Robots Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Flaming Lips

'She knows it's demanding to defeat those evil machines,
I know she can beat them.
Oh Yoshimi, they don't believe me,
But you won't let those robots eat me.'

The Yoshimi in the song - which is also the title of the Flaming Lips' tenth album - is named after Boredoms drummer Yoshimi P-We. The song appears in 'Rock Band 3'. The album was later made into a musical in 2012.

The Flaming Lips formed in Oklahoma in 2013. Their more eccentric projects have included a collaboration with Miley Cyrus entitled 'Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz', releasing material in the form of memory sticks embedded in jelly skulls, and 'Zaireeka', an album designed to be played simultaneously on four separate stereo systems.

Answer: Styx

'You're wondering who I am,
Machine or mannequin,
With parts made in Japan,
I am the modern man.'

'Simpsons' fans may recall Homer quoting this song in 'Team Homer', when he, Apu, Moe and Otto form a bowling team. 'Mr Roboto' is from the concept album 'Kilroy Was Here', named after WW2 graffiti. Kilroy, the hero of the story, disguises himself as a robot in order to escape from prison.

Styx were formed in Chicago in 1972 by the Panozzo twins, bassist Chuck and drummer John. Big in the '70s and known for their progressive rock and use of synths, the band made a comeback in the '90s, though singer and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung left due to a fallout with other members.

Answer: Space

'I'm getting more like a robot as the days go on,
Maybe one day they'll switch my heart back on,
I'm the loneliest robot in the world.'

'The Loneliest Robot' is on Space's sixth album, 'Give Me Your Future', and like many of the songs on the album, is heavily influenced by technology and the film 'Metropolis'.

Space are from Liverpool, and were founded by singer Tommy Scott in 1993. The band split up in 2005, but reunited in 2011 with Scott, keyboardist Franny Griffiths and guitarist Jamie Murphy (who left a year later), along with three new members: drummer Allan Jones, bassist Phil Hartley and keyboardist Ryan Clarke, who left in 2013. Their most well-known songs include 'Neighbourhood', 'Female of the Species' and 'The Ballad of Tom Jones', which featured Catatonia singer Cerys Matthews.

Answer: Daft Punk

'Rock, robot rock,
Rock, robot rock...'

In a quiz about robots and music, these two had to go in. 'Robot Rock' is from the album 'Human After All' and samples American funk band Breakwater's 'Release the Beast'. It was featured in 'Iron Man 2'. Ironically, the band performed as themselves in the video, rather than wearing their usual robot disguises.

Daft Punk are Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, and are from France. They rarely give interviews, and often perform dressed as robots, wearing helmets (sometimes with flashing slogans on) and gloves. Outside Daft Punk, Bangalter has worked on other dance music projects such as Stardust, who released 'Music Sounds Better With You' in 1998, and Together, whose main hit was 'So Much Love to Give'. He also co-produced Arcade Fire's 'Everything Now'.

Answer: Marina & the Diamonds

'I'm vulnerable, I'm vulnerable,
I am not a robot.
You're lovable, you're lovable,
But you're just trouble.'

'I Am Not a Robot' is one of the singles from Marina & the Diamonds' first album, 'The Family Jewels'. It was released in 2010, and a choral version of the song appeared in an ad for health insurance company BUPA in 2011. Rapper Hoodie Allen sampled it for his own single 'You Are Not a Robot'.

Don't be fooled by the name. Rather than being a band, Marina & the Diamonds are just one person, Welsh singer and multi-instrumentalist Marina Diamandis. As well as being a play on her surname, the 'Diamonds' are also her fandom.

Answer: Kraftwerk

'We're functioning automatic,
And we are dancing mechanic,
We are the robots.'

Like Daft Punk, no quiz about robots and music is complete without a mention of Kraftwerk. Indeed, when the band perform this song live, they are replaced with a group of robots resembling them (said to be more animated than Kraftwerk themselves), although the appearances of the robots vary. The song also features lines in Russian.

Kraftwerk (German for 'power station') were formed in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1970 by Ralf Hutter and Florian Schneider (who left the band in 2008). They are an influence on many electronic bands, and were part of the krautrock scene, a type of experimental music predominantly made in Germany (hence the name, though Germans call it 'kosmische Musik'). They often wear matching suits in album art and when performing.

Answer: Cage The Elephant

'I know you're tired of this
'Cos you're a robot,
They designed your life.
True souls said you know what's right.
You can join us on the other side.'

'Tiny Little Robots' is from Cage The Elephant's self-titled debut album, released in 2008.

Originally from Kentucky, Cage The Elephant moved to London in 2008. Previously known as Perfect Confusion, they got their name after a strange man in the audience approached singer Matt Schultz and told him repeatedly, "You have to cage the elephant."

Answer: Norma Jean

'Everyone knows 'cos they see the glare in our eyes.
Careful now, don't drown yourself in sorrow,
I was the one who built that cross and weighed you down,
And now I'll carry on till it's over and it's over.'

'Robots: 3, Humans: 0' is from the band's fourth album, 'The Anti Mother'. It was co-written with Deftones singer Chino Moreno.

Named after Marilyn Monroe's real name, Norma Jean are a metalcore band from Georgia. Like many bands of that genre, and emo bands as well, they favour long song titles such as 'If You Got it at Five, You Got it at Fifty' and 'I Used to Hate Cell Phones, But Now I Hate Car Accidents'. Like the not remotely metalcore Sugababes, they have seen several line-up changes, and none of the original members are still in the band.

Answer: Flight of the Conchords

'It is the distant future, the year 2000.
We are robots.
The world is quite different ever since the robotic uprising of the late '90s.
There is no more unhappiness. Affirmative.'

'Robots' is, as you might have guessed from the above lyrics, about a robot invasion where the robots eradicate the human population of the Earth with poisonous gases. It features a 'binary solo' and appears in the episode 'Sally', where the duo film a video for the song wearing amateurish handmade robot costumes. The song also plays in the credits.

Flight of the Conchords are a musical comedy duo from New Zealand, consisting of Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clement. They starred in their own TV series, where they play fictionalised versions of themselves trying to make it in America. Each episode usually features a song and / or video. 'Robots' is on the band's debut album.

Answer: Damon Albarn

'We are everyday robots on our phones
In the process of getting home,
Looking like standing stones
Out there on our own.'

Damon Albarn is familiar to many music fans as the lead singer of Blur, Oasis' southern Britpop rivals in the mid-'90s, with hits such as 'Parklife', 'Girls & Boys' and 'Song 2'. Outside Blur, he has been involved in other projects such as the virtual band Gorillaz; supergroup The Good, The Bad & The Queen with Paul Simonon of the Clash, Nigerian musician Tony Allen, and sometime Blur member Simon Tong; and the Mali Music project with various Malian musicians.

Albarn released 'Everyday Robots', his first solo album proper, in 2014. He came up with the title track while stuck in a traffic jam in California. Collaborators on the album included Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes and Brian Eno.