Rock and Roll, Initially Trivia Quiz

Answer: Elvis Costello and the Attractions

Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, a New Wave British band, broke into the U.S. Top Ten with "Armed Forces" in 1979. The Attractions are Steve Nieve, Bruce Thomas, and Pete Thomas (no relation). Elvis married Canadian songstress Diana Krall in 2003.

Answer: Huey Lewis and the News

"Do You Believe in Love" was this rock band's first hit, in 1982. "Sports" was their first number one album ('84), going multi-platinum in '85. This San Francisco band's hits include "The Power of Love" (featured in the film "Back to the Future"), "The Heart of Rock and Roll," and "If This Is It."

Answer: KC and the Sunshine Band

KC (Harry Wayne Casey) and the Sunshine Band had a remarkable percentage of number one hits: five of their nine charted songs between 1975 and 1980. "Get Down Tonight" was their first, followed by (in order) "That's the Way (I Like it)," "(Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake Your Booty," "I'm Your Boogie Man," "Keep it Comin' Love," and finally "Please Don't Go." What would the disco era have been like without them?

Answer: Little Anthony and the Imperials

"Little" Anthony (Gourdine) belted out lead for the quartet out of Brooklyn, NY. Their hits included "Tears on My Pillow," "Goin' Out of My Head," "and "Hurt So Bad."

Answer: Gary Lewis and the Playboys

Yes, who WERE Gary Lewis (son of Jerry) and the Playboys? Rumor has it the band members were replaced with session musicians when recording their hits. When they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show at the beginning of their career, they couldn't duplicate the sound on the records so they talked Ed -- who typically insisted on live performances for his show -- into letting Gary sing live and the musicians pretended to play their instruments.

It's obscene how many records these guys sold. Have you ever really listened to "She's Just My Style"? I think there are about four notes in the whole song. I'm guessing it took longer to sing that one than to write it. (Meow.)

Answer: Bill Haley and His Comets

It's hard to believe, but this group was charting BEFORE "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock." (1955). Seven greasy-haired thirty-something men (Bill was born in 1926; you do the math!) were at the right place at the right time -- with the right song. Of course, it didn't hurt that "Rock Around the Clock" was featured in a controversial but popular movie called "The Blackboard Jungle" that portrayed teenaged thugs causing trouble in the NYC schools. What year was that again?

Answer: Tommy James and the Shondells

Not to be confused with one-hit wonder The Hondells ("Little Honda"), Tommy James and the Shondells hit big with their first shot: "Hanky Panky." It reached number one on the Billboard Top 40 in the summer of 1966. Anybody remember Steve Allen reading the lyrics to "Be-Bop-A-Lula" on his comedy show? He would have brought the house down with this one: "My baby does the hanky panky." (repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat).

The group rocked out with "Mony Mony" in 1968, then dropped acidly into the psychedelic mode with "Crimson and Clover" (Dec. '68), "Sweet Cherry Wine," and "Crystal Blue Persuasion," both in 1969.

Their song "She" was featured in "Notting Hill," a 1999 film starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant.

Answer: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

Bruce hit the Top 40 in 1975 with "Born to Run," and he's still panning gold regularly. "The Boss" was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999. He has three songs on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list: "Born to Run," "Thunder Road," and, of course, "Born in the U.S.A.," at numbers 21, 86, and 275 respectively.

Answer: Junior Walker and the All Stars

I loved Junior Walker and the All Stars! They served up some great dancin' tunes like "Shotgun," and "What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)." There's no mistaking the wailing tenor saxophone of Autry DeWalt, Jr. You can hear him on "Urgent" (by Foreigner), too.

Answer: Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels

These white ruffians from the Motor City were hardworking rockers, all right. "Jenny Take a Ride," "Little Latin Lupe Lu," "Devil With a Blue Dress On/Good Golly, Miss Molly (medley)," and of course, "Sock It To Me Baby" charted one after another in 1966-67 on the New Voice label.

Answer: Katrina and the Waves

Now defunct, Katrina (Leskanich), and Waves Kimberley Rew, Alex Cooper, and brothers Vince and Marcos de la Cruz, hit with "Walking on Sunshine" in 1985 (number eight UK; number nine U.S.). Their greatest claim to fame was winning the prestigious Eurovision Song Contest in 1997 with "Love Shine a Light."

Answer: Bob Marley and the Wailers

Bob Marley and the Wailers collectively brought Jamaica, Rastafarianism, and reggae music to the world. Bob was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 1999, Time magazine named his "Exodus" album the greatest of the 20th Century, and in 2001 Bob was given a Lifetime Achievement Grammy, also posthumously. Rolling Stone magazine put him at number eleven on their "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" list.
Bob was born in Jamaica in 1946. He died of melanoma (that had spread to other organs) in Miami, FLA., en route home on May 11, 1981, at the age of 36.

Answer: Martha and the Vandellas

Martha and the Vandellas were one of Motown's famous "girl groups," second only to the Supremes. (Barry Gordy officially changed their name to "Martha Reeves and the Vandellas" in 1965, as he was promoting lead singers a la "Diana Ross and the Supremes," and "Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.")

The myth is true, that Martha was hired as a secretary at Motown Records when she showed up for an audition on the wrong day. She and Rosalind Ashford, Gloria Williams, and Annette Beard sang back up vocals on a number of Marvin Gaye songs before hitting the Hot 100 for the first time themselves in 1963. "Heat Wave," "Dancing in the Street," Nowhere to Run," and "Jimmy Mack" were M & the Vs' biggest hits, and what great songs they were.

Answer: Freddie and the Dreamers

This flash-in-the-pan group didn't fade away quickly enough for me. The eponymous song "Do the Freddie," must have been the height of embarrassment to true musicians. "I'm Telling You Now" that Freddie Garrity, the leader of this ride-the-coattails-of-the-British-Invasion group, might have been better off doing a Weird Al kind of act instead of pretending to be a serious band.

(My apologies to the three fans of F & the Ds out there.)

Answer: Derek and the Dominos

A one-hit wonder? Not exactly. "Derek" of Derek and the Dominos was, of course, Eric Clapton, old "Slow Hand" himself. "Layla" was the band's only hit. Rumor has it that they assumed the name, combining Eric and Duane (Allman, who was guest guitarist on the "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" album), and "Dominos" as a result of brainstorming where someone mentioned Fats Domino, all in an effort to disguise Clapton's unrequited (at that time) love for Patti Boyd Harrison, his best friend's wife.

But who knows?