Set List of a Really Bad Rock'n'Roll Covers Band Quiz

Answer: Hell's Bells

"Hell's Bells" is the opening track of AC/DC's 1980 album "Back in Black" This was the first AC/DC album without Bon Scott who had died the previous year. The album was a tribute to him. It featured a 910kg bell specially made for this recording (and used on subsequent live tours). The track starts with the bell ringing slowly four times before the lead guitar riff comes in. The instruments start in staggered times, lead, then rhythm guitar, drums, bass, and finally vocals. Truly a great rock standard and a fitting tribute.

The Princess and the Projects were a motley collection of musicians: we had a jazz drummer who was quite talented though rock and roll was not her favourite genre. Our lead vocalist had trained as a vocalist at the Conservatorium of Music but she admitted to being nervous about having to play rhythm guitar at the same time (which was what was necessary). However she could play keyboards well which was handy. The lead guitarist could really play rock riffs and insisted she play lead guitar not rhythm. I could play bass (badly). Our enthusiasm was greater than our talent. We wanted our AC/DC cover version to pay respect to the original so we "borrowed" a large gong from a local Chinese restaurant to simulate the bell. It was the ideal opening as no-one introduced us - we were told to start playing at 8pm, we just used the gong to announce our arrival and start the music. Our lead singer was classically trained but could manage a decent screech-like Brian Johnston vocal style to accurately portray the sound. The lead guitarist dressed up like a schoolgirl in some sort of gender-bending rip-off of Angus Young. We received polite applause. At the end of the song we were surprised to find there were a lot of people up and dancing. We were surprised and relieved.

Answer: Jet Airliner

The distinctive riff at the beginning of "Jet Airliner" is actually preceded by a separate intro called "Threshold" on the album but was truncated from the single edit, leaving a shorter distinctive guitar riff preceding the song proper. "Jet Airliner" was not a Steve Miller-written song - it was written by Paul Pena in 1973 - though Mr Miller changed it somewhat (and made it his own). "Jet Airliner" reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100.

The Princess and the Projects' treatment of this song was to try to stick as close to the original as possible and our lead guitarist insisted on having the full riff at the start. The lead singer was unfamiliar with this song (gasp!) so she had to learn it from scratch. The lead guitarist had loaned the vocalist her "third best guitar" and she had tuned it to reproduce the growling rhythm guitar of the song. On the recording, the riff goes for a full 60 seconds before the vocals would kick in. Our guitarist said we should hold it it for 90 seconds as it might get people up and dancing. They already were but the audience never noticed this long intro (They had all had a bit to drink by then). They seemed to like it. They clapped enthusiastically at the end, oblivious to the notes I had missed.

Answer: ZZ Top

The song was ZZ Top's "Legs" from the 1983's "Eliminator" album which sold ten million copies on the back on this one song and its exposure on the newly-created MTV music channel on television. Far from politically correct, no-one even complained about the lyrics at the time.

Our cover version turned the politically incorrect version and turned it on its end with The Girl singing it with a bit of a swagger. She also thought ZZ Top being a three piece, there was only one guitar so she thought she would not have to play as well. The lead guitarist put her narcissism to one side so she could crunch out the dominant rhythm on her stratocaster with the lead singer only having to play minimal lead. The Girl then was just about free to really belt out her version (Her voice had a lot of depth) leaving the drummer and me in the back holding down the rhythm. It was easy to play - it was a simple five chord romp. It was probably one of our better songs. Certainly the audience, predominately female, and dancing, picked up and responded to the lyric change.

Answer: Led Zeppelin

This monster rocker was never released as a single in the UK (Led Zeppelin did not release any singles in the UK), but it reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100. It was considered one of the group's crowning achievements. A full on sound with big bass, booming drums and crunching guitar work. It features a free jazz interlude in its second minute and a theremin was featured. Heavily produced, the big drum sound was created by putting the drum kit on a platform in a studio with 28 foot ceilings, a microphone eight feet above the drum kit and another two feet from the bass drum.

The Projects' version cut out all the esoteric bits and played it straight in 3 minutes 20 with the the "big sound" recreated by cranking up the volume of guitar, bass and drums, almost drowning out the lyrics of our petite lead singer who was no Robert Plant. We had substituted volume for complexity. It was probably our least successful song, dancers sat down and the applause at the end was merely polite. It was the first and last time we played any Led Zeppelin song. We learned about our musical limitations lessons hard and fast.

