Rock You Like A Scorpion Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hurricane

The Scorpions were a very successful German rock band that formed in 1965. They had various styles over the years including hard rock, heavy metal and soft rock. In 2022, they released their 19th studio album, "Rock Believer".

"Wind of Change" (1990) from the album "Crazy World" (1990) was their most recognised song as it told of the social and political changes brought about by the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Spearheaded by the single "Rock You Like a Hurricane", the 1984 album "Love at First Sting" anchored the Scorpions' place as an internationally popular band. In 2006, VH1 named "Rock You Like a Hurricane" number 31 out of 40 Greatest Metal Songs and in 2009 the same institution named it the 18th greatest hard rock song of all time.

Answer: Still

Billy Joel went from being a piano player in a Los Angeles bar in the early 70s to a worldwide superstar by the mid-70s. He had 12 studio albums between 1973 and 1993 selling over 160 million copies, a feat few have matched.

"Piano Man" (1973), Joel's signature song, tells the story of those LA bar days based on real people. It was his first hit and reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"It's Still Rock and Roll To Me" was Joel's first number one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. This was from Joel's 1980 "Glass Houses" album (His second number one album after 1978's "52nd Street"). This song was typical of the songs on his seventh album as it featured a harder guitar-orientated sound as a response to the New Wave, Post-Punk music of the times.

Answer: Jailhouse

By 1957 Elvis Presley had had eight Billboard Top 40 number ones, three number one albums and he had starred in two high-grossing movies. His third movie, "Jailhouse Rock" was his third hit movie, and the movie yielded a number one EP and the title track went straight to number one in the US.

"Suspicious Minds" was a different song. Released in 1969, it was a ballad and Presley's 18th number one in the US but his first since 1962. It was written and first recorded by songwriter Mark James but it did not chart. Presley released it a few months later.

Fine Young Cannibals turned their 1986 cover version into a rock song. The recording and subsequent black and white video were both homages to Elvis. This version reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart.

Answer: Rock

The Clash were one of the first wave of British punk bands along with the Sex Pistols, The Buzzcocks, and The Damned, though the The Clash outlasted them all (though the Buzzcocks reformed in 1989). Their longevity was due in part in their ability to incorporate elements of dub, funk, reggae, ska, and rockabilly into their music.

This was most evident in the band's third album, "London Calling". Dubbed 'experimental' when released at the end of 1979, the album showed the group migrating from a raw punk sound to an almost new wave sound. Certainly it was at least post-punk. The title track was released as a single in the UK where it reached number eleven on the UK Singles Chart but in the US, "Train in Vain", an afterthought and last track on the album (it was not listed) was a straight rock number that reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and opened up a whole new audience for the band. In 1990 "Rolling Stone" magazine named it the best album of the 1980s. The album cover featuring a photo by Pennie Smith showing Paul Simonon smashing his bass guitar on stage was called the "best rock 'n roll photograph of all time" by Q magazine in 2010.

"Rock The Casbah" was a number eight single in 1982 from the group's fifth album, "Combat Rock". A straight rock song with a bouncy dance beat, it reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles chart, the highest positions of any of The Clash's single releases.

Answer: Heart

Huey Lewis and the News was a San Francisco band that had a string of top ten hits in the 80s and 90s. Huey Lewis and Sean Hopper formed a jazz/funk band called Clover in 1972. They recorded two albums before relocating to the UK pub rock scene. Without Lewis they were the backing band for Elvis Costello. They returned to the Bay Area in 1979 and called themselves, (briefly) American Express, and released a single under this name. This earned them a record contract with Chrysalis but they were asked to change their name.

The eponymous album, "Huey Lewis and the News" was not a commercial success. However their second, "Picture This" was, based on their first national top ten hit "Do you Believe in Love". Their music, characteristically different to the conventional guitar/keyboard dominated rock, was labeled as power pop, blue-eyed soul, new wave, and roots rock, primarily because they had a horn section.

