Second Among Equals Trivia Quiz

Answer: Credence Clearwater Revival

Credence Clearwater Revival are famous for never having hit the top of the US charts with any of their hits.
They did however arrive and stay at the number two spot on five occasions with the following: "Proud Mary", "Bad Moon Rising", "Green River", "Travellin' Band" and "Looking Out My Back Door". Also "Down on the Corner" peaked at number three and "Up Around the Bend" at number four. Don't be sad for the boys, as all these songs are listed as million sellers. They did manage two number one albums on the Billboard chart.
"Suzie Q", a version of Dale Hawkins' 1957 hit, was the first charted single for CCR.

Answer: Gene Pitney

"Only Love Can Break a Heart" was Gene Pitney's only number two hit and his biggest hit on the US charts. This singer-songwriter had 24 records make the Billboard Hot 100 and never a number one. "Half Heaven, Half Heartache" was a number twelve hit in 1962. Although he had no number ones he did write the hits "He's a Rebel", "Hello Mary Lou", "Today's Teardrops" and "Rubber Ball". All of these songs were number ones in Australia. In UK he had 25 singles make the charts and achieved only one number one hit, in 1989. That hit was a duet with Marc Almond, "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart"
In Australia Gene was very popular and toured here fifteen times. He placed 25 hits on the local charts with twelve top tens including the number one hits, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and "Blue Angel".

Answer: The Ventures

The Ventures, with their signature tune and biggest hit "Walk Don't Run", reached number two in 1960. The Ventures had many other instrumental hits, "Perfidia", "Ram-Bunk-Shush" "Walk Don't Run '64" and the "Hawaii Five-0". The Ventures released countless albums and their music lives on. A good friend of the author and avid collector of fifties and sixties music has 73 albums by the Ventures and claims there are at least fifty other albums issued by the group.
As a matter of interest, "It's Now or Never" by Elvis prevented the Ventures from claiming the top spot on the Hot 100.

Answer: Martha and The Vandellas

Martha and the Vandellas had many hits including "Heat Wave", "Jimmy Mack" and "Nowhere to Run" but never made it to number one. "Dancing in the Street" was their best effort peaking at number two. Martha and the Vandellas were very popular in the mid sixties benefiting from their success and those around them on the Motown label. For the two weeks in October 1964 that "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" for Manfred Mann was number one, "Dancing in the Street" was stuck at number two.

Answer: Bobby Rydell

Bobby Rydell had many top ten hits in the 1960s but he never achieved a number one on the Billboard Hot 100. "Good Time Baby" stalled at number eleven, "Sway" made number fourteen and "That Old Black Magic" only got to twenty one. These hits and his top tens, "We Got Love" and its flipside "Kissin' Time", "Swinging School", "Volare", The Cha-Cha-Cha", "Forget Him" and his biggest hit reaching number two in 1960, "Wild One". From mid 1959 through 1963 Bobby Rydell was a big star.

Answer: Fats Domino

Fats Domino placed 38 songs on the pop charts in the 1950s; twelve of these made the top ten and a further ten made the top twenty. Most of these songs are now considered rock ' roll classics. Songs such as "Ain't That A Shame", "I'm Walkin", "Blue Monday", "Be My Guest", "Walking to New Orleans", "Whole Lotta Lovin'", "Sick and Tired", "My Girl Josephine", "I'm Gonna Be A Wheel Someday" and so on.

His biggest and best remembered hit was a remake of a 1940 hit, "Blueberry Hill", which peaked at number two for Fats in 1956, stuck at number two behind "Hound Dog"/"Don't Be Cruel".

Answer: Brook Benton

Brook Benton had many hits in the 1950s and 1960s; in fact from 1958's "A Million Miles from Nowhere" to 1970's "Rainy Night in Georgia" he placed 50 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, ten of which were top ten. In all this he never managed a number one. "The Boll Weevil Song" in 1961 got to number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

In Australia Brook had 21 singles make the chart with "Fools Rush In" in 1961, his biggest hit. Apart from those songs already mentioned there were hits like "Endlessly", "Kiddio", "It's just A Matter of Time", "Hotel Happiness" and two top ten duets with Dinah Washington, "A Rockin' Good Way" and "Baby, You've Got What it Takes".

Answer: Jerry Lee Lewis

The Killer Jerry Lee Lewis is a rock 'n' roll pioneer, witness his signature hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" which was a number three hit for Jerry in 1957. "Breathless" reached number seven in 1958 and his biggest hit and another of his signature songs, "Great Balls of Fire" reached number two in 1957. His songs did equally well in Australia and the UK. Some of his other chart songs were "Break Up", "Teenage Letter", "Crazy Arms" and "Lovin' Up A Storm".
At the time of writing (October 2021) Jerry Lee Lewis is still going strong at 86 years of age.

Answer: Johnny Cash

"Ballad of a Teenage Queen" was a number eleven hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958 for Johnny Cash. Although Johnny Cash released many songs and over 100 albums he did not reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100. In 1969 Johnny made it to number two for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 with "A Boy Named Sue", which was prevented from reaching number one by "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones who held the number one spot for four weeks.

Some of Johnny's well known songs are "I Walk the Line", "Don't Take Your Guns to Town", "Ring of Fire" "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Jackson" with wife June Carter.

Answer: Carl Perkins

What could have been for Carl Perkins. A number two hit in 1956 with "Blue Suede Shoes" then a horrific car crash on the way to New York kept him sidelined for months and he didn't get to perform the song on TV. Many other songs of Carl's made the charts but did not rise too high. Three of his songs were covered by the Beatles: "Honey Don't", "Matchbox" and "Everybody's Trying to be My Baby". Carl spent much of his time in the late sixties and early seventies touring as part of the Johnny Cash Show.

Although Carl Perkins sold more than a million copies of "Blue Suede Shoes" on its initial release, the song is better known as performed by his friend and fellow Sun Records star, Elvis Presley.