Answer: Lola

All the answer options are songs about cross-dressers, but "Lola" was arguably the most successful and the first. Released in 1970, the song tells, in the first person, the story of a young man who met a girl in a club in Soho, London. He was quite smitten by her but was surprised, not shocked to find Lola was a man. The openness of the lyrics amazingly went under the censors' conservative radar but perhaps it was the way the 'reveal' was delivered, "But I know what I am and I'm glad I'm a man / And so is Lola". Ray Davies, songwriter explained to 'Rolling Stone" in 2014 about the lack of an uproar in 1970 considering its subject material, "The subject matter was concealed," he said. "It's a crafty way of writing. I say, 'She woke up next to me,' and people think it's a woman".
Amazingly the BBC refused to play it because of the commercial endorsement in the lyrics "It tastes just like Coca-Cola". Lead singer and songwriter Ray had to return to London to re-record the vocals changing the line to "Cherry cola".

Our lead guitarist sang this song - This was her song. Amazingly she pulled a National Steel resonator guitar, just like Ray Davies played in the original, out of her strong box of guitars. The two other girls sang harmonies (They did this very well, actually). I just stayed in the back away from a mic and concentrated on keeping time. The crowd were up and dancing again, and singing the chorus back at us.
It was an interesting situation, three girls (and me) in a band, two were gay, one was not. We were singing songs written by males about girls. The one non-gay girl was singing this one particular song in the first person about a boy meeting a girl who was a man. I had probably over-thought it. The crowd loved the song and the three girls smiled at each other because they had just known they had done something special with those clever harmonies.

Answer: Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)

This song tells the break up of the original Cockney Rebel. Three band members went to leader Steve Harley asking for songwriting rights. They were refused and left the band. The song chronicles those events. Steve Harley assembled a new Cockney Rebel and that album was recorded under Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. The single, sung in a Cockney accent, went to number one on UK Singles Chart selling over a million copies but only reached number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart a year later in 1976.

Our cover version was unique to say the least. While a mic had been placed optimistically in front of me (I didn't own one), my vocal contribution to date had been one or two token background vocals. Now the girls, who could all sing pitch perfect and harmonise as well, were insisting I should sing as I was the one that brought the song to the group. I vehemently declined claiming I could not sing and play bass at the same time. Someone thrust my battered acoustic into my hand and said they would play bass. So that is how we did it: Two acoustic guitars, the lead guitarist played bass (better than I could I might add, and, of course she had her own bass guitar) and drums. Thankfully there were plenty of harmonies from the other three to drown out my voice. The lead singer and I shared her mike (she spent the entire song encouraging me) and she handled the flamenco guitar solo in the middle really well. Luckily the audience loved the song and as we stayed as close as possible to the original and did not try to re-interpret the song. It went over well despite a few off-key moments on my part. At the end of the song I was both relieved and pleased. It was the song that bonded the the band, and for that I was grateful.

Answer: Werewolves of London

Warren Zevon had a minor hit in 1965 but his living at the time was grounded in writing songs for others, (notably, "Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me" and "Hasten Down the Wind" for Linda Ronstadt). He was a session musician and a band leader for the Everly Brothers. A fan of hard-boiled fiction, some of his songs were musical hard-boiled narratives derived from his many friendships with several novelists. "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" and "Lawyers, Guns and Money" were two of his best known early songs and delivered with trademark deadpan humour. However it was the release of his third album, "Excitable Boy" that defined his career. The album contained a three year old song that friend Jackson Browne sung at his own concerts with success. This was "Werewolves of London" and was written in 15 minutes by Mr Zevon with guitarist Wally Wachtel. The only other artists credited were Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, from Fleetwood Mac, who were introduced to Mr Zevon by his room mates Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham. So a piano driven, tongue in cheek story about werewolves climbed to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and cemented Mr Zevon's place in musical history. Unfortunately, his addiction to alcohol and drugs affected his creativity and his musical output. In 2003, when he was diagnosed with terminal mesothelioma, he recorded one last album, "The Wind". This was his his most successful album since "Excitable Boy". If you want to hear one of the most haunting songs of all time, just listen to a dying Mr Zevon singing the plaintive "Keep Me in Your Heart". Warren Zevon died in 2003. Rest In Peace, Warren Zevon.

