Run! Run! Run! Trivia Quiz

Answer: car horns

The car horns are neither synthesized nor a canned sound effect -- they are real car horns. The band members took the horns out of their own cars, brought them into the studio, and hooked them up to a battery. I've been unable to find out what was used to create the Doppler effect in the horns; if anyone knows, please send me a note.

Answer: Wendy

"Oh Wendy let me in I wanna be your friend I want to guard your dreams and visions..." One of many things that distinguish Springsteen from other rockers is that the girls in his songs almost always have names. The songs just wouldn't be the same sung to a generic "baby" or "honey." Rosalita is the star of "Rosalita Come Out Tonight," Crazy Janey featured in "Spirit in the Night," and Mary has been seen in several Springsteen songs.

"Born to Run" was one of Springsteen's biggest hits ever. Rolling Stone listed the song as number 21 on the top 500 rock songs of all time, and the album as number 18 on the top 500 albums.

The song "Born to Run" was recorded before the rest of the album, and Springsteen's E-Street Band underwent personnel changes during the process. The result is that there are two musicians playing on the song who are not on the rest of the album -- David Sancious on keyboards, and Ernest "Boom" Carter on the drums.

Answer: Hi Infidelity

"Hi Infidelity" was the only Speedwagon album to hit number one on the U.S. charts, and remained on the charts for 65 weeks. Besides "Take It On the Run" it also featured the hit, "Keep On Loving You." In my personal opinion, however, the 1978 Speedwagon album "You Can Tune a Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish" was much better.

Answer: Empty

There would have been correct answers other than "empty" if I had provided them. The song's refrain is, "Running on -- running on empty; Running on -- running blind; Running on -- running into the sun; But I'm running behind," so blind, into the sun, and behind would all have been possibilities. I was therefore careful to make this multiple choice and provide very unambiguous choices for the three wrong answers!

"Running on Empty" was both the name of the album and the name of a single from the album.

Answer: Nowhere to Run

"Running Free" appeared on Iron Maiden's self-titled debut LP in 1980. It re-appeared on three live albums or compilations over the next 15 years.

"Run to the Hills" appeared on the 1982 album "The Number of the Beast." An angry cry against white man's injustice to natives, it remains the band's biggest mainstream hit.

"Run Silent, Run Deep" appeared on Iron Maiden's 1990 album, "No Prayer For the Dying." Three other rock bands also have tracks of the same name -- Raven in 1983, Peter Wolf in 1987, and Terminal Power Company in 1991. All of these songs were inspired by the submarine war movie of the same name starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster. The movie, in turn, was based on a 1955 novel by Edward L. Beach.

"Nowhere to Run" is the only song on the list never done by Iron Maiden. It was a 1965 dance number by Martha and the Vandellas.

Answer: Saskatoon

"Running Back to Saskatoon" has reappeared many times, on compilations and live albums. It's a very catchy tune, but I think all those uniquely Canadian city names are a big part of the charm.

I suppose it would have made more sense if they went running back to Winnipeg, since that is where most of the band members came from, but Saskatoon remains the only correct answer.

Answer: Fox on the Run

"Desolation Boulevard" also introduced the hit "Ballroom Blitz," which is probably the best-known Sweet song today. Although their popularity declined and they never repeated the success of those two hits, the Sweet continued producing excellent (if unrewarded) music until 1981.

Answer: Pink Floyd

"The Wall" was a massive success for Pink Floyd. The album was number one on the Billboard charts for 15 weeks, and stayed on the charts for more than two years.

"Run Like Hell" is one of the most powerful songs on the album, possibly because it was one of the most collaborative. In the early 1970s, Pink Floyd had been a very collaborative effort, with Roger Waters, David Gilmour, and Richard Wright all participating in writing the band's material. In the late 1970s, however, Roger Waters became steadily more autocratic in running the band, with Gilmour's input being accepted less often and Wright's almost never. This tendency peaked on "the Wall" with Gilmour only having three writing credits on the album and Wright having none. "Run Like Hell" is one of the exceptions. Not only is it one of the three songs officially co-written by Gilmour, but the prominence of Wright's keyboard work in the song suggests that although he may not have been involved in the writing, he was involved in the arranging.

Many people think this song is called "Run run run," which is the refrain heard in the song. The official refrain "run like hell" appears in the printed version of the lyrics but is never actually heard in the song as it was recorded.

Answer: The Ventures

Besides "Walk Don't Run" and "Hawaii 5-0," the Ventures also recorded "Pipeline" and "Wipeout." They have been called the greatest rock instrumental band of all time. A long list of famous guitar players has cited the Ventures as an influence ("more than 30," according to Wikipedia) including Joe Walsh, George Harrison, Joe Perry, Stephen Stills, and many others.

The Ventures released a different version of "Walk Don't Run" in 1964 and struck gold again, being one of very few acts in history to make the Billboard charts with different versions of the same song.

Answer: Del; Little Runaway

"Del" refers to Del Shannon, and "Little Runaway" was his biggest hit.

There is a sad and ironic footnote. In 1988 Tom Petty had worked with one of his heroes, Roy Orbison, in a rock dream-team group (with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne) called the Traveling Wilburys. Roy Orbison died in December of 1988. Del Shannon was being considered as a replacement for Orbison in the Wilburys' lineup, when, in February of 1990, Shannon committed suicide.

Answer: Glenn Hughes, formerly of Deep Purple

Daisley and Lynott both are featured on the album, but not on this track. Presumably Moore could play bass, but as far as I know he has never done so on a record. Glenn Hughes plays bass on five of the ten tracks on this album.

Answer: Billy Joe

"They headed down to old El Paso; that's where they ran into a great big hassle; Billy Joe shot a man while robbing his castle; Bobby Sue took the money and run..."

Billy Joe is the perpetrator.
Bobby Sue, although legally equally guilty, is not the shooter.
Billy Mack was the detective pursuing them.
Billy Jack was a great little kung-fu movie of the same era.

Answer: frantic

At 180 beats per minute, it is the fastest-paced song on the album, reflecting its theme, "the stress of constant travel." (Like many bands, Pink Floyd were unhappy with the pressures of touring.) Although there are no lyrics, there are some words -- a recording of a flight-boarding announcement is one of the background effects.

Answer: Canadian

"Run to You" was supported by a creative video that cuts concert footage with outdoor scenes representing the four seasons.

Answer: Stuck inside these four walls

"Band on the Run" has been described as a "micro rock opera" and proceeds in five movements. "Stuck inside these four walls" is the opening line of the first movement, and therefore the opening line of the song. "If I ever get out of here" begins the second movement. The third movement is purely instrumental, so "Well the rain exploded with a mighty crash" is the beginning of the fourth. The fifth movement isn't truly distinct from the fourth, but there is a bridge before "Well the night was falling as the desert world," which is the nominal beginning of the fifth movement.

After the breakup of the Beatles, Paul McCartney floundered for a while with some very uninspired releases. "Band on the Run" was much-needed success, both critically and commercially. It re-established McCartney as a leader in the rock world.