer Malcolm Owen died from a heroin overdose on July 11, 1980.

Answer: "Looking after No.1" - Boomtown Rats

Bob Geldof's band is of course best known for the hit single "I don't Like Mondays". It was inspired by 16 year old Brenda Spencer, who fired several shots at students of the Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego from her window with a rifle on Monday, January 29, 1979, killing two people. When asked by a reporter why she did it, she replied "I don't like mondays".

Answer: "Fascist Dictator" - The Cortinas

The chorus to their debut single went "I'm a fascist dictator. That's what I am. I'm a fascist dictator. Ain't like no other man." The Cortinas were managed by Miles Copeland's right hand man Kim Turner, who got them to sign with CBS after two inspired independent single releases. On their debut album "True Romances" (1978) all the rough edges were gone and they faded into oblivion.

Answer: "Unbeschreiblich Weiblich" - Nina Hagen Band

The lyrics translate as "I got pregnant, I felt like pukin'. I didn't want to have it, you better believe it. I pop pills and, anyway, man, I'm not about to get me a kid. Why should I do my duty as a woman? For whom? For them? For you? For me? I got no mind to do my duty as a woman.

Not for you, not for me; I ain't got no duty." From Nina Hagen's only really good album "Nina Hagen Band" (1978).

Answer: "Fascist Cops" - The Kids

The Kids were Belgium's first punk band. They released the incredible albums "The Kids" (1978), "Naughty Kids" (1978) and "Living in the 20th Century" (1979). And the classic single "There Will be no Next Time" (1980). And they're still going ...