Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs (401-425) Quiz

Answer: William

The song "William, It Was Really Nothing" was released as a single, but it never charted on Billboard's singles chart. The song has been rumored to be loosely based on Billy Mackenzie from the band The Associates, with whom Morrissey may have been romantically involved in the early 1980s. This song is number 425 on our list.

Answer: Good Time Women

The Rolling Stones recorded the album "Exile on Main Street" in the south of France during 1972. The band had left England in protest of the stiff income tax laws that were costing the band a mint. The band had started visiting some of the casinos in and around Monte Carlo and wanted to incorporate some of the gambling lingo they had heard in a song, thus the name change.

Answer: Carl Perkins

Although all the artists listed recorded the song, it was Carl Perkins who wrote the song. The song was hugely popular and influential, it was, in fact, the first song to top Billboard's pop, country and R&B charts. Most people consider Elvis' version to be the most successful, yet his version only reached number 20 on the Billboard Pop charts.

Answer: Candy Darling

The song originally appeared on the album "Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneyground, Part One", a very original name for an album. The song cracked the top ten, reaching number nine on the Billboard Pop charts in 1970.

Answer: Michael

"John" is a friend of the singer, "Paul" is a real estate novelist and "Davy" is "still in the Navy, and probably will be for life".
The song is loosely based on Joel's real life experiences playing in a piano bar for six months in Los Angeles. There have been theories that the three character names in the song had musical references. "John" and "Paul" from The Beatles and "Davy" from The Monkees.

Answer: The Isley Brothers

The Isley Brothers were Ronald, O'Kelly and Rudolph. This song was the announcement to the world that the group had left Motown and were forging ahead with their own label, T-Neck Records. The backing band on this song was the touring band for Wilson Pickett.

This song also features the first time that younger brother, Ernie, recorded on an album. His opportunity came when the scheduled bassist failed to show for the session.

Answer: Leon Haywood

Leon Haywood, born in Houston, TX in 1941, charted with the song "I Want'a Do Something Freaky to You" in 1975. The song reached number 15 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. One of the main appeals to the public was the female vocal tracks that really captured the mood of someone having "something freaky" done to them.

Answer: Judy Collins

Judy Collins was a child prodigy. Her piano playing and song writing was evident from a very early age. She released her first album at 22 years old. It was titled "A Maid of Constant Sorrow".
Stephen Stills' song features a very complex arrangement of vocal harmonies that is best experienced live. The song certainly had an impact on Grammy voters as the band won the award in 1969 for Best New Artist.

Answer: N.W.A.

N.W.A. was founded by group member Easy-E with money he had made selling drugs. The group's first release was titled "N.W.A. and The Posse" and it was largely ignored. Upon the release of "Straight Outta Compton", the group was being heralded as the carriers of the torch in the rap genre.

The album was one of the first to find commercial appeal amongst the general public. The album was responsible for the category of gangsta rap and may have started the whole east coast/west coast rivalry.

Answer: The Heartbreakers

Mike Campbell, lead guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, was instrumental in establishing Don Henley as a solo force with his collaboration on this song. The song was rather identifiable with the yuppie generation of the era with the line "I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac".

The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart and won Henley a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocalist.

Answer: The Four Tops

This song allowed Holland/Dozier/Holland to replace one of their number one songs with another. The song "Back in My Arms Again" was residing at the top of the charts, the fifth consecutive Supremes song to reach that pinnacle, when "I Can't Help Myself" replaced it in 1965.

There will be many Holland/Dozier/Holland compositions to follow in this quiz series. By the way, the title of the song is not "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" as many people think.

Answer: Young Blood

The song didn't attract much ire from the censors, but it did create quite a stir upon its release. Some of the lyrics ("yellow ribbon in her hair", "I tried to walk, but I was lame", "I met her dad"...) were interpreted to indicate a young girl being courted by an older, more promiscuous, fellow. In the Bible Belt areas of the United States, these subjects were tabboo, therefore the controversy.
The Coasters were one of the first acts to incorporate blatant comedy into their music, a trend that would attract more attention into the 1960s.

Answer: The Girl Can't Help It

This movie is about a gangster type character who coerces a press agent into finding stardom for his busty girlfriend, played by none other than Jayne Mansfield. The movie was basically a vehicle to promote many of the popular artists of the era. Many artists had roles in the movie including Fats Domino, Little Richard, The Platters, Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent.

Answer: McAllister

The line "the day Billie Joe McCallister jumped off the Tallahatchee Bridge" pretty much sums up the plot of this song. One of the mysteries surrounding the song is exactly what did the preacher witness the girl and Billie Joe throw off the bridge? Many people feel it may have been their lovechild that they threw off the bridge, an act that drove Billie Joe to depression which resulted in his own suicide. The real Tallahatchee Bridge is located in Greenwood, Mississippi.