From their most successful album "Sports" (1984) "The Heart of Rock & Roll" was the second top ten single (and fourth overall) but a year later they went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with "The Power of Love". This was no doubt influence by its inclusion, replete with band appearance, in the 1985 hit movie "Back To The Future".

They went on to have two more US number ones but their last US top ten hit was "Perfect World" in 1988. They performed live until 2018 when their future became uncertain when Lewis was diagnosed with Ménière's disease.

Answer: Lobster

The B-52's (later B-52s) formed in 1976 in Atlanta, Georgia, when Cindy Wilson, Ricky Wilson (sister and brother), Kate Pierson, Keith Strickland, and Fred Schneider held a jam session after a Chinese restaurant meal. The session with Strickland on guitar, Ricky Wilson on Congas, Pierson on keyboards and Schneider on cowbell with Pierson, Cindy Wilson and Schneider sharing the vocals yielded "Rock Lobster". A sort of new wave dance slash surf rock romp with humorous lyrics emphasised by the prominence of the organ in the mix and odd guitar tuning. The fish sounds made by Cindy and Kate were a homage to Yoko Ono which John Lennon recognised when he heard the song. The song has one of the great bass lines of all time but that is played by the organ. The group did not have a bass player for 13 years.

The group's name comes not from the aircraft of the same name but the hairdos of Kate and Cindy at the time which, being beehives, resembled the front end of a B-52.
The group was signed to DB records and "Rock Lobster" was re-recorded (Ricky on guitar, Strickland on drums), and released as a single. It climbed to number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978.

The group had four moderately successful albums from 1979 until 1985 when Ricky Wilson died from an HIV-related illness. As such, the group did not tour to promote their latest album, "Bouncing Off the Satellites" which was nowhere near as successful commercially as previous albums.

In 1989, as a quartet (Ricky was never replaced), they recorded their "Cosmic Thing" album which was their mainstream breakthrough and reached number four on the Billboard 200 albums chart and yielded two top ten hits, "Love Shack" and "Roam" both of which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

That was the pinnacle of their career. They were moderately successful for the next 30 years with the group announcing a farewell tour in 2022.

Answer: Fantasy

Bad Company were a British supergroup comprising members from Free, King Crimson and Mott the Hoople. They formed in 1973. Their albums were much more popular than their singles with four of their first five albums reaching the top ten in both the UK and US whereas only three singles made it to the top 30 in the UK and six in the US. Nevertheless songs like "Bad Company", "Can't Get Enough", "Good Lovin' Gone Bad", "Feel Like Makin' Love", "Ready for Love", and "Shooting Star" all feature regularly on Classic Rock station rotations.

"Bad Company", the band's first album, reached number one on the US Billboard 200. The singles "Can't Get Enough" and "Movin' On" reached numbers five and 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. The third single, "Bad Company" ironically did not chart in either country.

"Desolation Angels" was the band's fifth album reaching the top ten in both the UK and US with the disc going double platinum in the US. "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" and "Gone Gone, Gone" were released with the former reaching number 13 in the US. Neither charted in Britain.

The group disbanded in 1982 because of internal pressures within the band. Paul Rodgers, lead singer, wanted a break. When the band reformed in 1986, Rodgers was leading another supergroup called The Firm so Brian Howe, ex-Ted Nugent band, joined as lead singer but the group could not attain the success they enjoyed with Rodgers.

Answer: Clock

Bill Haley had a variety of backing bands until he was convinced to cash in on the similarity of his name to the astronomer and his group became Bill Haley and His Comets in 1952. Preceding that which has been retrospectively called rockabilly (Western music such as country with rhythm and blues), Haley covered Ike Turner's "Rocket 88" in a western style. It was a regional hit in the US northeast but this became part of the start of rock and roll. "Rock The Joint" followed in the same rockabilly style (Jimmy Preston also had a version of this song which was the contender for first rock and roll song). At this time the group was called Bill Haley and the Saddlemen, an unsuitable name for what was now seen as a proto-rock and roll group. "Crazy, Man Crazy" followed and this was Haley and his Comets' first national hit. "Rock Around The Clock" was released in 1954 as the B-side to "Thirteen Women" which did not chart.

