Remembering Songs of the Summer #3 Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Love him or hate him, you've got to admit Bob Dylan is one of the most influential musicians ever. In 2001, he gave us one of his many summery songs with "Summer Days" from the album "Love and Theft", but we can be sure there are thousands of summer memories attributed to his incredible musical repertoire. We know him as "Bob Dylan", but what was his full birth name?

Answer: Robert Allen Zimmerman

Robert Allen Zimmerman, born May 24, 1941, is better known as "Bob Dylan". His career has spanned from the late 50s right through until 2010, meaning he has entered into his seventh decade of music. The song "Summer Days", mentioned before, came from his 2001 release called "Love and Theft", with the album being voted as the best of the decade by some notable musical charts. Approaching 70 years old, Bob shows no signs of slowing down, releasing a Number One album in August, 2006, at age 65, "Modern Times", and another Number One record in 2009, at age 68, "Together Through Life". I never was a Dylan fan, but his 1978 release, "Street Legal" was a favourite of mine.

2. From a 1975 album called "Face The Music" came a song, "One Summer Dream". It never got released until 1978 as the B-side of a 45rpm that had "Mr. Blue Sky" on the A-side. Charlie Waters of Rolling Stone Magazine said "One Summer Day" was "a trifle sentimental, but lyrically and musically, it displays more emotion and pure ability than one ordinarily hears from a rock group. What group from Birmingham, England, gave us this summery sensation? (please don't bring me down by getting this one wrong)

Answer: Electric Light Orchestra - (ELO)

The clue should have given it away for ELO, the Electric Light Orchestra, as "Don't Bring Me Down" is one of their greatest hits. The name came from referring to electric musical instruments and that they used a 'light orchestra' in their recordings. (small orchestral group of three or four non-electric instruments).

The album, "Face The Music", has macabre cover art, featuring an electric chair showered by stage lights. In 1978, ELO did a 92 concert tour, which became the highest-grossing live-concert tour ever up to that time.

3. The Swedish super group ABBA is likely still conjuring up summer memories by the millions whenever one of their hit tunes come over the FM airwaves. The lesser-known song, "Our Last Summer", was inspired by a girl Bjorn Ulvaeus met one summer while still a teenager. From which studio album, ABBA's seventh, does "Our Last Summer" come from? (ABBA wasn't Canadian, but they could still 'raise a little hell')

Answer: Super Trouper

The clue was tough. How many of you remember the song "Raise A Little Hell" by the Canadian band *Trooper? *Trooper as in Super *Trouper? Nevertheless, the Swedish group ABBA had one of the most memorable and influential musical careers that went from 1972 - 1982. ABBA is a fixture of radio play lists and is one of the world's best-selling bands, having sold over 375 million records worldwide. Almost three decades after their breakup, they are still averaging sales of 2.5 million albums per year.

There are very few people, regardless of their ages, who can't name at least one ABBA hit that inspires one or more great summer memories.

4. In 1965, the song "Summer Wind" was released by the Las Vegas stalwart of music, Wayne Newton. Unnoticed, it was re-released a year later by a member of the Rat Pack. In addition to great success on music charts, it was used in commercials, movies, t.v. programs, and was covered by several notable artists such as Barry Manilow and Lyle Lovett. Which "Rat Pack" member achieved big success with his version of "Summer Wind"? (his nickname came from a physical feature)

Answer: Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra, often referred to as "Old Blue Eyes",(re: the clue's "physical feature") enjoyed more success from "Summer Wind", than most musical artists get from an entire career and came from his standout album, "Strangers In The Night". It's been recorded by Shirley Bassey and Johnny Mercer, as well as the afforementioned Manilow and Lovett.

It was sung by Martin Prince in an episode of "The Simpsons", was the inspiration for Irish band Westlife's album, "Allow Us To Be Frank", and was included in the soundtracks of the 1999 movie, "For Love of the Game, the 2003 film "Matchstick Men", and was the theme song for the 1984 film, "The Pope of Greenwich Village". "Summer Wind" deserves to be included in my quiz series, "Remembering Songs of the Summer".

5. In one of my previous quizzes, I mentioned Kid Rock's huge summer hit, "All Summer Long". But "The Kid" wasn't the first to gain a hit from a great summer tune with that title, as an album of the same name was released by one of the all-time consummate summer fun bands. What very popular summertime group released the 1964 album "All Summer Long"? (I remember driving my little deuce coupe listening to this band on the radio)

Answer: The Beach Boys

Writing a quiz about summer songs and not mentioning The Beach Boys is like talking baseball championships and not including the New York Yankees. The clue about "Little Deuce Coupe" should have had the band's name lighting up your noodle like a neon ad display.

The Wilson Brothers and the rest of the band members were North America's answer to The British Invasion and it doesn't matter where you live in the world, not a summer goes by without summer music lovers finding themselves whistling the hit, "I Get Around", humming "Little Deuce Coupe", or belting out "Surfin U.S.A.". Summer without The Beach Boys just isn't summer!