The bridge spans 20 feet over shallow water. On a side note, Max Baer Jr., famous as Jethro Bodine on "The Beverly Hillbillies", directed the film "Ode to Billie Joe" and he stated publicly that his interpretation was that Billie Joe was a homosexual and he was trying to protect his reputation.

The world will never know as Bobbie Gentry never revealed her inspiration for the song.

Answer: Donna Summer

The song was "I Feel Love" and it was released by Donna Summer in May of 1977. Donna was a member of the Viennese Folk Opera which landed her in Munich, Germany in 1968. That's where she met her husband Helmut Sommer. After marrying Helmut, she gave his last name an Americanized twist, shortened her given first name and became Donna Summer.

Answer: Monkey

The Pixies released "Monkey Gone to Heaven" on their "Doolittle" release in March of 1989 on the Elektra Record label. The band appeared on "Saturday Night Live" and performed this song. The Pixies were one of the first bands labeled as college rock that found popular appeal and radio airplay. One of their other popular songs is "Velouria" from the "Bossanova" CD.

Answer: Robert Johnson

By now, most everyone has heard the legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the devil down at Dockery's Plantation in Mississippi in exchange for the gift of creating the best blues music in existence. Upon the agreement, the devil took Johnson's guitar, tuned it for him, and Johnson went on to create the most remarkable music ever known. Countless artists have recorded versions of Johnson's music.

The list of artists are as diverse and varied as music itself, including The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Cream, Led Zeppelin, Steve Miller, Taj Mahal, The Hindu Love Gods and Jimi Hendrix.

The myth of Robert Johnson has been adapted to music, film and poetry over the years.

Answer: Sweet Emotion

This was a bit of a trick question. Many people may think that "Dream On" would be the first Top 40 single since it appeared on the band's debut album, but it actually didn't reach the Top 40 until a year after "Sweet Emotion" reached number 36 on the chart.

The reason is that the song "Dream On" was re-released after the success of the band's second and third albums. When "Dream On" was originally released as a single, it only reached number 59 on the Pop Singles chart. "Sweet Emotion" appeared on the band's third album titled "Toys in the Attic".

Answer: In Bloom

The song "In Bloom" was basically an insult to all the people from Cobain's home town of Aberdeen, WA who were a bit redneckish, yet found favor in Nirvana's music. The line about the people who likes all of the band's songs, likes to sing along and likes to shoot guns, but not knowing what the songs mean is specifically targeted to the exact breed of people that Cobain was trying to escape from when he first got into punk and alternative music.

It's ironic how true the lyrics are.

Answer: Space Jam

"Space Jam" featured many popular basketball players as themselves including Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkely, Muggsy Bogues, Larry Johnson, Shawn Bradley, Vlade Divac, Cedric Ceballos, Danny Ainge, Alonzo Mourning, A.C. Green, Charles Oakley and Derek Harper, just to name a few. I would wager that this is the largest assortment of NBA superstars ever to grace one animated, real time, science fiction, fantasy movie ever.

Answer: Bank

Song writers Roger Nichols and Paul Williams were recruited to write an advertising jingle for Crocker Bank of California when they decided to expand the jingle into a full song. Richard Carpenter happened to catch the advertisement on television one day and was hooked on the theme of the song.

He contacted the bank to find out who had written the song and was surprised to find out that he actually knew the composers personally, The Carpenter's had worked with the duo on the song "I Kept on Loving You". Richard insisted that he and his sister, Karen, be allowed to record the song, and they took it straight to number two on the Billboard Pop chart.

Answer: Johanna

"Visions of Johanna" was released on Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" CD in May of 1966. The song paints a nice portrait of downtown Manhattan as Dylan tries to reach the ever allusive Johanna through the city. The song is a nice ballad and very easy to listen to for a Dylan number.

Answer: Minnesota

He was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota on Octover 3, 1938. He died way too early near London as a result of a car accident in 1960. Due to his short life, Cochran never achieved the commercial acclaim as many of his contemporaries, but his body of recorded work was enough to get him in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Answer: Sly and the Family Stone

This song started off when bass player Larry Graham was experimenting with his thumb popping style of playing the bass. The song reached number one on the Billboard Pop chart in 1970. Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation" was inspired by the song.

Answer: Tonight's the Night

"Tonight's the Night" reached number 39 in 1960 for The Shirelles. Their first number one song was "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". It reached number one in 1961. The Shirelles were formed in Passaic, NJ in 1958.