"Shake Rattle and Roll" was a national hit and his first international hit. It did not reach number one but it did attain gold record status. In 1955, "Rock Around the Clock" was chosen to be included in the soundtrack for a very popular movie, "Blackboard Jungle". As such the record was re-released with the original B-Side flipped to the A-side and it went all the way to number one on the Billboard pop charts, staying there for eight weeks. It also went to number three on the R&B charts cementing Haley's music as a hybrid of the two genres that became rock and roll.

While it was an anthem for the American 'rebellious' youth of the 1950s, Haley's popularity waned in 1958 when more 'extreme' anti-establishment acts such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard started making their mark. Different versions of the Comets continue to tour especially in the UK and Europe where their popularity is more enduring. Haley continued to perform until he died in 1981.

Answer: Crocodile

What more can be said about Elton John? In a musical career that started in 1962 aged 15, and exceeded 60 years when his (first) farewell tour, started in 2018 interrupted by COVID, continued in 2021. He has sold over sold over 300 million records worldwide,with more than fifty Top 40 hits in the UK Singles Chart and US Billboard Hot 100 which includes nine number ones in the UK and US, and seven consecutive number one albums in the US in the early to mid-70s.

Elton John has received five Grammy Awards, two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, and a Tony Award , a Laurence Olivier Award, a Disney Legends Award, and the Kennedy Center Honor before his announced retirement in 2018. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed him 49th on its list of 100 influential musicians of the rock and roll era. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.Queen Elizabeth knighted him for services to 'music and charitable services' in 1998. French President Emmanuel Macron presented John with France's highest civilian award, the Legion d'honneur, in 2019,

"Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)" was written by Elton John (music) and Bernie Taupin (lyrics). Released in April 1972 as the first single on the "Honky Château" album, the song reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the US Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently John earned the nickname "Rocket Man". In 2004, "Rocket Man" was ranked Number 242 in the list of "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"; (Number 245 in the list of 2010 and 149 in the 2021 edition). The song is nearly always played at his many, many concerts.

"Crocodile Rock" (1972) tells a retrospective story of a man with his girlfriend Suzie who frequently went to a restaurant where a little known dance called the Crocodile Rock featured. However because of world events of the time, the unknown little dance forever vanished into history. No-one minded except our song protagonist. This song (no pun intended!) was pure pop with really sad lyrics which is counter-intuitive as the song is upbeat as it's written in G Major. This was John's first US number one (but he had to wait for 1976 and Kiki Dee to get his first British number one with "Don't Go Breaking my Heart"). It reached number six on the British singles chart.

Elton John began his second Farewell Tour in 2022.

Answer: Me

Steve Miller was born in 1943 in Wisconsin into a musical family. Les Paul is his godfather. In 1950 the family relocated to Texas and their home was visited by many well known artists and musical producers. In 1966, he formed the Steve Miller Blues Band with his seven modestly successful albums but no big hit records.

His music over time became more blues rock than blues (the "Blues" from the group's name was dropped just before his first album was released in 1968). However, in 1973, the release of his eighth album, "The Joker" introduced a second phase of his career with a more straight rock approach. The title track was his first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1976 and a year later the band released two albums that were recorded at the same time. "Fly like an Eagle" and "Book of Dreams" spawned seven hit singles. "Rock'n Me" was the second hit of the first album and his second US number one. Full of hooks and clever wordplay, it was specifically written for the emergence of FM rock radio stations and mentions a whole bunch of places "Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma / Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A".

"Jet Airliner" was one of the band's few hits not written by Miller. It was written by a blind Paul Pena, a Cape Cod folk singer who was unable to eke out a successful recording career. Unfortunately, for much of his working life, Pena's royalties from writing this one song was his only form of income. Miller changed the lyrics slightly and tacked on a a long guitar solo (on the front end) that was cut from the radio edit but featured on the album version.

Miller had one more successful hit studio album, "Abracadabra" in 1982 which reached number three on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, with the title track his third and last number one on the Billboard Hot 100.