6. This artist formed a brilliant career playing with different musicians on every one of his twenty-nine studio albums and compilations. His 1979 song, "Summer Lady", from his album, "Marathon", is one of the dozens of summer hits he's released. I can't remember a single summer without hearing one of his tunes drifting over the airwaves. What master guitarist gave us the 'smooth' ballad, "Summer Lady"? ('why don't you and I' wrack our brains to choose the correct answer?)

Answer: Carlos Santana

All these choices are considered "master guitarists", but the question mentions "Smooth"(Number One in 1999) while the clue alludes to "Why Don't You And I"(Number Eight in 2003), both of which were huge hits for Carlos Santana, arguably the greatest guitarist ever. Since starting out as The Carlos Santana Blues Band in 1967, he has seen over eighty different band members come and go, which is testament to his guitar skills and musical versatility.

The often changing band members was not a result of in-fighting or dissatisfaction within the band, but was due more to Santana's internal drive to challenge his craft, as well as efforts to bring Latin Rock to the world.

7. These are lyrics from the 1988 song "Endless Summer Nights". "Summer came and left without a warning, All at once I looked and you were gone, And now you're looking back at me, Searching for a way that we can be..Like we were before." Which artist gave us that hit song from his debut album of the same name? (in 1989, he was calling himself a 'repeat offender')

Answer: Richard Marx

"Endless Summer Nights" became a Number Two in 1988 on the Billboard Top 100 for Richard Marx, despite he and his music being ignored by almost every recording company in the business. EMI-Manhattan was quite happy he'd been ignored, because they signed him and four of the singles from his debut album reached the top three positions on Billboard's Top 100 as well as Billboard's Album Rock Charts, making him the first artist to accomplish the feat.

The four songs were: "Endless Summer Nights"-(Number Two), "Don't Mean Nothing"-(Number One), "Should've Known Better"-(Number Three), and "Hold Onto The Nights"-(his first Number One Pop Single).

8. "Someone, Somewhere in Summertime" is a great 1982 summer song. Yet, the group that performed it are likely responsible for a lot more summer memories because of a Number One hit song from a very popular 1985 movie about five very different young people who are forced to spend Saturday in detention. Which very successful group gave us "Someone, Somewhere in Summertime"? (Ally, Anthony, Emilio, Judd, and Molly)

Answer: Simple Minds

The group is Simple Minds, the popular movie is none other than "The Breakfast Club". and the clue referred to the first names of the main actors. The hit theme song was "Don't You (Forget About Me)". "Someone, Somewhere in Summertime" is definitely a great summer memory song, but I'd have to say that it's "Don't You" that conjures up the most summer memories for me. On the other hand, it was the song "Someone, Somewhere..." that opened the door to Simple Minds' musical success.

9. Although I'm not a big fan of newer music, the 2001 song "Summer Jam", is a good dance tune with the light and airy feeling of summer. It's got the capacity to leave younger folks with the type of summer memories we had because it can evoke images of summer intertwined with the pining of youthful lovelorn hearts. What's the name of the group that performs the bouncy and fun, "Summer Jam"? (the name makes me think of an older animated cartoon series)

Answer: The Underdog Project

"Have no fear! Underdog is here!" Does anybody remember the cartoon series "Underdog" from the 60s? Anyway, the group we're looking for is The Underdog Project. "Summer Jam" has been a huge success for this German Band that began their career in 2000.

The song, from the album of the same name, was on every major European radio station's music rotation at one point. Great summer memories come to people of all ages so let's hope that this song brings back some great seasonal thoughts to our younger quiztakers and fans of newer music, and maybe even to lovers of that great animated program, "Underdog", as well.

10. We've got a long way to go before we're singing these lyrics. "Summer's almost gone, Summer's almost gone, We had some good times, But they're gone. The winter's comin' on, Summer's almost gone." Which group, whose lead singer mysteriously died, performed this somber, but memorable summer hit? (despite some reunions, the tragedy marked 'the end' of the group's popularity)

Answer: The Doors

July 3, 1971 marked the death of Jim Morrison, and after that, The Doors just weren't the same ever again. So as the clue suggests, it was sadly, "The End" (title of one of the group's greatest hits) of the band's live tours. Even though The Doors' remaining members toured for a couple of years following Jim's death, they couldn't recapture the mystique and strangeness that went along with Morrison's odd behaviour at so many of their shows. Nevertheless, the popularity of their albums never waned.

They last recorded an album in 2000, and not surprisingly, it did very well. The Doors have sold over 75 millions albums worldwide and with that amount of sales comes endless summer memories.

Source: Author krazykritik

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

It seems everybody is chomping at the bit for summer! My first two quizzes in this category have been well received and rated so why stop now? Besides, what is "summer" without all the great tunes of our past?

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