"Werewolves of London" was a unanimous choice for the Princess and the Projects set list. To honour its creator, we performed the song as close to the original as we could: We pumped our lead singer full of self-confidence and told her she needed to make the three chord rollicking piano front and centre and put a sneer in her lyrics. Up to then we worried our petite classically trained lead singer was too 'proper' to belt out rock songs, but she rose to the challenge, she was a talented singer and she found some grit and brought the house down. The audience loved it. The rest of us just kept up with her. She got people who normally wouldn't dance out of their seats and at the song's conclusion, the CEO of our organisation stood up and clapped over his head. Somehow we had pulled this musical gamble off, and we were relieved, mightily.

Answer: George Harrison

Originally written for George Harrison's friend Billy Preston, it was included on Mr Harrison's triple album, "All Things Must Pass". It was released as a single, the first by Mr Harrison, and went number one worldwide meaning Mr Harrison was the first Beatle to achieve a number one hit post-Beatles. This was the biggest selling single of 1971. Unfortunately marred by a copyright infringement, because of its likeness to the 1963 Ronnie Mack song "He's So Fine" sung by the Chiffons, it was nevertheless a brilliant song that became timeless.

The Princess and the Projects had thought they had picked a winner for their mandatory ballad in their set list. With 120 beats per minute it was not slow, so people could still dance. Our drummer stepped down from behind her drum kit with just a tambourine to keep the beat and sang the song, quite soulfully. We used two acoustic guitars (just like the original) and a muted lead guitar. No bass, no drums. While the drummer sang well, the three of us remaining had a mic each, lined it up with the drummer's central mike and pitched in enthusiastically with the "Hallelujahs" and other harmonies. The audience still danced and appeared to enjoy the change in pace and volume. We as a group felt we covered it well and were pleased with the end result.

Answer: The Knack

In 1979, lead singer of The Knack, Doug Fieger, met 17-year-old Sharona Alperin who became his girlfriend for the next four years. She inspired the the lyrics behind the song which became the biggest selling song of 1979 after spending six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The group backtracked on the lyrics and said they were written from the view of a 14 year old boy. (Yeah, right). Sharona Alperin did very well out of the song - her photo was on the cover of the album, "Get The Knack" - and later she had a successful real estate business in West Los Angeles, trading on her fame/infamy of being THE Sharona.

The Princess and the Projects recognised a great dance track when they heard one. We cleaned up the lyrics (but retained "Sharona") and turned up the volume. The crowd did not notice the lyric change but loved the song. Some people, yet to stand up made their way to the dance floor (it was getting crowded), and started dancing. The four of us were shocked: Four people from very different walks of life who did not know each other two months ago had the majority of 200 people up and dancing to improvised rock and roll music. We let out our collective breath and started to enjoy ourselves.

Answer: Tom Petty

Tom Petty is one of the most successful artists of all time with over 80 million albums sold, as a member of Mudcrutch, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, or as a member of the supergroup, The Travelling Wilburys. "Full Moon Fever" was Mr Petty's debut solo album and features contributions from the Heartbreakers, as well as Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and George Harrison, who collectively comprised Traveling Wilburys. The album had hits like "Won't Back Down", and "Free Fallin'"; the album was listed as number 534 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums in 2001.

For Princess and the Projects, this was the perfect closer. It was a rock number that everyone would recognise, it was full of harmonies, something the three girls did well and it also sent a message: We were asked to produce a rock and roll performance and we delivered just that from four disparate individuals whose only common attribute was we all worked in the same organisation. We delivered the brief but we had become friends. Apparently we were successful, because when we took our curtain call, the audience our workmates were calling for more. We were stunned: we only rehearsed eleven songs and played ten. We took a deep breath, picked up our instruments and our lead guitarist belted out Billy Idol's "White Wedding" replete with chiming lead guitar. Fortunately it only had a three chord rhythm so the rest of us could just manage to play it on the night - something we could not get right in rehearsal. After exhausting our repertoire we too were exhausted. The big boss yelled from the back "I'll buy you all a beer if you sing one more". This was not a request. We looked at each other. When we first got together the first song we practised was Bob Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door" because it was the one song we all already knew. We took two mikes put them back behind the drum kit, and in a demonstration of solidarity sat behind the drummer, and all sang the plaintive song, the lead singer leading on an acoustic guitar, with the exact amount of melancholy in her voice to sing her heart out. The rest of 'oohed' the harmonies and all joined in on the chorus. No-one danced. But they all clapped and cheered at the end, far too long we thought. Some people came up to us afterwards and said nice words. We thanked them politely as we packed up our instruments, not expecting to play them together again. Project completed. Successfully.